In on one.

Morning all

AJ got me to post about my musket in another thread, though I would post a copy here for those that haven't heard the details:


Mine is a 214 year old Sea Pattern Flintlock Musket used on-board the third rate ship of the line HMS Africa at the Battle of Trafalgar and during the war of 1812.









Trafalgar:

An old, small battleship, Africa possessed just 64 guns and was considered by many as much too small to serve in the line of battle in a major fleet engagement. Ordered to join Nelson's fleet off Cadiz, she arrived just days before the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October.

The Africa was also a poor sailor, and on the morning of the battle, as a result of bad weather and a missed signal during the night, Captain Digby found his ship far off station to the north and was thus very isolated. Nelson saw the predicament and sent a signal instructing Digby to "Make all sail", intending him to pull back from the enemy rather than risk being overwhelmed as there were ten enemy ships between Africa and the British fleet, all larger than Africa in size.

Digby indignantly received the order and then deliberately misinterpreted it as an instruction to close with the British fleet to the south, and so weaved between the advancing enemy, engaging each in turn with both broadsides before reaching the melee surrounding the enormous Spanish flagship, the 130 gun Santissima Trinidad. Believing that she had surrendered, Digby dispatched his first lieutenant, John Smith, on board to take the surrender. Smith and his party actually reached the Spanish quarterdeck unmolested before realising that the ship was still fighting. Fortunately in that chivalrous age the Spanish admiral allowed Smith's party to return to their boat unharmed. Sailing south from the battle, Africa encountered the 74 gun Intrépide and fought her continuously for 40 minutes until HMS Orion arrived and the French ship surrendered as she was outnumbered. In this fight Africa was very badly damaged and lost 62 men killed or wounded, including most of her officers.

Gunboat War:

During the Gunboat War, Africa was under the command of Captain John Barrett. On 15 October 1808, Africa was escorting a convoy of 137 merchant ships in the Baltic, with the assistance of the bomb vessel Thunder and two gun-brigs. They left Karlskrona that day and on 20 October they anchored in the Øresund off Malmö. At noon a flotilla of Danish gunboats was seen moving towards the convoy and Africa sailed to intercept them. The flotilla consisted of 25 gunboats and seven armed launches, mounting some 70 heavy cannons and with an overall total of some 1600 men. It was under the command of Commodore J.C. Krieger.

At 1:30 the wind died and Africa was immobilized. By 2:50pm the gunboats had stationed themselves off Africa's quarters, where few of her guns could fire, and opened fire. The battle continued until 6:45pm when with night closing in all firing ceased. Had daylight lasted another hour the Danes would probably have captured Africa. As it was, she had lost 9 men killed and 51 wounded, including Barrett. She was so badly battered that she had to return to Karlskrona for refitting. The convoy, however, managed to reach Britain.

War of 1812:

Under the command of Captain John Bastard, Africa was part of Sir Philip Broke's squadron that pursued, but ultimately failed to catch, the USS Constitution early in the War of 1812.

War was declared on 18 June and Constitution put to sea on 12 July, attempting to join the five ships of a squadron under the command of Rodgers in President. Hull sighted five ships off Egg Harbor, New Jersey on 17 July and at first believed them to be Rodgers' squadron but, by the following morning, the lookouts determined that they were a British squadron out of Halifax: HMS Aeolus, Africa, Belvidera, Guerriere, and Shannon. They had sighted Constitution and were giving chase.

Finding himself becalmed, Captain Hull acted on a suggestion given by Charles Morris, ordering the crew to put boats over the side to tow the ship out of range, using kedge anchors to draw the ship forward, and wetting the sails down to take advantage of every breath of wind. The British ships soon imitated the tactic of kedging and remained in pursuit. The resulting 57-hour chase in the July heat saw the crew of Constitution employ myriad methods to outrun the squadron, finally pumping overboard 2,300 US gal (8.7 kl) of drinking water. Cannon fire was exchanged several times, though the British attempts fell short or overshot their mark, including an attempted broadside from Belvidera. On 19 July, Constitution pulled far enough ahead of the British that they abandoned the pursuit..

Yup, it is.

Sorcery!