Ramage and the Dido by Dudley Pope

Author:Dudley Pope
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ramage & The Dido
ISBN: 9780755124619
Publisher: House of Stratus
Published: 2013-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Ramage sat at his desk and swung the chair round so that he was facing the gathered men, ‘We’ve been patrolling off Diamond Rock for three days now,’ he said, ‘and the French in Fort Royal will have got over their surprise at seeing us off the port. They’ll have been reassured to see the Scourge resume her patrol. So I think it’s time to give them another shock.’

He crossed his legs and said quietly: ‘I don’t know how many of you had a good look at that frigate in Fort Royal. Those that did probably noticed that she was a sister ship of the Calypso. This would not be important but for the fact that it means all the former Calypsos know their way around her with their eyes shut. That would not be very important either except that I propose cutting her out in two nights’ time, a no-moon period.’

The frigate, he explained, could slip out any night and overwhelm the Scourge, but the brig would almost certainly notice if the seventy-four was preparing to sail. ‘As I see it,’ Ramage said, ‘the frigate is the seventy-four’s eyes: her job is to go out and scout for the convoy – probably four or five days before they guess it is due. Then it reports to the seventy-four, which sails and escorts the convoy in the last fifty or a hundred miles – through the area where the British might try to interfere.

‘If we capture the frigate, then the seventy-four has to sail to look for the convoy – in other words we get her out of Fort Royal and have a chance of capturing or sinking her.’

‘Most of my Marines never served in the Calypso, but I hope that doesn’t mean you’ll be leaving them out, sir?’ Rennick asked anxiously.

Ramage laughed and reassured the Marine captain. ‘No, it just means that the former Calypsos will form a good nucleus. I don’t know how many former Calypsos you sent off in the prizes, but with a bit of luck nearly a quarter of your men should have served in the Calypso.’

‘I don’t know how many are left, sir,’ Rennick admitted, ‘but there are enough that I can make them section leaders.’

‘Good. Now listen, everyone, this is roughly my plan.’

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