The Battle of Pulu Aor (1804) by Rupert Matthews

Author:Rupert Matthews [Matthews, Rupert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bretwalda Books
Published: 2012-06-18T00:00:00+00:00

The Opposing Forces

Pulo Aor was fought in the days of wooden sailing ships armed with smoothbore cannon. The limitations of these ships were to affect the way in which the battle was fought.

Most ships at this date were "ship-rigged" meaning that they had three masts on which most sails were square sails, rigged to hang from wooden crossbeams. One or more triangular sails were rigged to the rearmost mast, the mizzen. This type of rig made the ships handy and manoeuvrable in all but the strongest of gales. It also allowed the ship to sail at angles into the wind, though how close to the wind depended on the skills of the captain and crew as much as it did on the design of the sails and hull. The sailing abilities of a ship were also affected by how long she had been at sea. Over time molluscs, weed and other growths attached themselves to the hull, slowing the ship in the water.

The weaponry of all ships came in the form of cast iron guns mounted on wooden trucks. The guns were muzzle-loaders, which had to be hauled inboard to be loaded. The speed at which a gun could be reloaded was entirely dependent on the gun crew. Naval ships practised loading and firing regularly, though merchant captains rarely wasted the time and powder. As a result military ships were not only more heavily armed than merchant ships, but could fire their guns faster and more accurately.

The guns came in a number of different calibres, rated by the weight of the cannonball that they fired. By this date few ships mounted 4 or 6 pounder guns, with 9 pounders being more usual on board small naval ships and merchant ships. The majority of armed ships carried 18 pounder guns. Only the big ships of the line carrying 74 guns or more mounted 24 pounders, and only the very biggest three deckers were equipped with the massive 32 pounder guns that could smash a ship to splinters.

Because of the way wooden ships were built, the majority of guns were mounted to fire sideways. Only one or two guns would fire forwards (bowchasers) or backwards (sternchasers). Half of a ship's main armament would be positioned to fire on each side. When a ship fired all its guns facing one way at once it was said to fire a broadside. Another consequence of the way the ships were built was that the sides could be made of thick, heavy planking but the sterns could not support such a heavy weight and so were made of thin planking, or glass windows.

Any naval captain going into action would therefore seek to ensure that the enemy were to one side or another of his own ship and that he never presented his stern to an enemy broadside. The usual way to achieve this in battles between more than solitary ships was for the ships of a fleet to form up in a long line behind each other.

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