This scenario recreates the last fight of one of history's most notorious pirates; Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard. It is a small action for FLOB; no more than 11 guns and 70 men between three ship, and some adjustments have been made to the statistics in order to reflect this whilst still giving a good game.
Blackbeard's favoured hunting ground was the shallow coast off the Carolinas. The citizens of North Carolina were so concerned about the disruption caused by Blackbeard that they petitioned their Governor to do something about it, but he was actualy in business with Blackbeard and did nothing. So they took their grievance to the Governor of neighbouring Virginia, Alexander Spotswood. In turn, Spotswood recruited two Royal navy vessels for the task, HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme but their captains informed the governor that the water in the area where they were to operate was too shallow for their vessels. Spotswood therefore hired two sloops, Ranger and Jane, which would be crewed by the Navy with First lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMS Pearl in overall command.
Meanwhile, Blackbeard appears to have been winding down his operation, abandoning many of his crew and getting rid of some of his ships. By late November 1718 he only had a small crew remaining and one ship, the Adventure. This was anchored in Ocracoke Inlet, near Pamlico Sound, North Carolina.
The two hired sloops arrived at Blackbeard's hideout late on November 21, 1718. The next morning, the battle began.
Pirate
Adventure (9) ,Unrated. Sailing class 2, Hull 4, Guns 2, Crew 2, Quality special. Single masted fore-and-aft vessel.
Royal Navy
Ranger (1), Unrated. Sailing class 2, Hull 4, Guns 1 (bow only), Crew 6, Quality Veteran. Single masted fore-and-aft vessel.
Jane (1), Unrated. Sailing class 2, Hull 3, Guns 1 (bow only), Crew 4, Quality Veteran. Single masted fore-and-aft vessel.
The Adventure starts anchored by the bow. The Royal Naval sloops are sailing in from the north east.
Note that the statistics for the ships are heavliy modified from what would normally be expected in FLOB III. The relative strengths of the vessels is just about right, however. Certainly right enough to give a good game.
The crew of the Adventure are considered Poor for sailing purposes, Experienced when firing and Veteran when in melee.
Blackbeard is the senior officer of the Adventure and gives the ship a +1 in all boarding actions as long as he is still alive. Ignore any critical hits that result in him being wounded.
In the first round of any boarding action the pirate crew may use grenades and stinkpots. Roll a D6:
1 - Pirates get a +2 in that round and a fire starts on the other ship
2 or 3 - Pirates get +1 in that round
4 or 5 - No effect
6 - A fire starts on the Adventure
This option can only be used once per game.
No ship will strike during the course of the game. If a ship loses all broadside factors on a given side, all further damage is taken from the crew instead. If there is no crew left, lose guns from the opposite broadside. If a ship has no crew or broadside factors left, it is considered to be out of the game and will drift. It can still be captured normally.
The two Royal Navy vessels will only lose their guns to shots fired from within the arc of those guns i.e. shots from in front of the vessel.
If a vessel passes over a sandbank during a movement phase then roll a D6. If the score is equal to or less than the number of dice used for movement (not rolled) then the vessel runs aground. The Royal Navy subtract 1 from the roll, as they did not have as much knowledge of the banks as did Blackbeard.
Blackbeard must defeat both Royal Navy vessels, or escape off the south or east edge to win. The Royal Navy must sink, burn or capture the Adventure.
As the Navy closed on him, Blackbeard decided to make his escape, and cut his vessel's cable. Both naval sloops ran aground on sandbanks, and came under fire from the Adventure, with one of the sloops being disabled by a hit to the mainmast.. The other sloop worked free, however, and continued the attack. Drawing alongside the Adventure, Maynard engaged in a verbal exchange with the pirate. Blackbeard, believing his foe to be weaker than it was, ordered his crew to board, and a furious melee began. The two captains met in single combat, but others soon attacked Blackbeard as well, and after a great struggle he was finally killed, having taken some twenty-five wounds. Nine of his crew were killed, and none of the others were captured unwounded.
Blackbeard's head was severed, and Maynard returned to port with it swinging from the bowsprit of his ship.