Fight or Flight

Washington
5th October 1798

"Put an end to this piracy ! "

John Adams , president of the United States managed , with great difficulty,not to stand up and strangle the little upstart in front of him.
Now , I know why Washington didn't want the job anymore he thought.
It's easier to kill an enemy in a battle than defeat him in politics !
Unfortunately, there was no point to pretend there wasn't a problem.
The endless list of Congressmen , bussinessmen , bankers and merchants who were assieging his office to speak to him was proof enough of it at any rate !
On the beautiful morning of the 7th July 1798 the Congree has voted a law to increase the number of warships the US possessed ... and denounced at the same time the alliance with France .In fact ,and everyone knew it, it had been an act which told basically the French they could screw themselves with their war against Britain .
The situation hasn't been profitable at the time . After the law it had become a disaster. A swarm of privateers and pirates (when they weren't both) decided suddenly it was a very good idea to erase the American merchant marine from the surface of the globe .
There was no doubt at all about those were guilty .In fact the loss of a US -British convoy last month at the ends of a regular French squadron has pretty much ended this paticular debate .
It seemed that the French Navy has decided to take example from our own tactics of the last war thought Adams. This state of war is going to cost much more than a full war !

" I realise the situation is bad, gentlemen . Unfortunately, until the new warships are completed , the situation is probably going to be worse ,not better ."
And so are my chances to be reelected president of the United States added mentally Adams.
 
Cairo
22nd October 1798

"Allah akbar ! " shouted the fanatic running down the street doing ridiculous movements with his saber . " Allah akbar ! "

Unfortunately for him , his djihad was brutally stopped by a shot of the pistol of general Louis Desaix in the head .
"God may be great General , but it surely didn't give them a sense of strategy ! " shouted Desaix to cover the screams of agony coming from the rebels .
General Napoleon Bonaparte grimaced and then sighed. No point to correct Desaix he thought , and no point to pretend I don't want the bastards dead after what they did to Sulkowski . I wanted to be their friend , to be accepted as the benevolent ruler of Egypt . Machiavelli was right : sometimes it's better to be feared.

"Kill them all Desaix . No mercy . Cairo will be an example for those who rebel against the Republic ."

"And the islamists who are hiding in the mosque ? "

"No one leave alive . Bring the artillery , they began the insurrection ,I will finish it. In fire and blood ."

If they still want to rebel after this thought Desaix then they are really mad !
 
Corfou
1st November 1798

It's too cold thought Ensign Gaston Durand. His ship , the brick Inconstant has been specially "selected" to serve as a sentinel for Corfou. It was no doubt a perfect coincidence that they just missed ramming the Real Carlos during the last maneuvers !Which was why he was here on this bridge during a very unpleasant night.
It isn't fair he thought it was the Spanish fault ! As he was ruminating about this , a huge form slowly emerged from the darkness next to the ship. Suddenly , he realised its presence and didn't believe it. It was preposterous, impossible ... and it was happening.

" Strange ship astern ! Beat to quarters ! Captain to the deck ! "

The Ensign was still shouting as HMS Gibraltar's first broadside arrived and interrupted forever.40 guns stroke the unfortunate ship like the Hammer of God killing over half its crew in less than one minute.
And then the Inconstant blew up.They were no survivors.
But in their death the men of the Inconstant had acomplished their goal.
Seeing the funeral pyre of their companions the French fleet rushed to their battle stations .
For the British fleet the sneak attack has failed.

" Oh,merde ! " swore someone.Vice Admiral Brueys didn't know who made the remark but it was too appropriate for comfort .The shore batteries had announced more than twenty British ships of the line ... which meant they outnumbered his own fleet.
"Orders Admiral ?" asked Rear Admiral Ganteaume .
"Open fire !" replied Admiral Brueys.

The battle was a carnage . During the first hour , the French fleet , supported by the shore batteries fired approximately 9867 shots . Nearly 235 missed. 9632 didn't.
In response, the British fleet fired 9756 shots and 157 missed .That left 9599 shots in all.
The ships of the line were not conceived to resist such a degree of damage . HMS Gibraltar, HMS Centaur, HMS Caesar and HMS Majestic died and HMS Leander and HMS Theseus were little more than wrecks at this point . Guerrier , Généreux, Saint Antoine ,San Hernemegildo , Mercure and Justice followed them in their destruction .

Then , boarding actions began and horror took a new level .
"England ! England !"
"Death to the Frogs !"
"For the King and no quarter !"
"Kill them all !"
"Well" said Rear Admiral Villeneuve on Guillaume Tell " I never thought it was going to be like this ! Away boarders ! " he shouted while HMS Orion came grinding along Guillaume Tell's side. Then a new wave of boarders came streaming from Orion's deck in a torrent of hate.
"Avec moi pour la France ! " screamed Villeneuve and charged to meet them .

" Admiral , I think it's time to stop this madness ! "
Vice Admiral Keith turned and faced his flag captain on the bridge of HMS Foudroyant with fury in the eyes.
"Don't be ridiculous we are winning ! We have already sunk 9 of their ships of the line !"
"Admiral , we also lost 9 of our ships ! If we don't disengage there will be no fleet in one hour ! The shore batteries are beginning to fire incendiary shots ! We must at once ...

No one really was able to describe what had happened that night . It didn't matter , really. One moment HMS Prince was here boarding the French ship Timoléon . The next the two ships were aflame . And then they exploded.

During ten minutes all gun fell silent, as if stunned by the insanity of the battle. Then the battle took over again and the harbour became red with blood.



"Pour ce que nous allons recevoir, puissions nous sincèrement être reconnaissants " said somberly Vice Admiral Brueys .The battle was nearly finished , only because there were no more ships afloat . Two ships of Linois squadron had survived and the 80-gun Franklin had too . Orient was locked in a fight with HMS Bellerophon , HMS Swiftsure and HMS Foudroyant . At that point only the third was still in condition to fight effectively and this ship was about to fire a full broadside against Orient .
The two flagships crews looked themselves in an instant that looked like an eternity and then fired . Vice Admiral Brueys , Vice Admiral Keith, 253 French sailors and 247 British sailors died in that bloodbath .

Some said it was just after the fall of the main mast of HMS Foudroyant that the first British ships began to strike their colours .
 
Corfou
3rd November 1798

Rear Admiral Armand Blanquet was watching the devastation of Corfou.It was hard. The water was covered with blood , bodies and numerous things coming from the French and British fleets .

"If it's a victory , I hope we will never see the defeat " said Rear Admiral Linois.

Admiral Blanquet nodded and his face was not an happy one . Of the 19 ships of the line , 3 frigates and two bricks the French fleet had in the harbour only 4 were barely able to fight : Orient , Franklin ,Formidable and Tyrannicide. Two may be repairable : Aquilon and Tonnant.
The battle has cost more than 3000 dead for his fleet ,he didn't know yet the exact number and hundreds of wounded.
And of course there was the little matter that he was in command of the fleet. Of the eight flag officers who began the battle only two remained.
Vice Admiral Brueys had died in the last salvo of HMS Foudroyant along with Rear Admiral Ganteaume.
The Spanish Rear Admiral has died aboard Real Carlos .No one has found the body of Rear Admiral Denis Decrès but with Diane as a wreck there was no doubt about his fate.
Commodore Aubert du Petit-Thouars has been struck by a cannonball aboard Tonnant.
And Rear Admiral Villeneuve has died in the furious melee on the bridge of Guillaume Tell.
With so many officers and sailors dead , the French fleet had no chance if an other fleet came here. He didn't intent to try.

"We sails back to Toulon " he affirmed . " As soon as our repairs are completed of course ".

"And the most damaged of ours and British ships ? We haven't the manpower or the time to repair them ! " asked Linois.

"We will have to let them . I will give the order to burn them if another enemy fleet appears near Corfou . In the same time , I have a little mission for you . You are going to Alexandria and tell General Bonaparte to evacuate Egypt . "

"He's not going to like that " affirmed Linois .

"His pleasure is not the first thing I have in mind " replied Blanquet.

Going back to his morbid contemplation of the harbour he wondered how many men had died here . They hadn't been able to count the British losses after all . Somehow he didn't want to know.
 
Alexandria
21st November 1798

"Damn them ! Damn all of them ! " shouted General Bonaparte . "Who did he think he is , this Admiral ? He has the pretention to give me orders ! To me ! "

"I'm afraid we don't have a lot of choice General " said General Kléber. "Unless you want to go back to France by land and I'm afraid it's a rather long walk. "

"And one thing we can all agree is that the Ottoman Empire is going to declare war as soon as they hear the news of the battle. Our fleet was the only thing that prevented their action " added General Berthier .

" Merde " affirmed Bonaparte finally regaining a bit of his standing . " But we haven't the ships to take the entire army back ! "

"You're perfectly right General .However we can take 6 000 to 7 000 with the transports which are here . The remaining 40 000 troops will have to wait for the transports of Toulon " proposed Kléber.

"And who will command them ?" asked Berthier .

" Desaix " replied Bonaparte . " He is the best general to deal with the Ottomans . The Egyptians won't revolt with him , it would be insanity.
Now , about the ships we have ..."
 
Paris
25th November 1798

"Tell me Talleyrand " said Louis Barras . " Is there anyone who will not declare war on us this time ? "

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord managed not to shout at Barras . It was not easy . The man was , in his humble opinion nothing more than an idiot and worse , a crook . His policy was a disaster and when it didn't work (which was most of the time ) he blamed it on others . This man should be replaced he thought . But by who ? Joubert is not enough popular . Brune is not enough charismatic or loved by the army . The only man who could do the job is Bonaparte and he's in Egypt !

"I'm sure there are a few . Portugal and China for exemple . But if you continue this way even the United States are going to declare war upon us ! "

"Let them " said dismissively Barras . "They have no army worthy of the name. Now , let me alone . I have to crush the rebellion in Flanders . "

And that sums up very well this entire mess thought Talleyrand .We are going to war against all the armies of Europe in the field .What France need now is a man who can save the Republic . Unfortunately , not one of the Directoire has the capacity to do it . Bonaparte has it , thought Talleyrand , but there are too many chances he will be our Caesar.
What have we done of the Revolution was the question he asked himself silently and desesperatly .
 
Hasselt
27th November 1798


" So the bastards don't want to surrender ? " growled General Colaud . " They think they have a chance against my army ? "
After all , the French army has 3 500 soldiers against a rabble of nearly 6 000 peasants . In a battle , the rebels could be squashed easily .

" No , General . A loyal man told us that they want to leave by St Trond"s way and continue their little and pathetic revolt ! " said a captain .

" Very well . Take the cavalry and bring back the leaders . They have to know what happens to the men who betray the Republic. "

" And the town General ? "

" Let the artillerymen have their pleasure " replied Colaud . " Then , move the infantry and crush them ! When it will be finished , there will be no doubt in their mind that their rebellion was doomed from the start ! "

Looking at the town named Hasselt , General Colaud tried to find a little comfort in the fact that at least , the inhabitants in this town were marginally loyal to the Republic . They tried , not very efficiently , but they tried to stop the rebellion . Which was why the French Army wasn't going to burn down the town after conquering it . And so , in the end , he was going to try not to kill all the civilians . Maybe .
 
Gibraltar
29th November 1798


" Keith , bring me back my ships " whispered Admiral Jervis , Earl of Saint Vincent .
At the moment the possibility was rather unlikely . Two hours ago HMS Mutine and HMS Kangaroo had arrived at Gibraltar to inform the Admiral of the recent changes in the status of the Mediterrannean Fleet .

Now thought Jervis I will have to blockade the entire coast of Spain and Southern France with my navy at the bottom of the sea or prisoner of the French . At least Nelson will avoid his court martial now . Keith will be the scapegoat for this entire clusterfuck !

But there were going to be unpleasant issues now . Only the invincibility of the Royal Navy had managed the government to continue the war against the French Republic . With French privateers and pirates hunting everything on the seas and the fiasco of Corfou ...
Maybe , he thought , I will have to ask for a new command now . And one rather far away from the Mediterrannean see . My career may depend on it .
 
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