Fox of France

While the Americans were happily intercepting British ships, the British North American Squadron, which they did not catch, was also happily intercepting American ships. They went all the way south along the coast of the United States. First, they captured three American merchant ships and a returning whaling ship off the coast of Boston. The British did not have a usable port not far away. It was impossible for them to control these merchant ships and drive them back to Canada, because the American fleet must be there now.

As for going directly back to the UK, that is also impossible, because the fresh water reserves on these ships simply cannot support such ocean-going voyages. So the British could only board the ship, move over some supplies that their fleet could use, and then set the merchant ship on fire. As for the sailors on board, throw them a small sampan and let them row to America by themselves. Anyway, it's not far from the coast here, and it will take a day or two to go ashore.

Then they continued south, burning six merchant ships bound for New York in one breath near New York. Then at the Delaware \u0026 Estuary captured two American merchant ships heading for Philadelphia, and killed more than a dozen fishing boats. At this time, the news that the British naval fleet was attacking American ships at sea also began to spread in the United States through French wires.

Most of the ships that originally planned to leave the United States and head for Europe did not dare to leave the port, but those ships that were returning to the United States from Europe did not know about this, and no one else could inform them. Therefore, in the following week, the British burned more than a dozen merchant ships to torches in one breath. If you want to compare the tonnage achieved in a one-to-one battle, the British fleet clearly has the upper hand.

Because there is no radio, the news that the British are raging along the coast of the United States cannot be directly sent to the American fleet that is still waiting in the Cabot Strait. The guys in the American fleet thought that the British North American squadron hid in the Gulf of St. Lawrence .

The Americans sent another clipper to Cabot Strait and found the American fleet. It wasn't until then that the guys in the American fleet knew that the British fleet had also gone to fight. And the losses suffered by the United States were even greater than those suffered by the British in Cabot Strait.

Because the British released almost all the sailors, the Americans were quite clear about the composition of the British squadron.

"Three steam-sail hybrid battleships and two steam-sail hybrid cruisers. This means that the main warships of the British North American Squadron are all there." General Cade, the commander of the US fleet, made a decision based on the information he had learned. made such a judgment.

He knew that he could not let the British squadron continue to wreak havoc on the coast of the United States, otherwise, no matter how many British merchant ships he captured, it would be useless. However, it may not be a good way for the whole fleet to go south. Not only did this abandon the blockade of Canada, but it also slowed down the response—because none of the other ships could run as fast as the Free Trade and the Common Market.

So General Cade made such a decision. He led several other ships to continue to intercept British merchant ships here. Let the two fastest and most powerful French ships in the formation rush back immediately to expel and destroy the British fleet.

So "Free Trade" and "Common Market" left the formation and went south.

News of the United States declaring war on Britain had also reached Europe by this time. The British immediately intended to send a powerful fleet to teach the Yankees a lesson. Hehe, we can't beat the French, can't we beat you?

But with this news came another news, that is, the French claimed that the British fleet had attacked a French merchant ship. The French foreign minister summoned the British ambassador to lodge a strong protest. The British ambassador said he was not aware of the matter. And doubt the authenticity of the French news.

But the authenticity of the news is actually not important, it's just an excuse anyway. As an excuse for this kind of thing, the French can make a lot of them casually, just like a certain country in later generations can easily come up with a lot of washing powder.

Then the citizens of Paris took to the streets to demonstrate, demanding that the Consulate take concrete actions to protect the safety of France's waterways. Napoleon immediately ordered the army to be on alert, suspended the demobilization of the army this year, and announced that the French navy and army would hold a large-scale landing and anti-landing exercise in Calais.

Calais is located on the east coast of the Strait of Dover, only a few tens of kilometers away from the British coast. The French are conducting military exercises at this location. If the British don't pay attention to it carefully, what if there is a navigation error during the exercise, and the French fleet landing force goes in the wrong direction and lands in the UK?

Therefore, the British can only scold the French for being nothing since ancient times, while canceling the large-scale support for Canada's combat plan, and at the same time ordering the British navy and army to be on alert, ready to resist possible French invasions at any time.

But although the French helped in this way, the performance of the US Navy was not good enough.

First of all, the two supercruisers heading south failed to spot the British fleet immediately. The British calculated the time and estimated that the two supercruisers hired by the Americans might have gone south, so they left the coast of the United States and began to search and intercept American merchant ships farther from the coastline.

This approach of the British will of course greatly reduce their own interception efficiency, but it also makes it difficult for the Americans to find them. The "Free Trade" and the "Common Market" ran along the coastline of the United States, and even the hair of the British fleet was not found.

But on the other side, those US warships still in Cabot Strait are in great danger.

The British "Indomitable" super cruiser was dispatched by the British urgently after the news that the Americans had leased two super cruisers from France reached the UK. So this ship is not in the sequence of the North American Squadron at all, and the Americans don't know its existence at all.

Today, the French supercruisers have gone south, and the Cabot Strait is not wide. The British at both ends of the strait can easily see the entire US fleet with a telescope. They quickly came to the conclusion that the two French ships had left.

So on this morning, when the guys in the American Fleet were bored waiting for the rabbits and watching the whales, their observation post noticed that there was a smoke column far away to the east of them.

Regarding this plume of smoke, the Americans were a little nervous at first, because this may be the return of the British North American Squadron. Without the presence of the "Free Trade" and "Common Market", the American fleet could not defeat the British North American Squadron.

However, the Americans were not panicked, because their speed was faster than that of the British North American Squadron. The situation was really wrong, and they had the initiative to withdraw from the battle.

What's more, if it is in other sea areas, most of the ships emitting black smoke are steam-powered ships, most likely warships. But in this sea area, there is another kind of ship emitting black smoke, and that is the whaling ship.

Whaling ships in this era do not have cold storage. In order to get more income every time they go to sea, they cut off the whale fat and smelt it into whale oil directly on the ship after they know no whales. As for other whales Most of them, except for the baleen, were thrown directly into the sea.

In order to smelt whale oil (otherwise the blubber will be spoiled), this kind of ship has a large boiler, which is burned to boil whale oil. Therefore, the plume of smoke seen in this sea area may not necessarily be a steam ship, but it may also be a whaling ship that is returning. So at this time, the U.S. Navy still doesn't know what kind of opponent they will face.