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July 6th, The US West Florida Incursion Preliminaries Before the break of dawn the US assembled a fleet of some 6th rates ships at Manataca. The Pirates still bend over from their rum of the previous night had not even woken yet, when it sailed for San Jose. Soon after San Jose fell, the US once again assembled at Manataca. This time to sail two fleets to Santa Rosa and Penzacola. But by now the Pirates had woken up and with two ports under attack there was no other option than to sail out two ships, an Ingermanland and a Trincomalee. Battle of Santa Rosa & Penzacola With the two US fleet arriving roughly at the same moment, the two battles were almost a mirror image. At Penzacola the US did manage to lower their whaleboats in time before the Pirate Ingermanland sailed to engage. Over at Santa Rosa the Trincomalee sailed to engage before whaleboats could be launched. Flabbergasted by the bold Pirates and totally unfamiliar with these tactics, the US ships turned to engage. Only to figure out this was a stalling tactic the main US bodies disengaged from the Pirates. Three US Constitutions, one Belle Poule and a Renommee quickly moved away to cover the Santa Rosa port assault. Tasked to destroy the Pirate Trincomalee was a remaining US Constitution. But it saw its crew and cannons quickly diminish. Having been set on fire, it tried to turn towards the Trincomalee. Aboard the Trincomalee the Pirate captain watched the Constitution coming into a perfect downwind broadside. And as the brown belly of the Constitution raised out of the water, the order was given: "Fire!" With water gushing fast into the Constitution's hold, its fate was sealed. The captain unable to comprehend what had happened, found no time to reach the lifeboats and went down into Davy Jones Locker. Against the Ingermanland the US ships fared no better. Within their first engagement the US fleet found itself without the numbers to sustain a concentrated port assault. The Ingermanland soon sailed back to Barataria. As tornado warnings came in, the Pirate Trincomalee found shelter within Santa Rosa. With the US ships still beating at the fortifications, the storm swept in. Both Penzacola and Santa Rosa had withstood an ill attempted US attack. Result Unfamiliar with the ferocious tactics of AUSFC, the US seriously underestimated their opposition. This cost them many ships in the process. However with the capture of San Jose, the US have now secured a foothold on the west side of Florida. It only remains to be seen whether Pirates will be bothered to quite their fishing and provide more resistance, let alone do a counter.

June 22nd, The Foggy Dance at Bone Cay Preliminaries Calls went out in the early dawn for as many captains as possible to muster for an attack on Bone Cay. The Pirates, however, could not get more than 6 captains willing to undertake the long journey, which would surely end in death. From the west 4 ships would be coming, 2 Mortar Brigs and 2 Mercuries. One Trincomalee and one Navy Brig would sail in from the east. North East Deflection As the Trincomalee came into the deep channel between Bone Cay and Pedro Cay, three British Mercuries made their crossing over. But with the Pirate Navy Brig breaking off, a fourth Mercury was intercepted. South West "Assault" With orders to escort the two assault ships in, the Trincomalee made its way around the island to the south. And as the Pirate Mercuries came into view, two British scouts were spotted. The British Mercury and Rattle Snake tried to close in on the Pirate Mercuries before they could link up with their Trincomalee. But alas too late as the three ships came together. Cursing the map maker for not marking the shallows correctly, the Pirate Trincomalee was pushed to the south with the Mercuries in tow. As the Pirates came around the shallows to the south end of Bone Cay a sudden storm kicked in. With visibility reduced to a minimum, one Mercury was send to the harbor to scout, while the Pirate commander tried to get past an opposing Mercury. While the scouting Mercury reported at least 11 British ships sitting close to the harbor, the British Mercury came in and out view. Each time sailing back to the Trincomalee, the British Mercury did not dare to venture too far as he could not see what lay beyond the Trincomalee. Finally the three Pirate ships managed to reform deep in the mist and lowered their whaleboats for the harbor assault. And moments later the alarm bells sounded from Bone Cay, "Pirate fleet incoming!". Not wasting time and with nothing to see through the mist, the British ships raced to the harbor to form their blockade. With a total of 18 6ths forming the blockade the British stared into the mist. British Discipline Held Fast Without any chance of winning the Pirates turned to the stragglers and late comers. The Mercuries dove onto a lone Mercury which was sitting as a forward scout just before the harbor blockade. The Trincomalee sailed north, intercepting another Mercury, which was trying to skip the shallows. The two Mortar Brigs stood down from battle stations as they saw no chance to get into the harbor or ongoing battles. From afar came the cries and reports, "Pirate ships are engaging me!", "Need assistance!". However, the British, disciplined as ever, held their line awaiting the assault of the unknown Pirate fleet. Looking at the prized Mercury, one Pirate captain said to sail the ship right away. "It's an exceptional build, look at its beauty." Rather he should have looked at the damage instead. And thus the two Mercuries hooked up with the Navy Brig sailing around the north end of Bone Cay to fall upon another British Mercury. A second ship of exceptional beauty was taken from British hands. The Pirates sailed away with their prizes, leaving the British in puzzled amazement what just had happened. Result With no losses on the Pirate side and at least two Mercuries of exceptional quality captured, the battle is a clear victory for the Pirates. Notes The British captains present still got their rewards from Admiralty for their "stout" defense under "hard" circumstances.

(I don't have time to do a real newspaper for this one, sorry) On the night of March 8th, a squadron of US navy ships repelled a pirate attack on the Florida Keys. Led by Cmdt. Sam Adams, the US squadron of five brigs and a number of cutters and schooners approached the besieged Key Largo from both the east and the west in a pincer movement. As the Pirates approached, they were intercepted by Adams' flagship itself at the mouth of the harbor. Cmdt. Adams' ship approached the pirate fleet by itself, having signaled his squadron to stay a good distance away from the battle. He meant to face the pirate menace alone. It is unknown if the pirates thought that the brig approaching them was bait for a trap or if they just could not, in their cowardice and depravity, bear to stay in the presence of such a glorious paragon of bravery and heroism, but as soon as Cmdt. Adams approached, the pirate raiders fled the battle. Unfortunately, the raiding party was not intercepted due to the sheer incredulousness of the vision that the US squadron saw before them: a pirate raiding party fleeing from a single ship. While this was occurring, another pirate raiding party attacked Walker's Cay, which was more conventionally defended.