 First edition | |
| Author | Dudley Pope |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Lord Ramage novels |
| Genre | Naval historical novels |
| Publisher | Secker & Warburg (first ed.) |
Publication date | 1980 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Preceded by | The Ramage Touch |
| Followed by | Ramage and the Renegades |
Ramage's Signal, is an historical novel by Dudley Pope, set during the French Revolutionary Wars. It is the eleventh of the Ramage novels, following on from The Ramage Touch.
In the previous novel in the series, The Ramage Touch, Ramage was given orders for and independent fighting cruise of the Mediterranean: "to capture sink or destroy as many enemy ships as he could." [1] The Calypso was perhaps the only British presence in the Mediterranean at the time. [2] Off the Tuscan coast, Ramage was able to sink two French frigates and capture a third - all sister ships of his own command, a captured French frigate commissioned as HMS Calypso. The Second Lieutenant, Wagstaffe, was given command of the prize frigate, to sail it to Gibraltar, [3] while the Calypso quits the Italian coast for the Gulf of Lion to continue the cruise.
No specific dates are given in the novel and the premise that the British had quit the Mediterranean is historical licence. It occurs after the failed French campaign in Egypt and Syria (ending 2 September 1801) [4] but before the Treaty of Amiens (27 March 1802). [5] Britain captured Menorca in 1798 but returned it to Spain in 1802 following the Treaty of Amiens. Malta was captured by the British (4 September 1800) and ultimately became a British Dominion. Malta was to be evacuated by the British under the terms of the Amiens treaty; however, Britain ultimately retained Malta.
The novel commences with the Calypso sailing inshore off the Camargue region and the sighting of an isolated semaphore station. The outward appearance of Calypso, a former French frigate, causes no alarm. Ramage captures the station bloodlessly. It passes signals between the main French naval base at Toulon and the Spanish base at Cartagena. Ramage mans it with a detachment of his crew, to gather intelligence. [6]
Signals report a merchant convoy of ships assembled at Barcelona, bound for Marseilles, Genoa and Leghorn. Ramage intercepts the most recent message from Barcelona, complaining that the escort frigates have not arrived. Ramage sends a false signal, ordering the Barcelona convoy to sail and rendezvous with the escort off the "Baie de Foix", the vicinity of the captured signal station. [7] The convoy of fifteen ships falls for the ruse and arrives. The problem facing Ramage is, what to do next. He lacks the crew to man the merchant ships as prizes, guard the prisoners taken and safely escort them to the British base at Gibraltar. Ramage devises a plan that is revealed as the story progresses. [8]
Ramage issues revised orders to the merchant ship's master's. The orders are delivered by Midshipman Orsini, who speaks fluent French. The convoy sails to assemble at a safe but remote anchorage off the south of Sardinia. This does not arouse suspicion in the merchantmen but takes them away from the mainland and possible intervention by the French. In the course of the leg to Sardinia, Ramage has the smallest and most lively of the merchantmen, the tartane Passe Partout, boarded and taken over. Ramage contrives for the convoy to arrive piecemeal at their destination anchorage so that he is able to board and capture each merchantman as they arrive without raising alarm in the remainder. He disposes of the prisoner problem by landing them on the remote Sardinian shore. [9]
Ramage mans six of the largest ships with prize-crews and dispatches them in convoy to Gibraltar under overall command of Aitken, the First Lieutenant. He still has to deal with the crews on the remaining mercantmen but this, he leaves for the night. He intends to keep Passe Partout, but scuttle the rest. Just as darkness falls, a French ship of the line (later identified as the 74 gun Scipion) is sighted approaching a night anchorage a little further around the coast. The French ship could jeopardies the Calypso and Ramage's plans. [10]
Ramage could "cut and run" to escape the French ship but instead, decides to attack, using two of the gunpowder-ladened merchantmen as floating bombs. While the plan nearly goes awry, it is ultimately successful. [11] As a final touch and to help ensure the safety of Aitken's convoy of prizes, Ramage returns to the French coast to destroy a signal station near Collioure. This severs communication between Toulon and Barcelona. [12]
Aitken's convoy; however, is intercepted by a French frigate. Orsini, commanding one of the prizes, acts quickly. Sailing toward the frigate he hails in French that all the ships have the plague. Just as the first frigate departs, another is sighted approaching on the same course. She is identified as the Calypso. [13]
The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought between 1798 to 1800 by the United States and the French First Republic. It took place at sea, primarily the Caribbean and the East Coast of the United States.
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but mortars mounted forward near the bow and elevated to a high angle, and projecting their fire in a ballistic arc. Explosive shells or carcasses were employed rather than solid shot. Bomb vessels were specialized ships designed for bombarding fixed positions on land. In the 20th century, this naval gunfire support role was carried out by the most similar purpose-built World War I- and II-era monitors, but also by other warships now firing long-range explosive shells.
Dudley Bernard Egerton Pope was a British writer of both nautical fiction and history, most notable for his Lord Ramage series of historical novels. Greatly inspired by C.S. Forester, Pope was one of the most successful authors to explore the genre of nautical fiction, often compared to Patrick O'Brian.
The First Battle of Cape Finisterre was waged during the War of the Austrian Succession. It refers to the attack by 14 British ships of the line under Admiral George Anson against a French 30-ship convoy commanded by Admiral de la Jonquière. The French were attempting to protect their merchant ships by using warships with them. The British captured 4 ships of the line, 2 frigates, and 7 merchantmen, in a five-hour battle in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Finisterre in northwest Spain. One French frigate, one French East India Company warship, and the other merchantmen escaped.
The second battle of Cape Finisterre was a naval encounter fought during the War of the Austrian Succession on 25 October 1747 (N.S.). A British fleet of fourteen ships of the line commanded by Rear-Admiral Edward Hawke intercepted a French convoy of 250 merchant ships, sailing from the Basque Roads in western France to the West Indies and protected by eight ships of the line commanded by Vice Admiral Henri-François des Herbiers.
HMS Speedy was a 14-gun Speedy-class brig of the British Royal Navy. Built during the last years of the American War of Independence, she served with distinction during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Pierre Jean Van Stabel was a French naval officer and rear-admiral, famous for his role in the Glorious First of June.
Ramage (1965) is the first novel in the Lord Ramage novels by Dudley Pope. It is set during the French Revolutionary Wars and later in the series during the Napoleonic wars.
Ramage and the drum beat, later republished as Ramage and the drumbeat and as Drumbeat is an historical novel by Dudley Pope, set during 1796 and 1797 amongst the naval warfare of the French Revolutionary Wars. It is the second of the Ramage novels, following on from Ramage. During the book, Ramage becomes an integral part of ensuring British readiness for the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797).
The affair of Fielding and Bylandt was a brief naval engagement off the Isle of Wight on 31 December 1779 between a Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Commodore Charles Fielding, and a naval squadron of the Dutch Republic, commanded by rear-admiral Lodewijk van Bylandt, escorting a Dutch convoy. The Dutch and British were not yet at war, but the British wished to inspect the Dutch merchantmen for what they considered contraband destined for France, then engaged in the American War of Independence.
The action of 21 July 1781 was a naval skirmish off the harbour of Spanish River, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, during the War of American Independence. Two light frigates of the French Navy, captained by La Pérouse and Latouche Tréville, engaged a convoy of 18 British ships and their Royal Navy escorts. The French captured two of the British escorts while the remainder of the British convoy escaped.
Ramage and the Freebooters, is an historical novel by Dudley Pope, set during the French Revolutionary Wars. It is the third of the Ramage novels, following on from Ramage and the Drumbeat.
The action of 14 September 1779 was a minor naval engagement that occurred on 14 September 1779, off the Azores between the Royal Navy frigate HMS Pearl under the command of George Montagu and the Spanish Navy frigate Santa Mónica under the command of Miguel de Nunes, with the Pearl capturing the Santa Mónica after a brief engagement. The battle was an episode during the American Revolutionary War, where American rebels under the overall command of George Washington launched a revolution against the British government based on perceived grievances. Spain, having been handed a humiliating defeat during the Seven Years' War by the British, was eager to enter the war on the side of the Americans to regain the territories they had lost, such as Florida, Menorca and Gibraltar. British and Spanish naval forces engaged each other several times during the war, as the conflict spilled over into Europe with the Spanish laying siege to Gibraltar.
César-Joseph de Bourayne, later Baron Bourayne, was a French naval officer, famous for his battles against British ships in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. He was appointed Rear-admiral in 1814, having been made a Baron in 1811.
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HMS Galgo was a Jamaican privateer that the Spanish Navy captured in 1797 and named Galgo Inglés, and that the British captured in November 1799. In her brief career she detained, took, or destroyed a number of small prizes before October 1800, when she foundered, with the loss of most of her crew and passengers.
HMS Busy was launched in 1797 as the only member of her class of brig-sloops. She captured one French privateer and numerous small merchantmen, but spent most of her career escorting convoys to and from the West Indies. She foundered in 1806 while serving on the Halifax, Nova Scotia, station.
HMS Imperieuse was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Built in Ferrol, Spain, for the Spanish Navy she was launched as Medea in 1797. In 1804 she was part of a squadron carrying gold from South America to Spain that was seized by the British while Spain and Britain were at peace. Medea was subsequently taken into service with the Royal Navy and was briefly named HMS Iphigenia before being renamed Imperieuse in 1805.
The Battle of Maguelone was a minor naval action that occurred in late October 1809, during the Peninsular War, between the escort of a French convoy, comprising three ships of the line and two frigates, and a six-ship squadron of the Royal Navy. In a running battle, the French covered the retreat of the convoy and attempted to escape by sailing in shallow waters close to the shore of Maguelone. After two of the ships of the line ran aground, their crews evacuated them and scuttled them by fire after removing valuable equipment, including the artillery. The remaining ship and frigates made good their escape to Toulon. A British cutting-out party attacked the convoy in Baie des Roses on 1 November, destroying most of it and capturing three ships.
The Ramage Touch, is an historical novel by Dudley Pope, set during the French Revolutionary Wars. It is the tenth of the Ramage novels, following on from Ramage and the Rebels.