The Long Fight

By: Cmdr. Denys Arthur Rayner

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Synopsis: A LONG, DESPERATELY FOUGHT BATTLE BETWEEN THE BRITISH FRIGATE “SAN FIORENZO” AND THE FRENCH FRIGATE “PIEMONTAISE” IN THE INDIAN OCEAN IN 1808…In the path of the three India merchantmen setting out on their long voyage home lurked the French raider based on Mauritius, then known—the year in 1808—as the Ile de France. The frigate San Fiorenzo was despatched to escort them past the danger point. The enemy frigate, Piemontaise, sighted the convoy first, but was in turn sighted by the San Fiorenzo before she could close with and board her prizes. Then ensued a three-day running fight of truly epic quality. The San Fiorenzo, an elderly vessel captured from the French in the Mediterranean a generation earlier, was out-gunned and out-manned; many of her crew had had to be put ashore owing to sickness, and she had just weathered a furious storm. On the other hand she had only recently emerged from dry-dock and could outsail the Frenchman, who had been too long at sea. But more important even than speed and armament were the minds of the opposing captains…