Napoleonic Naval

While had a 7YW scenario set up a combination of circs reduced the numbers to just Jim, SteveJ & James, so we postponed the scenario to next week & I cleared off a small table for a Napoleon Naval action.
James took the Brits with Steve as his advisor, Jim took the French.
James had two squadrons of three ships each 1 2nd rate & 2 3rd rates, all with elite crews.
Jim had two squadrons of 3 ships, 1 1st rate, 1 2nd rate & 4 3rd rates..
The Brits had elite crews, the French had regular crew.
To compensate for the crew quality difference, the French were given the weather gauge. 

The Brits are in two columns in the far corner.
The wind is blowing across the table from the French side.

Initially the French sailed straight towards the Brits as the Brits sorted their two columns into a single line.  But when the lead British squadron tacked to starboard, the French turned to starboard to run downwind past the island to wards the head of the other Brit squadron. 

The French bore down on the leading Brits as the other British squadron wore ship to rejoin their comrades.

(Note:  We move the ships & islands towards the camera between the last 2 shots to give us more sea room).
The lead British squadron was outnumbered & pounded hard by the French.  One British 3rd rate was suck, the flagship was so damaged it had to break off & the other 3rd rate in the squadron had no choice but to flee with it.

But the French had to sail to windward to avoid the island & that allowed the 2nd British squadron to catch up to the tail of the French line.  The lead ships of the British squadron took heavy damage, but the squadron had its reversed order in it's earlier manoeuvres & the 2nd rate flagship was undamaged at the tail.  It caught up with the 3rd rate at the end of the French line & sunk it.

At this the two sides were on opposite sides of the island.   Both side had only two ships without heavy damage & neither was keen on rejoining the fight.  The French sailed on jubilant that for once they hadn't been totally destroyed, considering a draw as a win against the Brits.  The Brits limped home to be damned for losing a ship.