Block Headed

As well as featuring the inexplicable death of Captain John Bythesea, chapter 11 part 1 includes some of the bizarre non-Euclidian geography which represents one of the hallmarks of TFSmith's writing. The relevant passage is as follows:

It was at this point, early on a beautiful June morning, that Vanderbilt was spotted and challenged by the steam corvette Ariadne (26), due south of Block Island and east of Block Island Sound, which formed the gateway to Long Island Sound; the three entrances, up to 15 miles across, were patrolled by Hero, Mersey, and Ariadne, respectively, and Luce’s ship churned past the corvette, with fires banked, as if she was standing still. A rocket from Vanistart’s quarterdeck and several shots alerted the inner patrol line, however, and Lily and Osprey turned from their stations and started converging toward Ariadne; Meteor, however, was actually in position to try and stop the American as she steamed hell for leather for The Race, the deep passage between Race Rock and Valiant Rock, and entrance into Long Island Sound. Meteor made for Fishers’ Island to try and cut off the runner.

TFSmith's advice to use Google Earth once again stands us in good stead. What TFSmith describes as 'the three entrances, up to 15 miles across' might be assumed to reflect 45 miles of open water. Instead, we can see that there are fewer than ten miles of searoom, even including Fisher Island Sound:

2.10 miles between Napatree Point and East Point (Fisher Island Sound)
5.10 miles between Race Point and Great Gull Island (Long Island Sound)
2.13 miles betwen Great Gull Island and Plum Island (Long Island Sound)
1.42 miles between Plum Island and Long Island (Long Island Sound)
Total: 10.75 miles 

Not content with overstating the difficulty of managing the blockade, however, TFSmith manages to distort the locations of ships sufficiently that it renders any attempt to reconstruct the battle completely futile. He may as well have had Vanderbilt teleport directly into New York, for all the sense that this makes.

For instance: we are told that 'the three entrances [to Long Island Sound]... were patrolled by Hero, Mersey, and Ariadne, respectively'. However, the blockade plan laid down by Captain Washington advised that 'The line-of-battle ship might lie in safety in Fisher Sound, under the lee of Fisher Island, and the smaller vessels might watch the three passages between the islands which protect the entrance.' The direction 'respectively' might be taken as starting from Fisher Island and moving southwest, or from Long Island moving north-eastwards. In the first case, Hero is close to its actual station in Fisher Island Sound; however, it is assigned the biggest open stretch of water which would be much better guarded by the fast frigates Ariadne or Mersey. In the second case, Hero is at the polar opposite end of the line from Washington's instructions.

All of this matters little, however, because the rest of the description act as if these entrances are not being guarded after all. We are told that that Ariadne 'spotted and challenged' Vanderbilt 'due south of Block Island and east of Block Island Sound', that Vanderbilt was heading for 'the deep passage between Race Rock and Valiant Rock,' and that 'the inner patrol line' was alerted. This implies that the outer patrol line was around Block Island, rather than Long Island as both common sense and the Washington blockade plan suggest it would have been, and that a weak inner line was guarding the entrances to Long Island Sound. Simultaneously, we are told that the Long Island entrances are guarded.

TFSmith clearly loves the idea of the powerful American merchant ship catching the British asleep, and charging heroically past them. In reality, as the picture shows, Vanderbilt being sighted 'south of Block Island and east of Block Island Sound' would have left her twenty nautical miles to cover before reaching Long Island Sound:

Even at Vanderbilt's top speed, this would give the British more than an hour to stoke their fires and get up to full steam. HMS Mersey, in particular, would almost certainly have been capable of cutting off the ship in its attempt to enter Long Island Sound, or of doing sufficient damage to paddle-wheels and hull to slow the ship down.

As for working out where Meteor is, only a genius or a madman would even attempt it. We are told that 'Meteor made for Fishers’ Island to try and cut off the runner', that this is not 'an intercepting course', and that Bythesea is trying 'to cut the corner, steering between Race Rock and Race Point, the southwest corner of Fishers' when he grounds on Race Point Ledge. The 'made for Fishers' Island' comment suggests that Meteor was to the north of Fishers' Island, somewhere north of Silver Eel Cove, and is charging directly south. However, there is no possible position in this area where it would not make far more sense to steam towards Race Rock (the eastern end of the channel for which Vanderbilt is aiming) rather than Race Point Ledge. The closer Bythesea steams to the island, the further he is from his target as well as the more in danger he is.

All of the above has enough information to convince the gullible, or the American exceptionalists who just like to read about British people dying. However, rational scrutiny applied to it acts much like water applied to candy-floss: it dissolves it completely.