As soon as he had all his men back aboard HMS
Insolent Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain set off in pursuit of the escaping dhows. He had a good idea where they were headed – Marzibar – and knew that his steam-powered gunboat should be able to overtake the dhows within a day. When that happened he was determined to capture the dhows and their crews, and then to return any slaves that he found to their villages in Dammallia.
HMS Insolent in hot pursuit of the Marzibarian dhows.
The Marzibarian dhows. One of them has only half the number of crew that it needs, and it is already beginning to fall behind the others.
At first light on the morning following the attack on Raffia Island, the lookout aboard HMS
Insolent spotted the dhows ahead of them.
As soon as it was possible, Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain brought as many of his crew that could be spared from the pursuit together, and explained what they were going to do. It was his intention to try to pick off the dhows one-by-one, starting with the rearmost. He called upon his engine crew – and especially his stokers – to do everything possible to ensure that the
Insolent was able to achieve and maintain her designed top speed ... or to even better it!
Slowly but surely HMS
Insolent shortened the distance between herself and the Marzibarian dhows.
Progress was slow, ...
... painfully slow at times, ...
... but eventually she came alongside the rearmost dhow, ...
... and for the first time in many years, sailors of the Royal Navy – armed solely with cutlasses and pistols – boarded an enemy ship at sea!
The fight was short and bloody, and after half of the dhow's crew were killed, the remainder surrendered.
When the dhow's hold was opened the sailors found more than thirty slaves in manacles ... and a stack of ivory!
Having left a small prize crew aboard the dhow, ...
... Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain continued the pursuit.
At this point the two dhows began to separate, and Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain decided to chase down the smaller of the two first.
HMS
Insolent closed the gap between herself and the smaller dhow ...
... and signalled to it to stop by firing a shell across its bows.
When this failed, the British gunboat fired at the dhows mast ... which it hit!
HMS
Insolent came alongside the stricken dhow ...
. and sent across an armed boarding party ...
... which quickly subdued the crew of the dhow. A search of the dhow revealed the presence of more slaves and ivory, and after leaving his Ship's Carpenter and a small prize crew aboard the dhow ...
... Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain went in pursuit of the third dhow.
As he got closer to the dhow HMS
Insolent's lookout spied smoke on the horizon.
This indicated the presence of the Marzibarian gunboat
Sultan Abdulla, which was sailing towards HMS
Insolent and the dhow at maximum speed.
As the
Sultan Abdulla approached, she began signalling to HMS
Insolent. The signal enquired why the British gunboat appeared to be chasing a Marzibarian merchant ship.
Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain signalled back that he was in hot pursuit of the dhow, which he believed was carrying an illegal cargo.
Meanwhile, the distance between the two warships was shortening, and the
Sultan Abdulla seemed to be trying the get between HMS
Insolent and the dhow.
This reckless manoeuvre caused HMS
Insolent to turn away in order to avoid a collision.
Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain was, however, able to get his gunboat astern of the dhow, but the presence of the
Sultan Abdulla prevented him from getting alongside it.
At this point the
Sultan Abdulla appeared to have given up sending a boarding party aboard the dhow, ...
... but then she cut across the bows of the British gunboat, ...
... forcing her to turn ...
... and giving the dhow the opportunity to escape.
By now Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain was becoming very frustrated by the actions of the Marzibarian gunboat, and signalled her captain to stop hampering his pursuit. The Marzibarian replied that he would do everything in his power to protect the Marzibarian merchant ship from '
the unwarranted attempts to seize and search the ship of another nation without due cause'. The Marzibarian did, however, offer to send a boarding party from his own ship aboard the dhow to ensure that there was no illegal cargo aboard it.
As neither slaves nor stolen ivory were 'illegal' in Marzibar, Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain regarded this 'offer' as nothing more than a delaying tactic, and the three ships continued to manoeuvre around each other. The result was inevitable ... and when the captain of the
Sultan Abdulla 'misjudged' a turn, his ship collided with HMS
Insolent.
Although his ships was not badly damaged (the hole below the waterline that was caused by the Marzibarian gunboat's ram was soon plugged, and the pumps were quite capable of dealing with the water that was seeping in), Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain realised that he had no alternative but to break off from the chase and return to port in order to repair his ship and to appraise Sir James Deville of recent events.
It gave Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain little pleasure to turn for home and to watch the Marzibarian dhow sail away, escorted by the
Sultan Abdulla. One day he hoped to get his revenge on the Marzibarians who had cheated him of his prize ... and he hoped that that day would not be long coming.
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