The French Have Arrived
Now that Napoleon had revealed part of the truth, the entire nation, and everyone who knew it, naturally and firmly supported France's commitment to "fulfilling its international responsibilities" and protecting "the free flow of world trade routes." Thus, preparations for this expedition immediately began within France.
With its current strength, France could easily send a fleet capable of suppressing the two Britain sailing frigates at Cape Town. Two colonial cruisers would suffice. Although the colonial cruisers lacked armor, they were still steam-powered and far surpassed the sailing frigates in speed and seakeeping ability. As for firepower, the two sides were not even in the same league. Although the Britain sailing frigates had more cannons, the colonial cruisers' 75mm breech-loading rifled guns far exceeded the Britain sailing frigates in terms of power, range, and rate of fire.
Furthermore, because colonial cruisers omitted armor and had smaller guns, their coal bunkers were larger than those of armored cruisers. This meant that colonial cruisers actually had a longer range than armored cruisers, and even larger battleships, second only to super cruisers.
Supercruisers are clearly not an option for this, as they would draw too much attention. We need to make our fortune discreetly, without firing indiscriminately, so as not to attract unwanted attention and make it clear that our actions are unusual. Therefore, the France forces deployed must not be too conspicuous, making colonial cruisers the best choice.
However, the restrictions on the number of ships could be relaxed somewhat, so the navy selected three relatively new colonial cruisers and leased two passenger-cargo ships from the Europa Shipping Alliance (which was actually a shipping syndicate formed by France smugglers in the past) to carry personnel and weapons; and one pure cargo ship to transport coal for the fleet's round trips. After all, although South Africa also had coal resources, these resources were still undeveloped at that time. Moreover, due to distance and infrastructure issues, the development of Africa coal, iron ore, and other resources was not on the agenda in the short term. The French Navy itself did not have many transport ships, and their maritime power relied more on civilian resources. And transnational syndicates like the Europa Shipping Alliance were an important part of France's maritime power.
Everyone could see what ships the navy had deployed; the army was in a much better position, with the best personnel and equipment available. If it weren't for the concern about attracting too much attention, and if France hadn't just declared war on Britain, some field marshals would have wanted to lead the troops themselves. Of course, it was impossible to send a field marshal to such a small battlefield, but those sent were still relatively well-connected within the army. Firstly, they were more trusted, and secondly, it was a chance for them to gain experience—after all, the likelihood of defeat in this battle was slim.
Napoleon's marshals were generally young and lacked suitable heirs to carry out such missions. However, they had quite a few suitable relatives. Major Leon Berthier, the commander in charge of the land battles in this expedition, was a relative of Marshal Berthier.
Therefore, by the time the messenger carrying Babel's letter arrived in France, the France expeditionary force had already made all the necessary preparations. In fact, the French Army's expeditionary battalion had been practicing attack tactics for a long time at an abandoned old bastion.
So when the France received a plea for help from the Netherlands settlers in southern Africa, they dispatched a fleet with astonishing speed. Of course, the Netherlands, as the former colonial power of Cape Town, also sent a company of its army and chartered a passenger-cargo ship from the Europa Shipping Alliance to accompany the France fleet to South Africa.
The fleet consisted entirely of steamships, maintaining a speed of fourteen knots throughout the voyage. Even so, it still took twenty-four days for the fleet to reach the waters near South Africa. However, compared to the age of sail, this was already incredibly fast.
On that very day, two Britain sailing cruisers returned to the Saldanha Bay. This was a key area they were investigating, as its hydrological conditions made it ideal for building a harbor. The port that the Netherlands rebels had previously attempted to build was located in this area.
The Britain knew exactly what the Netherlands wanted to do; they definitely wanted to use this port to transport some very large items, such as cannons.
Moreover, although there were no telegrams and no information about the situation in Europe, the Britain in Cape Town learned at least one thing from the interrogation of the rebels: there was a huge conflict France and Britain, war could break out at any time, or even war might have already broken out.
Subsequent events exacerbated the anxieties of the Britain in Cape Town: for a considerable period of time, no Britain ships had entered Cape Town port. This unusual sign seemed to indicate that Britain and France were at war, and that the Britain were in a disadvantageous position at sea.
If this conjecture is true, then the subsequent events are easy to predict: the Netherlands will likely take the opportunity to send an army to Cape Town in an attempt to retake the port.
The British Army didn't think much of the Netherlands army's fighting capabilities, but they also knew that due to the disparity in equipment, they couldn't even defeat the Netherlands militia in open battle. Their only hope lay in their fortresses. And once the Netherlands expeditionary force brought in new cannons, even just one or two, their range and accuracy, far exceeding that of the old iron cannons, would pose a significant threat.
Therefore, the two Britain sailing frigates, along with other smaller warships, have been very busy patrolling the coast, searching for any ports the Netherlands might be building. The Saldanha Bay is the most important area to search.
The two Britain frigates circled the bay but found nothing unusual—port facilities can't be hidden. So they turned toward the bay's exit, preparing to leave. Just then, the lookout spotted several columns of smoke in the distance.
"Steamship spotted, at one o'clock!" shouted the lookout on the mast.
The only problem with steamships compared to sailing ships is that they are too easily spotted when sailing. So, at least during the day, under normal circumstances, sailing ships can always spot steamships first. Although they certainly can't win in a fight, the ocean is so vast that if a sailing ship tries to escape, a steamship might not be able to catch it.
But the situation is not good now, because they are in a narrow bay, and if they get stuck in the bay by those steamships, they will have no way to escape.
What makes things even more complicated is that the bay's outlet faces west, and the wind direction in this area is always very stable—being located in the westerly wind belt, it experiences westerly winds all year round.
The sailing frigates primarily use square sails, which provide excellent propulsion with the wind, but become less effective against the wind. In such cases, the triangular sail on the bow mast must provide power. Naturally, this results in a slow speed. For example, these two sailing frigates can reach about twelve knots with the wind, but against the wind, they can only manage about three knots. Moreover, this speed is actually reduced because sailing against the wind requires zigzagging a route instead of traveling in a straight line. Therefore, although they are only a little over two nautical miles from the bay entrance, whether they can escape the bay's exit before entering the steamship's view is uncertain.
Both frigates furled their mainsails, unfurled their triangular sails, and headed towards the entrance of the bay.
The wind was not strong in the bay due to the terrain, which greatly slowed down the ships. In order to speed up the ships and escape the bay before the steamships, the Britain had to move a lot of equipment into the sea to lighten the load. They even pushed the bow and stern guns into the water. If it weren't for the fact that the cannons in the enclosed gun deck couldn't be pushed out, they might have thrown these things away.
This approach did have some effect; after jettisoning a significant portion of the load, both ships increased their speed slightly.
Often, a tiny bit of speed, even just a tiny bit, can mean the difference between life and death. The two ships made it out of the bay before the steamship fleet arrived, and when the France fleet entered the bay, they could still see some of the things they had thrown away floating on the water.