HMS Africa

At point-blank range, almost all the cannons of a large British warship were too high to aim down at the little gunboats, but the gunboat's cannons could easily fire up at the British.

On October 15th, 1808, a convoy of British merchant ships was sailing home from Sweden, guarded by a small escort of Royal Navy warships, most notably the HMS Africa, a ship of the line which had fought with Nelson at Trafalgar, commanded by Captain John Barrett.

They were shadowed by a large flotilla of 32 Danish gunboats under Commodore Johan Cornelius Krieger.

The Danes and the British could see each other, but Krieger didn't dare attack such a formidable escort.