May 27th, 2025 Next Summary May 29th

Politics - Trump Rebukes Putin after air strikes 

- New Sanctions?

- PATRIOT Missile Gap?

Combat Ops - Russian gains in center 

Economy - EU energy purchases exceed Ukraine aid

Weather

Winds nominally remain manageable, but the gusts will present some problems for the smaller drones.

Kharkiv

80 and mostly cloudy, gusting to 40. Cloudy all week increasing chances of thunderstorms through the week. Daily lows around 60, daily highs mid 70s. Winds easterly, 10-15kts.

Melitopol

77 and rain showers, gusting to 25. Rain showers end tomorrow morning, then partly to mostly cloudy through Friday, weekend more rain. Daily lows around 60, daily highs in the upper 70s. Winds easterly, 5-10kts.

Kyiv

77 and rain showers, gusting to 30. Rain and thunderstorms continue tonight and all week, through Friday afternoon. Daily lows in the mid to upper 50s, daily highs in the 70s. Winds variable, 10-15kts.

Politics and Diplomacy

President Trump had sharp words for President Putin following the air strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure over the weekend:

"I have always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has simply gone crazy! He is killing a lot of people for no reason, and I am not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being launched at cities in Ukraine for no reason. I have always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just part of it, and maybe that will turn out to be true, but if he does it, it will lead to the collapse of Russia.”

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Trump is considering new sanctions against Russia in the wake of those strikes, but didn’t offer any clarity as to what this new sanctions might include.

Ambassador Kellogg, President Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, reports that the US has received Kyiv’s list of conditions for ending the war but is still waiting for Russia’s list. During the most recent Trump - Putin phone call, Putin promised a memorandum stating conditions.

The Economist is reporting that the US is unable to provide more Patriot missiles to Ukraine as a result of the current limits on production. Current production is 500 PAC-3 missiles per year, though Lockheed is in the process of increasing production to 650 missiles per year, with a goal of achieving the rate by some time this year.

Lockheed produces approximately 20 “PAC-2” missiles per month, and are trying to increase that to 35 per month by the beginning of 2027. PAC-2 has a longer range, while the PAC 3 is more capable against a ballistic missile in its terminal phase.

Ground Operations

THE RUSSIAN CENTER - Between Toretsk and Pokrovsk

Russian forces have pushed into Popiv Yar and the terrain just south-east of Poltavka (about 6 miles due north of the big bend in the T0504 roadway). This positions Russian forces to next move on Rusyn Yar (on the west side of the roadway) and push further into Yablunivka (on the east side), and reports suggest that Russian forces were, in fact, repositioning to strike into Yablunivka today. Further south in the pocket, Russia’s MOD claimed that Stara Mykolaivka has been taken by Russian forces, and fighting was reported just north of that town in the town of Zoria.

THE BORDERS

Russian forces continue to attack south-west from their positions inside Sumy Oblast, and imagery confirms that Russian forces now control Bilovody, a small farming village located about 15 miles north-east of Sumy, about 3 miles inside Ukraine. It is a village of two parallel streets on opposite sides of a river, with 488 inhabitants before the war started.

Ukrainian forces remain active near Tetkino, but there were no other reports of Ukrainian forces active in Kursk Oblast or on the border with Kursk or Belgorod oblasts.

North of Kharkiv Russian forces were active inside Vovchansk and may have retaken the aggregate plant. The plant, as you may recall, has changed hands several times in the last 6 or 7 months.

NORTH OF THE DONETS RIVER

Fighting continues along most of the line of contact, but the only change in the lines took place north-west of Terny, with Russian forces gain ground in the vicinity of Ridkodub. 

BAKHMUT

Russian forces appear to have made some minor gains in the Chasiv Yar area and just south of Chasiv Yar, with varying claims of how far they have pushed into Stupochky (just south of Chasiv Yar).

Russian forces were also active immediately north and west of Toretsk, but it isn't clear whether there were any gains in the last few days. 

DONETSK CITY

In the Pokrovsk sector fighting was noted in more than 15 towns over the weekend and Russian forces have again pushed across the T0406 roadway west of Pokrovsk. Small gains were also confirmed just south of Pokrovsk.

Fighting south of the Pokrovsk sector continues along a line from the Troitske area to a position between Oleksiivka and Andriivka to north of Rozlyv, through Bahatyr and Odradne and from  there south-west to the Vesele area, with Russian forces appearing to make some gains in and around Bahatyr and just west of that town. Fighting in the area is said to be “intense,” and along the front line small patches of terrain keep changing hands.

Fighting continues on the line from Novopil to Vesele and there are claims that Russian forces have advanced in the area of Zelene Pole (just north of  Novopil), with Russian bloggers claiming that Zelene Pole has been circled by Russian troops. The Ukrainian General Staff has reported fighting in Zelene Pole which would be consistent with Russian forces encircling the town but, while credible, it has not been confirmed. If it is confirmed that is moving the front line forward several miles in just a couple of days.

There is additional reporting, also unconfirmed, of Russian forces just south of Komar, to include reserve forces being used into the area; Komar is the town north of Fedorivka on the Mokri Yaly River. Again, this is unconfirmed but if accurate would also represent moving several miles north (downriver) on the Mokri Yaly river and would be a significant gain.

SOUTHERN UKRAINE

Fighting continues on the front lines west of Orikhiv to the Dnepr River, particularly between Novoandriivka and Stepove, but there does appear to be any change in the front lines in the last several days.

Air Operations

During the night of  May 26th and day of the 27th Russian forces launched at least 1 x ballistic missile and 60 x Shahed drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down  35 drones, and 8 drones were “lost” (brought down by EW). Damage was reported in Chernyhiv (ballistic missile strike), Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson oblasts.

RuAF assets conducted air strikes on 16 towns across the front.

During the night of  May 25th-26th Russian forces launched 9 x Kh-101 cruise missiles and 355 x Shahed drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down all 9 cruise missiles and 233 drones, and 55 drones were “lost” (brought down by EW). Damage was reported in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, and  Odesa oblasts.

Russian air defenses claimed to have shot down 99 Ukrainian driers last night and this morning. There was no report on total number of drones or any sites hit or damage.

During the night of  May 24th-25th Russian forces launched 9 x Iskander class ballistic missiles, 55 x Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles, 1 x Kh-22 cruise missile, 4 x Kh-59/69 cruise missiles (60 total cruise missiles), and 298 x Shahed drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down 55 cruise missiles and 139 drones, and 2 cruise missiles and 127 drones were “lost” (brought down by EW). Damage was reported in Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil, and  Zhytomyr  oblasts.

Reports indicate 12 civilians were killed and 60 wounded.

During the night of  May 23rd-24th Russian forces launched 14 x Iskander class ballistic missiles and 250 x Shahed drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down 6 ballistic missiles and 128 drones, and 117 drones were “lost” (brought down by EW). Damage was reported in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa and Zaporizhia oblast.

During the night of  May 22nd-23rd Russian forces launched at least 2 unidentified ballistic missiles and 176 x Shahed drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down 91 drones, and that 59 drones were “lost” (brought down by EW). Damage was reported in Chernivtsi,  Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Poltava  oblasts; the ballistic missile struck Odessa oblast.

RuAF tacair conducted strikes in at least 16 towns along the front lines.

UAF personnel report that Russian forces are using fewer cruise missiles and more drones as their drones improve in capability, allowing them to substitute cheaper drones for the more expensive cruise missiles. At the same time the UAF reports that Russian Iskander ballistic missiles have been provided a terminal maneuvering capability that has made the missiles more difficult to hit, reducing the probability of intercept. 

The strikes reported above constitute 3 of the largest air strikes of the war, with 903 strike drones launched in 3 days, plus 25 ballistic missiles and 60 cruise missiles, and as with most of the other large strikes, targeted civilian infrastructure. What is not known is the amount of damage to civilian infrastructure. The total number of people killed or wounded has also not been reported but presumably is on the order of 100 casualties, with perhaps 20 killed and 80 wounded.

Economic Reporting

Feb22   Jun10-22Jun8-23 Jan8 Feb7 Mar4 Apr8 May8 May23 May27

Brent      94.71      120.90    75.58      76.69 74.89 70.00 64.80 61.93 63.63 64.34

WTI     92.10    119.50  71.29      73.94 71.17 66.97 61.37 59.00 60.38 61.12

NG       3.97        8.41      2.15      3.66 3.37 4.44 3.69 3.64 3.23 3.32

Wheat     8.52       10.71    6.17      5.37 5.86 5.37 5.38 5.34 5.44 5.31

Ruble     85        58.48    82.59    105.18 96.88 89.50 86.24 82.45 79.63 80.33

Hryvnia Pre Oct 2023 - 36.4 42.33 41.46 41.40 41.18 41.55 41.52 41.64

Urals 56.56    71.76 68.32 65.49 52.76 54.13 58.42 58.71

ESPO 78.19 N/A 71.50 70 48.90 64.40 64.19

Sokol 72.79 70.92 67.20 61.42 57.39 59.14 59.57

The German magazine BILD reports the EU will pay Russia more than 20 billion Euros ($22.5 billion) in 2025 for gas, oil and uranium, which is more than the total military aid that Ukraine will received from the EU.

In 2024 the EU spent 22 billion Euros on energy from Russia, and provided Ukraine with 20 billion Euros in military aid.

Thoughts 

There are two conflicting analytic streams and the differences are becoming increasingly important. The first is that the Russian casualty rate is so excessive that the Russians cannot sustain these loss rates and, in essence, something has to give. One open source analytic estimate recently commented that at its current rate of advance Russia would require 3.9 years to finish seizing the four claimed oblasts, and to seize the desired buffer zones would require 91 years and cost 50 million casualties.

This assessment is predicated on three assumptions: that the casualty figures published daily in western capitals is accurate, that Ukrainian casualties, which are never discussed, are manageable, and that the Russian operational aim is primarily to seize land.

Are these assumptions true?

The few efforts to accurately count up Russian casualties (outside of certain capitals with an interest publishing very large numbers) yields 110,000 to 165,000 Russian KIAs, a significant variance from the remarkable daily figures produced in Western capitals.

As to the seconds point, last October the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior spoke out of school and stated that there were 55,000 missing in action, and later admitted that “most of them are dead.” Since then, the Ukrainian government has admitted that there are 50,000 Ukrainian KIA and 56,000 MIA. And everyone admits these numbers are low, and most privately admit they are likely very low. Sources inside the Ukrainian government have reported to the Wall Street Journal that there are 70 - 80,000 KIA as of last fall and 35,000 MIA (presumed dead). In short, added together you have more than 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed, though they may not be calling it “killed in action."

That puts the two casualty figures in the same general range. When you also remember that Russian KIAs include 10,000 or more penal colony troops, the losses of Russian soldiers comes down and these two figures start looking similar. Yet Russia has more than 4 times as many people as Ukraine.

This is of significance as the Russian casualty statistics are being used to justify a strategy to prolong the war. Yet it isn't clear at all that Ukraine is in a better position for long term demographic survival as is Russia. And getting this wrong would accelerate Ukraine’s demographic troubles.

Finally, there I the assumption that the Russian primary aim on the battlefield on a daily basis is to capture land. While the Russians do want to capture land, the stated goal tactically has been, since at least late 2022, and possible as early as summer of 2022, to inflict casualties. This makes measuring ground gained or lost a relatively meaningless statistic.

All of which leaves a good deal of doubt surrounding the assumptions. Which leads to this one key point:

Before anyone makes any hard decisions on what Europe or NATO are doing with Ukraine, there needs to be hard data, confirmed data, on the actual casualty rates on each side.

Then the US needs to answer this question:

Is defense of the Ukraine a vital national interest to the US and does it warrant committing limited resources? The case of the PATRIOT missiles is one case of many.

And then there needs to be a hard study as to what is in the realm of the possible. 

Can the US and NATO defend Ukraine and defeat Russia without precipitating the use of nuclear weapons by Russia? At what cost?

Can the US and NATO defend Ukraine and at the same time execute a strategy to contain China? 

Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to work to expand their holdings along the rest of the Ukrainian border, clearly an effort to answer calls from last year and the year before for a “buffer zone.” What I have found is no clear reference to what they are doing with the areas they have taken; let me explain.

 Russian forces in early 2022 were mainly focused on expanding their holdings; as a result they over-extended and were pushed back, with Ukrainian forces retaking terrain west of the Dnepr River, land around Sumy and in northern Ukraine, and land east of Kharkiv, and north of the Donets River pushing Russian forces east of the Oskil River, and in fact east of the Zherebets River, to a line that nearly matched the P66 roadway.

At that point the Russians brought in their engineers and began to build defensive positions along the entire Russian line: lines of trenches, tank barriers (so called “dragon’s teeth,” concrete blocks that a vehicle can’t roll over) fighting positions and very dense mine fields. These defensive positions were well conceived and the Ukrainian offensive in the summer of 2023 failed to fully penetrate the defensive line south of Orikhiv (the site of deepest penetration). Two things have happened since then, the Russians have improved their lines, based on the lessons they learned in defending the liens in 2023, and, as they have moved forward, the Russians have been moving defensive lines forward.

But, what is not clear is whether they have built the same sort of heavy lines in the small salients north of Kharkiv, or whether they have started building such defensive lines on the terrain the control north-east of Sumy. THe Russians will continue to pursue a buffer zone, but how they go about developing that buffer zone will have a great impact on what Ukraine would need to do to reclaim land.

v/r pete

 

Memorial Day 2025

Nuku Hiva

As Memorial Day is upon us, here is a brief look at another mostly forgotten incident in which some Americans carried out their duties and lost their lives in service to our country. The value of some of these various incidents may seem questionable when looked at from a distance oof 212 years, but that they were willing to die for their country, for our country, is not.

And so, to the South Pacific.

If you have seen the movie “Master and Commander,” you were introduced to the idea of a man-o-war running into the Pacific Ocean and “poaching” whaling ships. It happened several times, and Patrick O’Brian was a well read author and had a good deal of history to draw from. One of those incidents, and reportedly the inspiration for O’Brian’s novel, was the cruise of USS Essex in 1813. As with much of history, the real story has to be simplified as it would be to fantastic to be believed as a movie…

Essex was built in Salem, Mass. by Enos Briggs at his yard on Winter Island; Briggs had built a yard on Winter Island where there was deeper water so that he could build larger ships. Briggs had established a reputation for building fast ships and Essex was said to be the fastest warship in the US Navy shortly after she was launched in 1799.

Essex was 140 feet “between perpendiculars,” a term that means the distance between the rudder post and where the bow of the ship touches the waterline. This is the major bulk of the ship’s hull and the rest, the “overhangs” won’t contribute a great deal more either in carrying of cargo (if a cargo ship) or carrying of guns (if a warship). She had a 36 ft 6 inch beam and had a draft of 12 feet 3 inches. This is very close to the ship used in the filming of Master and Commander; a look at her will give you a good sense of Essex.

Essex was rated as a 32 gun ship, but was initially fitted out with 26 x 12 pound cannon and 10 x 6 pounders. She normally had a crew of about 250 - 300.

Less than a month after Congress declared war on 18 June, 1812 USS Essex was placed under the command of newly promoted Captain David Porter (step-father of David Farragut, first admiral in the US Navy, and father of David Dixon Porter, the 2nd admiral in the US Navy); it is of note that two earlier captains of Essex were Edward Preble and William Bainbridge, two of the great early captains in the Navy. 

When Porter took command of Essex her armament had been changed to 40 x 32 pound carronades, 6 x 12 pounders, and 4 - 6 pounder for long range shooting. The carronades obviously fired a heavier ball, but they were short-barreled, which meant a shorter range, and Porter complained to the Secretary of the Navy that a Royal Navy frigate with long guns would stand off and pick Essex apart without fear of getting shot. Nothing was done to fix the situation.

Porter took Essex south and patrolled in the Caribbean for several months and returned to New York in September having captured 10 British ships, to include 1 sloop of war, HMS Alert.

Porter refitted Essex and headed south again, this time to patrol off Brazil, where he took, among other prizes, a Post Office Packet (until 1823 the Royal Post Offices packets operated sparely from the Royal Navy) that had, among other things, some 16,000 British pounds aboard (roughly $75,000). To put that in perspective, Essex had cost $139,000 to build 14 years earlier; Captain's pay in 1812 was $75 per month.

In January he took Essex around Cape Horn and into the Pacific, his intention being to raid the British whaling fleet. The ship took a beating getting around Cape Horn, but they captured two schooners and then pulled into Valparaiso for repairs and provisions in March. After repairs Porter headed for the whaling grounds and over the next 5 months captured another 13 ships. They then headed to the Marquesas for water, food and some repairs, thinking that he would have less chance of running into the Royal Navy Squadron the he knew was searching for him, if he stayed away from the coast of South America.

The Marquesas are, I suppose, known to most people probably for its brief mentioning in the Crosby, Stills and Nash song “Southern Cross” (written by Steven Stills). But the Marquesas are a long way away from anything. A bit more than 500 miles south of the equator, they lie 800 miles north-east of Tahiti, a bit more than 2,000 miles south-south-east of Hawaii and 3,000 miles south-west of Mexico.

The island of Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas, about 131 square miles in size. To give you a sense of that, Lanai in the Hawaiian Islands is 140 square miles, Whidbey Island, Washington is 169 square miles, Martha’s Vineyard is 91 square miles.

Islands of the South Pacific are of two sorts: flat and seemingly ready to be washed away at the next high tide, or a mountain rising out of the sea, like something out of an adventure novel. They rise up over the horizon in front of you as you approach, a dark blue gray that only takes on greens and browns as you get close. Nuku Hiva is of that type, with a 4,000 foot mountain on the western edge of a central plateau, and lower mountains on the northern and eastern edge of the plateau. Melville’s “Typee” was written based on his stay on the island.

One more note on the Marquesas: the first people arrived in the islands around 1200 and by the 1700s the population was roughly 80,000 - 100,000. However, exposure to European sailors and lack of immunity to various diseases - measles, small pox, flus and colds - decimated the population and by the middle 1800s the population had fallen to 20 - 30,000. The current population of the Marquesas is a bit more than 9,000.

On 25 October, 1813 Essex dropped anchor in the large bay at the center of the south coast of the island, Taioha’e bay, which Porter christened Massachusetts Bay, and immediately set about building a small fort, which he named Ft Madison after President Madison, the first US base in the Pacific. He made an agreement with the local tribe - the Te L’i and made them subjects of the US. The Te L’i were happy to hear that, but Porter was unaware of some details.

He set the crew to work repairing the ship and scraping her copper bottom. The crew, on dry land for a change, and entertained by friendly Island girls, were quite pleased.

What Porter was unaware of until after he landed was that the islanders were in the middle of their own war, with three separate tribes: the Te L’i, the Happah, and the Tai Pi, in what was a three-way fight - until Porter landed.

The Te L’i, astounded by Porter’s cannons and rifles, convinced Porter to come with them and attack a Happah camp in a natural redoubt in the island center. Porter agreed, sending his XO, LT John Downes, of Canton, Mass., and 40 men and a 6-pounder cannon to the interior. Accounts vary as to whether Lt Gamble, USMC, had 20 or 40 Marines, and the raiding party may have had 40 Marines with it and just a handful of sailors, and several hundred Te L’i warriors.

They reached the natural fort and found between 3,000 and 4,000 Happah warriors inside. After a brief fight 5 Happah had been killed and an known number wounded. The wounded were killed by the Te L’i, armed with war clubs, who then took bones from the dead for ornaments. Downes later commented to Porter that he was surprised but there was no eating of the dead. 

One US sailor was wounded, but they otherwise had no casualties. The defeated  Happah negotiated a peace and then joined the Te L’i to fight the Tai Pi. (The fight seemed to distill down to which tribe was going to control the west coast of the island).

Porter decided to attack the Tai Pi positions along the coast, using one of his captured “prizes,” which he had renamed “Little Essex.” The operation reportedly included more than 200 war canoes and more than 5,000 Te L’i and Happah warriors in what was certainly the largest US amphibious landing in the Pacific in the 1800s.

Porter, leading 36 men (mostly Marines) and a cannon, chased the Tai Pi to a fort they had built, but Porter and his men were ambushed on the way in the jungle and heavy fighting continued for several hours, with the Happah and Te L’i deciding discretion was the better part of valor and leaving Porter and his men in the jungle, running low on ammo.

Gamble had his sharpshooters cover their withdrawal and they made it back to the beach with only 1 killed and several wounded, including LT Downes, with a broken leg.

The Te L’i and Happah now turned on the Americans and Porter realized he needed to show that he had superior forces or there would be a massacre. He took a force of men - most of his Sailors and Marines - into the interior to attack the Tai Pi again. They reached a position overlooking the Tai Pi town (actually a cluster of 12 villages with perhaps 10,000 Tai Pi) on November 28th but they were exhausted and the gunpowder was wet. He delayed the attack until the 30th and let his powder dry. They fought through another ambush and Porter sent word for the Tai Pi to surrender and waited. After several hours there was no answer and he ordered an attack. Porter later described the aftermath as “a scene of desolation and horror.”

But the Tai Pi admitted defeat and sued for peace, offering, as Porter noted, “countless hogs” as a peace offering.

So, by early December some sort of peace had been restored to the island, and by the 9th Essex was repaired and ready to sail.

Porter left Lt Gamble and gave him three captured whalers, and set sail, telling him that he would be back. Gamble was left in command of three ships (all seized whalers): Seringapatam (made of teak), Sir Andrew Hammond, and Greenwich, plus 2 midshipmen, 19 sailors, and 6 British prisoners, though it appears that 10 of the 19 sailors were also British. Lt Gamble thus became the only US Marine to ever command a US Navy ship.

Porter actually had a brief mutiny of sorts, as his sailors wanted to stay, but he flogged three men, and he banished one England born sailor to the island, and order was restored. Porter and Essex and Little Essex departed.

Porter and Essex left Nuku Hiva on December 9th and headed for Valparaiso, reaching that harbor on 12 January 1814, with the intention of getting new provisions, powder and shot, making some repairs and returning to pick up Gamble and his men. But on reaching Valparaiso they learned that there was a civil war ongoing in Chile, and the harbor was, apparently crawling with British agents; word was quickly passed to the the Royal Navy and dispatches were sent out.

On February 3rd, before he head had time to fully provision his ships, the Royal Navy had arrived. HMS Phoebe - 36 guns, but 30 of them were 18 pound long guns - as Porter had foreseen, in company with the 18 gun HMS Cherub, arrived off Valparaiso and blockaded the Port, trapping Essex and Little Essex in the harbor. More Royal Navy ships were headed to Valparaiso. While they waited, Captain Hillyer of Phoebe learned that Essex was mostly armed with carronades.

On March 28th, with weather turning sour, Porter tried to make a break for it, but instead of the weather helping, a squall struck as he attempted to break into open sea and he lost his main topmast. There was some debate as to whether they were still in Chilean waters, but Hillyers engaged and, as predicted, remained outside the range of Essex’s guns. Porter tried to board Cherub and was nearly successful, but Cherub evaded. Essex caught fire twice, they put it the fires out twice, they kept fighting. Essex was hit more than 200 times, with 58 dead, 65 wounded, 31 missing: more than 70 jumped over the sides during the fires, the British ships picked up more than 40.

Porter tried to run Essex ashore and blow her up but the wind shifted and blew her out to sea. Finally, after a two-and-a-half hour fight, he struck his colors.

After being taken prisoner, Porter (and young David Farragut, 11 years old, wounded in battle) and the rest of the crew were paroled and sent home on USS Essex Junior, the renamed prize, and arrived back in the US July 1814. 

Meanwhile, Lt. Gamble remained at Nuku Hiva until May. On May 7th the 10 British sailors mutinied, released the 6 prisoners, and seized control of the ship Seringapatam. They headed to sea and left Gamble and 4 sailors - all five men were wounded - in a small boat, adrift. Gamble and the sailors reached the island the next day. Six other sailors were ashore and they were attacked by Te L’i, who killed 4 and wounded the other 2 sailors ashore. They then attacked the Sir Andrew Richmond. Gamble was the only man able to fight, the other all being more severely wounded, but the mall cannons placed on the ship had all been pre-loaded and Gamble managed to fight off the attack by himself.

Gamble then burned Greenwich, managed to get all the US sailors back on board, and on May 9th set sail in Sir Andrew Hammond, headed for the Sandwich Islands (as Hawaii was known at the time). 

Gamble had no maps, but reached Hawaii on 12 June, only to be immediately captured by HMS Cherub.

Five men on Nuku Hiva, and 58 men in Valparaiso Harbor, Chile, 1813-1814, consider them this Memorial Day for just a few minutes.