Battle of Shoeburyness

The Battle of Shoeburyness in early March 1808 ended Napoleon's occupation of Britain. It was fought at the mouth of the Thames near the town of Shoeburyness and involved 200,000 men, 300 dragons and 24 ships-of-the-line. As a result of his role in managing this battle, Wellesley was rewarded with a ducal coronet and took the name Wellington.

Throughout February 1808, Admiral Nelson had been busy sweeping the Channel clean of French shipping and beating away at the regular French dragon flights, thus depriving Napoleon of reinforcements in Britain. In order to conceal Nelson's return from Copenhagen, his ships concealed their flags, painted over their names and sometimes hid in home ports.

By the beginning of March, Napoleon's connection to the Continent was all but cut off and the British countryside had risen against him. To tempt him into battle, Wellesley brought his troops, both human and draconic to the mouth of the Thames and set them with their backs to the sea. They were instructed to hold rather than advance upon the French in front of them, the plan of battle being for the troops to hold the centre until a signal was given, and then to withdraw along either flank.

The morning of the day of the battle was marked by a thick fog rolling in from the sea. By afternoon, after more than six hours of battle, the British were in danger of losing their centre to the French before they could give it up voluntarily, yet the signal flags still flew the signal hold fast.

It was at this point that Perscitia came up with the idea of making firebombs out of the carrying harnesses the dragons had been using to transport the Army. She doused the bundles of harnesses with all of the liquor she could get from the supply wagons (thereby almost causing a riot among the human troops the next day), along with a bit of tar and pepper, then distributed them to the other dragons to drop from on high, where Iskierka set them alight. The fireballs fouled the line of the French dragons, creating weaknesses that the British dragons could exploit.

The fighting continued until, just after Majestatis spotted ships approaching, the order came for the British troops to yield the centre