Nassau and the other three proved inspired choices for the flotilla,64 the two Americans less so. Jones generated resentment and excitement: Fanshawe and Bentham were not impressed with the 'celebrated, or rather notorious', Jones and the former declared that 'nothing but the presence of the enemy could induce us to serve with him and no consideration whatever could bring us to serve under him'.65 In Petersburg, Segur wrote a very modern if flattering letter about Fame to Potemkin: 'I did not expect having made war in America with Brave Paul Jones to meet him here so far from home but Celebrity Attracts Celebrity and I can't be surprised to see all those who love glory ... coming to associate their laurels with yours.' But Segur presciently begged Potemkin to be fair to Jones and never 'condemn him without having heard him'.66
On 20 May 1788, Nassau saw the forest of masts of the Ottoman fleet in the Liman off Ochakov. 'We have to make a dance with the Capitan-Pasha,' Nassau boasted to his wife.67 He swore to Damas that, in two months, he would either be dead or wearing the cross of St George.68
Ghazi Hassan-Pasha, the Capitan-Pasha, commanded eighteen ships-of- the-line, forty frigates and scores of rowing galleys that brought his flotilla to over 109 ships, considerably more than the Russians in numbers and tonnage.69 The Capitan-Pasha himself, renegade son of a Georgian Orthodox servant on the Barbary Coast, was the outstanding Ottoman warrior of the later eighteenth century, the latest in the tradition of the Algerian pirates who had come to the Sultan's rescue. The 'Algerine renegado', instantly recognizable by his 'fine white beard', had seen the inferno of Chesme and rushed back to protect Istanbul; defeated the Egyptian rebellions against the Sultan; and won the nickname 'the Crocodile of Sea Battles'.70 He was the darling of the Istanbul mob. When Lady Craven visited his house in 1786, she recounted the magnificence of his lifestyle and bounty of diamonds in his wife's turban.71 He was always accompanied by a pet lion that lay down at his command.
Potemkin, again suffering an attack of nerves, wondered if he should evacuate the Crimea. 'When you are sitting on a horse,' Catherine replied, 'there is no point in getting off it and holding on by the tail.' Potemkin sought reassurance from his Empress rather than actual evacuation - and that was what she gave him.72
The Liman or estuary of the Dnieper was a long, arrow and treacherous bay that stretched thirty miles towards the west before it opened into the Black Sea. It was only eight miles wide, but its mouth was just two miles across. The south shore was Russian, ending in Kinburn's narrow spit, but its mouth was dominated by the massive fortifications of the Ottoman fortress of Ochakov. It was of great strategic importance because Ochakov was the principal Russian war aim of the first campaign. But it could not be taken if the Ottomans controlled the Liman. Furthermore, the loss of the battle would leave the Turks free to attack Kinburn again, advance fifteen miles upstream to Kherson and possibly take the Crimea. Potemkin's strategy was to win naval control of the Liman and then besiege mighty Ochakov, which would open communications between Kherson and Sebastopol, protect the Crimea and win a new expanse of coastline. So all depended on the Prince de Nassau- Siegen, Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones and the Crocodile of Sea Battles.
On 27 May, Potemkin marched out of Elisabethgrad with his army as the Capitan-Pasha gathered his fleet. On the morning of 7 June, the Capitan- Pasha advanced along the Liman with his rowing flotilla backed by his warships. It was a gorgeous and impressive sight - 'better than a ball at Warsaw', thought Nassau, 'and I'm persuaded we'll have as much fun as Prince Sapieha dancing "l'Allemande"'. Nassau and Damas showed each other portraits of their women back home. The Turks opened fire. While Jones's squadron was held back by a contrary wind, Nassau used the light Zaporogian chaiki on his left to attack them all along the line. The Turks withdrew in chaos. The Capitan-Pasha fired on his own retreating forces. He was, after all, the man who had solved the problem of lazy firefighting in Istanbul by tossing four firemen into a blaze pour encourager les autres.
Nassau and Jones ordered their respective fleets to give chase. Bentham, who was commanding a division of seven galleys and two gunboats, saw his heavy artillery win the day but got his eyebrows singed when one of his cannons exploded.73 The First Battle of the Liman was more of a stalemate than a rout - but it was encouraging.
'It comes from God!', exclaimed Serenissimus, whose army was camped at Novy Grigory, where he had consecrated a church to his patron St George. He embraced Ligne.74 Surprisingly in a man notorious for his indolence, Potemkin's concept of command was all-embracing and was combined with a mastery of detail. He supervised the flotilla's manoeuvring, its formations and the signalling codes between ships and Kinburn. He thought first about the ordinary men: he ordered Nassau to let each man have a portion of eau de vie (spirits) daily and he specified that meals were to be served on time, always hot, and had to include vegetable soup and meat on holy days. When summer came, the men were to wash daily. But most remarkable were his views on discipline. 'I am entirely persuaded', he wrote, that 'sentiments of humanity' contributed to the health of the troops and their service. 'To succeed in this, I recommend you to forbid the beating of people. The best remedy is to explain exactly and clearly what you have done.' Contemporaries saw Potemkin's humanity and generosity to his men as mad, indulgent and dangerous. This would have been regarded as mollycoddling in the Royal Navy half a century later.75
Nassau and Jones became rabid enemies: the reckless paladin was not impressed with Jones's sensible preservation of his ships, while Jones thought Nassau hated him because he had 'extracted him out of his foul-up and peril'.76 Both complained to the Prince, who tried to keep the peace while secretly backing Nassau. 'It is to you alone', he wrote two days later, 'I attribute this victory.'77 But he also ordered him to get on with Jones: 'Moderate a little your fine ardour.'78
On 16 June, the Crocodile decided to overcome the stalemate by bringing his entire fleet, including battleships, into the Liman. 'Nothing could present a more formidable front that this line extending from shore to shore,' wrote Fanshawe, so densely packed that he could see no interval between their sails. The attack was imminent. That night, after the arrival of another twenty-two Russian gunboats, Nassau called a council of war. Jones declared, 'I see in your eyes the souls of heroes,' but advised caution. Nassau lost his temper, telling the American he could stay behind with his ships if he liked, and ordered a dawn pre-emptive strike. The two admirals were now fighting their own private war.
Damas led the assault on the right with his galleys, gun-batteries and bomb- ketches, while Bentham and Fanshawe backed by Jones's battleships, Vladimir and Alexander attacked the hulking Turkish ships-of-the-line. The Turks advanced towards them blowing trumpets, clashing cymbals and shouting to Allah but, rattled by the Russian pre-emptive strike, they soon tried to retreat. The flagships of their Vice-Admiral and then Ghazi Hassan himself became stuck on shoals. Damas' gunboats pounced on them, but Turkish fire managed to sink a smaller Russian boat. When Jones noticed the shoals, he stopped the pursuit with his ships-of-the-line. Prudence won him no friends. Bentham, Fanshawe and the rest pursued in their lighter gunboats. But the piece de resistance came in the afternoon when Damas succeeded in destroying the Crocodile's flagship. Its explosion was 'a magnificent spectacle', recalled Fanshawe.79 The 'Algerine renegado' continued to command from the nearby spit. As night fell, the young Englishmen stepped up their chase. The Turks withdrew beneath the guns of Ochakov, leaving behind two destroyed ships- of-the-line and six gunboats.