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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 297677" data-attributes="member: 1645">Chapter IX -- The Race for Durres (continued)The landing of the troops of the first wave had taken longer than it should have....Before long, the strong breeze that traditionally blew from the south on January nights dropped away.  Soon the empty transports were drifting helplessly, within sight of the coast....Thirty of Caesar's troopships were captured.At least Caesar is lucky enough to lose his transports after they've delivered their payloads....Bibulus decided to make an example of the captured vessels."Burn them," he ordered."And their captains and crews, Admiral?" a subordinate would have asked."Leave them where they are."Brutal.The burning bolts [dipped in tar] were fired at the cargo vessels.  Soon all thirty were burning fiercely as the crews of the warships all around them watched the spectacle in engrossed, ghoulish silence.  Those crewmen on the thirty doomed transports who didn't burn to death were drowned when they jumped into the cold, dark waters to escape the flames.  Any who tried to swim to the Pompeian warships were fended off, and they, too, were eventually claimed by the waves.Grisly.</blockquote>