Fleet Attack in the Gullet

The Fleet Attack in the Gullet was one of the bloodiest sea battles of the Dance of the Dragons. The Triarchy’s attack threatened the Black forces’ maritime position and struck at Driftmark, while the battle’s human and material losses proved costly even to the victors. The fighting also killed Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, heir to the Iron Throne, and left his younger brother Viserys believed dead.

The attack and its immediate stakes

As 129 AC drew to a close, Jacaerys was preparing an attack on King’s Landing for the first full moon of the new year. That plan was overtaken by events at sea. Otto Hightower’s negotiations had secured the Triarchy’s alliance, and ninety warships sailed from the Stepstones under the banners of the Three Daughters, heading for the Gullet. The Pentoshi cog Gay Abandon, carrying two Targaryen princes, met the fleet on its way.

The ships escorting the cog were sunk or captured, and the Gay Abandon fell into Triarchy hands. Aegon Targaryen the Younger escaped by clinging to his dragon Stormcloud and reaching safety. He was nine, had never flown before, and would not fly again: Stormcloud was gravely wounded during the escape and died within the hour. Viserys Targaryen could not get away. He hid his dragon’s egg, changed into ragged, salt-stained clothes, and tried to pass as an ordinary ship’s boy, but another boy aboard betrayed him. A Tyroshi captain recognized the prince; Sharako Lohar, the Lysene admiral commanding the fleet, soon took custody of him.

The battle around Dragonstone and Driftmark

Sharako divided his force to attack the Gullet from both north and south of Dragonstone. The battle began early on the fifth day of 130 AC. The warships approached with the rising sun behind them, using the glare to surprise Corlys Velaryon’s galleys. They rammed some ships and boarded others, but left Dragonstone itself untouched. The southern squadron attacked Driftmark instead: its men landed at Spicetown, while fireships set vessels in the harbor ablaze. By midmorning Spicetown was burning, and Myrish and Tyroshi forces were attacking High Tide Castle.

Jacaerys joined the fighting on Vermax, diving toward a line of Lysene galleys. The Triarchy’s sailors had faced dragons during the Stepstones war and met the attack with the weapons available to them, including spears and arrows. The arrival of four more dragons changed the balance: Silverwing, Sheepstealer, Seasmoke, and Vermithor joined Vermax. The Triarchy’s line broke under the assault. Its ships were destroyed or engulfed in flames, and men abandoned vessels for the water. The dragonriders’ intervention turned the sea fight against the attackers, but did not prevent the losses that followed.

Vermax and Jacaerys

The accounts of Vermax’s fall disagree. One version says a crossbow bolt struck the dragon’s eye, a detail the chroniclers regard with suspicion because it recalls the reported death of Meraxes in Dorne. Another says that a sailor in a Myrish galley caught Vermax with a grapnel as the dragon swooped over the fleet. The hook caught between his scales, and the chain, secured to the ship, tore a long gash as the dragon continued forward. Vermax then fell into a burning galley, became caught in its rigging, and sank when the ship went down.

Jacaerys escaped the wreckage but was struck by crossbow bolts from a nearby Myrish ship and disappeared beneath the water. His death was a defining loss for Rhaenyra’s cause: he was Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne. The battle had begun as a naval attack on the Black forces’ position, but its consequences reached directly into the royal succession.

Destruction and aftermath

The fighting continued into the night on both sides of Dragonstone. Of Sharako’s ninety warships, only twenty-eight survived to limp home; all but three of those were crewed by Lyseni. The defeat also opened a lasting quarrel within the alliance. Widows in Myr and Tyrosh accused Sharako of sacrificing their fleets while holding back his own, and the dispute helped set the Three Daughters against one another in the Daughters’ War two years later.

Driftmark suffered heavily. Spicetown was sacked and burned, and it was never rebuilt. High Tide Castle was also put to the torch. The treasures Corlys Velaryon had brought back from his eastern voyages were consumed in the fire, and many of his servants died as they tried to flee. The Velaryon fleet lost almost a third of its strength, and thousands of people died. The battle’s costs were not measured only in ships and settlements: amid the uncertainty after the fighting, survivors could not agree which ship had carried Viserys, and people on both sides presumed him drowned, burned, or killed. Aegon Targaryen the Younger survived, but blamed himself for escaping while his brother remained captive. Corlys, congratulated on the outcome, answered with a lament that made clear how little victory could console him for what had been lost.