Editor says, what if a small fortune had boosted the Jacobite chances of success during the spring of 1746? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.

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Editor says, in our timeline Talbot hailed some local fisherman he found out that he had a chance if he made for the Kyle of Tongue where his smaller ship should be able to sail in but the Sheerness would not be able to follow. The French ship would be trapped but the supplies could be put ashore with their guards and the ship could be scuttled to stop it being recaptured. Unfortunately the Kyle was narrow and no-one on the ship knew the waters so it soon ran aground on a sandbank at Melness on the west bank of the Kyle. The Sheerness managed to sail far enough up the Kyle for its guns to be in range of the trapped Le Prince Charles Stuart and it started a punishing bombardment.
In authoring this article, we have repurposed content from Wikipedia, Scottish Military and Jacqueline Riding's excellent article ("Charlie will come again") in the April 2011 Edition of History Today Magazine.

Jackie Rose commented on 2012-07-02 13:52:49 ~ Yes, a lot of AH stories have been written about Charlie Victorious, including my own "Hard Man." It is graciously mentioned here..and Bagpipelover was kind enough to call it "intriguing," which was praise indeed.. But none of us AH authors want to wait until the Bonnie Prince is an old man before he wins the throne...so why couldn't the French gold have been used to make him Prince Regent in 1746, rather than 30 years later?

Chris Oakley commented on 2012-07-03 16:33:08 ~ "My kingdom for a GPS!" ;)

Eric Oppen commented on 2012-08-31 06:58:01 ~ Interesting AH...would the Scots have been stomped on so hard after this Forty-Five?

Jeff Provine commented on 2012-08-31 15:03:01 ~ Good show of how close major events are; so little could've tipped the scales.

Christopher Lee commented on 2012-08-31 17:16:03 ~ What happens is that the grateful government of George II accepts a generous gift of £13k in French gold! I do not wish to be facetious but the 45 is already over by then (March 1746), the cash will make no difference, they have already retreated into the Highlands and have fofeited their gains in southern Scotland and England. The royal army under Cumberland is only days away and has developed tactics to defeat the Jacobites. The Highlanders are brave but poorly equipped and the force is beset by infighting. Charles himself was by common consent a poor leader, prone to rash decisions, such as organising an invasion and trying to force the French king's hand. He had a generally poor reputation at the time but has greatly benefitted from historical revisionism. So the money would have likely been taken in Charlie's baggage train as it fled for Inverness in the wake of the battle of Culloden. There was not enough time, nor a strategic position to build upon for Charlie to do much with it. Now, had that cash appeared in, say late October 1745, that might have been different. With the Jacobites penetrating deep into England and London still porrly defended the money might have given Charles the impetus he needed to impress the English Tories who seemed ot be hedging their bets and waiting to come out openly for some decisive success, say a Jacobite capture of London. I'm not sure that cash itself would have been the key issue, Charles had a dedicated and brave but small army. A substantial French force or mercenaries landing (to the value of £13k) would have been far more useful.