Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 100 St. Augustine ([-])

In other words, the more I look at the front, the more I find it unpleasant. I always have the urge to delete and rewrite the first 30 words lol

"Two three-masted sailing ships with a speed of 5 knots have been found in the west, and their identities are unknown! Repeat, two three-masted sailing ships with a speed of 5 knots and no flags have been hoisted due to the west, and their identities are unknown!" Alarm bells, then blare the deck with tin horns.

After hearing the movement, the officers in the captain's room on the second floor of the stern building of the "Eagle on the East Bank" flocked to the aisle immediately, and took out their binoculars to observe.Those two sailboats looked like merchant ships, but they didn't fly any flags that could identify them, which was very suspicious.Thinking of the numerous pirates here, Lu Ming and the others couldn't help becoming nervous.Their enemies are not only the Spaniards, but also pirates!

"They raised the auxiliary sails and are approaching us at full speed! Warning! They are approaching us at full speed!" The lookout's hoarse voice came along the sea wind.

"Turn the yard, head 15 degrees east of north, and raise the auxiliary sail." Lu Ming ordered loudly, "Hang up the green follow flag, and order the 'Red Trout' to stay in line with our ship."

The sailors started busy on the deck in a hurry.After a while, the "East Coast Eagle" completed its turn, and under the action of the strong southwest wind, it left towards the northeast like an arrow off the string, and the "Red Trout" followed closely behind.After seeing them turning to flee, the two unidentified ships also adjusted their course and pursued them relentlessly.The tonnage of their ships is about 400-500 tons, and their speed is slightly faster than the two privateers on Lu Ming's side. It seems that the reason is that the weight of the ships is relatively light.

At this time, the distance between the two sides is only three or four nautical miles. According to the current speed of the two sides, the privateer formation will be overtaken in about three hours, and a big battle seems inevitable by then.

"Speed ​​up and get out of this sea area. There are many coral reefs below this sea area. We are not familiar with the hydrological conditions here. There is not much room for our ships to maneuver." Lu Ming explained to some officers behind him, "And our combat method is completely different from the gang-jumping combat played by these pirates."

Two hours later, the two ships of the privateer formation had sailed to the North Atlantic Ocean more than ten nautical miles northeast of New Providence Island. At this time, the distance between the two sides was less than one nautical mile.

"Full left rudder, seize the upper hand!" Under Lu Ming's order, the "Eagle of the East Bank" made a big arc to the left, and went straight to the left rear of the two enemy ships behind, while the "red trout" "Fish" is still closely behind.

The sudden change made the two enemy ships a little puzzled. The prey who had been fleeing desperately just now suddenly turned around to face it!How is this going?Do you know that you can't escape, so you have to come desperately?In any case, this is a good thing. Judging from the depth of the draft of their ship, you can tell that the ship must be fully loaded with cargo, and you will make a fortune now!

The "Eagle of the East Coast" sailed southward with difficulty against the westerly wind, and the two enemy ships had already raised the red flag at this time, which was to warn the opponent that if they resisted, they would not be forgiven by them.

"Bah!" Lu Ming spat contemptuously.He has seen these two pirate ships clearly. Although the tonnage is larger than his own, each ship is only equipped with about 10 cannons, and the largest caliber does not exceed 12 pounds.Instead, the deck of the ship was crowded with a large number of sailors, with machetes or flintlocks in their hands, and they seemed to be ready to jump gangs at the right time.This is also the traditional combat method of the pirates. After all, their goal is to capture the ship, not to sink the ship, so it is necessary to carry a large number of people for gang combat.

"It's already within the firing range of the bow gun, Commander-in-Chief, do you want to fire?" The gunner reminded Lu Ming.

"Don't shoot blindly! Keep sailing south, get closer, and try to use the broadside fire."

The ships on both sides are constantly changing and adjusting their directions. The privateering formation is trying to gain the upper hand and at the same time find an opportunity to give full play to the power of its side artillery.The pirate ship is looking for opportunities to get close and then rely on help to fight.

Another gust of sea breeze blows.At this time, the "Eagle of the East Coast" and the "Red Trout" were connected end to end, heading southeast, with a speed of 3 knots; while the two pirate ships were in parallel direction, heading due north, with a speed of 4 knots, and were still turning the rudder to the left, trying to Straight into the middle of the "Eagle of the East Coast" and the "Red Trout", the distance between the two sides has been shortened to within 800 meters.

"Fire!" Following Lu Ming's order, the two bow guns and the eight port side guns of the "Eagle on the East Bank" launched a salvo almost at the same time, and the sea was filled with smoke. After the "East Coast Eagle" opened fire, the two 12-pound bow guns of the "Red Trout" also joined the firing ranks.

The results of the first round of shelling were disappointing. None of the 12 shells hit, and the most reliable shell was more than 100 meters away from the enemy ship.However, their shooting obviously aroused the anger of the pirates. They clamored loudly on the deck, and those faint sound waves could be heard on the "Eagle of the East Coast" hundreds of meters away.

The well-trained gunners quickly completed the preparation steps before firing again, and the 12 artillery pieces within the shooting range roared and sent out fiery shells.It's a pity that this round still didn't yield anything, and the bumpy wind and waves greatly reduced the shooting accuracy.Many shells passed over the pirate ship's deck and fell into the sea behind.

The distance between the two sides continues to narrow.At this time, there were already 16 artillery pieces on the "Eagle on the East Coast" and "Red Trout" that could participate in the shooting. Under the orders of the officers, the gunners did not stop, rolled up their sleeves, loaded the ammunition and fired again. There was a salvo.

This time it finally came to fruition. Two 18-pound shells fired from the "Eagle on the East Coast" hit the forecastle of an enemy ship at the front, knocking the top gun deck to pieces. The 8-pound gun also seems to have been damaged by the gun carriage.

The pirates became more and more frustrated, their cursing voices were clearly transmitted through the sea wind, and the language seemed to be British.

The gunners were unmoved. This time, the gunners on the "Red Trout" were the first to finish loading. Almost all of the 12 side guns were fired, and the iron projectiles with huge kinetic energy roared and flew towards the enemy ship.But the pirates were obviously lucky today. Most of the 12 iron bullets missed. Only one magical shell passed the pirate ship in front and hit the rigging cabin of the pirate ship behind, killing one unlucky pirate. .

Lu Ming breathed a sigh of relief. He obviously forgot to bring a front sight when he went out today, and his luck was not very good. He fired nearly 4 shells in 60 salvos, but only 3 of them hit.You must know that this is direct shooting at a distance of 700 meters, and the number of live ammunition fired by the gunners during normal training is definitely far more than that of any navy at this time. Such a hit rate is really embarrassing.

But the good luck of the pirates always runs out.

"Boom! Boom!" The fifth salvo came soon, and this time the 20 artillery fired a perfect salvo at a distance of 600 meters.Almost half of the shells hit the pirate ship that rushed to the front, and the large and small shells pierced the opponent's forecastle full of holes.The area near the sailors' rest room on the middle floor was the hardest hit area. The thin wooden walls were almost smashed, and some pirates who couldn't dodge were killed on the spot; the gun deck on the third floor was ravaged for the second time today. The pirates on the road were swept away by three iron bullets, and more than a dozen of them lost some part of their bodies in an instant, which was horrifying to watch.

"Turn left! Sail southeast! Keep a distance from the enemy ship." The "Eastern Eagle" and the "Red Trout" began to turn along the southwest wind, and began to gradually distance themselves from the two pirate ships.But because the two pirate ships failed to seize the upper hand, they could only adjust their course clumsily against the wind, and were extremely passive for a while.

The two warships of the privateer formation that were turning around were reloaded with explosive bombs and chain bombs, and continued to fire.At this time, the distance between the two sides was about 800 meters, and the short-barreled guns on the pirate ship could not shoot that far, so they could only passively bear the opponent's artillery fire.During the four rounds of bombardment, a pirate ship that had not been shot and was intact was hit by explosive bombs in succession.Scattered shell fragments exploded among the crowd on the deck, causing one tragedy after another.

The entire turning process lasted 10 minutes, and during these 10 minutes, the two pirate ships were still unable to close the distance between the two sides, but instead withstood the shelling for a full 10 minutes.

The privateer formation was lucky this time, and they maintained a very high hit rate during the bombardment that lasted for more than a dozen rounds.The gun deck on the forecastle of this pirate ship was almost completely destroyed, the mizzen mast was also interrupted, the topsail and topsail of the topmast were damaged in a large area, the speed had dropped to 2 knots, and the loss of personnel was extremely heavy. It looked extremely miserable.

"Haha, come up, there's another ship! The gunner hastened to cool down the gun body." Lu Ming observed through the telescope that another pirate ship seemed to be adjusting its course, preparing to flee northeastward with the wind.After witnessing that the enemy has such a powerful firepower and he can't get close for a while, any captain with a normal IQ would not choose to stay and fight recklessly.

"Hang up the blue signal flag and tell the 'Red Trout' to split up and shoot freely. Let us deal with one of them, and let the two pirate ships that ate the guts of leopards stay." Lu Ming began to order, and at the same time "Eagle of the East Coast" "" has adjusted its course, and sailed quickly towards the north, preparing to intercept the fleeing pirate ship.

The pirate ship sailed smoothly and left at full speed towards the northeast wind.However, on the way they left, the "Eagle of the East Coast" had already arrived at the side of their route, and the black muzzle was pointing at them. If they wanted to leave, they would have to pay a high price.And in the rear, the battleship "Red Trout" was approaching the damaged pirate ship, ravaging the opponent with broadside artillery.

The outcome of the battle is already doomed.

(End of this chapter)