Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 104 St. Augustine ([-])

The East Coast Eagle, the Red Trout and the Beagle also lined up in the Matanzas River. A total of 28 artillery pieces of various types started the first round at a distance of 800-900 meters. Salvo. At this distance, the artillery of the pirates can't reach, but the artillery of the privateer formation is at the best range. If the pirates want to be able to effectively counterattack each other, they must brave the enemy's artillery fire and advance several hundred meters. And this distance, for a steel cannon with a firing rate of one or two per minute, it can already cause huge damage to you.

Under the command of the officers, the gunners of the privateer formation showed their level of training. They stuffed the shells into the barrels, rammed them, and then watched them whizzing towards the enemy's ships, making waves on the enemy's ships. Each wound.The pirate ships pulled their anchors and raised their sails in a panic. In order to get a more accurate shot at the Spaniards, all the ships lowered one or two anchor chains, but at this time these anchor chains became their shackles.These pirate ships could not move in place, and became the best target ships. The artillery on the Spanish castle was limited by factors such as weight and body-to-diameter ratio. There may only be a few two or three that can blast so far, but the privateers of the East Coast Republic Of the 28 guns firing in the formation, all 24 steel guns were within range.

The 24 artillery pieces aimed at the closest pirate ship, and the hundreds of shells that fell in just a few minutes severely damaged the ship: the sides were completely smashed, and some gun carriages were simply broken up; The sprit was broken, the sailor's lounge on the second floor of the forecastle was hit by explosive bombs many times, and the storage room on the ground floor was penetrated by solid iron bullets; The sheet rigging on the front side was interrupted by chain bullets, and the entire sail surface fluttered with the wind; A piece of hell on earth.The entire boat turned around uncontrollably on the river and blocked the path of several other boats.

"Good shot!" Lu Ming praised with the binoculars hanging around his neck. "If you hit a snake, you will be killed with a club. Keep shooting and sink her! Don't let her get close!"

The remaining four pirate ships braved the artillery fire from both sides (the other side was the Spanish city artillery), and began to work hard to raise the sails and anchor, ready to maneuver.The artillery on the starboard side of their ship also began to fight back, but the shells fired by the short-barreled cannons were so weak that they all fell on the river 200 meters in front of the privateer formation.

The shelling continued, and the privateer formation ignored the several pirate ships that were turning around, and continued to beat the dogs in the water with a torrential shell.Finally, after more than ten minutes of continuous shooting, the unlucky three-masted pirate ship was no longer overwhelmed, and a large amount of water began to flood the bow waterline, and the pirates abandoned the ship one after another to escape.

"Next! The one closest to us on the front right!"

Intensive artillery fire came out again.The solid iron bullets hit the opponent's side deck one by one, and the chain bullets hit the huge sail surface on the opposite side. Almost all of them were shot directly within the sight range, which made the destructive power of the shells even more astonishing.

The Matanzas River, which is only 600 meters wide, made it more difficult for these sailing boats to turn around. When the first boat turned around, the boats behind were still dawdling and busy.The navigators endured the shells falling from both sides, and carefully controlled the speed and direction of the ship to prevent the ship from running aground accidentally.

The pirates who were attacking the castle in St. Augustine's neighborhood also stopped at this moment, staring blankly at the artillery battle on the river.They subconsciously felt that the three warships of the opponent were reinforcements from the Spaniards, so they were a little panicked for a while.The pirates stopped attacking, and the defenders of St. Augustine would not be stupid enough to provoke them. Therefore, the land front stopped.Both warring parties looked at the center of the river, where the seven warships of both sides (the bow of the first pirate ship was seriously flooded and lost its balance) were engaged in a fateful battle.

Captain Coster was really a little scared at this time. The enemy's fierce and decisive artillery fire made people's hearts tremble. The 12 small cannons on his ship, the largest of which were no more than 12 pounds, could not compete with it. There is absolutely no bargain here.Moreover, most of the sailors on their own ship were attacking the Spanish castle on the shore at this time, and there was a shortage of manpower to defeat the enemy by jumping gang tactics. This battle was really impossible to fight.

So, should we continue this battle?Just now, he was only focused on attacking the Spaniard's castle, and he didn't have time to transport the supplies grabbed in the block back to the ship. If he ran away, not only his reputation would be greatly reduced, but he would also not earn any money.But if you don't retreat, rushing up is not an option. Seeing that the "Esmeranda" closest to the enemy has been hit by dozens of shells, the few sailors on the deck have suffered heavy casualties. If you lose your own boat, it will be just as miserable.Whether to retreat or not, Captain Coster quickly made a decision.

"Pfft! Pfft!" There were repeated sounds. This was the sound of solid iron bullets fired by pirate ships piercing through the baffles of the warship's side covered with cooked cowhide. fell to the ground.

Lu Ming frowned slightly. This was the first shell hit by the "Eagle on the East Coast" today, causing two casualties.The opponent's ship has been hit by hundreds of shells, but her waterline has not been effectively penetrated by the 24-pound shells on the privateer battleships. Therefore, although she is scarred, she still floats tenaciously on the water and fires from time to time. fight back.

Pirates are not fools, they can distinguish their current situation.The power of the enemy's artillery obviously exceeded their expectations. The ultra-long range allowed them to shoot calmly outside the range of most of their artillery without worrying about being counterattacked.

And the timing of their appearance was too embarrassing. At this time, most of the personnel on the ships had been sent ashore to attack the Spanish fortress, and only some gunners and sailors who controlled the ships were left on board. The equipment is obviously not enough for the pirates to use their tried and tested tactics of jumping gangs to win this sudden naval battle.

Then, it is naturally easy to make a decision at this time.Captain Coster's "Lucky" and his direct descendant's "Black Bread" responded recently. They turned the sail yard tacitly and quickly headed south of the Matanzas River.Immediately behind them was the "Tortuga". She used the "Esmeranda" which was at the end and was engaged with the enemy as a cover, and fled south.

The poor "Esmeranda" is about 600 meters away from the "Eagle of the East Coast" at this moment, and is in a disadvantageous state of facing the enemy with its bow.They have obviously discovered the shameless act of their accomplices running away. Naturally, they have no interest in fighting against three gunboats with fierce firepower alone, but the sad reality makes it impossible for them to retreat smoothly-just a round of violent During the bombardment of the bombing, the rudder bars controlling the direction under the poop gallery were damaged.

Therefore, she had no choice but to stay where she was and spend time with the enemy.

"What's going on?" Lu Ming looked at the battle situation in front of him, feeling a little depressed, "Why hasn't it sunk yet?"

"Sir, the enemy's bow is now facing us, and the bombing area is small. It takes a little luck to sink the opponent."

"The 24-pound gun continued to fire solid bullets, and the rest of the artillery was replaced with explosive bombs, mainly for anti-personnel. Didn't he want to jump to the gang, I will let you have no one to use! In addition, the army can come up, and there are still a few enemy troops behind. A ship, no, they're turning and fleeing."

"Sir, are you chasing me?"

Lu Ming thought for a while, then shook his head: "Don't chase! Let them go. Their ships are empty and fast. In fact, we can't catch up even if we want to. Moreover, there are hundreds of pirates waiting on the shore Let's deal with it, we don't need to kill them all. Alright, let the ship approach and try to capture this ship."

The three warships of the privateer formation turned around and approached the "Esmeranda".At the same time, some of the small and medium-caliber artillery on the ship had already begun to be replaced with explosive bombs. One after another, the shells landed on the "Esmeranda" and exploded in all directions, causing considerable damage to the sailors on the deck. .In particular, dozens of shells fell near the positions of the two 8-pound guns on the gun deck on the top floor of their forecastle, and all the gunners were killed or injured.

The distance continued to shrink, and at this time it had entered the range of 300 meters.At this distance, a 24-pounder cannon only needs to fire a few rounds to kill.At this time, the "Esmeranda" finally stopped its meaningless resistance, and a white flag was raised on the remaining topmast.

Army soldiers boarded the dilapidated "Esmeranda" in a small boat. After controlling the cabins of the entire ship, they found that the officers and sailors on the 350-ton warship who could breathe at this time had already died. There were less than 20 people, and all of these people who were alive were injured, many of them were seriously injured, and it was obvious that there was no possibility of continuing to live.

In addition, another tragedy was discovered by the soldiers. A large hole was broken below the waterline on the right side of the "Esmeranda" ship, and the gushing river water was pouring into the bilge along the hole.After receiving the report, the officers quickly rushed into the hold, and while organizing the soldiers to seal the leaks with canvas, they began to transfer the few belongings on board.

After working for more than half an hour, the property was finally transferred, but the river water in the bilge was increasing. Obviously, they failed to effectively plug this loophole.In desperation, Lu Ming had to order to abandon the ship.

After all the army soldiers withdrew, Lu Ming ordered the three warships to turn and head towards the river bank.And behind them, the lonely "Esmeralda" is sinking slowly...

(End of this chapter)