Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 148 Navy and Pirates ([-])

It is indeed the bombardment of the 32-pound long-barreled naval gun!

In the fearful and shocked eyes of the Englishmen, in Chen Tumu's unbelievable eyes, and in Guo Zili's surprised eyes, the tall and majestic hull of the double-decked battleship "August [-]th" appeared faintly. In the fog.Immediately behind the "August [-]th" were two escort gunboats-the "Eagle of the East Coast" and the "Sea Writer".

The "August [-]" inserted slowly and resolutely into the sea behind the stern of the "Beagle", separating the newly added ships from the British, and then the artillery on the left and right sides fired together.

What a spectacular scene that was!Within a distance of less than 100 meters, dozens of artillery pieces fired at almost the same time. Through the dense fog, we could vaguely see the densely packed gun windows flashing from time to time in the densely packed gun windows on both sides of the "August [-]th" ship. A group of orange flames, like a fire-breathing monster.

Clifford looked in shock at the super battleship on the sea that looked like a tiger breaking into a flock of sheep, and almost forgot to think for a while.

"Huh..." A 24-pound solid iron ball crashed into the deck of the "Lucky Jenny" with a piercing scream, directly piercing through the one-meter-thick ship plank, and the broken pieces of wood fell into the air. Splashing around, creating chaos.

"Captain, we must retreat! This is a battle line gunship! Even in the Kingdom and the Netherlands, there are not many such powerful warships, we must retreat!" Nick's anxious voice came over.

The sea breeze gradually picked up, blowing away part of the dense fog.William Clifford stared intently at the tall warship that was showing off its power on the sea not far away, with an expression of anger and helplessness on its delicate and tough face like a knife and an axe.

"Nick, the 'Lemon' can't go away, and the 'Warrior' is also seriously damaged, and I'm afraid it won't be able to return. We made an oath before we set off, and I can't abandon them and escape alone. Besides, many sailors on our ship are still there. Fighting on the enemy's ship." Clifford said dejectedly, "Now take the traffic boat to the 'Prosperity' and retreat with Captain Morris. His ship has suffered a lot, and he is no longer able to continue fighting."

"Captain..." Nick was at a loss.

"This is an order!" Clifford raised his voice, "I hope Mr. Hampton's ship that is still in the south can escape in time. Also, I authorize you to work with Jenny to sell part of my property after returning to London." , to compensate gentlemen for their losses. This rash battle was started by me, and I must be responsible to the end."

Nick was silent for a while, then turned and left.The sailors lowered a traffic boat, and Nick went down to the boat. He took a last look at William Clifford who was still standing in front of the fence of the captain's cabin, and then rowed with the sailors to the "Prosperity" armed forces not far away. merchant ship.

The gunners on the "Lucky Janney" aimed all 6 artillery pieces on the port side at the "August 1th" not far away, and then started shelling at a high rate of fire of two rounds per minute.The "August 32", which was hit by several shells, ignored her harassment, still staring at the "Warrior", which was entangled with the "Beagle", and beat it fiercely.The powerful 24-pound and 100-pound shells easily penetrated its weak ship plank at a distance of [-] meters, especially the breach created under the waterline caused a large amount of seawater to be poured into its bilge, which has already affected the ship. balance.

The desperate sailors frantically rushed into the bilge to try to seal the hole, while using muskets and small cannons to shoot at the "August [-]th" in vain until the ship gradually began to sink...

Eye-catching evacuation signal flags have been hoisted on several masts of the "Lucky Janney", which made the remaining British merchant ships feel amnesty, and they turned their bows one after another, trying to escape in the thick fog.

The two escort gunboats following the "August [-]th" let go of several British merchant ships in the downwind direction, and began to contain the "Lemon" which was trying to turn.After the "August [-]" solved the "Warrior", it turned to aim its guns at the "Asuka", which was also entangled with the "Beagle".

John Hill on the "Flying Bird" wanted to die at this moment. His ship was tightly connected to the enemy's ship, and more than half of the sailors and officers on board were on the enemy's deck. Even including his own nephew.

Oh, God, the devil turned the artillery on, Hill trembled, watching the orange flames flashing at the porthole of the battleship in the fog, he subconsciously lay down on the deck.

"Clatter..." An 18-pound iron bullet easily penetrated the bulkhead, and the expensive glass on the window of the captain's cabin was also shattered, all of which fell on Hill's head, face and neck.

"Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!" Hill raised his head and shouted, but no one responded to him.He turned around and saw his first officer lying in a pool of blood. A stray bullet had been shot in his chest from nowhere. It was obvious that he couldn't survive.

Hill stumbled and rushed to the bridge on the third floor of the poop. Thankfully, the navigator and several officers were still there.

"It's a pity, Mr. Captain. Although your nephew is still fighting bloody battles on the enemy's deck, we must retreat, otherwise we will be sunk by the enemy's battleship." The navigator shouted anxiously to Hill , the other officers were silent and did not speak, but they all looked at Hill with hopeful eyes.

"Retreat!" Hill waved his hand feebly, "I hope we are lucky enough to escape through the fog."

The sailors on the "Flying Bird" removed the hooks that held the two ships and cut the rope net, and at the same time took out the long poles to push the two ships away; After turning the yard, it took a lot of effort to finally turn the head successfully, and braved the fierce artillery fire from the "August [-]th", slowly fled outwards.

The English sailors who had boarded the ship and were fighting saw this scene and cursed angrily one by one, and instantly lost any fighting spirit.Some sailors retreated in the direction of the "Lucky Janney" under the organization of the officers, while others jumped into the sea in despair, floating on the sea and calling for help to the departing "Bird".

Seeing that the "Asuka" quickly broke away from contact with the "Beagle" and fled outwards, the battleship "August [-]" also began to adjust its course hard, trying to chase and kill the past.Reluctantly, its size was too large, its steering was slow, and Captain Hill of the "Asuka" decisively ordered to drop a large amount of cargo to reduce the weight of the ship, so he was allowed to escape into the thick fog. "Day" can only bitterly send a few shells as a last gift.

The drastic changes on the battlefield were seen by both warring parties, and the sailors and soldiers on the "Beagle" who had been besieged by three ships for as long as an hour also showed infinite fighting power at this time.

The once-disbanded army re-arranged into a relatively dense formation, and shot dead the sailors of the "Lucky Janney" one by one with volleys of guns.When encountering those who occupy a favorable terrain and resist stubbornly, the armored grenadiers decisively stepped forward and threw a small bomb in the past, and then everything was resolved.

The overall situation of the battle is set.

The captain of the "Lemon", Cole, a cloth merchant from Bristol, still wanted to continue to resist after being surrounded by three gunboats including the "East Coast Eagle".But the sailors obviously didn't want to accompany him to die. They took Captain Cole, the first mate, boatswain and other officers who insisted on continuing to fight into custody, and then raised a white flag on the top of the mast to beg for surrender.

The resistance on the "Lucky Janney" was much more intense.

She made the last turn to retreat after seeing the Warrior sink and the Lemon surrender.During the retreat, several 8-pound and 12-pound guns on the ship were still firing shells non-stop. The ship's side and superstructure of the "August 12th" suffered no less than ten shells during the process, especially the [-]-pound iron ball that hit the captain's cabin directly shattered an oil painting hanging on the wall , which made Captain Lu Ming very annoyed.

After the "Lemon" was dealt with, the "Red Trout" and the badly damaged "Beagle" stayed to receive enemy warships, prisoners and supplies, and the "East Coast Eagle" and "Sea Writer" also followed suit. He rushed over quickly, and outflanked the "Lucky Janney" from left to right, just like the "Lucky Janney" surrounded Guo Zili's two-ship formation at the beginning of the battle.

The two sides only chased at close range for hundreds of meters on the foggy sea, and the mast of the "Lucky Janney" was interrupted by the chain bombs fired by the "August [-]".The broken mainmast crashed onto the deck, crushing and injuring several British sailors who were manipulating the yard, and at the same time causing chaos on the deck.

The speed of the "Lucky Janney" suddenly slowed down, facing the three warships of the First Fleet that quickly surrounded it, it still insisted on resisting and refused to surrender.In desperation, in order to avoid the casualties of its own soldiers, the "August 100th" canceled the battle with help.At a distance of 32 meters, a [-]-pound long-barreled heavy artillery was used to continuously bombard the waterline of the "Lucky Janney", breaking a terrifying hole in it, and the turbulent sea water suddenly poured into the "Lucky Janney" ship. hold.

The battle came to an abrupt end at this moment.

The remaining sailors on the "Lucky Janney" finally stopped their meaningless resistance.Under the watchful eyes of nearly a thousand officers and soldiers from the three warships of the First Fleet, they lowered four transportation boats from the deck, and dozens of English officers and sailors jumped into the boats, and then raised a white flag to express their surrender.

After obtaining the permission of the Commander-in-Chief of the First Fleet and Lieutenant Commander Lu Ming, the second officer of the "Lucky Janney" boarded the battleship "August [-]th" as a surrender representative under the escort of the officers and soldiers of the First Fleet. Came in front of Lu Ming.

(End of this chapter)