Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 143 Hunting (Part )

"That's the ship!"

As the huge, slender three-masted sailing ship from the northwest approached the Santo Domingo at an incredible speed, a sailor suddenly exclaimed: "This is the ship! I recognize it! Three years ago, it was this ship that hijacked the Maria at sea! ... Oh, God, it's coming again! ... We can't escape!"

"Its speed far exceeds our 'Santo Domingo', so we can't escape!"

"Captain..." First mate Orsola saw that Captain Carvajal's expression became a little tense, and his eyes were fixed on the pirate ship approaching from the northwest. He did not issue any orders for a long time.

"...Course, east by south!"

"...half-sail!"

"...raise the auxiliary sail!"

"...Ride hard to starboard, and seize the upper hand!"

"...Order the gun deck to be ready for battle!"

"Tell all sailors, it's time for us to fight to the death..."

"...Yes, Captain!"

The "Santo Domingo" was sailing eastward with difficulty against the southeast wind and the North Equatorial Current, while the pirate ship had already raised a red flag as a warning.

If you dare to resist, you will not be forgiven by them.

As the distance got closer, Captain Carvajal could see the huge sailing ship a little more clearly.

The opponent's tonnage was more than a circle larger than that of the "Santo Domingo". Although there were no gun ports on both sides of the ship, it must be equipped with powerful cannons.

"Captain, the pirate ship has entered the range of the bow gun. Should we open fire?" the boatswain asked loudly.

"Don't shoot blindly!"

"Keep sailing southeast!"

"We can't hit it from such a distance!"

As he spoke, Captain Carvajal turned his head and looked behind him. Seeing that the two pursuing ships had not closed the distance between them, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It seems that among these pirate ships, only the long and slender ship is relatively fast, and the other ships do not have much speed advantage over the "Santo Domingo".

The ships of both sides were constantly changing and adjusting their directions. The pirate ship in the northwest was heading southwest, and its speed may have exceeded 8 knots.

The "Santo Domingo" was heading southeast at a speed of 2 knots and was still turning right, trying its best to avoid the pirate ship approaching at high speed. The distance between the two sides had been shortened to about meters.

At the current speed of both sides, they will likely be intercepted by pirate ships in less than ten minutes, and a battle will be inevitable.
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"Turn the sail and head 15 degrees west by south." Looking at the Spanish "treasure ship" that kept changing its course in the front left, Wei Yingbin ordered loudly.

After receiving the order, several sailors on the "Breaking Waves" turned the capstan hard, turning the angle of the mast 15 degrees to the southwest to make better use of the wind.

The sailors on the mast constantly adjust the rigging and change the shape of the sail to adapt to the wind speed and direction.

A few days ago, four immigrant ships, led by the "Break the Wave", arrived in the waters near Guam and then dispersed to the west side of the island, waiting for the Spanish "treasure ship" that might pass through these waters.

Since they didn't know whether the Spanish would send merchant ships to Manila during this period, several ships agreed to stay in the area for ten days.

At that time, no matter whether the Spaniards come or not, as long as we do not wait for them during this period, we will immediately leave and try to cross the Philippine Islands before May.

Although this method of waiting for something to happen is stupid, there is always a glimmer of hope.

In fact, for the time travelers, whether they can intercept the Spanish treasure ship is secondary. They mainly want to use this as an opportunity to practice their "hunting" skills at sea.

At some point in the future, when facing the threat of the Spanish navy, we will at least be able to fight.

As the most important weapon for time travelers, the "Breaking Waves" has to play the role of the main force that is armed to the teeth and breaks through the enemy's formations.

Therefore, it is very necessary to practice with the Spanish "treasure ship" first and explore some traditional naval combat experience.

As orders continued to be issued, the sailors were busy on the deck.

After a while, the "Wavebreaker" completed the oblique insertion, almost forming a sharp triangular tip with the Spanish ship that was eager to escape, and rushed towards the other side like an arrow.

The Spanish ship obviously did not expect that the "Break the Wave" would be in front of it at such a fast speed, blocking its way to the east.

In desperation, it could only change direction and flee straight to the sea in the south.

The Breaker was a clipper-style three-masted sailing vessel, with a fully rigged mainsail and two side sails. Its design and construction were hundreds of years ahead of its time. Therefore, no other sailing vessel in its time could match its speed.

Theoretically, if the Wavebreaker could catch up with a 17th-century sailing ship, no one could escape it, as long as there was enough time!
"fire!"

"Boom boom boom..."

When the "Breaking Waves" was almost parallel to the Spanish ship, Wei Yingbin gave the order to open fire, and the four port-side guns on the deck fired a salvo almost at the same time.

Although the sound of the artillery fire was very loud, the effect of the bombardment was not satisfactory.

At a distance of less than two hundred meters, none of the four shells hit the target, causing several huge waves on the sea.

However, this move also stimulated the other party to some extent.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, the Spanish ship retaliated with more than five cannons firing in succession, and huge projectiles whizzed towards the "Wavebreaker".

Likewise, the other side's shooting also yielded no results.

Relying on its toughness, the "Wavebreaker" continued to bombard the Spanish ship with artillery fire while slowly approaching it, trying to block its escape direction and force it to slow down, so that several ships arriving from behind could join in the fight.

Under the command of the officers, a group of amateur gunners quickly completed the pre-shooting preparations again, and the four cannons roared and fired hot shells.

It’s a pity that this round still didn’t yield any results. The bumpy wind and waves greatly reduced the shooting accuracy.

Three shells landed behind the Spanish ship, and one shell flew over the enemy's deck and fell into the sea.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

The Spanish ships fired their cannons again and fought back.

This time, the enemy seemed to be lucky. Five of the shells missed, but one shell hit the starboard side of the "Wavebreaker" hard, making a loud "bang".

A sailor subconsciously leaned over to look.

It seems... there is no damage!
In order to avoid interception, the Spanish ship had completely deviated from its course to the south, but it was still unable to escape the approach of the "Break the Wave".

The Spaniards saw a cannonball clearly hit the starboard side of the enemy ship, but it seemed to hit a layer of "armor", bounced, and fell into the sea.

The opponent's starboard side seemed to have suffered no damage.

Could it be that the artillery was loaded with too little propellant, causing the shell to be soft and weak?

Inside the gun deck, the Spanish gunners could be heard cursing faintly, as if complaining that the loaders had made such a low-level mistake in such a dangerous situation.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

The "Break the Wave" fired another salvo, and this time it finally reaped rewards.

A 12-pound cannonball hit the stern of the Spanish ship, completely tearing a hole in its side plate, scattering wood chips and affecting several sailors.

At this time, the "Break the Wave" had already passed the bow of the Spanish ship by virtue of its speed, and then began to turn, trying to put the entire hull across the bow of the other ship, thereby seizing the "T" position and preventing it from moving forward.

"boom!……"

Suddenly, a violent explosion was heard on the gun deck of the Spanish ship, and thick smoke billowed out in an instant, accompanied by bursts of screams.

The Spanish artillery exploded!

Take advantage of his illness and kill him!
The Wavebreaker completed her turn and brought her starboard side towards the bow of the Spanish ship.

Then, at the officer's command, several artillery pieces fired another round of salvos.

At a distance of less than 100 meters, two shells hit the bow of the enemy ship.

Two huge holes were pierced in the thin wooden wall of the forecastle. Some Spanish sailors who were unable to dodge died on the spot. The broken wood chips flew everywhere, causing the surrounding sailors to wail.

"Attention all crew members, prepare to prevent collision!"

Although the Spanish ship tried its best to change direction in order to avoid the interception of the "Breakthrough", its speed did not slow down, and it seemed that it was ready to rush forward.

What? You, a wooden boat, want to sink our steel ship?

(End of this chapter)