Late at night, 26 kilometers east of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay......

At the helm of the Jackdaw, Bell carefully rechecked the vane, straightened the compass on the side of the handwheel, and then stood directly in front of the handwheel and took the helm posture to ensure that the vanguard, compass, and sail were all in his line of sight.

Everything.

Lorraine glanced at the windshield that was turning happily, and casually said: "I still prefer to watch the wind with a turban, because once the boat is up, this head rushes backwards, and the rooster swinging left and right always gives me an unrealistic feeling, which makes me want to smash it." ”

"That's why Jazz said you wasted your talent."

Bell crouched down to examine the knots, not only the ropes that were about to be used to save his life, but also the back mast that would be scurrying over the top of his head.

"The assault distance of more than 20 kilometers is wider than the mouth of the bay that is about to be breached, and the coastline is out of sight for a long time, and it is still a night voyage. Even if I was at the helm, it was the first experience in my life......"

"You can tidy it up and show it off to Miss Aufe."

"Come on, she doesn't understand."

Lorraine shrugged, "So I'll never fall in love with a landlubber in the future." ”

"You?" Bell smiled contemptuously, "Only you think you still have the right to choose." ”

"Huh?"

"It's fine." Bell saw the dancing windy chickens, "The wind is in chaos." ”

The Jackdaw hoisted its sails.

First the towering mainsail in the middle, then the wide aft sail, the sailmen controlled the sail in the opposite direction, trying not to overly wind the Jackdaw.

But even so, the Jackdaw drifted faster, gradually outpacing the current, and the bow of the ship made a splash of breaking waves.

Lorraine stood behind Bell, on the deck at the very top of the stern, his hands clinging to the railing.

"The mainmast looks at henna, the foremast looks at Pierce, the main schooner Cran, and the rear schooner king. The bow gun door opened, and Acharin was in position. Katarina, the foredeck conductor, and Bale, the aft deck conductor, are in position. Gun doors on both sides are ready for battle, foremast, hoisting sails! ”

"Foremast hoisting!" Caterina ordered in a loud voice, and the clear female voice was especially visible in the night sky, reaching up to the sky.

The only sail of the Jackdaw was raised, a 26-meter-high mast with four separate sails, from bottom to top, from large to small.

Suspended in mid-air, the sail between the foremast and the mainmast was loosened by the sailors hanging on the cable, and then the bow sail that connected the foremast to the bow mast was also opened.

The snow-white sails swelled in the wind, and the sailmen of the mainmast and the aftermast worked together to drag the booms and pull the sails.

Full sails!

Lorraine suddenly felt a force pushing backwards, and the Jackdaw swooped forward, and as soon as Pu started, the speed of the ship climbed from a floating state of less than 0.5 to nearly 6 knots, and continued to improve, improve!

"Heading due west, wind speed force 4, and wind. USS Jackdaw, Chesapeake Bay Mouth...... Rush in! ”

Bell's eyes were fixed on the compass, his hands clenched on the wheel, and he locked the wind vane with his afterglow, catching the subtle tremor of the wind rooster on the front of the hula wind cup, rhythmically adjusting the direction of the ship at a very small angle.

The Jackdaw was almost always at the optimum angle of wind cut, and the trajectory of the entire voyage was unevenly folded, rather than straight or arc-looking straight lines.

What seemed like a longer voyage was actually more efficient, and Lorraine had gone to the bow and entrusted the entire aft deck command to Bell.

And Bell lived up to expectations, with the cooperation of Clen and Wang Ye, the two schooners and rudder were combined into a galloping whole, with the guidance of the two lookouts and the rudder front wheel, without deviating the course, it took less than 10 minutes to push the Jackdaw to the highest speed under the existing sail and wind conditions, 9 knots!

The foredeck was temporarily in a period of relative stability, and Caterina felt the wind and looked back at the back deck in shock.

"Captain, where did you pick up the monster...... Are our helmsmen children of the wind? ”

"The sea breeze is the divine domain of Niord's office, and Niord is my ......" Lorraine smashed her mouth speechlessly, "Katarina, don't you think what you just said is a bit rude?" ”

"No, because your god clearly prefers Mr. Helmsman to you."

Lorraine decided not to meet a woman, even if she was a female knight.

He raised his arm and pointed to the dark sea.

"Bell was originally Shaq. Drake's flagship helmsman, although he was not able to set foot on Bermuda's Long Beach due to various accidents, but with his knowledge of Shaq, he still thinks that we will encounter a blockade formation at the mouth of the bay. ”

"It just so happened that the intelligence of the Count of Galvez also mentions the blockade formation. The Lion, the Conqueror, and the Experiential took turns as the flagship, and there were two wingmen, one was an ordinary fifth-class ship, and the other was generally Baltimore's Brig, that is, the kind of frigate with winged sails and a maximum speed of 12 knots. ”

"We don't know in advance where they're going to set up the blockade, but luckily the mouth of the bay is wide enough that even if it's only two kilometers, we can try to avoid the dreaded Tier 3 ships and destroyers outmanpower our destroyers."

"The only trouble is that military high-speed ship, and we will die a miserable death if we get entangled in her."

There was no joy on Katerina's face. She whispered, "Running away is a pirate's specialty. Although the top speed is only 0.5 knots, I will let her know what the difference is between a high-speed military ship and a high-speed raider. ”

"I'll leave it to you."

……

Rush in! Rush in!

An hour and a half later, the galloping Jackdaw finally crossed 26 kilometers from its starting point to the mouth of the bay, approaching the wide Chesapeake Bay near the median.

In order to hide their whereabouts, there were no lights on the ship, and all the sailors ran in the moonlight.

But today, the moonlight is bright, and the visibility on the unobstructed sea can barely reach three kilometers.

The good lighting conditions gave the Jackdaw more room to evade, and on the other hand, it also increased the possibility of her being discovered, raising the risk of encounter.

Fortune and misfortune depended, and before the official breakthrough of the blockade formation, no one on board dared to take it lightly.

Routine briefings.

"Northwest of Cape Charles, 12 km!"

"To the southwest, 11 km from Cape Henry!"

Pierce and Henna's voices came one after the other overhead, and Lorraine used a compass to draw two arcs on the chart, and the intersection of the arcs was already close to the mouth of the bay.

He held his cheeks and guessed the location of the blockade fleet, and by the way, also guessed the flagship of the formation, and the possibility of encountering the Lion.

This may sound a little ridiculous.

Once the fleet grows in size to a certain extent, the administrative tasks that need to be decided by the admiral will explode dramatically, and the admiral of the large fleet will often cut back or even abandon his daily sailing tasks to free up time for chores.

Like Sir Parker, running around the major stations, the flagship is mostly independent of the working state is the normal rhythm of the British admirals.

But Lorraine knew that Shaq had never been good at handling affairs.

Whether it's paperwork or socializing, his desire to control everything, regardless of the occasion, can always mess things up, and only being on a boat can make him feel comfortable for a moment.

Even many years ago, when he was transferred to the logistics department during the promotion process, he often ran to other people's ships to occupy the magpie's nest on the pretext of checking the consumption of materials.

The captains delivered the letter of complaint to their home, and Elijah had to transfer him back to the field to barely quell the anger and fulfill Shaq's wish by the way.

Therefore, a man like Shaq would never give up the patrol mission, no matter how busy the chores and the schedule was, he would stay on board the ship when the Lion sailed, commanding a small team visible to the naked eye, looking forward to a moment of pleasure with his opponent.

"I'm looking forward to it, Shaq...... If only I could cut your head off, I wouldn't have to worry about all that boring anymore......" Lorraine laughed self-deprecatingly.

This wish is impossible to achieve.

Not to mention that the Jackdaw does not have the ability to take on the Lions at all, even if he makes a plan as much as possible, from the perspective of the Chamber of Commerce, Lorraine must avoid a head-to-head confrontation with the Royal Navy as much as possible.

Fighting is a breeding ground for hatred, and once hatred is solidified, Edward. Kenway would become a time bomb in the arms of the Drake Chamber of Commerce, and one day blow Lorraine and his Chamber of Commerce to pieces.

"It's really boring delusion......"

Lorraine shook her head, trying to get rid of the unrealistic distractions, when she suddenly heard Henna's shout.

"7 kilometers northwest of the ship lights, ten o'clock direction, relative speed 3.5!"

7 km? Ten o'clock?

Lorraine snapped ake, and made a mark on the chart as fast as she could.

A semicircle centered on the intersection of the two arcs of the square, covering the entire mouth of the bay and part of the bay, and there was a striking intersection in the direction of the center at ten o'clock, not from the unpredictable blockade formation, but from the pure black perfect circle......

"Shhhh Patrol Formation Six? Good luck! ”

Lorraine frustrated pushed the chart aside and rose to her feet.

In the current situation, if you continue to maintain the middle line, you will swagger through the front of the sixth formation at a very close distance.

Such an act is tantamount to a provocation and is bound to cause a backlash from the sixth formation.

It's not that the Jackdaw can't get rid of them, but that the blockade formation is unclear, and doing so greatly increases the risk of being flanked.

Avoidance is a certainty, and you can't go north to Cape Charles, the only option is Cape Henry to the south.

Sole......

Lorraine became irritable at once.

"Bell, dodge to the left, get out of the way first. Henna continued to track the light, and Pierce observed straight ahead. Ensemble! Level 1 Alert! ”