"The wind is galloping, and you can travel thousands of miles in a day!"

Standing in the bow of a chartered Bermuda dhow, Lorraine opened her arms to the wind and shouted as if to the endless sea and sky.

Bermuda galleons are new types of ships that have gradually matured in recent years, with sloops and masts, generally referring to a special sailing ship that should adopt a new type of Bermuda sail and focus on the design of the American high-speed ship type.

This type of design is a gem of British and American origins, and originated during the British colonization of Africa, as a light high-speed schooner built from Kenyan redwoods.

Later, the British found a more suitable alternative to the ship, Bermuda cypress.

This kind of wood is light, hard, high in oil, and not easy to deform, although it is not suitable for warships because of its brittleness, but it is extremely suitable as a merchant ship.

This was the rise of the shipbuilding industry in Bermuda.

Later, because the population of Bermuda was mostly immigrants from the North American continent, especially Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay boats, who were full of whimsy and had a passion for speed in their bones, soon incorporated the Baltimore Speed design, which resulted in a unique Bermuda style.

The lower freeboard provides a deeper draft, and the backward mast increases the height of the pole, allowing it to extend beyond the length of the boat, as well as shifting the center of gravity back and cocking the bow.

The shape of the bow and shield stern is a consistent feature of Baltimore ships, and they have boldly expanded the aspect ratio to make the hull more slender and improve the ability to break through waves.

In terms of sail loading, Bermuda ships are dominated by schooners, combining the characteristics of Arabian spinnakers and oriental stiff sails, and for the first time, a sail bone is added to the western-style soft sail to form a unique Bermuda sail.

This design allows the yacht to be able to cut the wind at the right angle and even exceed the wind speed in the right direction.

All of this culminated in the world's fastest ship today, the Bermuda galleon.

Its sloop still maintains the world's fastest speed of 18 knots and the world's fastest average speed of 12 knots.

The twin masted mixed sail has also reached a top speed of 16 knots, making it the undisputed king of high speeds today.

Due to its active performance, Bermuda galleons have rapidly spread in the field of light merchant ships in the world, and even maritime powers have begun to explore their military possibilities.

In recent years, the Royal Navy has ordered a number of Bermuda ships, in which sloops are used as communications aids, and brigs and crosssails replace Brigentine and Brigg for some of their share, often excelling in local piracy.

It's a pity that although the Bermuda galleon is famous, Lorraine has not experienced her charm for the first time until today.

From Lorraine's professional point of view, this special ship type with an aspect ratio of more than 5 to 1, a long mast and a significant receding mast is obviously outstanding in terms of advantages and disadvantages.

Needless to say, fast, extremely fast.

The Charon was a sloop schooner, and the Butterfly Flower was a standard Brigentine, with an average speed of less than 6 knots, which is not at all in the same order of magnitude as Bermuda, which is the same sail.

But the Charon can be armed with up to six nine-pounder guns, the Butterfly Flower has 20 firepower, and the Brig-type main gun can reach 12-pounder guns with 28 gun doors, which is something that the Bermuda ship does not dare to expect.

For example, the dhow at the foot of Lorraine was armed with only two civilian four-pounder guns, and its main purpose was to drive away and intimidate large sea creatures.

The standard armament of the brigs included in the army will not exceed 16, and even with a double-sail design, the caliber of the main gun is limited to nine pounds.

The speed of gain, the loss of stability, the use of armed merchant ships is very restrictive, but in some uses, there are huge advantages that traditional ship types cannot match.

Lorraine got the idea of a Bermuda ship......

"Henna, go and ask the owner of the ship, does his boat sell?"

Henna was stunned for a moment: "You can't get used to sitting on other people's boats?" ”

"Uh...... I just think that the Charon is too slow to use as a substitute, and I kind of want to change to a ......"

Soon, the Blue Bead, that is, the Bermuda one-column ship at the foot of Lorraine, became Lorraine's asset at a price of 260 pounds, and the specific order waited for Hamilton to be handled by the Chamber of Commerce, and when Leonard arrived, the crew would also be replaced by someone Lorraine could trust.

And so for two days......

In the afternoon, the Blue Droplets glide into Cape Comishina on the island of Northern Ireland and cut south into Harrington Bay, taking in spectacular views of the Royal Navy Dockyard and guided by the Townhill Lighthouse into the deep waters of Gretel Bay.

To the east of Gretel Bay is Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda.

The Azure Bead slowly moored into the vacant dock, and Lorraine stood on the boat, silent for a long time.

Henna dressed in a moon-white robe and hired Tingting to walk up to Lorraine and gently hold his arm.

"Worried that Bell's intelligence is fake?"

Lorraine shook her head: "Actually, I don't worry much about Bell anymore. ”

"Huh?"

"The smuggling didn't start at all when he came to me, so he couldn't have been a premeditated undercover military agent, and at worst he was the eyeliner that Shaq sent to me."

"But your brother is the Admiral of the Continental Fleet."

"It's two different things." Lorraine smiled, "Shaq and I are a private matter, the so-called family ugliness should not be publicized, even if my smuggling matters fall into his ears, he will not make it public." ”

"After all, my surname is Drake, and even if I am expelled from the house, this family cannot afford the notoriety of the heir collaborating with the enemy."

"So, the worst outcome is that Shaq will do whatever it takes to sink me, and he needs to be in charge himself, so that there are no surprises in the process, such as me being taken prisoner alive, or surrendering."

"But, Rear Admiral, how long can the helmsman of the entire detachment stay at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay without doing his job?"

"It won't last." Lorraine shook his head, "No matter how willful he is, at most he will advance and retreat with the Lion." This means that as long as the Lion is not there, there is no additional risk of Shaq and Bell in our environmental risks. ”

"And besides...... What if what Bell said was true? ”

Henna leaned on Lorraine for a long time, and finally admitted that Lorraine's reasoning was justified.

The biggest crisis in the Bell affair, that is, the exposure of Lorraine's collaborators, was not sufficient? Bell is either innocent or a medium for the Drake brothers, and whatever it is, the risk of smuggling is no higher.

In this way, Bell's position has become much simpler.

If he is on Lorraine's side, the information is true, the Chamber of Commerce has received good help, and everyone is happy.

If he was on Shaq's side, the information was false, and Lorraine would definitely have to roll up his bed, but there was no need to splatter blood five steps.

When Bell is gone, Lorraine will either urgently find a suitable navigator, or tie herself to smuggling and abandon the Chamber of Commerce.

Arms smuggling, a business with huge returns, has been downgraded from being admissible to being smooth or not, and this downgrading is a great benefit in itself.

I just hope for the perfect result......

Henna thought to herself, but the words came to her lips: "I saw that you were restless all the way, since there is no big thing on Bell's side, then ......"

Lorraine raised her hand to the northwest.

"Royal Navy Yardyard...... The fortified military port we passed when we came was Shaq's station. ”

Henna's expression darkened: "If you want to go and see ......"

"Not interested." Lorraine laughed inexplicably, "I'm not interested in seeing that noble old man look arrogant. If Bell is really his person, give it back to him and attach a thank you note. ”

"Thank you notes?"

"yes, thank you. [The head of the son of Helena is on the Jackdaw, if you like, please ride a lion to get it], how about it? ”

"I think...... Pretty good. ”