The "East Coast Eagle", "Red Trout" and "Beagle" were also lined up in the Matanzas River, and a total of 28 guns of various types began the first salvo at a distance of 800-900 meters. At this distance, the pirates' guns were out of reach, but the guns of the privateer formations were at their best range. For pirates to be able to fight back effectively, they will have to brave enemy fire for a few hundred meters, and this distance can already inflict massive damage on you for a steel cannon with a rate of one to two shots per minute.

The gunners of the privateer formation, under the command of the officers, performed at a level of training, shoved shells into their chambers, rammed them, and then watched them whizz towards the enemy ships, creating wounds in the hulls of the enemy ships. The pirate ships pulled anchors and hoisted their sails in panic, and all the ships had lowered one or two anchor chains in order to get a more accurate shot at the Spaniards, only to have them in their chains. These pirate ships could not move in place, and they became the best target ships, and only a few of the guns on the Spaniard's castle could hit so far due to their weight, body-to-tube ratio, etc., but all 24 steel cannons of the 28 guns fired by the privateer formation of the Eastern Republic were within range.

Twenty-four guns were aimed at the nearest pirate ship, and in a matter of minutes hundreds of shells fell on the ship: the side was completely broken, and some of the gun carriages were simply scattered; The bow mast was broken, the sailors' lounge on the second floor of the bow was hit by explosive shells several times, and the storage room on the ground floor was pierced by solid iron bullets; The lower sail, middle sail, upper sail and top sail of the midmast were damaged in different areas, and the sail footline that held the sail surface was broken by the chain bullet, and the whole sail surface fluttered with the wind; The stern is the area where the shells are the focus of care, and more than 30 shells have fallen in the small area of the captain's room on the second floor, turning it into a hell on earth. The whole ship spun around the river in disobedience, and also obstructed the path of several other boats.

"Good fight!" Lu Ming held the telescope hanging around his neck and praised, "If you fight a snake, you will be killed with a stick, continue to shoot and sink her!" Don't let her get a chance to come up! ”

Braving artillery fire from both sides (the Spaniards' castle guns on the other), the remaining four pirate ships began to work hard to raise their sails and anchor, ready to maneuver. The guns on the starboard side of their ships also began to return fire, but the shells fired from the short-barreled cannons were so weak that they all landed on the river 200 meters in front of the privateer.

The shelling continued, and the privateering formations ignored the several pirate ships that were turning around, and continued to beat the water dogs with a storm of cannonballs. Finally, after more than ten minutes of continuous firing, the hapless three-masted corsair was no longer overwhelmed, and a large amount of water began to flood the bow waterline, and the pirates abandoned the ship and escaped.

"Next! The one closest to us in front right! ”

Intensive artillery fire was again in full swing. Solid iron bullets hit the opponent's side deck one by one, and chain shells smashed on the huge sail on the opposite side, almost all of which were aimed at the front of sight, making the destructive power of the shells even more amazing.

The Matanzas River, which was only five or six hundred meters wide, made it difficult for these sailboats to turn around, and when the first boat turned around, the boats behind were still busy with their work. The captains endured the shells falling from both sides, carefully controlling the speed and direction of the ship in case it ran aground accidentally.

The pirates who were storming the castle in the St. Augustine neighborhood also stopped and watched the artillery battle on the river. They subconsciously felt that the three warships on the other side were reinforcements from the Spaniards, so they were all a little panicked for a while. The pirates stopped attacking, and the defenders of St. Augustine were naturally not stupid enough to provoke them, so the land front stopped. The warring sides looked in unison to the center of the river, where seven warships on both sides (the first pirate ship had lost its balance due to severe flooding in the bow) was engaged in a fateful battle.

Captain Coaster was really a little scared at this time, the enemy's fierce and resolute artillery fire made people's hearts tremble, and the 12 small cannons on his ship, the largest of which was only 12 pounds, would definitely not be able to compete with it, and if the two sides bombarded each other at close range, his side would definitely not be able to bargain for anything. Moreover, most of the sailors on their ships were attacking the Spaniards' castle on the shore at this time, and they lacked manpower to defeat the enemy by jumping gang tactics, so this battle was really unfought.

So, should this battle continue? Just now, I only cared about attacking the Spanish castle, but I didn't have time to transport the supplies looted in the block back to the ship, if I ran away, not only would my reputation plummet, but I wouldn't have earned a penny of this money. But if you don't retreat, it's not a way to rush forward, seeing that the "Esmeranda" closest to the enemy has been hit by dozens of shells, and there are not many sailors on the deck who have suffered heavy casualties, if you change your own ship, it will be just as miserable. Whether to retreat or not, Captain Coster quickly made a decision.

"Poof! Burst! There was a loud sound, this was the sound of a solid iron bullet fired by a pirate ship piercing the ship's sideboard covered with cooked cowhide, and fragments of the shattered wooden planks scattered in all directions, and two unlucky sailors fell to the ground wounded.

Lu Ming frowned slightly, this was the first shell hit by the "East Coast Eagle" today, causing two wounded. The enemy ships had been hit by hundreds of shells, but her waterline had not been effectively penetrated by the 24-pounder shells of the privateer ships, so although she was scarred, she still stubbornly floated on the surface and fired back from time to time.

The pirates weren't stupid, they could tell where they were now. The enemy's artillery was clearly more powerful than they expected, and the long range allowed them to shoot calmly outside the range of most of their guns without fear of being counterattacked.

And the timing of their appearance was too embarrassing, by this time most of the personnel of the ships had already been sent ashore to attack the Spanish fortress, and there were only a few gunners and sailors on board, which was obviously not enough for the pirates to use the tried and tested gang-jumping tactics to win this sudden naval battle.

Then, it is naturally easy to make a decision at this time. Captain Coster's "Lucky" and his descendant's "Black Bread" reacted with a tacit understanding of how they turned their sails and headed swiftly south of the Matanzas River. They were followed by the Tortuga Man, who fled south under cover from the Esmeranda, which had fallen behind the enemy and was engaged with the enemy.

The poor "Esmeranda" was at this moment about five or six hundred meters away from the "East Coast Eagle" and was in a disadvantageous position at the bow against the enemy. They had apparently discovered the shamelessness of their accomplices fleeing, and they were naturally uninterested in fighting three gunboats with ferocious firepower alone, but the tragic reality of the situation prevented them from retreating smoothly - the stern rudder bar under the aft porch had been damaged by a heavy shelling.

Therefore, she had no choice but to stay where she was for the time being.

"What's going on?" Lu Ming looked at the battle situation in front of him, and was a little depressed, "Why haven't you sunk it yet?" ”

"Sir, the enemy is now facing our side with the bow of the ship, and the area of the bomb is small, so it will take a little luck to sink the opponent."

"The 24-pounder guns continued to fire solid shells, and the rest of the guns were replaced with explosive shells, mainly anti-personnel shells. He doesn't want to jump to the gang, I'll leave you unused! In addition, the army can come up, and there are a few enemy ships behind it, no, they are turning and fleeing. ”

"Sir, are you chasing?"

Lu Ming thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Don't chase!" Let them go. Their ships are empty and fast, and in fact we can't catch up even if we want to. Besides, there are hundreds of pirates on the shore waiting for us to deal with, so we don't need to rush to kill them all. Well, the ship approached and fought for the capture of the ship. ”

The three battleships of the privateer group turned around and approached the "Esmeranda". At the same time, some of the ship's small and medium-caliber guns had begun to be reloaded with explosive shells, and one shell after another landed on the "Esmeranda" and then exploded in all directions, causing considerable damage to the sailors on deck. In particular, dozens of shells fell near the gun emplacements of the two 8-pounder guns on the gun deck on the top floor of their bow tower, killing and wounding all the gunners.

The distance continued to close, and at this time it had entered the range of three hundred meters. At this distance, a 24-pounder cannon only needs a few shells to be lethal. At this time, the "Esmeranda" finally stopped its senseless resistance, and a white flag was raised on the only remaining mid-mast mast.

After taking control of the various compartments of the entire ship, they found that there were less than 20 officers and sailors on the 350-ton battleship who could breathe at this time, and all of them 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, when a large hole was broken under the waterline of the right side of the ship "Esmeranda", and the gushing river water was pouring into the bilge at this time. After receiving the report, the officers rushed into the bilge as quickly as possible, and while organizing the soldiers to plug the loopholes with canvas, they began to transfer the small amount of property on board.

After more than half an hour of busy work, the belongings were finally transferred, but the river in the bilge was getting more and more, and it was clear that they had not been able to effectively plug the loophole. In desperation, Lu Ming had no choice but to order the ship to be abandoned.

After all the army soldiers withdrew, Lu Ming ordered the three warships to turn forward and sail towards the river bank. Behind them, the lonely Esmeranda was slowly sinking......

For mobile phone users, please read it on m.biquge.info.