November 25, 1639, St. Catherine's Day.

Chiron stood on the stern deck of the Estellea, the plates of the infantrymen at sea shining silver in the morning sun.

"Soldiers, for decades, the Bahamian pirates have harmed our faith and attacked the ships of the kingdom. Now we are on a mission to eradicate pirates, and together we have won two great victories. In the name of my lord, His Majesty Philip IV, the most noble and greatest Catholic King, I declare to you that I am marching against the last bastion of the Bahamian pirates with all the armed forces I have at the sandbank of Eleuthera. ”

Chiron drew his sword, "St. Catherine protect us!" ”

Spanish soldiers raised their weapons.

"St. Catherine!"

"Attack, Santiago!"

"Santiago!"

The Spanish soldiers erupted in shouts one after another.

At this moment, Grover put on his most neat military uniform, and the medal ribbon hung from his chest.

Glover walks the deck of the Dreadnought, inspecting his soldiers. The crew were disheveled and disheveled, but their eyes showed a strong will.

"Soldiers! The enemy is strong, but we have nothing to fear. God will punish these traitors, and I only believe in God. Today will be ours, long live St. George! ”

"Long live St. George!"

The boatswain ordered, "Combat position." ”

The artillery groups trotted to the gun emplacements and stood in two columns facing the guns.

The fire controller carried his saber on his right shoulder, walked behind the gun crews, and commanded loudly so that his voice could be heard on the entire gun deck, "Start, solid shells, load!" ”

The commanders of each artillery group filled the guns with silky powder packets, the No. 5 gunner removed the solid ammunition from the cartridge rack and loaded it into the breech, and the No. 3 gunner stepped forward to pound the ammunition with a long rod. The barrel of the ship's long gun is often up to 3 meters long, and the long rod used for gun assembly and filling can be bent, and the gun does not need to exit the gun window for a distance as far as the gun body.

The gunner pierced the fire door with a long copper needle, piercing the silk medicine bag, and the second gunner adjusted the gun's high and low firing boundaries according to the fire controller's orders. When everything was ready, the fourth gunner used a lever to pry the tail of the gun, and the rest of the crew tightened the rope, which pulled the gun out of the gun window through a block of pulleys fixed to the bulwark.

Everything was ready, and the gunner stood beside him with a firing rod with a firing rope at the top.

The whole crew waited for the order of the captain.

A small dhow in Chiron's fleet approached the entrance to the fairway and was measuring the depth of the water, and the Bahamian pirates' guns did not fire.

The dhow continued to approach the channel until the battery under William's command broke the silence and drove it away.

The battery to the right of the Dreadnought is the main battery guarding the shipping lane, located on the headland that separates the Inland Ao from the open sea. The turret on the left has a limited range of fire and can only be used as a support.

Chiron's fleet drew an arc outside the harbor and sailed sideways into the pirates' batteries, 500 meters apart from each other, within the effective range of the guns.

Grover waved his hand, "Fire." ”

The fire controller walked through the gun emplacements in turn, inspected the guns, and gave the order to open fire, and the Dreadnought fired a salvo first. Gunsmoke filled the horizon, the guns were in the back seats, and the gunners were holding on to the ropes to control the distance of the back seats. The guns stopped, and the fourth gunner of each gun reached into the chamber of the gun, rotating and pulling out silk fragments and gunpowder residues. Gunner No. 3 then moistened the sponge at the top of the long pole and inserted it into the chamber to extinguish any remaining sparks. Then the gun crew was reloaded again, resetting the gun.

There was no need to calibrate again, Chiron's fleet filled the entire Haikou, and after the fire controller had finished inspecting it, the Dreadnought began a second salvo.

The Spaniards also fired their salvos, and the moving fleet provided inferior artillery firing platforms to shore guns, and the Spaniards fired more of a cover this time.

Seeing that the ships were in place, Chiron ordered to stop sailing and anchor. He divided the fleet's firepower, with the flagships Esteleia and Santa Idfonso firing at the Dreadnought and Banshee, and the Arogonoda at the tail of the fleet firing at the main battery on the shore.

One of the Spaniards' sloops tried to rush into the channel, but was fired upon by a secondary battery hidden in the palm grove and had to retreat to the open sea.

The fleet's gunfire is a pure collision of blood and fire, without any tricks and whimsical brains. The two sides loaded, reset, and fired in the rain of bullets from enemy ships, competing with the training of gunners, the courage of soldiers, and the will of commanders.

The battle distance had just entered the effective range of the ship's guns, and it was difficult for both sides to penetrate the broadside decks of the enemy ships, and the sailors on the lower gun decks kept casualties low. The open deck was different, where solid shells hit the gun carriage, and flying pieces of wood and gun carriage parts could engulf the entire gun crew in one go.

The sailors dragged away the bodies and carried the wounded to the infirmary on the lower deck. To prevent infection, doctors and carpenters often have to do nothing more than to see off injured hands and feet.

As casualties were rising, Chiron stood firmly on the stern deck, a shell carrying away the navigator as he turned a blind eye to the fact that he had no intention of moving his command.

Grover walked up and down the open deck, constantly encouraging the morale of the sailors.

The spare gunners ran on the gangway, taking ammunition from the ammunition depot on the lower level and carrying it to the gun emplacement.

Artillery battles consume not only blood, but also physical strength.

At medium and long distances, the speed of the salvo of the two armies was not fast, and a certain cooling time had to be reserved after the shelling, and it was often necessary to wait for the smoke to be blown away by the sea breeze.

Only a few of the main batteries commanded by William had stone fortifications, and the rest of the gun emplacements were civil structures. The quality of the pirate's gunners was not as good as that of Azonia's Arogonoda, but the battery's artillery fire was stable, and William and Azonia were basically tied.

The Dreadnought ship had many cannons, and even had a certain advantage in the confrontation with the Estelle.

However, the Banshee became the weakest link in the battle column, the ship was hit by multiple shells, and the sail mast was no longer usable. The Banshee was just a brig and was never given a fleet counter-fire mission in its own right. It's just that a floating battery can't completely block the channel, and the Banshee's five eight-pounder guns on the single side can provide effective auxiliary firepower. After all, it is the largest warship owned by the pirates in the harbor, and must participate in the battle.

The St. Idfoldso, which fired at the Banshee, was a medium-sized Galen with 14 guns on a single side, with more than twice the firepower of the Banshee. In the open sea, the Banshee is a nimble schooner, and it is still unclear who will win or lose. But in this counterpoint artillery battle, the Banshee's weakness was completely exposed. Any heavy shell that hits the deck can severely affect the Banshee's firepower.

Wilkinson was knocked out by the splinters, and he fought again with a wound, showing no hint of flinching. Until all the artillery on the combat surface was destroyed. Wilkinson ordered the sailors hiding in the non-combat-facing rowing boats to move immediately and turn the Banshee around as fast as they could.

Although the entire channel was filled with gunsmoke, the firepower caused by the Banshee's exit from the battle was quickly discovered by the Spaniards, and the Spanish fleet erupted in cheers. The Sant-Idfonso duly shifted its fire to the Dreadnought, saving the Estereaja, which was struggling with the disadvantage.

With the addition of the Santa Idfonso, the pressure on the Dreadnought increased dramatically, and the rate of crew casualties began to increase.

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief, the floating battery on the other side was of a larger tonnage, with 20 guns on the side side, and for a moment he thought that the Estleia was about to lose.

But when the Banshee finished changing sides and the shadow of the ship loomed in the smoke again, Chiron slapped the railing hard, "Can't these damn Bahamian pirates be killed?" ”

Chiron didn't notice that it might be that the closer he got to victory, the more impatient he became. He gradually lost his usual calm.

On the non-combating side of the Banshee, except for one cannon that was destroyed by a penetrating cannonball, there were four guns left. And the Banshee didn't need to turn around again, and all the sailors on standby went to the gun positions to replenish the gun crew with heavy casualties. From the side of the Spanish fleet, the loss of firepower of the pirates did not seem to be significant.

The Spaniards were demoralized, and Estellea was about to fall into a disadvantaged artillery battle again. The Arogonoda sent a dinghy to engage the flagship with the advice of the deputy commander Azonia.

The roar of the cannon did not drown out Chiron's roar, "What did you say? Azonia proposes to retreat and regroup? ”

The herald replied, "Yes, Commander." The deputy commander said that the loss of firepower on our engagement surface was not small, and the artillery needed to dissipate heat, so it was recommended to change the side and fight again. ”

Chiron was about to refute Azonia's suggestion when a 12-pounder shell from the Dreadnought hit the stern of the Esterea, knocking off two of the boomer's guns, where Chiron had been standing.

Chiron broke out in a cold sweat, if it weren't for this herald sent by Azonia, he would definitely be affected by the cannonballs.

The shell quickly calmed Chiron and he looked back at the battlefield, the stalemate suggesting that this was not a battle that would end anytime soon.

Chiron gave the order, "Lift the anchor, let's leave the port first." ”

Watch as the Spanish fleet withdraws until it leaves the effective range. The pirates erupted in a wave of cheers.

Grover let out a sigh of relief, in fact, the Dreadnought was almost unable to hold out, and the gun was not far from overheating.

Taking advantage of this free time, the pirates immediately replenished the batteries and battleships, evacuated the wounded, and redistributed manpower.

William boarded the Intrepid in a dinghy.

"Grover, you fought so well, I saw it very clearly in the turret, Chiron's flagship was completely suppressed by you." William was delighted, "Is the loss big?" ”

"Half of the dreadnought's open-deck guns have been lost, and the gun deck is intact and can continue to fight. What about the situation of the battery? ”

William shook his head, "The battery is not in good condition. The open-air gun emplacements were not protected by canopies, and the losses were quite large. ”

"If we keep going, we can fight them off once and we can fight them off twice. Is the fire attack ship ready? ”

"I came to see the Intrepid, and I had three boats in order, full of hay and branches. Asphalt barrels and grease were prepared, and I felt that it was not enough, so that the lads loaded each boat with cannons, and each cannon stuffed with a bag of shotguns and a solid bullet. ”

"Good. Fire attack ships are our last resort, and we can only use them before retreating. ”

"It must be fine." William solemnly promised, "Grover, when this battle is over, I will cover your wine in the future." ”

Grover laughed, "I accepted." ”

The Spanish fleet was changing sides in the open sea, and the Montañez, which had been sent to Nassau by Chiron, also caught up with the fleet.

The Montañez did not gain much in the harbor of Nassau, and as soon as the powerful warship entered the harbor, the pirates retreated into the depths of the island. After venting a burst of shells at the pirate base and the ships on the shore, the Montañez left the dhow to clean up the mess and hurried towards the Blue Harbor. To the captain's relief, the main force of the fleet had not yet captured the pirate base. There are countless gold and silver treasures in there, and I have suffered heavy losses when I go too late.

Chiron called a meeting of the commanders of the ships, and said, "The pirates' shore guns and floating batteries work well together, and they don't need to worry about their sails being broken. We did not have the upper hand in the artillery battle just now. ”

Azonia suggested, "Commander, we have an advantage in numbers, is it possible to send infantry to land at the same time as the shelling?" Distract enemy fire. ”

Chiron hesitated for a moment and disagreed, "Not now, our infantry is also precious." I'll give you two more sloops, and you're going to shoot the dumb pirates' batteries as soon as possible. Then we send the infantry to land, and as soon as the batteries are captured, the pirates' defenses will be shaken. ”

The Spanish soldiers also took advantage of the time to change the ship's hull to make urgent repairs to the damaged hull and tidy up the damaged rigging.

Chiron said to his captains, "Gentlemen, do a little more. We're going to settle the battle today. ”

Tobacco was supplied openly, and the soldiers rested to replenish their strength. After a simple meal, the Spanish fleet again approached the port.

In this artillery battle, the Banshee was the first to be unable to withstand it, and was completely inferior in the artillery battle with the Esterea, and the deck was riddled with shells, leaving only one cannon still firing. Perhaps this is fate, the Banshee in the Florida Strait a year ago flew from the muzzle of the Estelleya, and today it is about to complete its life in a confrontation with an old rival.

Grover watched his ship tremble in the shells, suppressed the sadness in his heart, and found the herald on the chaotic deck, "Let Wilkinson abandon ship and withdraw to the battery in the harbor." ”

The Dreadnought itself was also under a lot of pressure at this time, and Chiron arranged for two warships to shoot at the Dreadnought.

The superiority of the Spanish fleet gradually became apparent. Unmoved, Grover calmly commanded the battleship.

The herald who went to the Banshee returned, "Captain, Will Golden's First Officer said that you gave him the Banshee, and that he would live and die with the battleship. ”

Grover looked at the Banshee, and the sailors were carrying the wounded down to the dinghy and rowing towards the harbor. In the smoke of gunpowder, there were still several figures on the Banshee reloading ammunition and firing ......

The bitter taste crept up on Grover's tongue, but he quickly suppressed the strange emotions in his heart, regained his resolute countenance, and said to his gunners, "Boys, try harder, and we'll blow up the Spanish ship on the other side." ”

Soon after, the Estellea fired a precise salvo, several shells hit the Banshee, and the final position disappeared with a roar. The scorching cannonball ignited the medicine pack on the gun emplacement, but there was no one on the Banshee to extinguish the fire. The anchor cable was burned, and the Banshee drifted off the course with flames.

Wilkinson kept his promise.

The gunners on the deck slowed down and looked at the former ship.

Grover pulled the sailors' eyes back with a loud command, "Focus on your artillery, your enemy is on the other side." ”

Under Grover's strong leadership, the Dreadnought was outnumbered.

However, the accumulated superiority of the Spanish fleet gradually expanded from quantitative to qualitative, and after the Estellea transferred artillery fire to the battery, the sound of William's battery gradually subsided.

Seeing that the fire had arrived, Chiron hoisted the signal flag for landing. Four Spanish cruisers, three sloops lowered their longboats, and more than 200 Spanish infantry landed. Shore artillery fire was greatly reduced, and the sloops no longer hid behind the cruisers, but approached the shore until they dropped anchor near the ground, providing close fire support to the landing infantry.

The Spanish infantry quickly lined up after landing, and in the first two rows were hoplites in plate armor, armed with Spanish short spears. On both sides were the skirmishers of arquebusiers. Some of the landing sailors, armed with sailors' knives and boarding axes, followed behind the plate infantry.

The heavy artillery was already muted, and the light guns of the guard batteries began to fire. The Spanish infantry came within charge distance, the pirate batteries fired their last shotguns, and arquebuses rang out sporadically, knocking out some Spanish infantry. But they took advantage of the gap in the reload to rush forward, and the tragic hand-to-hand combat began.

Knives, swords, spears, cannonballs, daggers and teeth, the pirates used everything they had at their disposal......

Spanish soldiers surrounded the last artillery fort. Leaning against the 12-pounder gun, blood running down the corners of his mouth, William closed his eyes and the torch in his hand fell to the ground.

The entire artillery barrier exploded, and smoke rose into the sky. The loud noise caused both sides to lose their minds for a moment.

With the fall of the last fort, Grover was keenly aware that the channel could not be defended. The Spaniards could flank him by turning the remaining artillery on the turret.

Taking advantage of the time the explosion had bought him, Grover immediately ordered the Dreadnought to lean towards the auxiliary battery on the east side. Although there was no heavy artillery there, with the Dreadnought, he was able to threaten the main channel with artillery fire. All the moving sailors went down to the longboat and rowed their oars hard.

Chiron recovered from a brief period of distraction, and there is no shortage of warriors among pirates. The infantry on the shore had already begun to advance towards the town of Blueport, and the crooked bay gave them a long way to go.

Chiron's fleet was led by three sloops, which slowly entered the fairway. The Dreadnought pressed its previous engagement close to the shore and continued firing at Chiron's fleet with its non-combating broadside guns.

The sloop of the lead of the Spanish fleet was hit by a salvo and the whole thing was destroyed.

The distance of the battle was close to less than 200 meters, and the heavy artillery was already able to penetrate the gunwales by this time. A shell made a hole in the dreadnought's hull, taking everyone after the hit. Bounced off the bulwark on the other side and ran over the body of the wounded.

Grover knew the final moment had come, and he lit the fireworks placed in the stern.

Seeing the signal, three galleys sailed out of the bay behind the intrepid. Rush to Chiron's fleet as fast as you can.

The cruiser had no bow guns, sailed in narrow fairways, and could do nothing against the arsonist ship. The boom gunwales went down, killing and wounding only a few oarsmen. If an arsonist ship is used in an open bay, the pirates will need to tie a dinghy to the back of the boat for disengagement. But in this narrow passageway, the pirates ignited the asphalt and plunged into the sea. The fireship, controlled by inertia, continued to drift towards the fleet.

As they were about to crash into the lead cruiser, a Spanish dhow plunged between the fleet and the fireship, and the Spanish captain straightened his coat and hat and saluted Chiron's flagship.

The galleys' cannons fired, and the flying cannonballs hit the dhow, sending up a mist of blood. The fireship, which lost control, stuck to the Spanish sloop, quickly set fire to the hull, and after the explosion of the ammunition depot, the wreckage of the ship sank to the bottom of the sea.

A well-planned fire attack ship wrecked a sloop, and Grover looked at the scene in front of him and sighed, "Spain has warriors too." "Yes, how could such a huge territory be conquered without warriors.

The Spanish fleet adjusted its position in the channel, and the Dreadnought was now facing a broadside salvo of four cruisers.

The shells shattered the ship's planks, and the sailors struggled in pools of blood.

Grover looked at Wicks, "Abandon ship, old man." We did our best. ”

Wicks calmly turned his head and gave orders to the sailors.

He looked at Grover, "Captain, you want to be the last to evacuate?" ”

In the midst of the flying sawdust, Grover straightened his military appearance and lit his trademark pipe, "Wilkinson has set an example to me, that the captain of England will live and die with the warship." ”

"A sailor who conquered the sea could not lie in bed and die tormented by disease and poverty." Wicks smiled, "Listen, Captain, there are a hundred cannons firing for us, like a rousing requiem, and it has always been my ideal to end in this way." ”

The sailors helped each other to leave the ship and move to the shore, and the two comrades stood side by side on the stern, facing the rain of shells. At this moment, whether it was a pirate or a former English navy, whether they were on the shore or in the water, they were solemnly saluting the two standing figures.

Chiron's flagship. Chatfield finally let go of his heart and complimented Chiron, "Congratulations, Commander, the leader of the pirates, Grover, has been killed, and you have destroyed the pirates' force. The door to the pirate's lair has been opened, and we are on the verge of victory. ”

Chiron had no joy on his face, and the pirates of the Bahamas had fought to the end against the mighty Spanish fleet, as they had sworn to do. Bellamy's dying words haunted his heart like a viper, "One day, the people will be led by the banner of freedom to bring down the crown of tyrants." ”

The signal corpsman of the Arogonoda at the tail of the team hurriedly boarded the flagship, "Commander, a pirate-flagged fleet has appeared outside the harbor, three three-masted warships. ”