The Blue Banshee completed the rudder turn and began a second attack, this time slower than the first due to its near-windward sailing, with a longer firing window. The ship's excellent gunners quickly fired two broadside salvos. The Spanish ship was hit with sawdust, and a wrecked piece of the stern flew sideways and hit the captain. Chen Shouxu only saw a group of people quickly rushing up to the stern and carrying the captain down.

At this time on the Spanish flagship, in the midst of the sound of artillery from time to time at the end of the team, the commander of the fleet, Don . Federico. Gravina was working with the Supreme Commander of the Fleet, Marquis de Ramina, François. Morality. Guzmán discussed the current situation.

The commander's attendant came to report that "the Estellaia has turned the flag from the ship St. Augustine, and the St. Oryza has asked to sail on its own." ”

Marquis Guzmán was a little stunned, "The enemy has only one brig, and even the side planks of the St. Augustine cannot penetrate the planks, tell them to maintain the battle column and not allow self-navigation." ”

Commander Gravina sighed in his heart, Lord Marquis sold more than a hundred charters on this voyage, and now a large part of the tonnage occupied by the charters is on the St. Augustine, once those tobacco and cane sugar are transported to Europe, the profit is more than ten times, how can he allow the St. Augustine to leave the fleet and sail on its own.

Gravina waved his hand and told the squire to go down and figure out what was going on at the end of the line.

The commander felt that it was still necessary to remind the marquis, so he expressed his guess: "Your Excellency, although the enemy has only one small boat, we need to maintain the queue, and in the strait the galleons are not as agile as the schooners, and the St. Augustine may be in a very disadvantageous position. ”

Marquis Guzmán smiled slightly, "My dear Mr. Commander, a few cannons on a schooner are just tickles for the St. Augustine, so it doesn't matter if they let them fire a few cannons." ”

Gravina could only smile helplessly, he didn't need to contradict the Marquis on a small issue.

At this time, the commander's attendant came to the stern tower again and reported, "Your Excellencies, the Estellea has asked to leave the group and expel the enemy ship. ”

The Marquis frowned, why did the captains under him think about leaving the team and acting on their own, and were about to open their mouths to refuse, but they were preemptively said by the commander, "Your Excellency the Marquis, the Estlea is the smallest ship in the fleet, but it also has 28 guns, and he is also the fastest ship in the fleet. To be on the safe side, I think I can agree to Chiron's request, after all, we don't see the St. Augustine right now. ”

The Marquis thought about it and felt that it made sense. The commander of the fleet proposed, if he did not agree, in case the cargo on the ship was greatly damaged, and the return to Europe would not have a good impact on the reputation of the marquis, and the charter he issued next time would not be easy to sell. "Alright then, but Captain Serra must not be too far away from the main force of the fleet, we only have 5 ships."

Seeing that the Marquis had no objection, Gravina turned to the chamberlain and ordered, "Let Chiron attack, drive out the enemy ships and take up the cruising position to the east, remembering, to keep him at eye distance from the fleet at all times." "Gravina had two purposes, in addition to driving out the galleons that were harassing the fleet, and to get Chiron out of position and extend the fleet's warning distance to the east.

Chiron aboard the Estellea. Glenda Jana. Captain Serra saw the signal from the flagship, and without delay, immediately ordered to turn around against the wind.

The Blue Banshee made a third U-turn and rushed past the stern of the St. Augustine, which was already in disarray, the verandah of the stern was long gone, and the elaborate reliefs were mostly shattered. By this time, Chiron's Estélea had already rushed out of the upwind, almost across the front of the Blue Banshee, and fired a starboard volley at the Blue Banshee.

The shelling of professional warships was much more terrifying than that of armed merchant ships, their guns were more sophisticated, their gunpowder was better, and their gunners were more trained. Chen Shouxu was shocked to sweat when he saw two chain bullets flying past the mast with a piercing whistling, if the chain bullets hit the mast, the Blue Banshee would lose its ability to sail, and then the boatload would be left here.

To add insult to injury, with Chiron's support, the morale of the St. Augustine was greatly boosted, and Azonia, the navigator who had taken over command of the St. Augustine, saw that there was an opportunity to keep the pirate ship, and ordered the bow to turn to the left, seeing that the bow was pointing to enter the broadside of the Blue Banshee. A brief change of course would not cause him to leave the ship, which was not contrary to the flagship's orders, and he had not done so because Galen was not as nimble as the schooner, and there was no point in turning to the side of the board for a fight, so he asked the flagship to allow him to take off the line and turn downwind to allow the speed of the sail to be used. But now with the support of the Estella, there is a chance to flank the attack.

This seemed to be the most dangerous moment for the Blue Banshee, and it was impossible for it to make a close U-turn in front of the broadside cannons of a three-masted warship, and it would be doomed. Chen Shouxu nervously looked around on the mast, trying to find an opportunity to get out of danger.

On the bow of the Blue Banshee, Captain Grover did not panic, and his commanding figure calmed the hearts of the whole ship. First mate Wilkinson laughed at the sailors, "Don't be afraid, boys, Galen turns very slowly, they don't sail fast, and the rudder is not so fast to turn the bow over." ”

Under the captain's command, the Blue Banshee passed between the stern of the Estleia and the bow of the St. Augustine, which had not yet been fully turned.

It was only while crossing the stern of the Estellea that the sail was hit by a cannon from the stern, leaving several holes in the sail.

Chiron stood on the stern and watched the Blue Banshee rush past, the starboard shelling of the ship as if it were a farewell salute.

The navigator came up to him and asked, "Captain, should we also turn to pursuit, and sailing west is also a tailwind, and the sidewind is not necessarily slower than theirs." ”

Chiron shook his head with a tense face, "We are not slow downwind, but they can sail into the headwind at any time, forget it." We stopped sailing against the wind, lowered the longboat, went to the St. Augustine to see if we needed help, and then headed east to take up the cruising position. ”

The Blue Banshee broke away from the Spanish fleet without danger, and although it was bombarded by more than 60 guns in front and behind, it did not suffer much damage except for some damage to the sails and cables. However, it was evident that the battle could not be fought, and it was almost noon, and a mighty Spanish fleet had been played for a morning, and the people on board felt their self-confidence skyrocket.

Little did the Blue Banshee know that their battle was about to spread throughout the Caribbean. Now, the Blue Banshee is tasked with sailing into the Bahamas, mending sails, changing rigging, and having a good drink.

On the Estelle, two days later, when Chiron was sure that there was no Dutch fleet nearby, he stroked his chin and thought for a moment.

1. There was no complete naval flag at this time, it was something that the British Royal Navy perfected a few decades later when naval warfare entered the era of battle line engagement. However, the author believes that no reform can be achieved overnight, and that something as complex as a flag language is unlikely to be invented by one person overnight. It must be the inheritance and development of some kind of historical inheritance, so this book argues that the major naval powers, including Spain, have their own things similar to the primary flag signal.

2. Of course, at this time there was no concept of battleships and cruisers, and there was no later classification of six-class warships similar to the British. But a large Galen with more than 60 guns, why not say that it was a battleship, in fact, the classification of early British warships was also very confusing. The book uses the names of cruisers and battleships to make it easier for everyone to understand.