The Duke of York, who had not yet fully recovered from his luscious sleep, stood there, still dressed in a loose dressing coat and with his long curly hair, and suddenly a shout came from above: "Enemy attack!" It was the enemy! The Duke of York immediately understood that it was the enemy's fireship.

He grabbed the placket of his coat, called out to his servant, and weaved through the scurrying crew, perhaps someone saw him, or maybe not, and the Duke of York did not notice it anyway, and he quickly returned to his cabin, and changed his dressing coat as fast as he could, and he kept giving orders as he tipped his musket into his belt.

Although it is not known who leaked the secrets of the fleet to let the enemy know that they were resupplying in Sol Bay, the Duke of York was well aware that they were now in a critical and urgent moment, with the Combined Fleet almost all still in the bay and their enemies at sea, and in an era when T-line crossings were commonly used, they were like a flock of sheep in a sheepfold.

And because they were a combined fleet, the Duke of York was not the only one who could speak out, although he was not very willing, the Duke of York immediately found the wizard who boarded the ship under the name of astrologer, "Can you contact that France...... A wizard?" he asked.

"Immediately. The wizard said sharply, and right in front of the duke, he opened a mirror, and muttered to himself at the shadow inside, as if waiting for them, and the image in the mirror floated, and then showed a completely different face from the person in front of the mirror: "We have met the enemy," said the wizard of the other party, "There is no time to discuss, we have to compete with the morning tide for time......"

"I am the Duke of York," said the Duke of York, "and let your General Estrés speak to me." ”

Victor Marie de Estres, the commander of the French navy in the Combined Fleet, did not hesitate to say to the Duke of York as soon as he appeared in the mirror: "General, we don't have much time to discuss it now, so I hope that you will help us as your king has promised." ”

The French general frowned slightly, but nodded slightly: "I'm not sure if I'll be able to do what you want......"

"The Dutch ships of fire are closing in on us, perhaps in a few minutes," said the Duke of York, "and we need nimble and agile boats to destroy them, before they set fire to our ships." ”

It is true that in the Combined Fleet, the French had only twenty-six large ships, and the British had forty-six, but the sheer size meant that they could carry more guns, but they also meant that they were slow to change direction, and by the time they slowly moved themselves to the interception position, the fireships had already completed their mission. But there were not many large French ships, but there were many small ships that accompanied them, converted from those built by the Dutch, because they had been custom-made to the specifications of armed merchant ships.

"I will. "But our ships have to leave the port first." ”

"You're one, I'm two. "The Duke of York said that the fleet at Sol Bay had a total of one hundred and fifty ships, and what was the idea? They were moored like open shells, and they were now to evacuate as soon as possible, so that they would not have to endure the shelling and fight with their allies for a way out when the enemy attacked.

There was nothing to blame for the reaction and determination of the two commanders, and the presence of wizards made the communication of orders no longer a problem, and both the Duke of York and General Estrés were able to look out over the situation of Sol Bay like birds, and they looked in the mirror to determine the order in which the ships would exit Sol Bay.

The small ships of the French, the three-masted ships with 40 to 60 guns, sailed lightly through the masts towards the sea where the sun was rising, and their enemies were above all the fireships discovered by the lookouts, which, at a distance, could hide in the brilliant waves, but as the distance drew they stood out like rubies set in jasper.

Neither the wizards nor the naval commanders had thought that they would get ahead of the tide, for the Dutch took advantage of the rising tide to push the fireships towards them, and the French three-masted ships met them and opened fire— Louis XIV was not stingy, and the ships were loaded with newly built cannons, and even such small ships weighed twenty-four pounds at the largest and eight pounds at the smallest, the problem was that although Louis never thought of abandoning the sea, France's naval development lagged far behind the rest of the world, and although the men were brave and the shells were plentiful, the hit rate was really unflattering.

There were only twelve or thirteen fireships, but two of them still broke through the French warship line directly and crashed into the British fleet that was sailing to the north, and the British fleet suddenly cursed, but no one could hear it at this time, whether he was an ally or an enemy.

The British admiral in charge of the rearguard, the Earl of Sandwich, was one of those who scolded, but he was helpless, and to be honest, the French were willing to lend a hand, rather than watch them fight each other with the Dutch, it was forgiving enough, and as for tactics and skill, these were things that needed to be accumulated in battle, and they might have to thank God for not allowing the French to accumulate more experience, otherwise a country that could be invincible on land and at sea would be terrible.

The fireship collided with the Earl of Sandwich and the other ship, but fortunately both ships were large ships loaded with 100 guns, and they were not subjected to much image, and they were tested by the Dutch fleet immediately following the fireship.

————

Leut stood aboard his "Seven Provinces", a ship that had been with him for nearly twenty years, and sometimes Leut felt as if it had come to life—the Seven Provinces had already built up a great feat, from the Battle of the Four Days to the Battle of the Medway River, it was as invincible and invincible as its owner, "I hope you can still bring us good luck." Leut said that he stood on the bow of the Seven Provinces, raised his binoculars, watched the movements of the Combined Fleet, and then gave the order - the flags on the ships indicated their respective identities, and Leut's decision was to focus on the British fleet, not both, or the French, but the problem was that the commander of the fleet he led seemed to have his own ideas.

Some people may wonder, but the Dutch fleet at that time was like a multi-headed dragon hovering over the sea, and in terms of management system, Leut had to face similar problems to the Dutch Prime Minister. Because the Dutch fleet was also the crystallization of commercial practices, and the money required for each ship from the day of its birth came from the taxes paid by the merchants, the merchants could dictate the actions of the fleet, and even send their own agents to control the fleet, and the agents and managers of the fleet, whether recruiting crews, maintaining and building their own ships, building warehouses and docks, or smuggling, plundering, or organizing convoys, did not need to ask Leut for permission - Even a large warship like the Seven Provinces was just a commodity in the eyes of merchants.

So in Leut's fleet there was always a different voice, and this time Leut was determined to raid the Bay of Sol, yes, his speculation was correct, but his will was still not able to win the obedience of all, and perhaps the commanders of those fleets thought that the English were the old enemies of the Dutch, but the French were more hateful, and that they had already gained an advantage in surprise, and that the number and quality of ships were far superior to that of this combined fleet, so they divided part of it and went to the French fleet。

It was not wise to disperse the forces, but Leut could only lead a fleet willing to obey his orders and tighten the net as much as possible, and by this time Leut's fleet had formed a beautiful arrow, which was shooting at the British fleet, which was desperately sailing towards the North Sea.

And today's wind direction is also extremely unfavorable to the British, the British fleet wants to break through from the sea of Sol Bay to the North Sea, it is to sail to the east, at this time they need a strong wind from the west, but today's wind is from the east, they are struggling, slow like a snail, the Dutch fleet is riding the wind and waves, like birds flying on the sea.

When the ships of the first class reached their established positions, the "Seven Provinces" lowered their original flags and replaced them with new ones, which meant that Reut ordered the ships to launch a full-scale artillery bombardment.

It is difficult for those who have not seen the battle at sea with their own eyes to imagine that scene, it is about nine o'clock in the morning, the sun is dazzling, the air is clean, but in the midst of the simultaneous roar of more than 30 large warships and hundreds of guns, the smoke rising from the muzzles of the guns suddenly spread a layer of soft cotton wool on the sea, this layer of cotton wool is suddenly thick, suddenly light, and constantly accumulated, covering the hull of the ship. Masts and sails, the captains climbed the bow tower to understand the condition of the enemy and the enemy through the telescope in time, so that they could decide what to do next.

The crew ran up and down the deck, constantly loading every cannon with gunpowder and shells, and the deck was littered with dumped barrels and coiled ropes, and it was even harder to see in the smoke of gunpowder, and there were always people who tripped or knocked out of the way, or vice versa.

The crew in charge of the shelling was the most nervous and tired, they stuffed the shells into the barrel from the rear, poured gunpowder from above, lit the fuse, and then there was a deafening roar, the gun body suddenly retracted due to recoil, one group of people had to hold the gun tightly so that it would not hit the rear hatch directly, and another group of people frantically lifted the mop wrapped in strips of cloth, reached into the muzzle to wipe off the excess gunpowder residue, which was very similar to the original musket- After many rounds of cannon fire, someone had to constantly pour cold sea water on the cannon to cool down in order to avoid exploding.

As soon as the person who cleaned the chamber of the gun retreated, the person who had previously held the gun rushed forward and pushed the gun back to its original position, and unlike the first shot, the observer would adjust the angle and direction of the gun according to what he had seen at the firing port to ensure the accuracy of the hit, or try to directly bombard the enemy's ship's mast, bow and other important positions.

Van Gent noticed the "St. James", that is, the ship of the Earl of Sandwich, he did not know that it was the ship on which the Duke of York's most trusted lieutenant was traveling, but after the ship was struck by the fireship, it deviated slightly from its original course, so that it had a subtle but real distance from the other ships, Van Gent, as Leut's most trusted friend and subordinate, of course, would not let go of this opportunity, and he immediately ordered his ships to start a continuous shelling of the "St. James".

Van Gent's ship was the "Amsterdam" Although the ship's name comes from only one city, its configuration and displacement are similar to the Seven Provinces, it is like a pair of twin brothers, it also has twelve proud 36-pounder guns on the lower deck, together with two 24-pounder guns, forming a powerful strike front, not to mention, there are nearly seventy guns on the upper deck and the open deck of the bow and stern, in the smoke rising one after another, the fire of the muzzle is like a blade refracted by a sword, flash, each flash indicates that they have advanced the enemy on the road to destruction。

In the midst of such a dense bombardment, the Earl of Sandwich also realized that he was under full attack from the enemy, and when he raised his binoculars on the bow tower to find a breakthrough in the smoke, a cannonball whistled and grazed the top of his head and hit the mast behind him, and the mast snapped with a click, and when he fell, he hit the shoulder of the Earl, and he was also in good shape, and when he was dragged down the bow by his own subordinates, he was still giving the command - "St. James" Under his command, he slowly turned and faced the side of the "Amsterdam" and launched a counterattack.

The Earl of Sandwich temporarily handed over command to the first mate, and then, with the help of the other two crew members, staggered to the upper deck, "My collarbone may be broken." He said shenyin, "The ship's doctor will heal you." "The crew said they passed by a few people who were busy putting out the flames, then others who were sending shells off deck, and others who were throwing themselves on the side of the ship, constantly lifting barrels from the sea to cool the guns.

The ship's doctor was busy here, too, but there was only a limit to what he could do, and as soon as he saw the Earl of Sandwich, he subconsciously sighed, and after a brief examination, he affirmed the Earl of Sandwich's estimate: "It's troublesome here," he said, and then splinted and bandaged the Earl, "Can you go back and rest?"

"If I could, of course. The Earl of Sandwich said.