However, the old sail ships could not outrun the steam ships of the Austrian Navy.

Although this is very inefficient, it is safe.

Even the occasional brave British captain who tried to fight back had to face the entire Imperial Austrian Navy.

So they can only be heroes for a few minutes at most, and then they have to abandon the ship to escape or sink in the depths of the sea with their own ship.

Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. thought the Austrian Navy was just lucky, but in fact all the ports along the route had intelligence officers from the Austrian Navy.

Every move of the British fleet was under the watchful eye of the Austrian Navy, so Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. was attacked only a few hours after his detachment was divided.

During the night, the British were attacked in the port of Valletta, the main port on the island of Malta.

At least more than 50 patrolmen were killed, but it was the fire in the port area that was even more deadly.

Dozens of warehouses burst into flames at the same time, spreading to a third of the ports, killing thousands of people and losing more than 1,000 people.

Elder Edward Hobart Seymour could conclude that this must have been the work of the Austrians, and that there was no other organization or individual to do such a thing.

However, before he could remember his anger, new bad news came.

The Austrians landed and were making their way to the center of the island.

That's right, in the end it turned into a land battle.

The Austrian Navy took advantage of last night's chaos to send the Austrian Army to the island of Malta.

The British garrison on the island of Malta was no match for these professional armies, and medieval defenses were useless against modern artillery.

The Austrian Marines, who were divided into small groups and were almost ubiquitous, were more difficult to deal with than the Austrian Army, which was marching towards the center of the island with great fanfare.

The Marines were tasked with sabotage, attacking lone British sailors and small stations everywhere.

The British Empire could not afford to lose Malta, so Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. responded by sending his own army to annihilate the enemy who landed on the island.

Then send naval patrols to prevent Austria from sending reinforcements to Malta, and at the same time completely trap the Austrians on Malta.

Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. had a modest response, but he overlooked one problem.

The Austrian army was closer to Malta than he had imagined, and there were four Austrian barracks in Sicily.

Sicily, on the other hand, is only 48.5 nautical miles from Malta, and even an old-fashioned sail carrier takes only four hours.

After a week-long land battle with the Austrians on the island of Malta, Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. had almost wiped out the British marines, but also the sailors.

Austria's army on the island of Malta was growing more and more, and he finally understood a point.

The Navy shouldn't fight a land war with the Army!

However, the island of Malta was so important to the British Empire that the elder Edward Hobart Seymour gritted his teeth and fought the Austrians for three days in the hope of a miracle.

However, the miracle did not happen, and he got nothing but more casualties and more defeats.

Far from being content to occupy the center of the island, the Austrian Army set a new target on the British military port.

Even with the cover of warships, the defensive battle of the port was very fierce.

In fact, theoretically speaking, the Austrians did not carry much artillery with them when they landed on the island, and should not have the ability to attack the city.

However, the overwhelming number of rockets has shattered their illusion, and in the absence of mules and horses, a cannon of several hundred pounds may not be able to carry it, but a dozen kilograms of rockets can still be carried with them.

Both the old buildings on the island of Malta and the wooden structures in the harbor have almost zero protection against rockets.

At this time, outside of the Austrian Empire, the main use of rockets was to burn buildings.

So when the overwhelming rockets fell into the port, the British finally felt the despair of the Danes back then.

Even though the sea was nearby, even though the sea was inexhaustible, they still couldn't put out the fire.

Eventually, after paying a terrible price, Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. and the Governor of Malta, the Earl of Solon, made a difficult decision.

Abandon the island of Malta.

Early in the morning, with the last cable being cut, the New Mediterranean Fleet finally left the island full of blood and gunpowder.

However, what awaited them was not the beautiful morning sun, but the main fleet of the Austrian Navy, which had been waiting for a long time.

The fleet of the Austrian Empire slowly emerged from the distant horizon, and the black and gold flag was slowly raised.

Both sides knew that the time for a decisive battle had come.

The sailors of the British New Mediterranean Fleet had long since come up with a bad anger in their hearts, and the soldiers of the Austrian Navy had long been tired of the days of gnawing salted fish on the seashore.

Due to the famine in Sicily, the troops of the Austrian Empire could only eat dry food.

Dry food and canned food are good things for the Army, but dogs don't eat them in the eyes of the Navy.

Especially in the Austrian navy there was a large number of nobles from the Italian region, who were very picky about food, and the British on the opposite side were undoubtedly to blame for everything.

This was the first time that the elder Edward Hobart Seymour had seen the entire Austrian Imperial Navy, and the number and quality of the warships were far greater than he had imagined.

The number of warships alone is twice as much as the intelligence, not to mention that more than half of them are steam-powered giant ships, and there are even ironclad ships that are still in the experimental stage.

At this time, the ironclad ships designed by the Austrian Empire were still very rudimentary and primitive, but their protection was no longer comparable to that of the old warships.

Friedrich's flagship, the Prinz Eugen, was fully equipped with the latest steel cannons, and its firepower required only two salvos at close range to destroy a British battleship.

The damage inflicted by the British warships was almost negligible, and neither flowering nor solid shells could penetrate its heavy armor.

At this time, Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. thought of a solution, which was to directly attack the paddlewheel of the "Prince Eugen".

The biggest weakness of the steam battleship is the paddle wheel, so it has not been paid enough attention.

However, the British gunners did not find the Austrian paddle wheel.

After six hours of continuous fierce fighting, Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. finally gave the order to retreat.

But Friedrich clearly did not want to let them go, and led the Austrian Imperial Navy in hot pursuit.

Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. was in an unprecedented predicament, unable to beat and run.

Unless he can run to Gibraltar in one go, the new Mediterranean fleet will definitely be completely annihilated under the pursuit.

Now old Edward Hobart Seymour can only hope for a miracle.

At this moment the lookout suddenly shouted, and another fleet appeared on the distant horizon.

"It's the Great Eastern Fleet of the French! We are saved! ”

Even the elder Edward Hobart Seymour shed tears of emotion and hugged his men.

"Thank God."

For the first time, he believed that God existed.

On the other side, Friedrich saw the flag of the French Great Eastern Fleet, and a smile also appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"They're finally here!"

(End of chapter)