On April 2, 1726, in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, an English fleet of ten warships and two supply ships was heading south.

Yesterday, they passed through the Portuguese island of Formosa (present-day Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea) and replenished some fresh food and fresh water, but chose to continue south.

This England fleet was sent by the Royal Navy Commission to take advantage of the fact that a large number of Qi ships were stranded in the waters of the North Atlantic, to kill them behind them, patrol the west coast of Africa, to attack and intercept Qi merchant ships passing here, to cut off their routes to Europe as much as possible, and to block possible follow-up supply conservatories.

After a year of fighting with the Qi Navy, not only did England lose more than 10 merchant ships every month, but more than 10 merchant ships disappeared almost every month (most likely intercepted by the Qi Navy), the merchants complained bitterly, there were many bankrupts, and even the Royal Navy was also a loss of soldiers, and more than 40 large and small warships were sunk or captured by the Qi Expeditionary Fleet, which made the whole England feel a wordless suffocation.

Kou can go, I can go too!

Under great pressure, the Royal Navy of England was forced to organize a special expeditionary fleet, ready to kill the Qi people in the back of the country, and retaliate accordingly.

It is also inconceivable that before arriving in Europe last year, the Qi expeditionary fleet ignored Portuguese Angola, Portuguese Guinea, and several English slave capture bases in Guinea, in addition to capturing Cape Verde and retaking the Spanish Canary Islands, and allowed them to exist in their rear.

In this way, after passing Cape Verde, this task force did not worry about its own supply, and Portuguese Guinea, the Portuguese island of Formosa, the Portuguese island of São Tomé in front, and Portuguese Angola, which was close to the territory of Qi in South Africa, could provide them with the necessary supplies and fresh water.

"Oh God!" A bearded sailor stretched out his hand in horror to the distant sea, and exclaimed: "Captain, look, what is that?" ”

Captain Primo Wenger of the USS St. George held up his binoculars and looked in the direction he was pointing.

"Steamship!"

After seeing it for a while, his body shook violently. He knew that the thick black cloud in front of him was the black smoke emitted from the chimney of the steamship, and there was more than one smoke.

At present, there are only a handful of countries in the world that have steamships (including sail hybrids), and there are probably only three countries in the world: Qi, England and France. However, French steamships were still experimenting on the Seine and had not yet sailed to the sea. The ships of England could only sail off the coast of the North Atlantic, transporting some goods and people with much higher efficiency than traditional sailing ships, especially in and out of ports and in windless conditions.

However, the cost of using steam ships is not necessarily cheap, and they need to carry a lot of coal and fresh water, which makes the utilization rate of cargo hold a lot reduced. At the same time, the steamship also has special requirements for the destination it arrives, that is, there must be a coal supply. Otherwise, a steamship without coal would be inferior to an ordinary sailboat.

As a result, many merchants and cargo owners, who did not pay much attention to timeliness, were reluctant to choose sailing ships to transport their goods, which somewhat limited the development of steam-powered ships in England. As for the several sailing ships equipped by the Royal Navy, they did not play much role in the naval battles with the Qi State, either the machines broke down and lay on the halfway, or the power was insufficient, and they could not keep up with the mobility of the Qi National Aircraft Sailing Ships, but during the battle, a number of sail warships were needed to protect their safety.

Captain Primo Wenger remembers that the Cleveland Company, which had not been established for many years, had made an experimental transatlantic voyage. A sailing ship sailed from Swansea to New Jersey in British North America, and then returned laden with tobacco and cotton. Since then, though, it seems that the company has not been heard of on a similar voyage. Maybe it's more likely to be both for security reasons, or because of technical issues.

As for the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, needless to say, the steamships that can come here must be from the Qi country, and there is no other home!

Captain Primo Wenger had a very bad premonition in his mind, so he subconsciously prepared to order the sailors on the mast to signal to the flagship in the rear whether to immediately turn away.

But it was at this moment that the lookout post on the mast let out a heart-rending roar: "Enemy ships found!" …… A large number of steam battleships! The quantity is ...... Fifteen! …… Oh, God! No, the number of enemy ships is eighteen! ”

Captain Wenger heard this, his head was a little dizzy, and his face became iron-blue. He did not doubt the professionalism of the lookouts, in fact they were highly trained, each of them studied in a specialized school, and the teachers gave each person a detailed explanation with portraits of important ships from various countries, so that each student could identify the country of the opposite ship at the moment of encounter.

Unfortunately, they encountered the Qi State steam warship today, this kind of ship, the lookout post probably won't be mistaken, because it is too special and easy to recognize.

This fleet is likely to be the second batch of British fleets sent by the Qi State.

Oh God, the people of Qi have increased their troops in order to defeat them, England!

Captain Wenger scurried onto the bridge, then picked up a telescope imported from Qi - the Qi telescope was more accurate and could observe farther than England, and carefully searched the distant horizon.

After a few minutes, columns of black smoke rose into the sky, and then the armor-mounted hull gradually revealed.

The features are too obvious, black-brown armor, several huge chimneys, constantly spewing black smoke, pointing at the bow guns in front of them, and several ...... The armored turret, and that particular slender hull. On the high mast, the red sunburst yellow dragon flag flutters with the sea breeze!

Eighteen enemy battleships!

According to the plume of smoke coming out, it is roughly estimated that there are at least seven or eight steam-powered warships on the other side!

Big trouble!

"Major, the flagship has sent a signal asking us to adjust the booms, turn to the southwest, and go at full speed!" Just when Captain Wenger was still in a state of confusion, the signal officer hurriedly ran over and said with a panicked expression.

"Full speed ahead?" Captain Wenger looked at the signal officer in disbelief.

Did you misread the flagship's signal?

The Qi fleet has eighteen warships, and even if there are several supply ships among them, there are many more ships that can be used for combat than their own. What's more, the other side also has a large number of sailboats, and their maneuverability and high speed are not something that ordinary sail warships like ours can handle.

"Major, less than thirty miles ahead is the Portuguese island of São Tomé." The signalman reminded in a whisper.

Oh yes.

Captain Wenger immediately realized that all the ships would speed up and break through the interception of the Qi fleet, and as long as they fled to the island of São Tomé, they would be safe for the time being with the slightly complete coastal defenses there. But if you turn to escape, with the speed of Qi Guoji's sailboat, you won't be able to run away before nightfall.

What happens after escaping to São Tomé?

That can only be taken one step at a time, and first avoid the edge of the Qi country's support fleet. If the people of Qi also follow and kill to the island of San Tome, and even launch a blockade and siege against them, then they will also follow. Maybe this can be used to hold off this fleet of Qi and prevent them from joining up with the European expeditionary fleet, which can also be regarded as relieving the pressure on our Royal Navy a little.

It has to be said that the professionalism of the captains of England is worthy of recognition, not to mention that they are all excellent captains carefully selected by the Royal Navy. After the flagship "Mildenhall" issued the order to break out, all the ships adjusted their sail booms, first turned to the southwest in order to avoid the interception of the Qi fleet, and then looked for an opportunity to sail south to the island of São Tomé.

But their behavior seems to be somewhat idealistic. The several Qi steam warships that rushed to the forefront did not pay any attention to any of their movements, and after estimating the speed of the battleships of the English fleet, they decisively adjusted their direction and headed towards the northwest direction of the English fleet.

When I encounter our Qi warship, I am afraid that I will think too much about what kind of maneuver and turn and choose the opportunity to escape! Don't you know that our sail warships are faster and more agile in steering, and no one can escape our pursuit?

What's more, there is also a "big killer" in our fleet, which will definitely open your eyes!

Fifteen nautical miles, ten nautical miles, five nautical miles, three nautical miles, one nautical mile...... The distance between the two sides is getting closer. The horsepower of several Qi steam warships has been turned on to the extreme, the steam propulsion system is running at full speed, and the thick chimney is constantly swallowing black fog, and the captain of the "St. George" Primo Wenger, who is sailing on the port side of the fleet, can almost see the cold light shining from the 75 mm guns in the bow of the battleship at the forefront.

"Oh my God, that's too fast!" Wenger seemed unable to accept the facts in front of him, muttering: "It's only been less than two hours, and it's almost catching up with us." We can't escape, we can't escape......"

Indeed, although the Qi State Aircraft Sail Battleship that caught up with it had a large tonnage, its steam propulsion system had soared their speed to an astonishing twelve knots.

The commander of the fleet had already been ruthless and would not allow these "fish" to slip away in front of his eyes, so he did not care about saving coal at all, and desperately demanded to speed up. The stokers in the engine room had already stripped off almost all their clothes, leaving only a pair of shorts, and were sweating profusely shoveling coal into the red furnace to burn the fire vigorously. The entire battleship is like a predatory shark, cleaving the waves and approaching their prey at great speed.

Pursuit on the sea is very different from land. It is not like on land, and it depends on the physical strength and will of both parties, as well as factors such as terrain and environment. The chase and escape mode on the sea is simple and straightforward, that is, fight for speed, see whose boat is fast, and there is almost nothing to be opportunistic.

For example, if the enemy ship that escaped was traveling at a speed of 4 knots, and the pursuing enemy ship was traveling at a speed of 6 knots, and the two ships were 20 nautical miles apart, then it would theoretically take at least 10 hours for our ships to catch up with the enemy ship. For such a long time, it is likely that it has not caught up, and it is nightfall, which gives the pursued ship the possibility of escaping under the cover of night. After all, in this era, there are no radars, no searchlights, and no water reconnaissance planes, and it is quite difficult to pursue a ship that has turned off its lights and fled with all its might at night.

The English fleet was about 6 nautical miles away from the Qi support fleet and discovered the opponent through the smoke spewed from the steam engine. In order to avoid the interception of the Qi fleet, the English fleet sailed to the southwest, sailing against the headwind, and the speed was only a pitiful 3-4 knots.

The fast-advancing Qi State Aircraft Sail Battleship is fully steam-powered, and with the help of sails, the battleship is extremely fast, soaring at an astonishing speed of 12-14 knots, like a dragon swimming in the sea to pounce on its prey.

It took less than two hours for the Qi fleet to approach the fleet, which was in the midst of turning and fleeing. After that, he began to prepare to hunt the targets in front of him one by one.

The destruction of an English ship at sea meant a reduction in their naval strength by one point, and by the time of the final battle, the pressure on them would become less and less.

"Boom!" A 75-mm solid bullet fell into the water a few hundred meters behind the "St. George", causing a huge wave.

Captain Wenger couldn't help but feel a thrill in his heart, and a wave of despair filled his heart. He knew that this shell was actually a test fire, not a real threat, and it was impossible for people to rely on bow guns to attack them.

But in less than twenty minutes, the enemy ships would sail to their flanks and attack them with powerful broadside fire. If the two sides start a catch-and-match fight, Captain Wenger really doesn't have the confidence to beat each other. Not only are the sail warships of the Qi people fast and maneuverable, but they also have a cannonball that will explode accurately on the deck, and can easily tear through the wooden hull, just like the devil.

"Boom!" Another 75-mm shell hit, this time just a little more than a hundred meters from the "St. George"! The huge splash of the shell was so dazzling that Captain Wenger came back to his senses and saw him rush down the bridge and roar like a mad tiger: "Prepare for battle!" …… All personnel, get ready for battle! ”

"Major, what do you think that's that?" The first mate next to him suddenly pointed to several Qi warships that were approaching, with an unbelievable look on his face.

"Huh?" Captain Wenger looked at where the first mate was pointing.

I saw a slender, blue-gray battleship like a dragon on the water, deceiving from the port side at an extremely high speed, and like most Qi national sailing warships, there were three huge chimneys on board, constantly spewing black smoke. But the obvious difference is that there is not a single mast on its ship, and it is a purely steam-powered warship!

Even more astonishing, oh no, it should be frightening that the naked eye alone can tell that this battleship is made of iron.

That's right, both the sides of the ship and the turrets on the deck are all made of steel, and the whole battleship is full of metallic texture.

This is not the kind of steel armor that ordinary wooden-hulled ships are equipped with, it is indeed a steel battleship!

(End of chapter)