Chapter 575 Fireboat Incident
At night, in a small port not far from the Port of Calais, which belongs to the Duchy of Normandy, the huge Anglo-Portuguese coalition forces, large and small ships, are noisily undergoing repairs. Alcohol and broth have become the best way for them to offset the pressure. good idea.
The patrolling sentry boat followed the rules and regulations, walking on the sea meticulously, and guarded the safety of the entire coalition force.
And in a remote corner of the harbor, no one would have imagined that the Minister of the Navy was seeing off a person with a serious face. Among them, there were eight small boats, but their draft seemed to be very small, and they didn't even have artillery. There is only a wooden barrel containing an unknown liquid.
At this moment, Drake, without the arrogance and presumptuousness of the past, stood on this tens of tons of boat with an expressionless face.
This trip was chosen at the moment when it just entered the night, so their eight ships of tens of tons carefully moved along the coastline, and stopped from time to time, for fear of encountering any danger.
"When will it arrive?" Drake asked softly, a little impatiently at such a slow speed.
"Sir, if nothing unexpected happens, at two o'clock at night, we will arrive at the Port of Calais!"
On the ship Drake was on, there was a young man with rough hands and dark skin. He looked like a weather-beaten sailor.
The young sailor lowered his head and stared at the reference objects on both sides of the strait meticulously. Hearing the command of this operation, he said in a deep voice.
"Our speed is still too slow. It is conservatively estimated that it will take at least three hours!"
"Really? I wish I could give these Spaniards a taste of this unforgettable taste."
Drake's words were low and full of hope.
It was past one o'clock at night, and several small boats had arrived at the port of Calais. Facing them were densely packed guard ships. They were patrolling 24 hours a day, and there was no flaw at all.
Drake was more than a thousand meters away from the place where the ship was repaired and anchored in Spain, and all the lights were extinguished, as if blending with the sea.
If it weren't for the slight waves, no one would be able to spot them.
Looking at the sentry post in front of him, Drake felt his heart beating fast, and he was extremely close to them, especially the figure of the sentry tower erected by Spain in the port. The light of the fire was enough to make them hold their breath.
Tonight, the westerly wind is strong, and the waves are also very strong, making the boats of Drake and others docked around keep shaking, feeling extremely uneasy and nervous.
The shaking came from the boat under his feet, and someone disturbed Drake's thinking, and his brain became more and more clear.
"The Spaniards are ahead, everyone come here!"
Drake stared at the brightly lit front area. Huge ships could easily crush the ships he was standing on without any loss.
"Before coming, you already understand what needs to be done!" Drake squinted his eyes and asked in a deep voice.
Then what awaited him were all affirmative gazes.
"Pull up the sails and get ready!" Drake ordered softly.
Then, when it was less than 800 meters away from the Western Army, the people in the watchtower had already discovered it, and the guard ship was also deeply suspicious. Suddenly, a vigorous fire ignited on the ship.
Several figures got rid of the boat and jumped onto the escape boat that had been prepared.
The fiery red and dazzling sailboat, with the westerly wind and waves, quickly approached the Spanish Navy, which was intensively repaired.
Two flaming ships approached quickly, trying to make the huge repair area as hot and dry as day.
At this moment, the pre-arranged guard team came in handy. Before the order from Admiral Sidoni came out, the guard ship used all its strength to hook the two fire ships and make them deviate from the scheduled route.
At this time, when the security team was cheering and suppressing the danger, suddenly, six more fireboats rushed into the gathering area without warning through the wind and waves, but the strength of the security team had already been lost.
"Quickly, let all ships cut off the anchor cables and set sail!" Commander Sidoni looked at the naval harbor that was already in danger, and he personally issued such an order.
Under the circumstances at the time, this was also the only correct choice he could make.
The small three-masted clipper shuttled through the anchorage, and the commander's order was quickly carried out. The operation of most of the ships showed that the seamanship of the Spanish seamen was still commendable.
It's just that the six ships happened too suddenly in the dark, which made the huge naval fleet into a mess.
This panicked scene did not last long, and a few hours later, in the entire Spanish Navy, only two ships collided in the dark, causing damage to the stern rudder of the galley San Lorenzo, and the ship had to be used. Row slowly with the oars (tacking is impossible without the assistance of the tail rudder).
Around the ship "San Lorenzo", which was stranded on the coast of Calais, James's squadron (and then 1/2 of the British fleet) was attracted.
On the flagship of this galley battleship formation, the two sides launched a fierce hand-to-hand battle. During the melee, the ship was once occupied by the British army.
After a tossing all night, until the next morning, all the Spaniards were confronting the Anglo-Portuguese coalition forces with panda eyes on their faces.
Although the fireboat time did not cause much damage, it gave the Spaniard a psychologically important blow.
It's just that Drake was a little depressed, but the result later cheered him up.
The two fleets approached again to a distance of 1.5 kilometers. Soon, the wind on the sea stopped again, and the two sides faced each other like this.
In this way, after 10 days of thrilling sea battles, far away from the mainland, and a series of accidents, the morale of the Armada Fleet began to collapse, and some ships began to leave the queue to surrender to the British or flee without authorization.
Sidoni had to arrest several captains to follow suit, and one of them was hanged from the end of the mast a few hours later.
In the next few days, the Anglo-Portuguese coalition forces launched a fierce attack on the weak "San Lorenzo", and achieved fruitful results for a while.
More than three 500-ton ships were damaged, two lost combat effectiveness, and countless other ships were shelled.
Such a powerful and unusual Anglo-Portuguese coalition force gave the Spaniards a bitter taste for the first time.
After more than ten days of confrontation, the Spaniard's condition has become worse and worse, and his fighting spirit has also declined rapidly. This situation is beyond Sidoni's cognition.
"Guys, everyone should firmly believe that our Spanish navy is invincible, and fear should not exist in our thoughts!"
(end of this chapter)