Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 256: Waves Rising (Part )

General Gomez, commander of the Spanish expeditionary task force, gripped the monocular tightly, his knuckles turning white from the strain.

Through the telescope, the pirate ship was still following them slowly, with an extremely ugly expression and the anger in his heart was beyond words.

More than ten days ago, they discovered this pirate ship outside the pirate port and immediately rushed over, trying to capture this prey in order to save some face for the failed expedition.

In order to suppress this group of pirates, the entire Viceroyalty of New Spain made careful preparations for more than half a year and spent countless financial resources to form their expeditionary task force, and then crossed more than a thousand leagues to arrive here.

However, the fleet was blocked by coastal artillery at the pirate port and failed to enter it. Instead, it lost a 500-ton ship "Light of Dawn" under the fierce firepower of the enemy.

Immediately afterwards, more than a thousand landing troops suffered heavy losses in the inland hinterland and were almost wiped out.

This cast a shadow of failure over the entire fleet, and morale dropped to its lowest point.

If we return to Mexico in such a disgraced state, everyone will face the Governor's wrath.

General Gomez, the fleet commander, would undoubtedly be dismissed from his military post because of this major defeat, and might even be sent back to Spain in a very undignified manner to be investigated and tried by the Military Committee and the West Indian Affairs Committee.

How could a powerful expeditionary fleet be defeated by a group of ragtag pirates?
This is simply a disgrace to the Kingdom of Spain!

Moreover, this expedition did not yield any results. How could this not make the bigwigs above question the ability of the fleet commander?
Therefore, when this pirate ship suddenly appeared in front of the fleet, it immediately irritated General Gomez's sensitive nerves.

We must sink it or capture it!

However, this pirate ship was extremely fast and left them far behind in less than twenty minutes, which was a pity.

If this ship just escapes into the distance and disappears without a trace by taking advantage of its speed, it will only be a regret for the task force.

What was annoying was that the pirate ship actually lowered half of its sails on the sea far away from the fleet, reduced its speed, and waited there provocatively, as if mocking their incompetence and weakness.

How can I bear this!
General Gomez immediately gave orders, and several warships of the fleet immediately surrounded the enemy at full speed in a wide fan-shaped area.

The two sides chased each other and stopped, heading towards the northwest.

They originally thought that facing the strong northwest monsoon, even if the pirate ship was faster than them for a while, the gap would not be that big. As long as the other party was not paying attention, they would be surrounded by several ships and would definitely be trapped.

However, they did not expect that the other party was not only fast, but also highly maneuverable. It kept moving in an "S" shape on the sea, always leaving their ships behind.

But the other party will not go away. When they see that it is difficult to catch up with them, they will slow down and wait for them "friendly" in front.

After two days of pursuit, General Gomez gradually came to his senses.

This pirate ship is just taking them for a walk!
It tried to use itself as bait to lure their entire task force away from the pirate port, thereby indirectly lifting the pirate blockade.

What frightened him even more was that the pirates were taking them for a "stroll" in this way, clearly intending to use it to consume their limited supplies and...energy!
If they were led by pirate ships to unknown waters further north, and if they were taken to a place with dangerous sea conditions, it would be extremely dangerous for the entire fleet.

The further north they sail, the colder the weather becomes. They may encounter large areas of floating ice, reefs, or bad weather, any of which would be enough to put the fleet in a desperate situation.

These pirates are entrenched in the north and must be familiar with these waters. We cannot allow them to lead us to dangerous waters.

So General Gomez immediately ordered the fleet to return and no longer pursue the pirate ship.

Yes, he had faced the reality and no longer dwelled on the failure of the expedition. He was ready to return safely to Mexico with the remaining ships.

If you lose, you lose. There is no need to hide it, and there is no need to feel resentful.

After returning to Mexico, he reported the expedition in detail to the Governor-General, telling him that this pirate group was truly formidable, fundamentally different from the European pirates entrenched on the small islands of the Caribbean. Not only did they boast a population of several thousand, they had also cultivated numerous farmlands, built fortified fortresses, and possessed a formidable military capability. The Governor-General's mere handful of warships and a thousand-man army was simply not going to be able to easily defeat them.

Moreover, their location was more than a thousand leagues away from Mexico, making the attack even more difficult.

If we don't make more thorough preparations and gather more troops, launching such a hasty expedition will only be a way to give the pirates their heads.

After the fleet turned south, the pirate ship also turned around and followed behind them from a distance.

It was originally thought that after the fleet passed through the wide strait, the pirate ships would choose to leave and return to their ports, thus losing contact with each other.

But no one expected that it would follow the fleet all the way, hanging behind at a leisurely pace.

If the fleet turns around and drives it away, it will immediately and quickly escape without engaging you.

But if you ignore it, it will stick to you like a haunting vulture, which is extremely annoying to look at.

Whenever the fleet tried to get rid of it, it would rush up quickly, fire a few rounds of artillery fire, and then speed away before the Spanish warships could fight back.

This harassment tactic made General Gomez extremely angry, but he was helpless.

A few days ago, the fleet commander, General Gomez, ordered a warship to tow behind and pretend to fall behind, trying to lure the enemy to attack, and then entangle it and wait for other ships in the fleet to come to support and surround and kill it together.

The pirate ship did attack the trailing warship, but surprisingly and sadly, they were too slow to come to support, so their own warship was severely damaged. Several terrifying holes were pierced on the starboard side of the ship, the foremast was broken, and the poop was riddled with holes and bullet holes. More than 20 crew members were killed or injured.

The poor captain reported to General Gomez with lingering fear that the pirate ship rushed over at an incredible speed, quickly approached to within less than 30 meters of their warship, seized the "T" position, and then bombarded it fiercely with its broadside cannons.

The Spanish warship tried every possible means, but was unable to turn its side towards the pirate ship, so it was attacked the entire time.

Moreover, the captain told General Gomez that the outer hull of the pirate ship might be covered with a layer of armor. When they were subjected to sporadic counterattacks, it could be clearly seen that the shells failed to penetrate the opponent's hull, as if they were bounced back by some hard iron plate.

In this situation, all the crew members felt shocked and desperate.

If the fleet had not arrived in time, they would most likely have been sunk by the pirate ship.

For a period of time afterwards, General Gomez did not dare to use this bait again, for fear that he would be swallowed by the "big fish".

When the fleet no longer paid attention to the pirate ships following it and headed south back to Mexico, it would occasionally rush to a very close position of the fleet, fire a few rounds of artillery fire, and then hide away before the Spanish warships could react, like a nasty vulture, making people hate it but helpless.

Several times, the fleet took advantage of the night to adjust its course and speed up in an attempt to get rid of its entanglement.

But after a day or two, it will suddenly appear from a certain direction and continue to stalk and harass you.

After all, the seven ships in the entire fleet are still a big target at sea, and the enemy is fast. If we turn a few more times in several directions, we can always find their position.

It was like a cunning and ferocious lone wolf, staring closely at their group of prey. Once any flaw appeared, it would take the opportunity to pounce on them and bite them mercilessly.

At this time, the fleet had just passed the mouth of the Columbia River and was still more than 20 days away from Mexico. It was unknown what kind of situation they would face during this dangerous journey.

Haha, it’s really ridiculous that a Spanish fleet with seven ships was actually "driven" back home by a pirate ship.

Gomez thought this was both absurd and ridiculous.

Could it be that the power of our Kingdom of Spain has completely disappeared?

(End of this chapter)