The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 24 Turning off the lights
Lingayen Bay, five nautical miles northwest.

The lookout on the Fury pointed into the distance and shouted, "Fire! Fire spotted in the direction of Lingayen Bay!"

The captain of the HMS Fury was awakened from his sleep by the first mate. Still in his pajamas, he hurriedly went to the foredeck, took the binoculars from the orderly, and looked southeast.

On the dark horizon, a faint orange-red light could be seen.

"Wake the sailors, weigh anchor, raise sails, head southeast, full speed ahead towards Lingayen Bay!" the captain ordered, lowering his binoculars.

The first mate took a breath, blew his whistle, and then shouted, "Everyone get up! Sails crew, unfurl the sails, tighten the saddles, and prepare to set sail!"

On the gun deck, the sleeping crew members were awakened by the bosun's loud voice. They jumped off their hammocks, quickly folded them up, and rushed onto the deck, placing the neatly folded hammocks in nets along the ship's side.

Then they each ran to their respective posts.

Midway down the deck, beside the anchor winch, the sailors formed a circle, pushing the winch to turn slowly in response to the bosun's shouts.

The flag bearer came to the stern and, using lights, gave the order to set sail to the escort ships, the Golden Lion and the Silver Wolf.

The sailmen skillfully climbed the support cables, ascended the boom, unrolled the canvas, and lowered the square sail.

In the darkness, the sailors moved with the agility of monkeys, navigating freely more than twenty meters above the deck.

The astrologer announced loudly, "The wind is from the southwest, and the wind speed is moderate!"

First mate's orders: "Head southeast, starboard into the wind, tighten port sail lock!"

"Tighten the port sail lock!" the sailmen shouted repeatedly.

An hour later, the anchor winch spun to its full length, and the chief bosun shouted, "Weigh anchor complete!"

First Mate: "Preparations for departure are complete. Ship, set sail!"

The captain of the Fury ordered: "It's too dark. Remind the Golden Lion and Silver Wolf to turn on their lights and keep their distance to avoid a collision."

"Yes, Captain!" the flag bearer replied, then ran to the stern and shouted the order.

Forty minutes later, the three warships had sailed past the Borinau Peninsula, and Lingayen Bay was in sight.

A disposable wooden observation deck stands on the peninsula's mountains like a blazing torch, illuminating the peninsula's rocks in a fiery red glow.

In Lingayen Bay, on the eastern side of the peninsula, a large number of ship lights are rushing towards the beach.

"Enemy ship lights spotted! Directly ahead... approximately two to three thousand paces away," the lookout shouted.

The sea was so dark that it was difficult to judge distances.

"With HMS Fury leading the way, form a line, turn port, and engage the enemy on starboard," the captain ordered.

"Turn left!" the first mate shouted.

The flag bearer ran to the stern and loudly issued orders to the other two ships.

The three warships lined up in the dark, struggling to maintain a southeasterly course, and gradually approached the pirate fleet.

"Open the gun ports, gunners in position!" the first mate ordered toward the gun deck.

The gunnery officer on the gun deck loudly repeated the order: "Open the gun doors, gunners in position!"

Soon, the gun ports on the ship's side opened, and the cannons, ready to fire and load, were pushed out of the ports, their dark muzzles pointing directly at the distant lights of the fleet.

“About a thousand paces!” the lookout shouted.

"Eight hundred paces!"

"Six hundred paces!"

No one spoke on deck; everyone was waiting for the captain's orders.

Cold sweat beaded on the captain's forehead. Even at such close range, he still couldn't make out the enemy ship's outline through his binoculars.

They had formed an attack formation and blocked the entrance to the bay.

However, the pirate fleet had the upper hand. Once the pirates extinguished their lights and turned back, the three Spanish warships would be forced into a passive boarding action.

Can't wait any longer.

"Fire!" the captain commanded in a deep voice, lowering his binoculars.

The orders were relayed down the deck.

First Mate: "Fire!"

Artillery Chief: "Fire!"

On the gun deck, soldiers threaded fuses onto wooden poles, the burning orange-red fuse ends close to the gunpowder at the gun's touchhole.

"Hiss—" The gunpowder ignited.

Then, with a loud bang, the cannon fired, and the sound of the cannon shot receded sharply.

The twenty-five guns on the starboard side of the Fury fired in succession, and the enormous recoil was transmitted to the hull through the gun tow ropes, causing the Fury to list to port.

Then, the guns of the follower ships HMS Golden Lion and HMS Silver Wolf were fired in turn.

It was pitch black, and the landing point of the artillery could not be seen. The only sound was the splashing of the shells hitting the water.

There was no sound of planks cracking, nor the cries of the enemy.

A volley of shots, zero hits.

This is quite common in modern naval warfare. The accuracy of cannons is inherently limited, and when firing from a rocking ship, in most cases, the gunner simply points the cannon roughly toward the enemy ship, leaving the hit entirely to God's will.

In most cases, the primary purpose of the first round of shelling is to correct the angle of the artillery.

"Clear the breech...prepare to load!" the gunnery officer shouted. "Fire!"

At a command, the starboard guns of the Fury flashed with fire, and a barrage of cannon fire resounded throughout the bay, followed by the distant sound of solid iron ball shells hitting the water.

Immediately afterwards, the two escort ships also fired their cannons in turn, and unsurprisingly, there was only the sound of splashing water.

The ship's lights in the distance were unaffected and continued to sail at a snail's pace toward the beach.

Could this be a ghost fleet?

"Clean the breech...prepare to load!" the artillery chief shouted.

"Wait a minute!" said the captain of the Fury.

"Cease fire!" the first mate ordered.

"Cease fire!" the artillery officer repeated the order.

The sea fell silent, with only the whistling wind in one's ears.

The captain of the Fury frowned. Even if the two rounds of cannon fire had missed, the pirates should have reacted, either scattering and fleeing or turning off their lights. Why were they completely unresponsive?
"Turn right and sail over there to take a look," the captain ordered.

A dozen minutes later, the Fury, accompanied by two escort ships, entered the "pirate fleet".

There were no ships in sight on the sea; instead, torches floated on the surface, each torch inserted into a bamboo raft made of coconut shells.

The bamboo rafts were connected together with wooden sticks and ropes, and were towed across the sea by sampans with simple triangular sails.

"Damn pirates, we've been tricked!" The captain of the Fury slammed his fist on the ship's side.

For the crew members, they didn't care whether they were tricked or not; as long as they didn't have to fight pirates, that was a good thing.

Just as the crew relaxed their guard, the lookout suddenly shouted, "Enemy ship lights spotted on port aft!"

"Again?" the first mate roared in fury.

“No!” the captain of the Fury whispered. The enemy ship’s lights in the distance were more concentrated and layered on the sea surface, clearly not rafts made of coconut shells.

A ship with lights like that must be a large ship.

"Load the guns and prepare for battle!" the captain ordered.

As the enemy ship approached, the captain could vaguely see its outline through his binoculars.

"Turn off the lights!" the captain ordered.

As orders were passed down from officer to officer, the lights on the three warships gradually went out, blending into the dark sea.

……

In the distance, the captain of the Rose of Our Lady lowered his binoculars in confusion.

In his view, the lights of the three warships gradually went out, leaving only the lights of a large number of sampans floating on the sea.

"Captain, should we prepare for battle?" the first mate of the Rose of Our Lady asked.

Two ships met on the sea at night, and one of them turned off its lights, which was definitely a dangerous sign.

The Rose Our Lady and St. John were originally anchored nearby, but they sailed over to investigate after hearing the shelling an hour earlier.

But the brief sound of the cannon was somewhat suspicious; there was a possibility of it being fired by mistake.

Therefore, despite the hostility shown by the other party, he dared not fire rashly out of caution.

The captain shook his head and said, "Let's get closer first, then use the lights to ask."

Ten minutes into the voyage, the Our Lady of the Roses completely lost track of the other party.

"What did you see?" the first mate asked the lookout.

On the mainmast lookout tower, the lookout surveyed the surroundings from a height of over ten meters, but there was no sign of the large ship in sight. He could only reply, "Except for the ship's lights on the sampan, it is completely dark, sir."

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

Just then, a red light flashed on the far sea to the starboard side of the Rose Mother, followed by the deafening roar of cannons.

"Enemy ships are firing!" the first mate shouted.

Immediately afterwards, a huge column of water splashed up from just a few dozen paces to the starboard side of the Our Lady of the Rose, forming a curtain of rain as it fell, soaking the crew on deck.

"They're Dutch!" one of the crew members exclaimed in a panicked tone, revealing his suspicion.

"Prepare for shelling!" Through the rain, the captain of the Rose of Our Lady, holding his hat with one hand and gripping the ship's side with the other, shouted the order.

"Prepare for artillery fire!" the first mate and artillery chief repeated the order.

Soon, the gun ports on the starboard side of the Rose Mother opened, and the cannons were launched.

Another red light appeared on the distant sea.

Amidst the splashing water, a shell struck the deck of the Rose Mother, sending wood chips flying and blood mist spraying everywhere. A sailor's body was reduced to a bloody pulp, with only his two legs remaining as he rolled to the edge of the deck.

The captain gritted his teeth and forced out a sentence: "Aim at the muzzle flash of the enemy ship and fire!"

(End of this chapter)