The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 27 Anchor Chain Breaks
On the deck of a large sailing ship.

Jose yelled, "Are you crazy? Raising anchor while sailing? The sailboat will be torn to shreds by the anchor chain!"

Lin Qian ignored him and just watched the crew install the winch.

In addition to the anchor chain of the main rudder, the winch was connected to a cable about the thickness of an arm, which was guided by several sets of pulleys and led all the way to the officers' mess in the stern tower.

At this moment, Bai Langzai led five or six crew members out of the cargo hold, each carrying a heavy oak barrel.

"Sixth Brother, the whale blubber and olive oil you requested have been brought up." Bai Langzai and his crew placed the wooden barrels on the deck.

Lin Qian ordered, "Melt this grease, put it in small buckets, and send it to the rudder compartment."

"it is good."

"Captain, find a woman in the cabin." A crew member pulled over a fair-skinned Spanish woman, who was only covered by a bed sheet, with most of her body exposed.

The woman was initially quite frightened, but upon seeing José's figure, she immediately began to curse.

Judging from the content of the insults, this woman is a "joyful girl".

José lured her onto the ship, enjoyed her "pleasure" services, and then refused to pay. He threatened her that if she made a scene, she would be discovered by the guards on deck and sent to the gallows.

The woman had no choice but to accept her fate in humiliation and was forced to provide "pleasure" services again in exchange for the chance to disembark.

Unexpectedly, at the crucial moment of the service, shouts of killing came from the deck. Jose immediately abandoned her and ran away. She could only hide in the cabin, where she was discovered by Lin Qian's crew.

After listening to the woman's accusations, Lin Qian cast a disdainful glance at Jose.

Jose protested, "I had just gone to the deck to check the situation when I was caught. I didn't mean to leave you behind..."

"Damn liar! Despicable bastard!" the woman cursed incessantly. As she waved her arms in agitation, more and more of the view that the sheets could no longer cover became visible. If the situation hadn't been so tense, many of the crew members would probably have gone over to comfort her.

Lin Qian walked up to her: "Can you swim?"

The woman paused, then said, "Yes, how? Ah—"

With a scream, the woman was pushed off the ship's side by Lin Qian.

The woman choked on some water in the sea, struggled to swim ashore, covered her private parts with her arms, and cursed loudly at the boat.

José smiled broadly: "I can swim too, you don't need to bother, I can jump myself."

Lin Qian sneered, "You stay put." After saying that, she ordered her men to lock Jose in the cabin.

At this time, Bai Langzai had already melted the grease in the small bucket with a torch, and according to Lin Qian's instructions, mixed whale fat and olive oil in equal proportions and sent it to the officers' restaurant.

As instructed by Lin Qian, two crew members were swinging iron hammers at a section of copper pipe in the wheelhouse. The copper pipe was pressing against the anti-rudder lock, transmitting vibrations.

They were not hitting with great force, but at a high frequency, which is exactly the method of removing rust through vibration.

After several hours of hammering, a layer of rust had settled on the ground.

It was the height of summer, and the wheelhouse was stuffy and hot. The two crew members had already taken off their shirts and were drenched in sweat.

Before going down to the wheelhouse, Lin Qian also took off her shirt, took the hot oil handed to her by Bai Langzai, and carried it to the bottom of the wheelhouse, where two crew members used brushes to apply the hot oil to the nuts on both sides of the anti-rudder lock.

After a long period of hammering and rust removal, tiny gaps have formed between the nut and the cast iron rod, allowing grease to fill them through capillary action and act as a lubricant.

Seeing that the hot oil had been applied, Lin Qian called out to the outside of the cabin, "Uncle Huang, is the wrench ready?"

A moment later, Dumb Huang appeared at the helm door and lowered a wrench down with a rope.

The wrench is made of ironwood and is crudely made, indicating that it was hastily produced. Its shape corresponds exactly to the heptagonal nut on the right side of the rudder lock.

Lin Qian took the wrench, aimed it at the oiled nut, and pressed down hard, using all her strength, but the nut didn't budge.

At this moment, Chen Jiao's voice came from the helmsman's cabin: "Helmsman, the right anchor has been retrieved, but the left anchor is stuck and cannot be retrieved. We must lower the sails and stop the ship. Send someone to check the bottom of the water."

Lin Qian stopped, checked the direction of the thread, and confirmed that the turning direction was correct. She then said to the two crew members, "Both of you, press the wrench down together."

Then he said to Chen Jiao, "Maintain the original speed."

Chen Jiao was slightly taken aback, then nodded and said, "Okay."

Although he knew that maintaining the original speed would at least capsize the large sailboat, and at worst, cause it to take on water and sink, Chen Jiao dared not question Lin Qian's orders after the last storm they encountered. Even if there were hidden reefs ahead, Chen Jiao would not hesitate to ram them at full speed if Lin Qian ordered it.

As they spoke, the two boatmen exerted all their strength to press down on the wrench, and the ironwood handle made a faint sound of wood breaking.

The bolts remained firmly in place.

Suddenly, the ship came to a screeching halt as if it had hit a reef, and the three people in the wheelhouse were thrown about in all directions.

The creaking of the wood from the bow was sickening, and the ship gradually tilted to the left, the tilt angle increasing from 5 degrees to 15 degrees, and then to 20 degrees.

The three people in the control room glided to the left, spilling hot oil all over the floor. Fortunately, the temperature had dropped, and it only burned their skin until it turned bright red.

Just as the ship's tilt was approaching 30 degrees, a loud, muffled thunderous sound was suddenly heard.

The boat instantly righted itself to the right, then rocked a few times before remaining level.

The anchor chain broke.

On deck, the crew cheered.

Inside the wheelhouse, two crew members stumbled to their feet, glanced at the nut, and exclaimed with delight, "It's loose!"

Then the two of them frantically twisted the wrench downwards, and after a great deal of effort, they finally removed the nut on the right side.

The wrench broke in the middle and could no longer be used.

However, there's nothing to regret, because the left and right nuts have different shapes, and this wrench was designed for the right nut.

Furthermore, due to the special design of the anti-rudder lock, forcibly removing the nut on one side will cause the nut on the other side to be embedded in the wooden board, completely locking it. At this point, even the original wrench will not be able to remove the nut on the left side.

At this moment, Chen Jiao's voice came from the hatch again: "Helmsman, there are shallows ahead. If we go any further, we will run aground. We must turn around immediately."

……

On the port dock.

Alonso's eyes widened in horror; he had just witnessed the anchor chain break.

Anchor chains are thick chains made of cast iron. If they are torn apart during navigation, they will cause incalculable damage to the hull.

He never expected that Lin Qian would be so bold.

Because he hadn't seen the large sailing ship weigh anchor, Alonso remained confident that Lin Qian couldn't start it, and thus adopted a gentle approach, not wanting to damage the ship's hull.

Unexpectedly, Lin Qian acted so recklessly, setting sail and anchoring at the same time, risking shipwreck and loss of life to leave port as quickly as possible.

Alonso could no longer remain calm. He put down his wine glass, stood up, and paced anxiously.

Hanging these pirates is a minor matter now; preserving the Manila Galleon is the top priority.

It should be noted that the month for the sailing ship's departure is approaching, and the ship's cargo hold is already more than half full of precious goods such as raw silk, silk fabrics, porcelain, cloves, cinnamon, lacquerware, and pearls, with a total value of nearly 50 pesos.

This is equivalent to the total output of the Manila colony for half a year.

If these things are lost, not to mention how the royal family will react, even the noble shareholders behind the Manila Galleon will not let him off the hook.

Also, don't forget that the Manila Galleon itself is quite expensive to build.

If these pirates are desperate and decide to scuttle the large sailing ship, they might actually do so.

The losses will then balloon to astronomical levels.

Even selling all of the Fajardo family's lands, castles, and treasures wouldn't be enough to repay their debts.

Alonso thought to himself that if the San Philip or the Fury were in port, he could board them immediately, and the situation wouldn't be so passive.

Suddenly, he froze.

A question arose in my mind: were the kidnapping of Catherine, the feigned attack on Lingayen Bay, the recruitment of pirates, and the alliance with the Dutch all just to distract the Manila navy?

Lin Qian...did she start planning the hijacking as soon as she set foot in Manila Port?
Did he... foresee this situation all along?
(End of this chapter)