Reborn As a Pirate

December 17, 1778.

In the depths of winter, the previously busy Cantabrian route has become cooler like the seasons.

Christmas is coming, the sailors want to reunite with their families, and the dockers don't want to work hard.

From December onwards, the cost of packing and shipping increases exponentially, and the closer to Christmas, the more outrageous the price.

Therefore, December is the annual off-season for shipping. In this month, most of the small chambers of commerce will stop operating, and the large chambers of commerce with ample manpower will also take the initiative to reduce their shipping capacity, arrange rotations for their employees, and buy people's hearts.

It's just that this year's off-season is lighter than in previous years, and there is hardly a ship on the prosperous route.

The end of the war is near.

The news that the Anglo-French Chamber of Commerce is about to fight has been spread by the English with ulterior motives, so that rumors are so rampant that it is difficult to distinguish between true and false.

Many people chose to wait and see, stopped the business on the route early, and gave up the vast sea area to the two protagonists of the incident.

But there are also self-interested independent pirates who want to take advantage of the chaos.

Two days after setting sail, Lorraine repelled three raids, and the Kirk type accidentally injured one ship. There were no casualties at all, and the impact on the speed of the ship was almost zero.

Anyway, their speed is already slow.

No one pays attention to these annoying little sharks, the decisive battle is about to start, they just want to know when it will start.

God looks down on this blue ocean from high above the clouds.

The wind blows southwest and west, and there is a fleet close to the edge of the Celtic Sea, which is the Trojan Fleet of Lorraine.

Twenty-five kilometers away from him at ten o'clock is another fleet that is larger in scale but also advancing at the same speed, which is Longsa's main fleet.

The two fleets formed the two fulcrums of a scalene triangle, and the third fulcrum of the triangle was a strange ship.

It was a crudely modified Brigantine.

The gun doors on the left and right sides are wide open, and thick wooden rods like oars extend from the gun doors, and two rows of wide and large rafts are bound, which looks like a galley that has long been eliminated by history, and also looks like a later generation. Split hulls dedicated to special fields.

All the sails were removed on the ship, the fore-mast sail was still in place, and half of it was blown forward, the mainmast had its longitudinal sail removed, and a very, very, very high super mast was tied, with a height of 39 meters. .

The 39-meter tall mast is generally used as the main mast on a standard fourth-tier Galen cruiser. It is actually not beneficial to use it on the Brigantine.

It was expensive and heavy, and even without sails, it would destroy the center of gravity of the hull and make Brigantine unable to sail steadily.

But this ship was just used in this way, and the base of the super-attached mast was only roughly fixed on the main deck, with almost no support, and it was tightly entwined with the original main mast with dense cables.

The ship was called the Hyacinth.

Half a month ago, she was still the property of the Yodel Chamber of Commerce. After the encounter, the baroness gave up and redeemed her. Lorraine spent 3,000 pounds to buy her, and bought a fourth Brigantine for the Drake Chamber of Commerce.

But she was not incorporated into any fleet. From the day she became the wealth of the chamber of commerce, she was parked in the dock of Sale Port, and secretly handed over to Karen's old friends to carry out this kind of thankless modification. Lorraine hid from everyone.

The temporary captain of the Magical Hyacinth is Pierce, and every sailor on board is an old-fashioned employee who has followed Lorraine on adventures in Hebesia, gained profits, and is loyal to the Drake Chamber of Commerce.

They hid in the dock for more than half a month, until Longsa sailed out of the Scilly Islands with the main fleet, and then took advantage of the night to sneak out of Plymouth Bay and became Lorraine's eyes of God monitoring the entire battlefield.

Pierce is holding the sight glass in his hand, and he is staggeringly standing on the highest observation deck with a safety line on his body.

He was more than thirty kilometers away from both fleets,

Hide the Hyacinth deep below sea level.

But with the special height of the additional mast, he can easily monitor the entire sea surface, and observe the movements of the two fleets at any time according to his needs.

He spent most of his energy on Longsa Anyi's main fleet.

After sailing for two days and nights, the formation of this fleet was scattered and calm, without any vigilance of being attacked. In fact, they were not attacked by any hostile forces along the way.

This calm made Pierce uneasy, and he worried that Lorraine would shoot himself in the foot.

If the Desai Chamber of Commerce really values ​​Acharin, who is so low in the list, and if Villen can't bear the pressure of the Chamber of Commerce, and really accepts Acharin's suggestion, give up the gold and attack Lorraine, then Lorraine His plans were all ruined.

He could only leave the empty Kirk and flee into the Celtic Sea. While avoiding the battle, he also waited to give up the fame he earned by risking his life.

The price... is too great!

Suppressing the worries in his heart, Pierce dutifully monitored every move of the main fleet.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, he finally saw that the fleet was in disarray, and the shadow of sails flashed in the distance, and a large group of warships filled their sails from the upper wind, and rushed straight towards them with a swift and fierce attitude!

Pierce locked on the Reindeer!

He clenched his fists excitedly: "Good job, Admiral Desai, that's it! Acharin broke up your family, why do you listen to his arrangement and get away for him! Good job!"

He jumped down the mast and shouted loudly: "Break the balance raft and bring down the additional mast! I will report the news to the Butterfly, Hyacinth, return!"

All crew members know the true meaning of this string of commands.

For a moment, roaring cheers sounded on the Hyacinth: "Drake, long live!"

...

Soon after, the Pansies.

"Sprue of Latin Sails! Twelve o'clock, fast approaching! Lorraine, here comes little Pierce!"

Henna's voice came from the observation tower, and Lorraine was shocked, and immediately ordered: "Abandon the Kirk, the fleet turns, and heads for twelve o'clock!"

This is the order everyone has been waiting for!

The sailors on the Kirk immediately drew the sails and anchored, lowered the boat, and rowed to their corresponding Brigantine at the fastest speed.

After accepting the sailors, the seven slender battleships raised their vertical sails, turned their bows, and headed towards the galloping Sprue at the fastest speed.

The sailors on board soon saw the little Sprue ship.

The Sprue type is the most common small fast boat in coastal waters. The standard structure is a sloop, which can maintain high efficiency and stability in both tailwind and crosswind by virtue of its advantages of lightness, smallness and length.

And this Sprue, which was specially used for communication, was further equipped with a top sail and a bow sail, and even the main sail was replaced with a Latin triangle sail that was cumbersome to operate but more suitable for cutting the wind.

These high-speed sails designed by Keren allowed her to reach an astonishing ten knots in crosswind conditions.

Coupled with the fact that Lorraine's fleet approached each other, with a distance of 30 kilometers, the two sides achieved the convergence in less than an hour.

Pierce boarded the Butterfly like a nimble little monkey, and before he could catch his breath, he bluffed and yelled at Lorraine.

"Brother, the French fleet launched a surprise attack from the upwind port. Lonsa Roy was defenseless and was cut apart!"

"Where is the location?"

"Ten to eleven o'clock, twenty kilometers away from the water!"

"Thank you..." Lorraine waved his hand, closed his eyes and thought for a while, "The fleet is ordered to go around and enter the battlefield from the north. The decisive battle has begun. Let's teach the French a lesson."

His order was immediately converted into a semaphore, and the entire fleet shouted loudly.

"decisive battle!"

"Detour to the north and raid the battlefield!"

"The admiral has orders, advance at full speed!"

"Go on! England, go on!"