Here's my rendition of a recent encounter off havana with my Brig of War the Erasmus.
Coming to the end of an extended foray, along the spanish main and the Yucatan peninsula, the Brig of War "Erasmus", heavily laden with spanish gold,spices, and goods, stands too northwest of Havana.The crew of 95 is in good spirits, having taken several Trade Galleons between Trinidad and Cartegena, beaten back several pirate hunters, and finding Henry Morgan's buried treasure. The Erasmus is in good shape, despite an engagement with a Spanish War galleon off the Yucatan several weeks earlier. The skilled sailmaker fished out of the water from that battle did an excellent job repairing what sail damage that was taken in the fray, and the ships' carpenter, a french man, had managed to patch up the three holes in the Erasmus' Starboard side.
It is mid August, and the great storms are coming in off the Atlantic with increasing frequency...and fury. Captain Blackthorne sets course for the French port of Tortuga to replenish the Erasmus's stores and divide her hard earned plunder. The Erasmus is under full sail and making way at about 8 knots, close hauled into the wind, and running leisurely just North of Havana, when the men aloft cry "Sail ho! Two points of the Starboard Bow!" Bieng this close to Havana, Blackthorne surmises that this is most likely a Spaniard trade galleon, running north towards St Augustine, and a fat target that will nicely finish off a particularly good expedition, he orders the Erasmus to turn to and engage.
About twenty minutes later the Erasmus had closed to about 5000 yards, Blackthorne ordered her turned 15 degrees port to gain the wind gauge on the approaching galleon, now clearly identified as a Trade Galleon, and allow the Erasmus to come astern of her. As soon as the helmsman executed the turn, the lookouts aloft cried "Sail ho! Astern of the first!" "War Galleon Ho!". Blackthorne cursed the lookout for not spotting the second ship sooner, then cursed the Spanish for bieng sons of unholy pox ridden wenches, and raised his spyglass. The sight that greeted him would have been pretty, if it did not signal a grave threat to his ship and crew. There was indeed a Spanish War Galleon, and it was putting on sail quickly, coming out from behind the lumbering Trade galleon with a vengeance. Blackthorne could see the pirate hunter's sails billowed out quickly with the southeasterly winds blowing into them at around 7 knots. So, it was a trap then, that the Spaniard dogs had laid for the Erasmus. News had apparently reached havana of the havoc wrought on Spanish shipping by blackthorne's crew, and they had dispatched a well armed hunter.
"Close to gun range and bring her hard about!" Blackthorne cried out to the helmsman. "Load the starboard side with chain shot!". The men jumped into action, driven by the calls of the master gunner, and by the adrenaline rush all real men get on the verge of a battle. The lead galleon now fell to port, making way for the oncoming War galleon. Blackthorne could make out the Spanish captain standing on the quarter deck, and then the glint of sun off glass, there was a momentary connection, as only captains of great ships could share, as Blackthorne realized his adversary was looking at him through his own glass.
"They mean to take us, men! What say ye to that?" Blackthorne shouted. Cries of laughter and defiance both, were returned. "Fifty golden doubloons to the gun crew that takes her mainmast! And fifty more to who gets the rest!" More cheers rang out, boosting the morale of the crew, and strengthening Blackthorne's faith in his men.
"Theyre a good lot, these" Blackthorne said, more to himself, then to any other, but Vishk, the quartermaster, picked up on it and replied "Aye, but theyll bleed ye jest as soon as look at ye, if the plunder aint so good cap'n. Har har har" Vishk had been with Blackthorne for four long years, sailed with him from England even, and taken part in every action fough along the way, keeping the crew well honed and ready at all times.
"Helm! Bring her hard about!" The helmsman swung her hard over, and the Erasmus groaned as the wind left her sails for a moment, and the rudder brought her to her new course. "Gunners...hold...hold...hold.....FIRE! Now...FIRE! RELOAD!" The deck shuddered with the roar off twelve cannons, firing all in unison. A resounding thunder rolled across the ship, and a cloud of smoke from the broadside blew back across the ship. "Helm! Hard over port! Bring us around!" The roar of the cannons gave way to the whistling howl of `chain-shot` cannonball, hurtling towards the War galleon, who was now trying to turn hard over starboard and dodge the salvo. The galleons's manuever only served to widen the target for the Erasmus's incoming rounds. God must have been smiling on the Erasmus that day, for her first salvo missed the foremast rigging and landed almost entirely in the works of the mainmast, snapping it clear off two thirds of the way up. A loud crack echoed back across the water, soon followed by the woooosh of sail and rigging crashing down to the deck of the enemy ship. "Huzzah! Huzzah!" The crew of the Erasmus shouted out in unison. "Fifty doubloons it is lads! Now , lets finish the job!" Blackthorne shouted. The Erasmus had completed a turn northard,and her crew busied itself reloading the starboard cannon. The Trade Galleon began to turn for Havana, apparently not having much faith in the abilities of their escort to protect her.
Blackthorne spied the enemy war galleon, who's crew was now struggling to clear the decks of the fouled rigging. The War galleon's turn to starboard had by now put her near broadside to the Erasmus, and a return salvo could be expected anytime. "Helm! Look sharp! Standby to turn to port!" The War galleon could carry as many as 32 guns, and devestate a smaller vessel if a broadside were to hit target. "Steady" The War galleon straightened her turn. "Steady" Blackthorne could see the gunner's mate on the enemy ship raise his arm. "NOW ! Turn for all ye worth! Hard over" "Everyone to port! Move you dogs!" Blackthorne shouted loudly, and the crew all ran to port, trying to help shift the weight of the Brig, and help her turn just that much faster. A thundercrack sounded off as the War Galleon let off her salvo, and the whine of round shot soon signalled its deadly intent to the waiting crew of the Erasmus. It was the wait that seemed almost worse than what hell those cannonballs could inflict on a man. The hard turn had saved the Erasmus from most of the broadside, howeverm and only one cannonball struck home. The round crashed through the port side of Blackthorne's cabin, tearing a sizeable chunck out of the portside wall structure, and smashing clear out through to starboard, taking a good bit of glass and finery with it. "The pox be on their gunners! And the pox be on all Spaniards!" Blackthorne yelled. "Helm, continue the turn. Gunners to port...fire as she bears!"
The Erasmus came over faster with the wind at her back, and the sails billowed out with new found strength. The ship surged into the turn willingly, and within the minute, her port guns, loaded with round shot, let loose on the Spaniard, who was struggling hard to complete a turn back to port. The volley from the Erasmus struck her hard, tearing into the galleon just above her waterline, clearly creating hell on her gun deck. The screams of dying Spaniards cut across the water, and Blackthorne could imagine the hell that must be happeneing below the deck of the enemy ship. Blackthorne noticed the Spaniard stalling before the wind, missing her mainmast, and decided to make a pass at her in close. "Bring us in! Shes a lumberin cow lads!" The Erasmus easily tacked further over, now heading slightly abeam of the lumbering galleon, and closed to within 200 yards. By now the Galleon's guns should be near to reloaded, blackthorne thought. "Alright,helm, cut her astern! Bring us behind her!" The Erasmus cut back across the wind, losing most of her speed, but keeping enough to cross the "T" created by the line of the Spanish Galleon and the Erasmus. Blackthorne could make out the forms of more than one spaniard jumping over the side of the ship, intent on not bieng aboard her when the Erasmus's next salvo tore home."Starboard guns! Give her hell!" Blackthorne shouted, as the Erasmus's starboard guns opened up on the Spaniard, raking her from stern to stem. Carnage enued on the spanish ship, as a dozen cannon balls rolled across her decks from astern, smashing through the captain's cabin and turning it into many thousands of wood and metal fragments, hurling them across the entire deck of the spanish ship, turning many men to a red pulp if they did not dive for cover fast enough. A deafening explosion let loose as one of the cannon balls must have struck home into the above deck powder store of a gun. The secondary explosion sent shrapnel through the gun deck, slaughtering many of the gun crews, and touching off a small fire to make matters worse.
"Thats showing em lads!" Blackthorne shouted "Bring her about! Standby to board!" The Erasmus came back about, and the quartermaster broke out the crew's weapons stores. Grappling crews ran forward with hooks, intent on gaining lines on the Spanish ship. The crew began shouting and jeering at the noticeably fewer Spaniards aboard the galleon. Blackthorne raised his spyglass once more, looking for the spanish captain, but he was unable to see him anywhere, and handed the glass to Vishk, as he checked the loads of his brace of pistols. The Erasmus had completed the turn back towards the Spanish galleon, and Blackthorn was satisfied that his pistols were primed and laoded properly. He was about to order the grapple crews to heave to, when Vishk started laughing. "What is it, old friend?" Blackthorne asked. "'Ave a look at that, Capn', on their Quarterdeck" Vishk laughed, as he handed the spyglass back. Blackthorne raised the spyglass, as Vishk started laughing even harder. Blackthorne could see two men on the quarterdeck, standing over what apparently was left of the spanish captain, they were attaching something to a line....wait..was that ....." By the gods!" Blackthorne remarked. "theyre using their captains's knickers as a white flag!" "Ahahahahahah"
"Shes struck her colors men! She's ours!" The crew cheered loudly, as the Erasmus's grapples pulled the two ships in together. The deck of the galleon was a hellish mess of blood and body parts and downed rigging, and there were scarecely fifty downtrodden spaniards left aboard, none of which seemed to be an officer. "What a bloody, hellish mess" Blackthorne said loudly " Lets see what she's got aboard lads! board her and seize her crew quickly! Weve got a fat cow wallowing windward waitin for us!" Blackthorne pointed to the distant sail of the fleeing trade galleon and laughed loudly, "good work of it men! Damn good work!"
The erasmus had done well, sundering the War galleon with three salvos, and taking almost no damage in return. She plundered only 500 doubloons from the War Galleon in gold, but there was much more aboard the Trade galleon. Perhaps that will be a story for another day.....
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ops2" border="0" alt="oops3.gif" /> And with it all went my prized Royal Sloop that I had used for 7 consecutive years of pirating <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" /> So I'd be sneak'n intew de governurs mansion an de Varment be stand'n der look'n like a bilgerat, an he say's te Ol' Skull,you sank one O' my military payrole ships,and that will not go unpunished <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/whippa.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="whippa.gif" />. He'd be right,cause what he did be werse than a hang'n,he'd made me dance wid his daughter,O' course she'd be refus'n Ol' Skull, me 'ave'n two left feet an all <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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