Tick! Tick! Tick!
Sharp whistles resounded over the sea, huge wind lanterns hung from the bow and stern, and semaphore sailors danced colorful flags on the ship's side in a hurry, all of which were communicating the same signal ...
Give up everything and return to the ship!
No one knows what happened, but at the same time, everyone knows what happened ...
The Buttercup is launched!
Horizontal sails are closed, vertical sails are full, the bow slanting sails are high, and the sails are catching the rising drums.
Haina swung like a bobcat from the foremast to the mainmast, and Pierce and Noah hugged White Ears as fast as they could into the inner compartment of the stern gun, the sturdiest on the entire ship.
Keren cried out, carrying his own toolbox, and Acharin, his face green and white, waved his hand and demanded that all gunners take up their positions.
On the wheel, Lorraine herself took the helm!
The Buttercup started up, heading north against the wind with unmatched bravery, cutting into the wind in a zig-zag line, and Poo tended to the upwind blistering speed at the start!
Every sailor was cursing.
They cursed loudly, and the louder they cursed, the smoother they laughed.
"Let's go kick the destroyer's ass!"
"Kick the destroyer's ass! Guys!"
"Victory wears white lace pantyhose!"
"Long live Lace!"
"Long live Great Britain!"
"Run, guys!"
Curses and blessings intertwined as the Buttercup sped forward, the waves breaking into a majestic song that, with the sea breeze, stirred and spread far and wide!
"Rule, Britannia! Rule this sea! Warriors of Britannia, never slaves!"
Sailors scattered across the sea watched in disbelief as the pansy flags traveled further and further away ...
Tick! Tick!
Sharp urge to return to the whistle, more and more anxious ...
...
The Buttercup sailed on the turquoise blue sea with its sails puffed up, crashing into a big wave head-on, its slender bow raised high and then smashed down.
Hina lowered her looking glass and held onto the lookout to call out to Lorraine.
"Reindeer ship attitude unchanged! Ten o'clock, range 5 kilometers, relative speed 14 knots!"
Lorraine instantly left full rudder.
The huge underwater stern rudder turned slowly with the tiller, driving the Buttercup into a change of direction, following the inertia as it fought through the arc and cut the wind to the left.
Lorraine fixed the rudder wheel and gasped softly.
"With ten minutes left to pick up the enemy, I'll make one last change of direction so the Buttercup can slip past the Reindeer's bow and face directly to port."
Keren and Yacharin, who were standing next to Lorraine, shuddered in unison.
"Keren, I hope you've prepared enough planks and glue, the draught line is a lifeline, nothing must happen to it."
"Twenty stick boys, I'll lead them myself." Keren said solemnly, "Anymore we can seal the hatch, I've checked and the hatch is sealed no problem."
"Sealing the pod is a death wish." Lorraine clutched the handle tightly, "Sealing the pod is not allowed."
"Aye! No sealing the cabin!" Kron pounded his chest and darted down to the cabin.
"Yacharin ..."
Acharin swallowed hard, "I am."
"Nine-pounders are no threat to destroyers, your battlefield for this one is on the main deck."
"I need camber!"
"I'll give it to you, but not for long ..."
"A moment ... is enough!" Yacharin took a deep breath, "It often takes only a moment to capture a lady's heart, something every believer in romance should know."
"Seriously, I'm suddenly that much more confident ..." Lorraine loosened the carabiner, and with all her might, right to full rudder, "Reindeer, here we go!"
Thick masts appeared in the sky.
On the northern horizon, thick masts flying pirate flags rose, from thin, to thick.
The flag has a medium-sized pure white skull, and under the skull are two aquamarine ribbons intersected in an [X] shape, which are embroidered with Bourbon Dynasty gold sword flowers, three on each side.
Below the flag was a taut cable and below that a bowl-shaped lookout.
Under the lookout is the first crossbar, the second crossbar, and the third crossbar ...
Between the crossbars bulged huge sails of pure white, with four sections of mainmast and three sections of fore and aft masts.
There are also bowsprits, catch sails, and stern longitudinal sails ...
With a tailwind and a speed of 10 knots, the Reindeer's huge, towering hull leaped out of the sea with its bow, crashing into the sea like a crumbling Tarzan, sending huge waves four or five meters into the air.
Velen, clad in his navy blue trench coat, the symbol of the Governor, clasped his arms around the bow and sneered, watching the Buttercup as it swept diagonally closer and the columns of smoke that grew thinner and thinner, like a backdrop, in the distance.
"Stupidity will always be mistaken for courage in the eyes of the savage ..."
"Titus." His first mate warned gently, "They're on T-head, I suggest cutting the wind properly and keeping the port side ready."
"The port side does need to be ready, as does the starboard side." Velen tugged at the corner of his mouth, "But the Reindeer doesn't need a cutting wind. If she tries to stop at T-Head, smash her."
"Yes!"
Three kilometers, two kilometers, one kilometer ...
The Buttercup cut across the Reindeer's bow, and the Reindeer's twelve-pounder bow gun fired first.
Boom! Boom!
White smoke dispersed as red-hot solid iron bullets flew out from the hefty bow, arcing high and smashing into huge waves a hundred meters away from the Buttercup!
The Buttercup cuts through the waves!
The battle begins!
"Battle stations!" Lorraine jerked the rudder wheel to keep the Buttercup's trajectory closer to the Reindeer's port side, "Haina! What about Ramos!"
"There's no sail up!" Haina on the lookout flew to tighten the halyard around her waist, "The dinghy hasn't returned to the ship!"
"Damn it! All hands on deck, cut port!"
Cut the gangway!
Port to port, bow to bow, separated by a hundred meters of sea water, the guns of both sides were discharged one after another.
Boom! Boom, boom, boom!
Lorraine right full rudder!
A huge splash of water bloomed around the perimeter of the two boats as the Buttercup lurched outward, its hull tilting at a nearly ten-degree diagonal angle as it was propelled by the waves.
Lorraine pressed her handwheel and roared, "Yacharin!"
Boom!
Yacharin's six-pounders, which he personally helmed, roared with a roar and hundreds of projectiles splashed into the sky, creating a huge white wave twenty meters from the Reindeer.
"A loose bullet can't hit this far!"
"Doesn't that slutty goddess of yours know how to cheat!"
Lorraine clenched her teeth, the rudder wheel to the left, and the Buttercup folded back to close in, slicing the Reindeer at eighty meters at the stern, and both sides were still closing in.
Boom boom boom!
The second round of cannon fire, the reindeer's heavy guns whistled and smashed around the Butterfly Blossom, the Butterfly Blossom's nine-pounders were lucky to hit, fist-sized iron bullets smashed into the hull of the ship, leaving only a charred black ...
Yacharin's gun finished loading as fast as he could, but he crossed his thumbs and didn't try to ignite it from start to finish.
His face reddened and he mouthed, "I want Elevation Angle! Elevation angle! Don't you English understand English!"
"I'm fucking the ship!" Lorraine yelled back at the top of her lungs, "Not the fucking Enterprise!"
"What's the Enterprise?"
"NCC1701, you know shit!"
Between curses, the Buttercup once again formed a stagger with the Reindeer, slicing through the Reindeer's waterline from the transom at forty meters.
The Reindeer's poised stern guns roared!
Boom Boom Boom ...
Lorraine exclaimed, "Straight shot!"
Before he could say anything, a red-hot projectile smashed straight into the bow of the Buttercup. The Scott crossbow placed on the upper deck was shattered, and a large hole was blown out of the empty bow gun compartment.
The flames rose to the sky, raising flames that directly ignited the bowsprit high above.
"Extinguish the fire! Protect the bowsprit!" While hissing the order, Lorraine pulled away from the bow.
Sailors on deck ran to the bow carrying buckets and sandbags, and the Buttercup took the opportunity to let loose a third volley of cannon shots, two of which hit the target squarely, smashing two sinkholes in the Reindeer's transom.
Yacharin let loose a second salvo on the tilted ship.
A boom grazed the transom sails and lit up the Reindeer's transom sails as well.
The two ships were once again separated by a hundred meters.
Seeing that the fire at the bow was under control, Lorraine gasped for breath and left to full rudder as the smoking Buttercup cut a great arc and turned downwind.
"Raise the transom sail!"
The sails were up, and the distance between them was four hundred meters. The Reindeer, with stern and catch sails lowered, rushed straight ahead, followed by the Buttercup, with full sails and head high.
"Hina! I need to know about the Cattail Flower!"
"Ramos is collecting the skiffs! In fifteen minutes at the most, they'll be in range of the Reindeer!"
"I'll make sure Velen. Desai will not see the cattail flower's sail." Lorraine grimaced, teeth clenched, "Round 2, begin!"