Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 354 Terrifying Firepower
More than 20 miles west of Keelung Port, near a strait called Yehliu Cape, the VOC main fleet with Frederick Hendrix as its flagship was sailing in a column towards the southwest.

Carpentier was resting in the stern cabin at the rear of the lower gun deck. This was the most comfortable cabin on the entire ship, with an area of ​​more than 40 square meters. The living cabin and dining cabin were divided by foldable panels in the middle.

There is no doubt that this is the captain's room of the Hendrick. However, since the fleet commander was also on the flagship, the captain was driven to the aft cabin of the upper gun deck, which was smaller because the upper gun deck was not so wide.

"Commander, the vanguard led by Kapitan Kuiqi is heading towards us." An officer reported to Carpentier.

"Has the enemy fleet been lured out?" Carpentier asked hurriedly. The main fleet had not found any enemy ships along the way. They had sent the Throop ships Turtledove and Curiosity several times to contact the vanguard fleet, but had not received any good news. Could it be that a miracle would come at the last moment?
"The lookout didn't spot any enemy ships." The officer's answer disappointed Carpentier, but he quickly went up to the poop deck, which was the highest place on the ship except for the mast.

Standing on the poop deck, Carpentier indeed saw Li Kuiqi's troops. The distance between the two sides was not far, but there were no large number of enemy ships following behind. There were only two brigs whose identities could not be clearly identified.

"Lioness! Damn it, how did it become like this?" The voice of the captain of the Hendrick sounded beside him.

Carpentier quickly opened his telescope and saw clearly that one of the two-masted ships was the Lioness, which had lost its mizzen mast. The other two-masted ship was the VOC's curved bow ship Vesp, whose mast and sail system was intact, but it was not clear whether the hull was damaged.

The Lioness was exchanging fire with the enemy! Carpentier once again had a fluke mentality. Could it be that the enemy fleet had been lured out?
However, he looked everywhere but never saw any sign of the enemy ship. The hope that had just risen became increasingly slim, until it was finally extinguished...

Another curved-bow ship, the Texel, was the first to board the Hendrix, and the captain was immediately invited aboard the flagship to report in detail how the Lioness had entered Keelung Harbor alone.

It turned out that the reason why the Wesp was with the Lioness was because they were worried that the latter would need help, so they turned back. The Texel was faster and chose to report to the main fleet as soon as possible.

After listening to the report from the captain of the Texel, the usually good-tempered Carpentier could not help but fly into a rage: "Damn Lucas, he dared to disobey military orders, I must throw him into prison!"

"Commander, please forgive me for being frank. Although Lucas is guilty, it may not be a bad thing for the Lioness to break into the enemy port. At least we now know the enemy's deployment in the port. I still think that Captain Anthony's plan to land and fight is unnecessary, and Deputy Commander Yang Sen is too cautious. Perhaps as long as the main fleet rushes into the enemy port, everything will be over..."

Captain Joris' words calmed Carpentier down a bit. To be honest, he also felt that with so many guns in the fleet, it might not be wise to abandon the naval battle and fight a land battle.

"No matter what, Lucas must be punished for disobeying military orders!" Carpentier's tone softened a little, "But if the intelligence he brought is helpful for the next battle, then we can consider giving him a lighter sentence."

The captain of the Texel was a lowly person and shouldn't have said anything at this time. But when he heard Carpentier's tone become softer, he also spoke up: "Captain Yoris's words make sense. The Huiyou Company has deployed a lot of artillery in the direction of the open sea. I'm afraid it will be difficult to carry out the landing operation as planned..."

"Call William and Anduan here." Carpentier didn't say anything else, but ordered someone to summon William Janssen and Anduan Anthony. The Lioness was getting closer and closer, and he needed to adjust the battle plan as soon as possible after obtaining enemy intelligence.

The fleet was underway and not far from the enemy's port, so Carpentier did not summon the members of the fleet council to a meeting on the flagship.

Anduan Anthony was on the flagship and soon came to the poop deck. William Jansen was slower, he was on another double-deck battleship Rotterdam. The fleet commander and the deputy commander would not stay on the same ship as a rule, as the saying goes, eggs should not be put in the same basket.

Soon after William Janssen boarded the flagship, the Hendrick finally boarded the faltering Lioness, which was less than five miles from the entrance to the channel on the west side of Keelung Harbor. Carpentier ordered the fleet to stop sailing against the wind...

After listening to the collective report of the Lioness officers, Carpentier's face gradually darkened: "So, the Lioness just circled around the entrance of the enemy port and didn't get much useful intelligence at all?"

Upon hearing this, Lucas quickly defended himself: "Commander, the Lioness, with unparalleled courage, obtained intelligence on the enemy's firepower in the harbor. They only have sixty heavy guns that can fire at the same time. As long as you order the main fleet to rush in, we will be able to annihilate the enemy!"

"You are gambling with the fate of the fleet just for your own selfish interests!" First mate Marcel jumped out angrily, pointed at Captain Lucas' nose and shouted angrily... He then said to Carpentier: "Your Excellency, Lucas is trying to get away with it. There were indeed only about 60 heavy guns that engaged the Lioness. But they had a bastion in the harbor, and only a few guns had a range at the time. Once the fleet continued to move deeper into the harbor, no one knew how strong the firepower would be."

"First Mate Marcel is right. It's not just the bastion. The Huiyou Company's fleet has more than just the four old lock ships. They have at least one Spanish galleon that hasn't appeared yet." William Yangsen also spoke up at this time, "If I'm not mistaken, that ship may be guarding the east channel of Keelung Port."

Yang Sen's guess was indeed correct. The Navy did send the Dingyuan to the Bashimen Channel east of Keelung Port. Although the channel was very narrow, the shipyard was right after it, so the Dingyuan was sent there to strengthen the firepower to block the channel.

"Moreover, the Lioness did not penetrate deep into the enemy port. Whether the enemy has deployed fire ships or has other tricks is still unknown." Yang Sen's next words made Lucas fall into despair.

As expected, Carpentier announced with a grim face: "Remove Lucas from his position as captain, detain him, and hand him over to the court for trial after returning to Batavia! The captain of the Lioness will be temporarily replaced by the first mate Marcel..."

After dealing with Lucas, Carpentier asked everyone again: "The Huiyou Company actually has so many artillery, and the harbor is full of heavy artillery! It is definitely not possible to rush in directly, and the landing operation will also be difficult to implement as planned. Everyone, tell me how to fight next?"

Captain Joris of the Hendrix spoke first: "That's easy. The Huiyou Company does have a lot of guns, but we have more heavy guns. We will first clear out the artillery positions in the open sea, and then land as planned."

"I agree with Joris's opinion." Army Captain Anduan Anthony nodded in secondment. According to the latest intelligence brought back by Li Kuiqi's fleet, Huiyou Company has only 70 artillery batteries facing north. Even if the round forts on the two commanding heights are included, they are not enough to match the firepower of the VOC fleet.

"I think we should be cautious and count the number of artillery batteries ourselves, as well as the terrain where they are deployed, before making a decision." Fleet deputy commander William Janssen was more cautious. He was well aware of the disadvantages of sailing ships and shore-based firepower in a bombardment, including insufficient protection and difficulty in aiming.

So Carpentier ordered the fleet to resume maneuvering and pass far away from the sea off Keelung Port so that he could personally confirm the information brought back by Li Kuiqi's fleet.

In Zhenhai Fort, Lin Hai, Shibi, and Miguel finally saw the full picture of the VOC main fleet for the first time. The three of them were all stunned and speechless for a long time...

"How many broadside guns are there on that ship?" Shibi didn't know the name of the ship, so he could only say "that ship", but Lin Hai and Miguel both knew that he was talking about the one with the largest tonnage and the most guns in the fleet, which was the 1400-ton flagship Frederick Hendrix.

"I counted, 29 guns on one side. That means, not counting the bow and stern guns, the ship has 58 heavy guns!" Lin Hai couldn't believe his eyes. This ship actually had an extra broadside gun than the famous Emilia!

The Emilia was the flagship of the Dutch Navy in the Battle of Downs 20 years later, and was also the flagship of the Dutch war god Marton Tropp. That battle completely destroyed the dominance of the Spanish Navy, and the Dutch Navy began to ascend to the throne.

The claim in later textbooks that the British defeated the Spanish Armada and became the world's leading maritime power is totally inconsistent with historical facts. In fact, in the half century between the Battle of Gravelines in 1588 and the Battle of the Downs in 1639, the Spanish Navy still ranked first in the world.

The largest ship in the VOC fleet had firepower comparable to that of the Dutch flagship in the Battle of Downs. This was beyond Lin Hai's expectations...

How could he know that the Frederick Hendrix was actually much larger than the Emilia, but because it was an armed merchant ship, the gun ports were not open very much. Otherwise, with the tonnage of the Hendrix and the double-deck gun deck, it would not be a problem to install sixty or seventy heavy guns on the side.

除了58炮的旗舰之外，VOC其他八条主力舰船的侧舷炮数量分别是：鹿特丹号54炮、毛里求斯号40炮、泽兰号34炮、济里济克号号34炮、代尔夫特号34炮、荷兰迪亚号32炮、莱顿号32炮、奥兰治号32炮。

The nine main battleships, not counting the bow and stern guns, had a total of 350 guns on both sides. If they formed a battle line, the total weight of the shells delivered on one side at a time would probably be more than 1 ton!
Such firepower can really be described as terrifying as that in fantasy novels...

(End of this chapter)