Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 59: Pirates are coming again?
"...Drake sailed the armed merchant ship 'Golden Hind' along the Pacific coast of South America, patiently tracking the Spanish treasure ship 'Cacafugo' until it reached the waters near Ecuador."

"...and the Spanish treasure ships had no idea they would be hijacked by pirates. Before then, the Pacific Ocean had been the exclusive 'inland sea' of the Spanish Kingdom, and no force could threaten them."

"So, the Spanish ship Cacafugo was not equipped with defensive weapons. In other words, it had no cannons. However, in our opinion, another theory is more likely, that it did carry cannons, but they were safely stored below deck as ballast, thus making room for the precious cargo."

"...However, since the Cacafugo was so fast, the captain likely assumed that if he encountered a large, threatening pirate ship, he could easily use his speed to escape. Don't doubt it; the Spanish shipbuilding technology of that period was highly advanced. Not only were the ships large, but they were also quite fast. Under normal circumstances, they could reach speeds of around four to five knots, and with a tailwind, they could even reach seven to eight knots."

"...However, Drake disguised their armed ship, the Golden Hind, as a Spanish merchant ship and deliberately approached it at a very slow speed. As a result, when he gradually caught up with the treasure ship, the Spanish were completely unprepared and thought it was one of their own."

"...When night fell, Drake launched a surprise attack, quickly bringing his armed ships close to the Spanish treasure ship 'Cacafugo' and unleashing a barrage of artillery fire, breaking the mast, killing several Spanish sailors, and wounding the captain, forcing them to surrender."

"...Drake obtained eighty pounds of gold, over twenty-six tons of silver bars, fourteen chests of silver coins, and several chests of pearls and gems, valued at over half a million pounds. It took Drake and his accomplices five full days to load all the loot onto the ship."

"Drake then sailed across the Pacific Ocean and through the Indian Ocean, returning to England after a year. This made him the first Englishman to complete a circumnavigation of the globe. When the treasure-laden Golden Hind entered Plymouth Harbor, it was greeted with great fanfare. Queen Elizabeth personally knighted Drake on deck and appointed him Mayor of Plymouth."

"Holy crap! A pirate was knighted and even became mayor!"

After listening to Zhou Yong's story about the legendary British pirate Drake, several of his companions immediately became excited.

"Over half a million pounds, how much does that cost? Did pounds contain gold back then?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Back then, all currency was gold and silver, and some coins contained quite a bit of gold. I remember in the 18th and 19th centuries, one pound contained about 1 grams of gold. If you calculate how much one gram of gold was worth, you can get an idea of ​​how valuable the pound was back then."

"How much is a gram of gold? It should be around 1 or yuan. How much is pounds? ... Damn, over or billion!"

"You're being a bit conservative. Drake also robbed several port towns along the Pacific coast and took home a total of 600,000 pounds!"

"..."

A group of former naval cadets were operating the sails while enthusiastically discussing the "heroic deeds" of the British pirate Drake. From time to time, they looked up at the three Spanish galleons in the distance, as if they were about to pursue their dream of becoming the "Pirate King" and intercepting a treasure ship full of gold and silver.

Following Harvey's suggestion, all the crew members of the "Wavebreaker" quickly reached a consensus, which was to launch a tentative attack on the three large sailing ships heading to the Philippines.

If the other party really did not install additional artillery as Harvey said in order to free up valuable space, then naturally, without hesitation, they would rush forward and use the six cannons temporarily installed on the ship to force them to surrender, so as to intercept the gold and silver supplies they were carrying.

If the other side has certain armaments and has installed a lot of artillery, then we can only abandon them and go our separate ways. You go to your Philippines, and I go to my China.

However, when the Wavebreaker chased the other side at an extremely fast speed, the three Spanish galleons clearly sensed a strong hostility and adjusted their courses together, fleeing to the northwest.

The Spaniards' actions immediately shocked all the crew members of the "Breaking Waves".

They are scared!

They feel guilty!
They ran away!
It is obvious that these three Spanish galleons are most likely not equipped with cannons!
Otherwise, with three against one, they didn't even have the courage to turn around and face the enemy. Instead, they spread the sails and fled in panic.

In that case, why be polite?

Go ahead and capture them!
-
Captain José Gabriel Condoraki of the Maria stood on the poop, holding up a telescope and staring intently at the approaching three-masted sailing ship behind him. There was no need to guess, it was a pirate ship, and its goal was clear: to capture one of their "treasure ships".

For many years, in the Pacific Ocean, apart from severe storms and turbulent waves, no force could pose a threat to Spanish merchant ships.

The Spanish were the sole masters and rulers of the Pacific.

Of course, there were also some daring villains who tried to challenge the power of the Spanish.

However, the probability of an attack on Spanish "treasure ships" like the English pirates Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish is very small after all, and there have been only a few such incidents so far.

No one could shake the Spanish ruling order in the Pacific. After all, the despicable and shameless acts of piracy were only sporadic and infrequent, far less "restless" and disorderly than the Caribbean.

Therefore, for the sailors participating in the trans-Pacific East Trade, the only threat they could face was the unpredictable storms.

"Signal the Baños and Santo Domingo to abandon their formation and disperse," Captain José lowered his telescope and shouted to a sailor, "If you've escaped the pirates' pursuit, there's no need to wait to reunite. As agreed, you can proceed directly to Guam or Manila."

"Yes, Captain!"

"Adjust the sails, head northwest, and maintain full speed!"

"Yes, Captain!"

"Well, kids, don't worry too much. As long as we wait until nightfall, the pirate ship won't be able to track us down. ... God will protect us!"

After giving the order, Captain Jose turned his head again to look at the pirate ship with a somewhat strange shape.

Hiss, how come in just a split second, the opponent seems to be a little closer to us!
Damn, how can this ship be so fast?

At 2.5:1 in the afternoon, the lookout on the mast issued an alarm, saying that a three-masted sailing ship was found in the sea 5.5 leagues ( league is approximately equal to kilometers) southeast of the fleet, and it seemed to be heading towards them quickly.

Upon hearing the news, Captain Jose immediately became alert and issued an alert order to the fleet at the first opportunity. Then he held up a monocular telescope and kept looking behind him, carefully examining the ship of unknown origin.

To his surprise, the speed of the ship behind him seemed to be far greater than that of his three Manila galleons. In less than two hours, the distance between the two sides was reduced by half.

As the distance got closer, Captain Jose was able to see the pursuing three-masted sailing ship more clearly.

It was completely white, with an incredible length-to-width ratio, making it appear extremely slender. The three sails were all cross-sails, the bow was raised high, and there was a tilted mast with a triangular canvas hanging from it. The bulwarks on both sides were decorated with golden dragon patterns, and behind the dragon's tail was a strange blue-gray number "86".

When the distance got closer, you could vaguely see several cannons on the deck of the ship and sailors busy operating them.

Oh my God, this has to be a pirate ship!

Are the English coming again?
(End of this chapter)