Chapter 766: Tear a small hole in the blockade chain (asking for double monthly votes)
At dawn the next day, the "Leisure" turned to Sweden and prepared to replenish its cargo there.
This will definitely delay some time, but it is better than sailing to North America empty-handed.
However, the ketch had just gone less than 20 nautical miles to the north when the lookout screamed the alarm again.
It took Maderno two minutes to finally see a British frigate rushing over from the left front of the "Leisure".
In the past two months, the area from the English Channel to the North Sea has been full of hungry British warships wandering around. If you are not lucky, you will encounter a few.
The Leisurely was clearly unlucky.
Moreover, this time the British warship was very cunning and used a rock to block the line of sight. At this time, it was only less than 8 chains away from here.
1 nautical mile is 10 chains. On the vast Atlantic Ocean, the two ships were almost face to face.
The "Leisure" turned to the left desperately, but the sailboat needed to draw a large arc to turn around. By the time it was traveling in the same direction as the British warship, Maderno could already see the colors of the British military uniforms in the distance with the naked eye.
The British sailors' ship-handling skills were obviously superior. Only 20 minutes later, the frigate appeared more than 200 yards behind the "Leisure" and signaled "Stop the ship immediately for search."
Naturally, the "Leisure" will not stop obediently.
The United Kingdom announced a "comprehensive trade embargo" on France a month ago, and the British navy can capture and seize any French merchant ship.
Stopping the ship at this time meant being arrested by the British, and the only outcomes thereafter were imprisonment and hard labor.
After a few minutes of stalemate, the British warship opened fire.
Along with the deafening roar, seven or eight huge water splashes splashed around the Leisurely, causing everyone on board to shout in horror, "Run", "Speed up" and the like.
The British gunners were very skilled. After two rounds of calibration firing, two 18-pound shells accurately hit the "Leisure" and tore a hole in its stern cabin and gun deck.
Maderno could hear the proud shouts of British officers in the distance, probably urging reloading.
He closed his eyes in despair.
If this continues, the "Leisure" will be sunk before long...
"Mr. Maderno!" the boatswain suddenly hurried over and shouted to him, "please give me an order, what should we do now?"
"Me? Ordered?"
"Yes, yes. The captain is dead and Mr. Jurnot was also seriously injured. You are now the acting captain!"
Jurno is the ship's first mate.
Maddeno suddenly felt dizzy.
He just came to make some living expenses with the smuggling ship. How could He De command the "Leisure" to deal with British warships?
The British cannon fired again, and the hull of the "Leisure" shook violently again. It was unknown where it was hit.
Maderno only hesitated for a second, then said to the boatswain with a pale face: "Raise, raise the white flag, lower the sail, surrender..."
"Oh, oh, okay."
The boatswain was about to turn around when he heard the lookout shouting: "There is a ship coming at 4 o'clock!"
Maderno subconsciously raised the telescope to look, but couldn't help but be startled.
It was a strange-looking three-masted sailboat, flying the French flag of blue fleurs-de-lis, heading straight towards this side.
On the three-masted sailboat that suddenly appeared, Baron Fourcade looked at the British frigate in the distance and shook his head nervously: "Mr. Barr, the 'Cloud and Mist' has an important mission. You should not take such a risk." Captain Michel Er Baer smiled: "You don't have to worry, I am sure that I will be out of danger at any time.
"Don't you think we are like a knight challenging the dragon now? Oh, my grandfather was a knight. He was during the Thirty Years' War..."
The lookout's voice came from the microphone, "700 yards away from the enemy."
Captain Barr made an apologetic expression to Baron Fourcade, turned his head and told the first mate: "Turn a compass point to the west, pass the guy's side, and be careful to keep your distance."
He shouted into the microphone again: "The boiler is pressurized and ready to start the propeller."
Baron Fourcade looked out of the port window and saw that the gun door cover on the starboard side of the British battleship had been opened. He couldn't help but swallow hard and whispered: "God bless you."
A few minutes later, the "Cloud Mist" sailed 450 yards from the right side of the frigate, and the three cannons on the port side breathed flames at the British.
Of course, at such a long distance, it is impossible for the 18-pound guns of the "Yunwu" to damage the enemy ship, but it is like someone spitting at a vicious beast - not much damage, but very insulting. .
Sure enough, the British warship seemed to hesitate for a moment, then turned right and rushed towards the "Yunwu".
Maderno looked at the strange ship that was slightly larger than the "Leisure" and lured away the British. He was so moved that he almost cried. He immediately turned the rudder hard and fled in the opposite direction.
After the "Leisure" had distanced itself from the British warship, he hurriedly looked back, only to see billowing black smoke coming out of the brave strange ship.
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He raised his telescope in confusion, and then he noticed that the rear of the strange ship was equipped with two waterwheel-like wooden wheels, which had begun to rotate and continuously beat the water.
"What is that?" The newly promoted second officer Demwell also saw this scene, "Is it on fire?"
Maderno shook his head: "It's a steam ship. I heard it from someone in Ostend. There are many such ships for transportation on the Rhine, and they are very fast."
Demville nodded with wide eyes.
When the two ships were about to disappear into the sea level, he had already seen that the gap between the steamer and the frigate behind it had grown a lot.
The "Cloud and Mist" is not a steam paddle steamer like those on the Rhine River. For ocean voyages, that kind of small boat will definitely not work.
This is a special merchant ship that the Brest Shipyard rushed to build two months before the war began, in accordance with the request of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
The power system is still the same as that of the inland river navigation paddle steamer, but it is replaced with an improved LJ26H steam engine, which can provide 29 horsepower.
This steam engine seemed a bit weak for an ocean-going ship, and could only help the ship increase its speed by less than 1 knot.
But for getting rid of the entanglement of British warships, 1 knot is enough.
To be honest, a paddle steamer is not suitable for sailing on the sea. Wind and waves can easily destroy the fragile paddle wheel, and there is no place to replenish coal, but Joseph does not care about this.
As long as you can break out of the blockade in the offshore area, once you enter the vast Atlantic Ocean, the possibility of being discovered by the British becomes extremely slim.
In the era before radar, it was harder to find a ship on the open sea than to pick out a single grain of wheat in a wheat field.
The British were not yet able to blockade the Americas as well, so it didn't matter even if the paddle wheel was damaged in the future, they could just use sails to sail across the Atlantic Ocean.
This kind of "make-shift" special merchant ship is currently the only way to break out of the British naval blockade.
Just because the Brest Shipyard uses most of its production capacity in the construction of steam battleships, there are currently only 7 such special merchant ships.
But it could bring back some sugar and cotton from the Americas, which was of strategic importance to French trade.
After all, every extra pound of sugar France gets is one less pound Britain gets.
You know, since the war started, due to the British market's panic about the supply of sugar - France is currently the largest cane sugar producer in Europe, providing nearly half of the UK's sugar - the price of cane sugar in the UK has increased compared with before the Caribbean independence movement. A full 4.2 times more!
(End of chapter)