Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 307: Stopping sailing against the wind, Gongsha is surprised

The surprise attack fleet successfully withdrew from the bay. Wei Xiaodong ordered the fleet to sail to the western entrance of the Ohashi Channel and sent a ship back to report that the enemy's incendiary fleet deployed on the front line had been completely destroyed.

The tide was still receding, and this surprise attack fleet was also responsible for continuing to block the enemy's reinforcement fleet.

After all, the Ohori Channel is a long and narrow corridor, not an ideal battlefield. It would be best to tow the enemy's main fleet outside and wait for our main force to arrive.

What's more, there might be arson ships in Li Kuiqi's old nest, Fanguitang. In short, it is still dangerous to conduct a major battle in the Dahao Waterway.

It was also necessary to send a ship back to report the news. The arson fleet that diverted to Miao Bay was destroyed in the bay. Although the fire was large, it might not be seen by the frigate ten kilometers away.

Long before Huiyou Company received the battle report, Li Kuiqi in his old nest in Fanguitang had already received the news of the diversion of Miaowan, and he was immediately furious.

"That bastard Chen Liu burned hundreds of ships in just a quarter of an hour. Even if he had a hundred pigs, he couldn't kill them so quickly..."

"And those two bastards Ma Xuansheng and Xu Guixiang kept saying they were fully prepared, but how come Lin Hai sneaked up on their doorstep?"

Li Kuiqi cursed loudly and for a moment he even forgot to plan his next response.

"Brother, according to the patrol boat, Lin Hai only sent a dozen small boats. They probably took a waterway that Ma and Xu didn't know about. This waterway is definitely not suitable for large ships. In other words, their main fleet is still on the east side of the Dahao Waterway..."

The second in command, Chen Shengyu, was quite calm, and these words could be said to be a wake-up call.

"Second brother, are you saying that we should mobilize all our troops and charge towards the Dahao Waterway now?" Li Kuiqi reacted quickly. If they had a decisive battle with Lin Hai in the Dahao Waterway, he believed that their chances of winning were at least 70%.

Because the enemy was against the wind and the current, and the battlefield was very long and narrow, the initiative was completely on our side. It was very easy to achieve boarding and then engage in a bloody boarding battle.

What's more, he can still use fire attack tactics. Even if there are no flammable materials piled up in advance, he can directly set his own warships on fire, but the effect will be much worse.

Chen Shengyu nodded and said, "That's what I mean. Fight or flee. The boss needs to make a decision as soon as possible!"

"Second brother, take those ten or so boats and go first. Go hide on Qi'ao Island. I will go and meet that fellow Lin Hai in person!"

The Qi'ao Island that Li Kuiqi mentioned is a large island on the west side of the Pearl River Estuary. Only a flat-bottomed boat with a very shallow draft can sail directly from Fanguitang to Qi'ao Island, which is equivalent to leaving a way out...

Shortly after Li Kuiqi arranged the countermeasures, the four frigates of Huiyou Company deployed outside the eastern entrance of the Dahao Waterway also received battle reports from the front. They immediately fired signal guns and set fires, and the signals were relayed back to the home port by sentry boats deployed along the way.

On Wai Lingding Island, the joint fleet of Huiyou Company and the Portuguese in Macau is ready to set off.

The sailors on the Dingyuan even ignored the strong sea breeze from high above and climbed up to the three crossbeams of the foremast and mainmast early, stepping on the foot ropes and ready to lower the canvas at any time.

It was the end of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon, and there was still a full hour until the second high tide of the day. Lin Hai ordered to weigh anchor immediately, after all, the home port was still ten kilometers away from the eastern entrance of the Dahao Channel.

After leaving the home port, the fleet sailed far upwind at a course of 5 compass points north-west, and this course could be maintained until it broke out of the Ohori Channel.

In other words, compared with the section of Dangan Waterway where the Sichi Rock Reef is located, the direction of the Dahao Waterway is closer to the east-west direction.

This would give the fleet a greater angle to catch the wind, and it would not have to sail close to the wind like the surprise attack fleet, which was another reason why the main fleet could not take the Dangan Channel. After leaving the home port, the fleet was against the wind and the current, but the current in the open sea was far less turbulent than that in the Dahao Channel, so the Dingyuan and Chentang could still run at a speed of more than 3 knots.

The Portuguese fleet led by Gongsha were all paddle boats, and if they paddled with all their strength they could naturally go faster.

However, in order to save the crew's physical strength, these more than 20 paddle boats were mainly powered by sails, with only occasional paddling to maintain a speed similar to that of the Dingyuan and Chen Tang.

At seven quarters after noon, the fleet arrived outside the eastern entrance of Ohori Channel, about a quarter of an hour before high tide.

Among the four frigates, the Liu Kun and Zu Ti had disappeared as they rushed to the front line to provide reinforcements as soon as possible.

Both ships are equipped with Schooner sails with two masts and fore-and-aft sails, which have excellent headwind performance. In addition, the hollow bow and streamlined hull design are sufficient to sail against the wind in turbulent headwinds.

The Zhuge Liang and Malone were equipped with Brigantine sails with a square sail on the foremast and a fore-aft sail on the mainmast. Their headwind performance was much worse than that of the Liu Kun and Zu Ti, so they chose to wait for high tide here.

Both ships dropped anchor at this time, and at the same time, the square sail on the foremast was furled, and the gaff sail on the upper edge of the mainmast was adjusted to be parallel to the wind direction, so that the ship could be stopped while retaining the ability to start quickly.

It was difficult for the two Brigantine frigates to sail in the Dahao Waterway at that time, and the Dingyuan and Chen Tang were naturally even more difficult.

Lin Hai rolled up his sleeves and glanced at his watch, then said to Captain Shi Bi of Dingyuan beside him, "Stop sailing against the wind, we'll wait for the high tide."

"Yes! Commander!" Shibi nodded in agreement and immediately gave orders. The sailors on the ship immediately began to stop sailing against the wind.

The Dingyuan's helmsman turned the steering wheel to bring the bow closer to the wind direction, in order to reduce the wind-exposed area of ​​the ship. Of course, heading directly into the wind is not an option, as that would cause the ship to move backwards, and if the speed is too fast, the rudder will be damaged.

At the same time, the shearers on the foremast and mainmast were also using the turning halyards to rotate the cross sails, so that the cross sails on the two masts formed an inverted eight shape. In this way, the wind forces acting on the cross sails offset each other, achieving an effect similar to that of reefing.

In this way, the hull basically loses the power from the sea breeze, and the braking and stopping of the ship are basically completed. Of course, the effect will be worse than reefing and anchoring, after all, there is still water flow even without wind.

But the benefits are also obvious, braking is achieved without reefing or anchoring. This also means that once you need to continue sailing, you only need to turn the sail and rudder again to immediately restore maneuverability.

This is a tactical maneuver commonly used by fully sailed warships. It is very useful in maintaining combat positions, or fighting with enemy ships, or when it is impossible to anchor in the deep sea. The ability to perform this maneuver proves that one has a good grasp of the ship-handling skills of Western sailing ships.

Of course, there was no need to do this for Chinese sailing ships. For example, the Chen Tang simply used the sail ropes to retract the three sails, and it only took a few seconds to lower them again.

The Portuguese galley fleet did the same as the Zhuge Liang and Malone. They dropped anchor directly and then turned the triangular sails completely into the wind.

After all, the anchor of a small boat is lighter, the anchor can be raised quickly, and the fore-sail can be turned freely around the mast.

On the Shebek ship, Gongsha was quite surprised when he saw the Dingyuan skillfully stopping to headwind.

He originally thought that the Huiyou Company had merely captured a Spanish galleon, and it was already quite difficult to get it out.

I didn't expect that these Tang sailors could master the Western-style full-sail shipbuilding so skillfully. It can be said that they are not inferior to the navies of Western European countries.

(End of this chapter)