Her Majesty’s Secret Service

066. Template

January 30, 1556, coast of Holland. The deck of a merchant ship.

“under… Next time, see if I do business with that b*stard! Even though I asked you to increase the quantity a month ago, what? Are you short on items? “Then what are all the things piled up there?”

“Well, calm down now. “Isn’t that already a thing of the past?”

“Damn it, I can’t look down on those Amsterdam guys anymore. Fur, iron ore, and other goods are all swept away… . What on earth are guild executives doing? I receive the seal fee regularly, and when I need something that I can afford… !”

“Please don’t be like that. Don’t you think you have your own concerns? Don’t you remember when we heard that the French had taken over Bruges? Why are the officials opening their pockets and making excuses to give military funds to the emperor? .”

“under! You useless b*stards, if you did just enough for us to please the Emperor, would I curse you so much? You know what? The French guys have done more for me than the Guild guys have done for me. Why, thanks to the capture of Bruges and the siege of Ghent, don’t the prices of goods rise day by day? Wait a minute, now that I think about it, I get angrier? Even if they only bought the items that the Amsterdam guys intercepted, huh… How much money is it, the profit per box of iron ingots now… .”

“That greed… . So, aren’t you just going around listening to the noise of yellowtails? A person who earns enough… .”

“joy! I don’t know if you’re afraid of money because you don’t have children, but I wonder if you have a penny or two to spend on your children. Didn’t I tell you? This time, the second one entered the seminary. I’m in a situation where I’m missing a penny right now… “Wow, what a waste.”

“yes? How long has it been since the big guy entered the seminary? Oh right. “You said that the big guy from the captain’s house graduated from the seminary and became a disciple of Professor Johannes, right?”

“Oh, this guy, where did I hear that before…” Now, listen carefully. I don’t know about an ignorant sailor like you, but this seminary means that even if you can’t do it, you have to study for 5 years… .”

On the deck of a typical cog ship usually used as a merchant ship. Two middle-aged people were talking to each other as the cold sea breeze blew. Judging by their appearance and manner of speaking, one of them seemed to be the captain of a ship and the other a merchant.

Although the captain and the merchant seemed at first glance to be at odds with each other due to their harsh words, their relationship seemed quite close as they talked with smiles on their faces.

“Ah, so I think there will be a famous jurist in our family soon…” .”

“Captain! Captain!!”

As the merchant continued to brag about his child, the urgent voice of a sailor was heard.

“What’s going on?”

“A suspicious ship has followed the stern of the ship!”

“Fumi? where… .”

The captain turned his head toward the direction the sailor pointed with his finger, towards the stern of the ship.

In the direction the captain was looking, a ship with a strange shape that had never been seen before was approaching the merchant ship at an incredible speed.

“I… What is that!”

“What is it, what happened… ? What is that… !”

The merchant’s face, who turned his head to see the captain’s shocked face, couldn’t help but turn pale as well. The ship, approaching at an alarming speed, begins to grow bigger and bigger.

“Damn, what are they doing?”

“I don’t know what they are doing, but it doesn’t seem like they are getting closer with good intentions. “I think the most urgent priority is to get away from those guys.”

“Wait a minute, isn’t that the English flag?!”

“The English flag? No way, that rumor… .”

“Damn, what those Amsterdam guys said was true? British b*stards, what on earth do you believe in when you do something like this? Blocking the coast of Holland and plundering indiscriminately!”

“First of all, we have to get out as quickly as possible… ! mate! Tell them to throw away their cannons quickly! Throw away the drinking water bottle, and yes, the iron ore. “Even crates of iron ore!”

“What are you doing now? “You can’t give up on the product!”

“So you want to get caught like this?!”

“Well, still!”

“Thanks to those Amsterdam guys, we have about half of the money left over! If you get caught, your gold coins will be taken away. Are you going to fail like this? If you have that money, shouldn’t you be able to pay for the second child’s school fees or not? What are you doing, navigator! “Move quickly!”

“Yes, Captain!”

The sailors, who received the captain’s orders through the navigator, desperately threw cargo overboard and tried to increase the ship’s speed as much as possible.

However, that effort was in vain… .

Suddenly, the sound of a cannon being fired was heard from an unidentified ship that was getting closer. The shell fired from the cannon landed just to the left of the merchant ship, causing it to crash and create a large water column.

The captain, who had already been sailing for nearly 20 years, knew very well what this shot meant.

“Jan, I think it’s too late. This is a warning shot. “If we run away, the shells will hit our mast or hull directly.”

“bar… Is there no way, Didric? This is our second child’s tuition… .”

“What should I do? Let’s surrender for now. Jimiral, it’s so big. I don’t know who the captain of that ship is… “I can only pray for mercy.”

Jan, a merchant who had been wandering the North Sea in search of high-quality goods to pay for his children’s school fees, and Didric, his close friend and captain of the ship, lowered the sails, raised the white flag, and blamed themselves for not believing the rumors told by the Amsterdam merchants. I was blaming myself.

There have been rumors for some time that English warships are robbing lowland merchants off the coast of Holland.

* * *

The sound of a cannon was heard outside the door, followed immediately by the shouts of sailors. Apparently, another unfortunate merchant had appeared who either had not heard the rumor or did not believe the rumor.

It has been a month since the launching ceremony of the royal flagship Catherine was completed and the ship has been on board, and it has already been a week since the looting began in earnest.

Whether or not I could hear the shouts outside, I was lying in the hammock provided in Catherine’s captain’s room and was truly having fun.

“Wow, if I had known that things would be resolved this easily, I wouldn’t have had to worry so much.”

It has been this week since the Queen declared war, and a week since the looting began in earnest. The number of merchant ships that Catherine had robbed in the past week has long exceeded double digits.

Currently, Catherine had a total of 350 sailors on board, 100 of whom had been selected by the Queen several months in advance for the launch ceremony and had learned how to use the new sail.

The Queen also read the blueprints, so she was well aware that the sails used on ‘Catherine’ were different from those on other ships. For that reason, ever since she knew that the hull was completed, she had been training personnel who could handle the sails of ‘Brian’ little by little.

The biggest worry I had was resolved with the appointment of Captain Stan as ‘helmsman’. Captain Stan was in charge of detailed sail control for me.

Should I say it is the skill of time? Even though it was his first time seeing a ship, Captain Stan listened to my explanation and after the launching ceremony, he carefully observed how the sails moved and how the steering wheel worked on several voyages, and soon he was able to handle the steering wheel and sails at a reasonable level, even if he was not proficient. It came to be.

“Captain! “We captured one more merchant ship.”

The sailor who opened the door and came in was Drake, who had come with Captain Stan.

I don’t know if this precocious 13-year-old, or now 14-year-old, is the Drake I know, but the speed at which he counts the loot is unusual.

For that reason, I entrusted Drake with the task of plundering merchant ships and then reporting to me the number of loot taken.

“So, where did the customer who was robbed this time come from and what cargo did they have?”

“Yes, I said ‘Jan’ from Antwerp. The main item is a box containing 30 iron ingots. There were also thirty barrels full of salted herring and one box containing thirty copper bars. Oh and… .”

“and?”

“We also found a box containing 200 gold florins.”

“Let’s handle cash as we have done so far. Excluding taxes and the portion to be given to the royal family, and also excluding the helmsman’s portion. “You know how to do my part, right?”

“Yes, as you ordered earlier, we will distribute it to the sailor who finds the merchant ship first.”

“Yes, do that.”

When cash was plundered from a merchant ship, it was customary to give half of it to the country and royal family as taxes and share the other half between the ship’s captain and crew, and as the captain, I could have a 30 percent share of it.

When I first plundered the cash, I took my share of gold coins without thinking and was counting them in the captain’s office with a grin on my face. When I saw the envious look on the sailor’s face when he came to report to me, I was sobered.

To me, a gold coin was nothing, but to the sailors, a gold coin was a lot of money that could cost them a sword.

From that day on, I distributed my share of gold coins to the sailors, and as things went on, discord began to sprout little by little between the sailors who received gold coins from me and those who did not receive gold coins.

I thought it would not be possible to continue like this, so I set up an objective standard for distributing gold coins, which was to award the captain’s share of gold coins to the person who found the ship first.

From that day on, the sailors voluntarily began searching for merchant ships, and their passion was so great that sailors who had not yet returned to duty woke up at night and looked around the night sea to see if any merchant ships were coming.

I don’t know who discovered this merchant ship this time, but the sailor will be walking around with a smile on his face for a while.

30 Florin. This would be a lump sum of money that would be difficult for ordinary sailors to save even over a lifetime.

The plunder of the newly captured ship was soon completed. We transferred all the cargo to our ship and sent the merchant ship that had been plundered by us away.

Then I was again lying in the captain’s cabin, killing time, wondering which sailor would get my share of the gold this time.

“under… Captain! “It’s an enemy ship, it’s an enemy ship!!”

“what? Enemy ship? What are you talking about!”

Drake ran in and shouted that an enemy ship had appeared, so he got up from the bed in surprise and ran straight out of the captain’s office.

“Over there, over there. There’s an enemy ship… .”

In the direction Drake’s finger was pointing, a ship that could be called a ‘warship’ was slowly getting closer. It was a fairly large military black ship.

“Let’s see… The flag… .”

As I narrowed my eyes and looked closely, I noticed the Spanish flag waving on a sailboat approaching.

If the Spanish flag could be seen with the naked eye, it meant that it was quite close. I raised my head and checked the direction in which the small sail was fluttering. Indeed, somehow I thought it was fast. A favorable wind was blowing for the Spanish warships, but a headwind was blowing for us.

“Everyone prepare for battle! It’s an enemy ship! “Everyone go to your location!!”

The crew members quickly found their seats at the shout of Captain Stan, who was in charge of the task on my behalf. Even the sailors who had been searching for the merchant ship on deck a moment ago were now on edge.

Of course, this was the ‘first’ battle for the sailors aboard Catherine. Until now, I had only robbed unarmed merchant ships, so I was understandably nervous as I encountered a warship for the first time.

“Captain! There are three enemy ships in total! What should I do?”

Captain Stan sees me outside and asks my opinion. shit. What do you mean by asking me that?

“No, why did you do that to me…” No, three ships? If it’s three… madam… .”

Damn, I didn’t know that not having a telescope would be this inconvenient. I narrowed my eyes again and looked in the direction the warship was coming from, and saw a couple more Karaks sailing in the lead.

I heard that there were less than ten warships in the Netherlands, but at that moment, three warships appeared with a favorable wind. They must have been waiting for the right time to catch us for the past week.

“Captain!! The enemy ship is getting closer!! Order!!!”

“helmsman!”

What do I know to give orders? In response to the crew’s urgent cries, the gun was handed over to Captain Stan, who was in charge of the helmsman.

“yes! Captain! Raise the sail on mast number one! hurry!!!”

Perhaps because it was their first battle, the crew members seemed very confused. When Captain Stan ordered the sails of Mast No. 1 to be raised, he raised the sails of Mast No. 2, and when he ordered Mast 2 to be folded, he spread all of the sails on Mast No. 2. The ship was full of mistakes.

Until now, they had only robbed unarmed or poorly armed merchant ships, but when they encountered a real warship, everyone seemed to be scared. I don’t know if these sailors were all veterans, but the 250 newly selected men were a ragtag group of people who were almost forced into conscription due to time constraints.

“Captain! The enemy ship is within range! What should I do!”

“Oh, why do you keep telling me…?” ! No, it’s a canvas! I’ll tell it to Master Hwapo! “You can judge and shoot at your discretion!”

“All right. Captain!”

One of the three ships had already entered range of each other a long time ago. At the sailor’s words, he hurriedly gave permission to fire at will, but it seemed it was already too late. Karak, who was in the lead, had already completed his turn and was aiming his side cannon at Catherine.

Soon, a series of popping sounds were heard. Gunpowder smoke rose from the side of the Spanish ship. A total of four Karak guns caught my eye. A total of four shells flew towards Catherine.

The moment the cannonball flying through the wind touched ‘Catherine’, the sailors erupted in cheers. It was not the shouts of the Spanish sailors, but the shouts of the sailors aboard the Catherine.

Two of the cannonballs fired from the Spanish military carrack fell into the sea and created a water column. The two feet that barely reached Catherine’s outer wall seemed to have hit the hull directly, but they bounced off in vain after hitting the outer plating.

“pho… “The shell bounced off!!!”

“A shell bounced off at this distance?! This is a miracle!! “It’s a miracle!!!”

Those who witnessed the shell bouncing in vain with their own eyes all became one and cheered, saying that God was protecting the royal flagship ‘Catherine’.

“Long live Saint George!!! Long live England!!! Long live ‘Catherine’!!!”

“God protect our ship!!”

Cannonballs bounce off at this distance? In the opinion of sailors of this era, it was truly impossible without God’s protection.

As I watched the sailors cheer as they found God, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The technology, which was over 201 years old, was strong enough to withstand the artillery fire of the 16th century and claim God’s protection.

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*In that era, each lowland city had its own merchant guild, and in order to sell goods, you needed a seal from the guild. It is said that if there is no seal from the guild or if the seal is damaged and faded, the goods cannot be sold in that city. Of course, you had to pay a fee to get your seal stamped. I would appreciate it if you could understand that the stamp fee = tariff.

*In fact, the large American frigate ‘Constitution’ once deflected a shell fired from a distance of 100 meters. The American sailors who watched the scene mocked the British soldiers who fired the guns, saying that their ship was made of steel.