I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 766: Tear a small hole in the blockade chain (asking for double monthly tickets)

At dawn the next day, the "Leisure" turned to Sweden and prepared to replenish cargo there.

This would definitely take some time, but it was better than going to North America empty-handed.

However, the brig had just gone less than 20 nautical miles north when the lookout once again raised the alarm with a shrill voice.

Two minutes later, Madno finally saw a British frigate rushing from the left front of the "Leisure".

In the past two months, there have been many hungry British warships roaming from the English Channel to the North Sea, and if you are unlucky, you will encounter several of them.

The "Leisure" was obviously not very lucky.

Moreover, this time the British warship was very cunning, using a reef to block the line of sight, and it was less than 8 chains away from here.

1 nautical mile is 10 chains. In the vast Atlantic Ocean, the two ships were almost face to face.

The Leisure desperately turned to the left, but the sailboat needed to make a big arc to turn around. When it was heading in the same direction as the British warship, Maderno could already see the color of the British uniforms in the distance with his naked eyes.

The British sailors' boat handling skills were obviously superior. Just 20 minutes later, the frigate appeared more than 200 yards behind the side of the Leisure and played the flag signal "Stop the ship immediately and accept the search."

The Leisure would naturally not stop obediently.

A month ago, Britain announced a "comprehensive trade embargo" against France, and the British Navy could capture and seize any French merchant ship.

Stopping the ship at this time meant being arrested by the British, and there would be only two results: imprisonment or hard labor.

After a few minutes of stalemate, the British warship opened fire.

Accompanied by a deafening roar, seven or eight huge splashes of water splashed around the Leisure, shocking everyone on the ship to shout "Run" and "Speed ​​up" in fear.

The British gunners were very skilled. After two rounds of calibration, two 18-pound shells accurately hit the Leisure, tearing a hole in its stern cabin and gun deck.

Madno could hear the triumphant shouts of British officers in the distance, probably urging them to reload.

He closed his eyes in despair.

If this continued, the Leisure would be sunk in no time...

"Mr. Madno!" The boatswain suddenly ran over in a hurry and shouted to him, "Please give an order, what should we do now?"

"Me? Give an order?"

"Yes, yes. The captain is dead, and Mr. Juneau is also seriously injured. You are now acting captain!"

Journo was the first mate on the ship.

Madno suddenly felt dizzy.

He just came to follow the smuggling ship to make a living. How could he command the Leisure to deal with the British warships?

The British cannons sounded again, and the hull of the Leisure trembled violently again. It was unknown where it was hit.

Maderno hesitated for only a second, and 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 shout: "There is a ship coming at 4 o'clock!"

Maderno subconsciously raised his telescope to look, but he couldn't help but be stunned.

It was a strange-looking three-masted sailing ship, flying the French blue-bottomed iris flag, and it was heading straight towards this side.

On the suddenly appearing three-masted sailing ship, Baron Foucade looked at the British frigate in the distance and shook his head nervously: "Mr. Bar, the 'Cloud' has an important mission, you shouldn't take such risks."

Captain Michel Bar smiled: "Don't worry, I am sure I can get out of danger at any time.

"Don't you think we are like a knight challenging a dragon now? Oh, my grandfather was a knight. He was a knight during the Thirty Years' War..."

The lookout's voice came from the megaphone, "700 yards from the enemy."

Captain Barr made an apologetic expression to Baron Foucade, turned his head and told the first mate: "Turn one compass point to the west, pass by the guy's side, and keep your distance."

He shouted into the megaphone again: "Pressure the boiler and prepare to start the paddle wheel."

Baron Foucade looked out the porthole and saw that the gun port cover on the starboard side of the British battleship had been opened. He swallowed hard and whispered: "God bless you. "

A few minutes later, the "Mist" passed 450 yards to the right of the frigate, and the three cannons on the port side spewed flames at the British.

Of course, at such a long distance, the "Mist"'s 18-pound cannons could not hurt the enemy ship at all, but it was like someone spitting at a beast - not much damage, but full of insult.

Sure enough, the British warship seemed to hesitate for a moment, then turned right and rushed towards the "Mist".

Maderno looked at the ship, which was slightly larger than the "Leisure". The strange ship led the British away, and he was so moved that he almost cried. He immediately turned the rudder hard and fled in the opposite direction.

When the Leisure had distanced itself from the British warship, he looked back and saw billowing black smoke coming out of the brave strange ship.

In the correct version of one by one!

He raised the telescope in confusion, and then he noticed that the rear of the strange ship was equipped with two wooden wheels like waterwheels, which had begun to rotate and constantly hit the water.

"What is that?" The new second mate Demville on the side also saw this scene, "Is it on fire?"

Maderno shook his head: "It's a steamship. I heard about it in Ostend. There are many such ships transporting goods on the Rhine River, and they are very fast."

Demville nodded with his eyes wide open.

When the two ships were about to disappear under the sea level, he had seen that the gap between the steamship and the frigate behind it had widened a lot.

The "Cloud" was not a steam paddle steamer like the one in the Rhine River. For ocean voyages, that kind of small boat would definitely not work.

This was a special merchant ship that the Brest Shipyard rushed to build two months before the war, in accordance with the requirements of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

The power system follows the paddle steamer system for inland shipping, but it has been replaced with an improved version of the LJ26H steam engine, which can provide 29 horsepower.

This steam engine seems a bit weak for an ocean-going ship, and can 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, paddle steamers are not suitable for sailing on the sea. Wind and waves can easily destroy fragile paddle wheels, and there is no place to replenish coal, but Joseph does not care about these.

As long as they can break through the blockade of the offshore area, once they enter the vast Atlantic Ocean, the possibility of being discovered by the British becomes negligible.

In the era without radar, it is more difficult to find a ship on the open sea than to accurately pick out a grain of wheat in a wheat field.

And the British cannot blockade America together, so it doesn’t matter if the paddle wheel is damaged later, just sail in the Atlantic Ocean with sails.

This kind of "makeshift" special merchant ship is currently the only means to break through the British maritime blockade.

It’s just that because the Brest Shipyard uses most of its production capacity on the construction of steam battleships, there are only 7 such special merchant ships at present.

But it can transport some sugar and cotton from America, which is of strategic significance to France’s trade.

After all, if France gets one more pound of sugar, Britain will get one less pound.

You know, since the war broke out, due to the panic over sugar supply in the British market - currently the largest sugar producer in Europe is in France, which provides nearly half of Britain's sugar - the price of sugar in the UK has doubled compared to before the Caribbean independence movement!