WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Wind and a Cluster of Stars
Chapter 20
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Coming Alongside
37. Coming Alongside
Even with one ship already smashed apart and debris and cargo floating all over the sea,
the remaining pirate ship did not seem troubled at all.
It came after us at a truly terrifying speed.
At roughly 150 meters out, I could already see white and Black pirates gripping guns and blades, glaring at us with swaggering confidence.
Red Tea made a hard turn to fire the guns,
but they were crafty. They seemed to realize Red Tea had no stern gun, rushed in,
and slipped right into our blind spot behind us.
On top of that, the turn bled our speed, so the pirate ship got pulled closer like a magnet,
and Red Tea had no choice but to plow straight ahead, shoving through the wreckage of the broken pirate vessel.
-Thud- rrrrrumble
A heavy sound rang out as a big chunk of wreckage scraped along our side.
"Ready!"
Lieutenant Shawn dragged the soldiers to the stern, drew his saber, and shouted the order.
"Fire!"
The sailors grabbed muskets and fired with them.
They were already down to almost 60 meters!
The pirates numbered around seventy to eighty, three or four times our strength.
If they latched onto us, it was obvious things would become hopeless fast.
Their ship kept closing in, trying to come alongside Red Tea.
The sambuk finally entered our firing angle, and the carronades and culverins belched flame.
The line infantry kept up volley after volley.
Every time they fired a round, men dropped one after another, and the pirates were pinned down so hard they could barely raise their heads.
But they did not stay passive.
Their cannon flashed and fired once, and now and then a bullet tore past us with a ripping whistle.
As the sambuk raced up and aligned along our flank, Zenon had to wrench the helm over again and again to stop them from locking on.
-Thunk
A rope hook suddenly dropped near me, got dragged tight at speed, and caught hard on the rail.
"No!"
I grabbed a hand axe, ran in, and chopped through the rope at the rail,
but another hook caught right after it.
Now they were barely 5 meters away!
-Boom!
A massive blast shook the ship and threw me onto the deck.
Red Tea tilted under the recoil from our guns, slammed back down, and shuddered hard.
Below the iron grating of the upper deck, in the gun deck, sailors scrambled powder into the guns to reload.
Every last one of us was fighting for our lives.
-Thud!
With a violent jolt, the sambuk yanked its rudder and rammed its bow into Red Tea's starboard side.
But its already damaged bow cracked apart, and the lighter sambuk spun off instead,
and the pirates trying to leap over tumbled down in a heap.
Our line infantry and sailors did not miss the chance and opened fire, dealing severe damage.
"Gah!"
One Black pirate, still clutching a blade, fell into the sea,
and I saw others collapse across the upper deck.
Bracing myself on the rail, I kept cutting hook ropes off the deck.
"Fire at will!"
Lieutenant Shawn and Zenon gave up volleys and started firing however they could.
"Brace for impact!"
A carronade shot grazed along the pirate upper deck, carving a long scar.
While the line infantry kept adding casualties, Red Tea slammed into the broken bow of the already wrecked pirate vessel.
At the same time, gunfire poured into the pirate ship, and both Red Tea and the sambuk lurched heavily.
Red Tea took a deep gouge along her side, but the sambuk, hit by cannon fire, had its upper side hull blasted open so badly you could see inside.
The pirates fell into chaos, failed to take cover, and started getting shot down one after another.
Only around thirty were left now, and with no one holding the helm,
their ship drifted away from Red Tea again.
Then more bombardment followed.
-Boom boom boom!
The sambuk was so battered the hull hung in tatters, and it almost looked strange that it was still not pierced through.
They had made her light with thinner armor,
and carried fewer guns,
and that gave us the edge.
At last, maybe unable to endure anymore, one pirate waved a piece of clothing like a surrender signal,
but the line infantry fired on reflex, he was hit by the whole burst, and dropped into the sea.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!"
It looked like they were surrendering, so I grabbed the wheel and swung us wide first.
Until it was certain, we had to stay careful.
By then every gun had been reloaded, and the line infantry reloaded quickly with practiced hands.
When we stopped shooting, the pirates showed themselves at the stern and waved white cloth.
"They surrendered!"
"Waaaaah!"
Our side roared in triumph, and the pirates seemed to wilt even more.
On their upper deck, most men were either sprawled out groaning or not moving at all.
And the survivors among them were now the ones begging for mercy.
Every musket and cannon on our side was aimed at the deck.
Red Tea soon stopped beside the ragged flank of the sambuk.
I gave Lieutenant Shawn a look, and he sent a corporal with seven men across first.
Everyone watched in silence.
"Move! All of you, you bastards!"
But they did not understand English.
So the soldiers threatened them with bayonets and drove them toward the bow.
"@#＄^＄%#＄@#!!!"
One Black pirate shouted and tried to block the way, but a line infantryman immediately stabbed him with a bayonet.
Terrified, the other pirates got shoved all the way to the tip of the bow and packed together shoulder to shoulder.
Discarded pistols and swords were scattered around their feet.
Lieutenant Shawn took the rest and crossed onto the deck.
"Ughhhh!"
Then, out of nowhere, he started walking around and bayoneting the still-living wounded pirates to death.
"W-what, Lieutenant, no!"
His sudden action shocked me.
Could soldiers really be this ruthless?
"Captain, our turn. Let's go now!"
Zenon's words snapped me back.
These were pirates, and just moments ago they were trying to kill us.
Remembering that gave me enough nerve.
I took my gun, crossed over with Zenon and five sailors.
There could still be pirates inside, so we had to confirm.
Bodies were everywhere across the deck...
I took the longest route I could, trying not to step on them or brush against them.
After confirming the pirates on deck were completely trapped under Redcoat bayonets, with nowhere to go, we went down through an open hatch.
"..."
Inside the hull, it was quiet.
-Creak
Every step on the wooden stairs made a sound, and it grated on my nerves.
"What is that smell..."
The pirate ship was filthy and disorganized.
It felt like it had not been in order even before taking cannon hits.
Unknown stains here and there, spilled oat flour, broken cups...
We checked each compartment one by one along the bulkheads.
Through holes in the shattered hull, I could see Red Tea's side.
Part of Red Tea's deck was broken, one round shot was lodged in her hull, and there were bullet holes in several places, but overall nothing critical.
On that deck, Amy held the cat in her arms and watched the pirate ship with a worried face.
In one storage room, we found items that looked like pirate loot.
Three or four chunks of elephant ivory, and one bundle of sea lion tusks.
"Were the important goods on the ship that blew up earlier?"
As we carefully searched room by room from bow to stern,
a sound suddenly came from a nearby room.
-Rustle
At the same moment, something burst out through the curtain used instead of a door.
-Bang bang bang!
-Guh!
What got hit by three or four shots at once was a goat.
Inside the curtain, four or so other goats wandered around in panic, not knowing what to do.
"Unlucky goat," one sailor said under his breath.
"This looks like the food store," Zenon said in front of an old wooden door.
"The threshold is the most worn here."
He was right. It was the food store, with smoked fish hanging everywhere, sacks of salt,
and wooden barrels stacked in neat rows.
We found a few useful things in the food store and powder magazine.
Several kegs of black powder, muskets, dried fruit, rum, and beer.
Then we got the biggest haul in the captain's cabin near the stern.
A pretty heavy bag of silver coins.
Coins from different countries, all different sizes, were packed in head-sized sacks inside a wooden chest.
That would be divided evenly among the sailors who fought.
While the sailors searched the captain's cabin, I noticed Zenon hiding something in secret.
It was a hard ebony box, about a handspan tall.
He found it on a shelf without the others noticing, wrapped it in a hemp sack, then gave me a quick glance.
What was that?
We soon finished searching every area, but we still could not tell who the captain was,
or where these pirates came from.
Maybe he had been on the ship that sank earlier, maybe he died in the fighting, I could not know...
Back on deck, I ordered two sailors to cut every last rope on their rigging.
That way they would not be able to move the ship.
I also ordered five sailors to throw three or four of their cannons into the sea.
During that, the rest moved the captured goods over to our ship.
The battle had been a major success.
I finally understood why people turned to piracy or privateering.
And we had not lost a single sailor.
That was all thanks to the line infantry pouring musket fire like rain,
and to our cannon tactics working perfectly.
One sailor did take a through-and-through wound in the arm, so I ordered it disinfected with strong wine and told them to monitor it closely.
A line infantryman had a bullet hole through his hat, but he treated it as an honorable mark.
Was it in Hamlet?
If warriors went to battle and returned alive, that was no different from winning twice.
I was truly happy.
Yes, we beat pirates, but even more than that, I was glad we got through this crisis with minimal damage.
At last, the line infantry pulled back carefully and boarded Red Tea, and the battle fully ended.
The pirate ship was abandoned and slowly drifting away.
What happened to them now was for heaven to decide.
...
"Brave Ben Battle*! A brave fighting man,
He fought in the line, though bullets rained and cannonballs flew!
(*Ben Battle: a playful name derived from battle)
Brave Ben Battle! But his end still came,
His leg was gone, he could not fight again, even if he wished!"
The line infantry, fired up at the drinking gathering held to praise their effort, sang in loud cracked voices.
Their contribution had really been enormous.
By custom, they also received shares of the prize just like sailors.
Lieutenant Shawn, Amy, and Zenon, as officers, each received two shares, and I, as captain, received three.
Half the sailors had to drink in shifts, so I felt a little sorry,
while the rest kept drinking nonstop with boiled goat meat as snacks.
"Here come the Grenadiers, my boys!
Who know no doubts or fears!
Now sing and row, row, row, row, row, row!
The British Grenadiers!"
(Here come the Grenadiers, my boys,
Who know no doubts or fears!
Then sing tow, row, row, row, row, row, The British Grenadiers!)
The line infantry's singing carried on until late that night.
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