WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Wind and a Cluster of Stars
Chapter 26
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Sloop-of-War Agincourt
47. Sloop-of-War Agincourt
["It's a model of a sloop-of-war. Sleek and fast, used for scouting, communications, and patrols. I wish a frigate had come."]
"Fire!"
-Boom boom boom!
The heavy 24-pound carronades spat fire at the frigate's bow.
With the sloop in play, the frigate was desperately trying not to give us her bow or stern.
But right before we fired, she reacted fast, turning to port and presenting her relatively thicker starboard armor instead.
The frigate's tightly packed starboard gun line filled my view.
"Duck!"
-Kwa-kwa-boom! Boom!
I lost the wheel and threw myself onto the deck as carronade rounds punched through in blinding flashes.
Splinters exploded everywhere, and in an instant the whole deck turned to chaos.
That single broadside shredded our port armor.
The ripping cracks were so violent my ears rang.
"Gunners, hold your positions!"
I barely got back up, grabbed the wheel with Zenon as it spun out of control, and forced us around to chase behind the sloop again.
The waves reared high. Red Tea rose once, then dropped deep into the swell as if buried under it.
Seawater crashed over us, and Red Tea surged up again.
"Faster! Faster!"
Right now, while one side was taking hits, the other side at least had time to reload.
That was our only opening.
The sloop kept up the line battle.
Every time Agincourt and the frigate traded broadsides, flashes and dirty smoke sprayed across the sea. Lines snapped from impact and whipped up into the air, and rigging and timber kept breaking apart.
In the rough waves, Agincourt and the French frigate spun in circles, each trying to bite the other's tail.
Two wounded rats were fighting a blood duel against a cat.
"Brace for bombardment!"
I shouted as I saw a 36-pound carronade ball punch through the armor, shatter the upper deck planking, and stop halfway in.
My lips were dry.
"Please, just let no one die!"
At last, Red Tea took the weather gage and slipped between the frigate and the sloop.
The frigate kept circling to avoid exposing her stern, and just before she entered Red Tea's port firing arc, she stopped turning and drove straight ahead.
The swift sloop cut its side fire, trying to go for her stern.
At that exact moment-
Red Tea and the frigate fired at each other at the same time.
-Boom boom boom boom boom!
Nearly fourteen guns slammed into the hulls almost at once, and the impact tilted Red Tea dangerously to starboard.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
-Thud- Krrrack
The guns rolled in their carriages and slammed to one side with heavy crashes.
Seawater poured over me as I clung to the wheel and fought not to fall.
"Hold your positions!"
Zenon left the helm to me and ran down to the wrecked gun deck.
While we were taking hits, Sloop Agincourt had aimed for a stern rake.
But the frigate did something shocking, making a backwind turn by backing her square sails into the wind and rotating in place.
Instead of following the expected course, she broke it and pulled the sloop into her own port firing arc.
-Boom boom! Boom boom boom!
The sloop also fired at the frigate almost at the same time.
Each time lightning-like flashes burst under the dark sky, I caught quick glimpses of sailors firing muskets and guns blasting through broken gunports.
"Zenon! Zeeenon!!"
Zenon was running across the lower deck and could not hear me.
I knew our port armor could not hold any longer.
Just two frigate broadsides had nearly stripped Red Tea's port side bare.
From the iron grating on the upper deck, I could see water coming in through gunports near the draft line.
Every time waves slammed the side, water surged in.
Keeping the weather gage, I turned hard to port.
As long as the frigate stayed on our port side, turning starboard would expose our stern to a rake.
And if we kept trading line fire on port, we were sure to be annihilated.
We had to present our still-intact starboard armor.
-Boom boom-shiiiiuuk-----!
Red Tea swung suddenly, narrowing the target, and nearly half the incoming rounds flew into the track they had predicted for us.
Some still smashed into the forward section near the upper deck and blew it apart.
Splinters sprayed over the wheel and my face.
"Gunners, starboard side! Starboard side!"
As the ship turned to port, I saw sailors below sprinting all at once to the starboard gun deck beneath the grating.
At that moment, the sloop, still driving straight, barely crossed past Red Tea without colliding.
Between us, the sloop and frigate traded another exchange.
Sloop Agincourt was enduring this line battle against a frigate with unbelievable stubbornness.
By design, sloops were built tough, with strong armor, and she was getting every bit of benefit from it.
Agincourt's marines lined the deck and fired muskets at the frigate however they could.
I saw a naval petty officer catch a dangerously lit bomb thrown from the frigate and yank out the fuse at once.
Their red uniforms reminded me of Redcoats, but they wore short-brimmed black hats.
Beyond them, their captain stood on the quarterdeck in this chaos, gripping the wheel with his petty officers and refusing to let go.
For a brief stretch, Agincourt served as our shield, then moved off.
The instant she cleared, less than ten meters away, the frigate's gun line appeared through the smoke in a skin-crawling sight.
"Fire! Fire everything!"
Red Tea poured attacks into the frigate while she reloaded.
After all the pounding she had already taken, black holes were blown clear through her port armor.
-Boom boom boom!
Rounds tore through the gun deck, and the sloop's second strike hit without missing the moment.
The frigate's bowsprit shattered from a hit and fell toward the sea, but she kept advancing with it still hanging.
Then, with her trademark handling, the frigate swung quickly to port again to avoid losing her stern.
Forced into a wider arc, the sloop missed the stern-shot chance despite her speed, and the frigate ended up between Red Tea and the sloop.
"Duck!"
-Boom boom boom boom boom!
Cannons fired with musket balls at the same time, and one shot shattered a wheel handle in my grip.
"Hk!"
A splinter smacked my face so hard I nearly blacked out.
Then another broadside hit and the ship jolted violently, snapping my senses back.
But at the same time, the frigate shelled the fluyt and the sloop beside her, offsetting recoil.
All three ships were now racing into the worst possible outcome.
On the frigate, deckhands were dropping under cannon and musket fire.
Thankfully, the fluyt had fewer crew concentrated on deck, so two or three sailors were still up there firing muskets.
Then it happened.
-Clang! Ka-clang!
A tearing roar swept over Red Tea.
"They're firing canister shot!!!"
The frigate had been waiting for this moment.
Nine-ball grapeshot and canister packed with musket balls, she used them only now, after our armor had weakened.
Normally that would not be a major threat.
Right now it was fatal.
"No---!"
At close range, grapeshot tore into the already battered center of our starboard upper deck and ripped it open as if someone had kicked it apart with full force.
It looked like a shark had bitten a huge chunk out of a fish's side.
Below that torn section, sailors ran from the surging waves and repeated canister fire.
"We can't hold! Not like this anymore!"
"Use ripple fire*!" (Unlike a destructive full broadside, ripple fire is continuous sequential fire that blocks the enemy's counterattack.)
Zenon used the frigate's reload window to rally the sailors and loaded guns himself.
"1st fire!"
-Boom!
"2nd fire!"
-Boom!
-Ka-clang!
But by the time the last broadside gun fired, canister shot came in again.
Small balls rang against the barrels with ear-splitting shrieks, and with each hit Red Tea's weakened hull burst and cross spars crashed down.
I saw Agincourt swing hard and come up after us.
She shoved Red Tea's drifting debris aside and chased at full speed.
Behind Red Tea, countless fragments were falling away.
A torn spanker, rail supports, hull planks, someone's clothes, pieces of a lifeboat, shattered barrels, wooden bowls, bellows, tablecloths, chocks, nets, buoys...!
"No...! My ship, my ship...!"
-Boom!
While I stood there blank with shock, another round flew in, punched through beneath the nearby quarterdeck, and blasted up through the deck floor.
"Ah..."
Then Sloop Agincourt cut between Red Tea and the frigate once again.
Another thunderous exchange followed, and then explosions and flames burst several times across the frigate's deck.
The blasts made the sails on the frigate's main mast jerk upward like a convulsion.
A crewman was flung by the shock into the sea, and fire climbed the sailcloth.
It looked like the naval bombs thrown from Agincourt had worked.
That was the frigate's limit.
She hastily cut away the burning sail on an auxiliary mast and began to retreat.
...
The French frigate Pendant retreated with her sails and both flanks heavily wrecked.
A long trail of floating debris followed behind her.
But Agincourt could not pursue.
Her own flanks were already crumbled and pierced through, her insides showing.
Emptiness, fear, and a strange mix of chaos and grief overwhelmed me, and I dropped to my knees right there.
"Hic, h-hic..."
Tears started from somewhere I could not name and fell onto the split hull.
The deck was so littered with snapped lines, shattered splinters, and twisted iron that there was hardly a place to sit.
The ruined bowsprit hung by a thread.
"Ngh, ugh."
Even trying to hold it back, I could not suppress this feeling.
A dark, wave-torn sea.
-Kugugugung
Red Tea rocked in the swell and let out a pained groan.
And then, the ship was listing.
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