Her Majesty’s Secret Service

067. If you are wronged, become stronger.

Juan, the captain of the combat ship ‘Pedro’, equipped with a total of 12 guns, including large and small guns, was a veteran soldier who had been in the Spanish Navy for the longest time among the Spanish captains dispatched to the Low Countries.

Beginning with his participation in the Battle of Preveza decades ago, he was rewarded with catching and killing Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean for nearly 20 years, and was appointed captain of the combat ship ‘Pedro’, which was to be dispatched to the North Sea to capture smugglers. .

The North Sea was a completely new sea for Juan, who had spent almost his entire life in the Mediterranean, but Juan, who was a hard worker, established himself as an expert on the North Sea, knowing everything about the sea routes, wind direction, and seasonal wind characteristics within two years of taking office.

One day, while I was faithful to my mission of apprehending smuggling ships traveling in the North Sea based on the knowledge I had acquired, I received unexpected good news. It was news that England had declared war on Spain.

“The Barbary b*stards gave me the captaincy, but what will the English shepherds give me? “I’m looking forward to this.”

Juan was a greedy man. He was born as the youngest child of a low-ranking noble family and became the captain of a ship, so he could be said to have had a successful life, but he was always looking higher. Juan’s dream was to one day enter the king’s court and serve as his advisor.

Juan saw England’s declaration of war as a golden opportunity to achieve his dream. Just as the Barbary pirates served as a stepping stone for him to become a captain, he thought that the English Navy would serve as a stepping stone for him to be noticed by the king.

However, the English Navy was not as formidable an opponent as he thought.

One week and three days since the start of the war.

Juan’s confident attitude, who thought England’s declaration of war was his chance to advance, had long since disappeared.

“What on earth is the Spanish Navy doing while dozens of merchant ships are being plundered?”

The merchants’ united voices continued to criticize the Spanish Navy, asking what measures they had come up with while the merchant ships were being plundered helplessly.

The English navy had nearly three times the number of ships stationed in the lowlands, and each day they formed groups of seven or eight ships and took turns engaging in piracy day and night. They literally plundered merchant ships all day long.

Unlike the English navy, there were at most eight Spanish warships stationed in the lowlands, so the Spanish navy could not find a way to stop the English navy, which was deliberately robbing merchant ships.

Juan was fortunate enough to encounter a ship of similar class to his ship ‘Pedro’ and was able to destroy the ship and rescue the merchant ship, but that was all the Spanish Navy achieved.

Due to the fundamental problem, the number of ships, the number of merchants being plundered was increasing every day, and the angry merchants began to openly talk about whether they should confront Felipe directly.

The captains of the Spanish warships stationed in the lowlands could not help but feel nervous, as several prestigious merchants went to the city hall and spoke on their behalf.

Because of this, the Spanish Navy was placed in a situation where it had to improve its performance somehow.

Even if they could not completely drive out the English navy, they had to show some effort to calm the merchants’ complaints. He didn’t know what kind of reprimand he would get from Felipe, who would become the next king, if he didn’t show up like this.

To show off, the Spanish navy formed groups of three or two ships and, like the English navy, began patrolling the coast of Holland day and night.

It was the afternoon of the third day after forming a group and patrolling the coast in three shifts. Juan met a merchant named ‘Jan’ who boarded a merchant ship coming down from the North Sea and was able to hear that an English ship was nearby.

“Please, please, please catch these guys. My son’s tuition… .”

The merchant, who was begging me to retrieve some of the looted goods, explained in detail the characteristics of the English ships that were wandering around nearby.

An incredibly large ship. Did you say that it looks two to three times bigger than Karak? At that weight class, it was clear that it was the royal flagship of England. When she heard that there was only one ship floating around without any escort ships nearby, Juan thought it was an opportunity.

They had three ships and he had one ship. He didn’t think he could beat three ships, no matter how big they were.

The other two ships following behind him were also equipped with weapons similar to or better than ‘Pedro’. The total number of guns on the three ships was almost 40. There was no way they could not defeat just one ship with 3 ships and 40 cannons.

At the very least, we might be able to destroy it or, if we do well, capture the flagship. Juan thought so and gave an order.

“It’ll still be around here! mate! Send a signal to other ships too! “There’s an enemy ship nearby!”

After a while, Juan’s ship ‘Pedro’ and two other ships ‘Constanze’ and ‘Mayor’ were able to discover a huge ship, probably the royal flagship of England.

Even from a distance, the ship seemed to be three or four times the size of their own. Even at first glance, it was definitely the ship Jan had mentioned.

“Captain, the size… “Can you really deal with something like that?”

Juan answered confidently to the navigator’s slightly tired voice.

“Isn’t the wind helping us? To send a signal to ‘Mayor’ and ‘Constanze’. We’ll take the lead and tie them down with an artillery battle, and in the meantime, approach them and start a propaganda campaign. If we do well, we might be able to capture that ship.”

Literally, the wind was helping the Spanish ships.

Moreover, even though they must have seen them getting closer, the huge ship, thought to be the royal flagship of England, made no response. I don’t know why, but it was definitely an opportunity.

“under! Everyone look! Aren’t the shepherd pirates so scared of us that they can’t do anything? “Tell the gunnery commander to fire a salvo as soon as he finishes loading!”

“yes! Captain!”

Juan gave the order to load the guns, and as planned, the other two ships turned the rudder and began to creep closer to the huge ship.

But after a while, Juan and the Spanish crew could only stare blankly at the English flagship, as if they had seen something incredible.

“I… What is that… . They say it bounces off shells… ?”

That wasn’t the only thing that shocked the Spanish army.

I don’t know whether ‘Pedro’ successfully attracted attention or not, but the two ships ‘Mayor’ and ‘Constanze’, which almost succeeded in approaching, encountered an unexpected ambush.

It wasn’t until Mayor and Constanze got close to the English flagship that the guns opened, and dozens of cannons peeked out as if they were waiting.

Originally, they did not want to fire cannons at close range in hopes of capturing this huge flagship, but as dozens of cannons were sticking out and aiming at them, the captains of Mayor and Constanze urgently gave the order to fire cannons.

However, before the commands of the two captains could be relayed to each ship’s artillery chief, more than twenty cannonballs were fired at the side of the English flagship.

With a loud roar, over twenty cannonballs were fired from the left and right sides of the English flagship. When the captains of ‘Mayor’ and ‘Constanze’ checked the number of guns protruding from the gun ports, they were so close that it was impossible to change direction.

Mayor, who approached the starboard side as the number of shells rained down mercilessly, instantly fell silent. Constanze, who was trying to return to the port side and approach, was in a worse situation than Mayor.

Mayor’s upper deck and crew suffered damage, but Constanze’s six shells struck the lower deck, killing ten sailors instantly and destroying most of her side cannons. The problem was that a hole was drilled in the bottom and the ship slowly began to tilt.

Juan, who was watching the two ships that got close to the English ship being literally destroyed, swallowed his saliva and looked at the scene.

“Ha, Captain. What should I do now?!”

“A ship that can deflect shells and is armed with dozens of cannons. How can I catch that? Damn you shepherds. You created a monster. Retreat as quickly as possible, as quickly as possible. To catch it, we’ll have to bring in all the warships stationed in the lowlands. “Now that the two ships have been destroyed, what help will our joining be of any help?”

While the great English ships silenced the Mayor and then pounded away at the Constanze, Juan’s ship Pedro turned and began to leave the battlefield.

Juan skillfully adjusted the sails, as if he had accumulated decades of experience in vain. Starting to flee the battlefield at as much speed as he could muster, Juan turned his head and looked in the direction of the English flagship.

Mayor’s sails and hull were all tattered and looked hopeless, and Constanze’s hull seemed to be slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea, as if a cannonball had hit the lower part of the ship.

“That… what… .”

And Juan couldn’t help but feel fear as he saw the English flagship in question, a huge ship without any scratches, chasing his ship ‘Pedro’ with all sails spread.

“Ha, Captain! I… “The enemy ship is getting closer!”

Juan couldn’t believe his eyes. He felt like all the common sense he believed in was collapsing.

Karak was fleeing the battlefield at the maximum speed he could achieve, but that huge ship was getting closer and closer? Are you saying that the speed of that huge ship exceeds Karak? It was ridiculous. The speed of such a huge ship could not have been this fast.

“Captain!!!!”

Despite the navigator’s tearing screams, Juan was staring at the approaching English ship with a blank expression.

From noble mtl dot come

Unbelievable durability that bounces off shells. A huge hull that could be three to four times the size of Karak. Plus, it has ridiculous mobility that goes far beyond Karak’s.

When did the English hillbillies come up with this kind of technology?

It was unfair. It was so unfair. The defeat was not due to the capabilities of the captain and crew. The difference between simple ships. The difference between the ships created this result.

The English flagship, which had been chasing Juan’s ‘Pedro’ at tremendous speed, was suddenly running alongside Pedro.

Another roar rang out from the side of the English flagship.

Of the twenty-four shells fired from the side, eight hit directly the deck and lower part of the hull of ‘Pedro’. Juan desperately shouted for them to return fire, but even if he wanted to return fire, most of the guns on the side were damaged by the bombardment a little while ago, so there were only two guns that were still intact. Even the cannonballs that were barely able to be fired from intact cannons did not hit the English flagship’s hull directly and only created a water column.

“I can’t help it… . mate! Lower the sails and raise the white flag. “You can’t die like this, right?”

Eventually, Juan gave the order to surrender, but the English ships did not accept the surrender. No, it would have to be said that he could not accept it.

The surrender order came too late. Another roar was already coming from the side of the English flagship.

Hearing the sound of artillery fire that came almost at the same time as he ordered the navigator to surrender, he spoke out as if he felt unfair.

“Cowards. “If you were raising a monster like that, shouldn’t you tell me?”

As soon as those words were finished, dozens of shells hit ‘Pedro’ again. The center of gravity of the Karak Ship, which was already tilted, completely tilted due to the second bombardment, and the Spanish warship ‘Pedro’, led by Juan, began to slowly sink.

As of this day, when one of the eight warships dispatched to the Low Countries was captured and two were sunk, the coast of Holland came under the control of the English Navy.

The hardships of lowland merchants had just begun.

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*The Battle of Preveza refers to a battle in 1538 between the navy of the Holy Alliance organized by the Pope and the navy of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire, which won this naval battle, took control of the Aegean and Adriatic Seas, which had previously been under Venetian influence, and further demonstrated its presence in the Mediterranean.