Empire of Blue Water by Stephan Talty

Author:Stephan Talty
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780307382757
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2007-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

At the neck of the lagoon, Don Alonzo waited. A stream of informers stole toward his flagship and gave the admiral a series of reports: The pirates were working on a captured trading vessel; new gun ports were being added; shipwrights were working furiously in the ship’s hold. Clearly Morgan had transferred his flag to this ship, which was bigger than his own and could give him more brawn to go up against the Magdalena. Don Alonzo drilled his men, watched the horizon carefully, and put in place a series of defensive measures: Long poles were extended from the sides of his ships to prevent the pirates from getting too close (for boarding or other nefarious activities); barrels of water were placed on deck for fighting fires.

The stalemate lasted for a week. Then, just before dark on April 30, Alonzo looked toward the lagoon, and there, suddenly, was the outline of ships against the horizon: Morgan’s fleet, now thirteen in number with the captured vessels, had sailed twenty miles up the lagoon and taken a position within view of the Spaniards, but out of firing range. Aboard the Magdalena, Don Alonzo studied the enemy ships in his spyglass. The big Cuban trader the pirates had reportedly been working on was flying Morgan’s flag; that was comforting—at least the admiral’s spies were accurate. And when, two days later, the pirate fleet raised anchor and came sailing straight at Don Alonzo, it was in the lead, flanked by the old flagship Satisfaction and another frigate. Don Alonzo watched them approach; as soon as they were within range, he gave the order to fire. His ship’s forty-eight guns roared with a thunderous volley; ball tore into the sail of the oncoming ships. Morgan’s ships responded as best they could, but their barrages were decibels lower in volume.

To his astonishment, Don Alonzo saw that the buccaneers’ ships did not peel away as they drew closer. They were going to attempt a frontal assault, as if his man-of-war were a pathetic merchant sloop fleeing for its very life. Nothing could be more to his advantage, except a sustained artillery battle on the open sea. The pirates would not go for that; their ships were being blasted apart by his gunners, who inched down the mouths of their guns as the buccaneer fleet closed on them, until they were pointed almost level, firing across the gap of blue sea at the three fast-closing ships trailed by the slower boats. The admiral could see the outlines of pirates on deck in the morning haze, some of them wearing the soft montera hat, like bullfighters, their cutlasses poised by their sides. They were unmoving against the dawn sky. Don Alonzo had just a moment to admire their steadfastness in the face of barrages of shot aimed straight at their faces—at least these infidels die like men—before the ship plowed into the Magdalena with a crash of snapping, buckling wood, and grappling hooks came spinning through the air and snagged his sails.

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