With the help of the hull tilt caused by the undulating waves, the Hope's second round of shelling hit the pirate ship near the waterline, causing its bottom tank to begin to flood.
"Long live!" The Hope cheered and continued to prepare for the third round of bombardment.
The first pirate ship was in mourning, and the captain shouted, "Plug the loopholes!"
The people in the bottom cabin tried their best to plug the loopholes in the cabin, but with the sound of the third round of Arda Navy cannons, it became clear that the work could no longer be completed.
As the seawater poured in, the opening in the waterline became larger and larger, and there was more and more water in the bottom tank.
The captain went down to see the situation personally and found that the situation was irreversible. The Hope was extremely lucky, and the third round of bombardment hit near the waterline again.
The pirate captain looked unwilling, glared at the Hope hatefully, and issued an order helplessly: Send a signal to nearby ships, we must abandon this ship.
The encounter with the leading pirate ship caused chaos in the ships behind. Gaden looked incredulous, "What on earth is going on?"
Before even touching the enemy's fleet, one of the ships on our side was destroyed.
He held up a large loudspeaker and shouted, "Speed up, speed up! Get up and jump on their boat!"
The pirate leader believed that no matter what weird long-range attack methods Arda Navy had, as long as he started a boarding battle, his warriors would be able to kill them all in a very short time, and the battle would be as easy as when they annexed other Pirate Crew.
The second pirate ship approached the leading ship that was about to sink, and the pirates on the first ship jumped aboard.
The Hope immediately opened fire on the pirate ship that came to the rescue. Unfortunately, only one shot hit the upper deck this time.
Although only one cannonball hit, it still caused great results. The cannonball took away the lives of several pirates and destroyed the not-so-thick mast.
The outstanding performance of the Hope successfully attracted a lot of hatred, and the following three pirate ships pounced on him.
Navy Commander Austin, who personally commanded the battle, put down Telescope and issued an order to Orderly, "Inform all ships to support the Hope, but try not to affect the performance of Artillery on the Hope."
Under this order, other naval warships sped up and outflanked the pirate ships.
"Change to grape bombs!" "Swivel Gun prepare! Ahem!"
Seeing the enemy ship approaching, Artillery Officer on the Hope issued orders repeatedly. The deck was filled with thick smoke and the pungent smell of burning gunpowder, which made him cough repeatedly.
"Ah!" Just as Artillery Officer was trying to observe the form of the enemy ship through the smoke, a heart-rending scream suddenly came from beside him. It turned out that the gun crew members had stuffed the new gunpowder bag into the gun barrel without cleaning it in the panic. The remaining fire in the gun barrel ignited the newly loaded gunpowder and sprayed it on the face of the loader.
Everyone, including Artillery Officer, encountered this kind of accident for the first time. They hurriedly dragged the injured loading hand aside to check his injury.
"What are you doing? Get back to the gun position and prepare to fire!"
Captain Quirk noticed the situation here. He immediately asked people to drag the wounded into the cabin, ordered the gunners to return to their posts immediately, and sternly told them, "Strictly follow the Artillery firing procedures."
The gunners quickly took up their positions. At this time, the nearest pirate ship was approaching a little more than 10 meters away. Artillery Officer shouted, "Fire!"
Four 6-Pound Cannons and two Swivel Guns fired deadly grapeshot, and a burst of Metal Storms attacked the pirate ship.
The pirates who were preparing to join the battle only saw a dark thing flying towards them quickly, and then a large number of people on the deck fell instantly.
A tragedy took place on the deck. Everyone on the pirate ship was turned upside down, and even many holes were punched in the hull. Screams and groans filled the entire deck.
"My arm! My arm!" A pirate looked at his right arm with horror on his face. This arm had just been directly penetrated by a projectile, and now it had no other sensation except pain.
Because of the effect of the magical substance Secret Medicine he had just taken, his heartbeat was faster than before, and the blood in his body was flowing faster than usual. This caused the wound on his arm to spurt out blood, literally spurting out.
"No... no... don't do this..." The fear of death suppressed the severe pain in his right arm. The pirate was talking nonsense in a panic while covering the wound tightly with his trembling left hand, but it was to no avail. No matter how hard he tried to cover it, blood still spurted out from between his fingers.
Soon, his brain began to feel dizzy, his vision began to turn black, and his body became unsteady. A wave hit and the ship shook slightly. The pirate fell to the deck with a plop and never got up again.
There were many people on the deck who suffered the same fate as him, but those with more serious injuries were all bleeding profusely. In the end, their moans and wails gradually became quieter, and they lost their breath.
"Get down! Get down!" Among the remaining lucky ones who were not injured, they cleverly reminded their companions loudly to lie down on the deck to avoid the bombardment of Arda Navy.
The two remaining pirate ships that rushed towards the Hope suddenly slowed down when they saw the miserable condition of their companions in front, as if they were afraid that they would suffer the same fate.
The brains that were extremely feverish due to the effects of the drug were suddenly poured a basin of cold water called reality. The captains of the two ships quickly became calm and carefully considered whether to take the risk and provoke the strange ship.
"What are they doing?" Gaden judged the hesitation of the two ships in front, and their faces became extremely ferocious.
"Don't they know? The opponent has powerful long-range attacks. If you stop, you can only be beaten passively!"
He stomped his feet on the deck bitterly, probably because of the drugs he had taken. He lost his usual calmness and felt irritable whenever he encountered a sudden situation that was not in line with expectations and not beneficial to him.
The leader next to him suggested with red eyes. "Chief Gaden, these new recruits are just unreliable. Let's go up ourselves, kill all the Blue-striped Dogss, and then slowly deal with this bunch of young men."
The four ships at the front come from three small groups that Loach Gang has recently annexed or come to join them. In order to test their loyalty and combat power, this operation was arranged at the front. After all, even if the main force of the navy leaves, some troops will probably be left to guard the home base, and some miscellaneous soldiers will still be needed to fight in the vanguard.
Unexpectedly, they bumped into the main force of the navy.
Gaden clenched his fist hard and hit the mast hard. The mast of the galley, which was not thick, was shaken by his blow.
"That's all! While that strange ship is attracted by the trash in front, let's attack those paddle boats."
The six pirate ships adjusted their direction slightly and rushed towards other ships of the navy.
Thanks to the book friend "Never Ending" for the reward!