Spoils

Everyone was startled by the loud noise, including Captain Morel, who was about to cut the mooring rope. They turned around and saw that the Britain ship was already shrouded in a white mist.

"What's going on?" Morel wondered.

But he didn't slow down; with a swift stroke of his axe, he severed the cable. The fallen mast drifted away on the waves. The clipper boat regained power, though its speed was further reduced compared to before—at least it could move!

Morel didn't care what was wrong with the Britain ship. As long as they were in trouble, that was a good thing. As for what exactly happened, at least they had to get out of the Britain cannons' range first.

The clipper ship moved away from the Britain ship at an unnervingly slow pace. The Britain ship did not fire its cannons during this time and began to decelerate rapidly. The white mist that had surrounded it gradually dissipated. It could be seen that half of the superstructure had collapsed, the masts were broken, and the paddle wheels on both sides had stopped turning. Although the Britain ship was still moving, it was entirely due to inertia and the influence of ocean currents.

"What happened to that ship?" Leclerc asked.

"How should I know? Anyway, it's a good thing!" Morel said.

What do we do now?

"Keep an eye on things, don't get close," Morel said. "We might get hit by a shell if we go any closer. God has already protected us once. I don't want to trouble Him again."

"That makes sense. If it weren't for God's blessing this time... But God is really mischievous, letting them break our masts before their own ships had problems. I was almost scared to death," a sailor said.

"What nonsense are you talking about? After you get off the ship, you must go to the church immediately to apologize to God and ask for His forgiveness!" Morel quickly said.

"I know, I know, God is the most merciful. My former captain once said that we are all God's children, and no matter what we do, the merciful God will forgive us."

"So your captain went to God and begged Him to forgive you for being pirates?" Leclerc laughed.

"Yes, look, even God forgave me and gave me a way to turn over a new leaf," the sailor said. "I reckon just now, there must have been a fellow on that ship praying to God, asking Him to help them break our mast. And his prayer must have been very sincere, just like ours. So God couldn't refuse them, so He first let them break our mast, thus satisfying them; then He caused the explosion, saving us. God is so merciful, Amen!"

"Amen!" they all said together.

At this point, the Britain ship gradually came to a stop, floating on the water like a dead fish.

"Hey, Captain, if we can tow this ship back, we'll make a fortune and recover all our losses," Leclerc said.

"Don't rush, let's observe first and then decide," Captain Morel said. "Anyway, it can't move now."

"Yes, we can't rush it. My former captain said that before boarding another ship, we must first pray and repent to a merciful God," the sailor interjected.

"Very well, Louis, you should pray fervently to God first. In a little while we will lower the small boat, and you can go aboard and capture them," said Captain Morel.

"Okay... wait... Captain... you're not going to send me alone, are you? That ship is..."

"Child, do not worry, God is with you," Captain Morel said.

"But..."

"No buts, you're the only one among us with this experience. Didn't you always say that you could single-handedly hack your way from bow to stern with a scimitar? There was just an explosion on that ship, and most of the sailors were injured. Plus, with God's blessing on you, you can definitely do it! We all believe in you!" Leclerc said earnestly.

"Captain..."

"Alright, enough joking," Captain Morel said. "We've strayed off course during the chase, and there won't be any ships passing by here. They're out of power now—I don't think they can fix that thing. And their mast is broken. They're just drifting with the currents. But the currents will only take them further and further away from land and their course. If we just leave like this, they're almost certainly going to die at sea. So, if they have any sense at all, you alone are enough to make them surrender."

"What if they don't have brains?"

"Then you're dead. But that's precisely why we can only send you alone. Louis, if you dare to go, I'll give you fifteen francs."

Thirty francs!

"Twenty, at most twenty! Any higher, Leclerc will definitely go."

"Okay, twenty it is..."

Just as Leclerc had predicted, the ship was severely damaged in the explosion. Their captain was scalded to death by the intense steam, seven or eight of the other sailors died, and the remaining dozens were injured to varying degrees. At least a third of them, due to the severity of their injuries, would likely have to be thrown into the sea to feed the fish.

The Britain on board knew that if the France turned back after losing power, they would all be doomed. So, they obediently surrendered to the France, led by a lieutenant on board.

To ensure the safety of the France, the Britain, under the supervision of the France sailors, voluntarily handed over their other weapons—guns, Little Melon, and the like. Once aboard, the France thoroughly inspected the ship to determine if it could be towed back.

Although the explosion had caused considerable damage, the hull remained intact, and the ship showed no signs of flooding, suggesting a good chance of being towed back. They then bound the seemingly surviving Britain one by one, returned them to the clipper ship, and locked them in the emptied cargo hold. Finally, they towed the Britain ship behind them with a cable and turned back towards France.

As they traveled, Morel and Leclerc kept tallying up whether they had made a profit or a loss on this trip.

"We lost all our cargo, and according to the contract we were supposed to... um, what kind of cannons did that Britain ship have?" Morel asked.

"Two 24-pounder cannons. Four 12-pounder cannons."

"So little?"

"The two paddle wheels on that ship are blocking a large section, making it impossible to set up cannons there. Plus, the engine room and coal bunker take up space, so there's not much room for many cannons," Leclerc explained. "Anyway, they're targeting us, and we don't even have cannons. And those cannons are all iron. If only they were bronze cannons, we'd be rolling in it."

Compared to bronze cannons, cast iron cannons are much cheaper.

"Alright, stop being greedy. God has already been very kind to us. Even disregarding these cannons, the hull alone is enough to compensate for our losses. After all, the keel wasn't damaged; with some repairs, it should still be usable. Hmm, and the nautical logbook, and the technician with the burns on his leg—they should be worth a lot of money. Hmm, talk to our doctor and tell him to do everything he can to save the technician's life. Because his life might be very valuable."

Under normal circumstances, it would take them less than two days to return to Roscoff from their current position. However, their ship has lost a mast, which significantly reduces the number of sails they can hoist, resulting in a loss of almost a third of their power. Furthermore, they are towing a larger ship behind them. Consequently, their speed immediately drops to about a third of its original speed.

At this speed, if they encountered a Britain patrol boat, they would truly have no choice but to abandon their spoils and flee for their lives. Considering they were missing a mast, even if they abandoned their spoils, escaping the Britain patrol boat wouldn't be particularly easy.

Nowadays, most smuggling ships heading to Ireland use Roscoff as their home port, and Morel's ship was no exception. However, precisely because of this, there were quite a few Britain patrol ships in that area. So, after discussing with First Leclerc, they decided to choose a safe route, to take a long detour at sea, and head towards Camaret.

However, this route arrangement meant they would be at sea for a longer period of time. Their ships didn't actually carry much in the way of supplies. The journey from Roscoff to Ireland wasn't far, and the clipper ships were fast, so there was no need to carry too many supplies. Besides, the cargo holds on clipper ships were smaller than those on other ships of similar weight. Cargo holds were limited to begin with, and every extra bit of supplies meant less cargo.

As for the Britain ships had even fewer supplies because, although Britain were larger, they had no intention of sailing far from Ireland. Therefore, finding food and water would be a major problem if they were to detour.

"Fortunately, that Britain ship was steam-powered and needed to boil water. Although their boiler had exploded, they still had a considerable amount of fresh water left. They should have enough fresh water for the return journey. As for other supplies, they wouldn't have enough."

"Then let's exclude that... that Britain technician, what's his name?" Morel asked.

"His name is Anderson," Leclerc added.

"Well, except for Anderson, all the other Britain rations have been reduced to one loaf of bread every two days," Morel said. "Also, don't waste fresh water and food on the seriously wounded Britain. Our rations have also been reduced to half. Anderson can't die; the steam engine on that ship has been destroyed, and maybe the guys from the Military-Industrial Consortium will be willing to give us more money for that technician."