Voyage of the Istanbul Tigress Ch. 03

And still the barca-longa came on, as if it were trying to break the line. But there was no line of warships, just the Tigress which now fired again, each gun sending out an 18-pound solid round shot behind a spreading wave of musket balls. The destruction on the overcrowded decks of the barca-longa was sudden and horrific.

The Tigress slid past the barca-longa, the distance now increasing. The pirate ship was in chaos, and while a few muskets continued to fire, they made no attempt to alter course for pursuit. The two galleys, however, still churned the water as they made their way north.

"We're going on the other tack!" Hamilton yelled. "Slack off the lee braces. Haul hard on the starboard braces. Quartermaster, send over the wheel! On deck, there! Take hold and heave! Heave!"

Hamilton watched the galleys intently as the Tigress turned, the bow now pointing at the northern capes of Kefalonia. The galleys might overtake the Tigress if they forced their oarsmen to the breaking point, something, he knew, they were not adverse to doing. But instead the two galleys slowed as they approached the barca-longa. Hamilton hoped the galley captains had been promised a swift victory over the Tigress, because the blood draining from the barca-longa's scuppers showed otherwise.

"Deck there! They've hove-to!" Almas cried from aloft.

Ahmar can back on deck. "Congratulations, Captain."

"Fine handling of the guns, Mr. Ahmar." Hamilton clasped his hand to the Yemeni's shoulder. "And you were right, my friend, we should never have entered this Strait."

Ahmar nodded. "Your orders, Captain."

But before Hamilton could answer Almas yelled again, "Sail ho!"

Something else was coming from the south. Hamilton climbed to the mainmast top and clapped the telescope to his eye.

Akouta, who was higher, in the mainmast cross trees, yelled down, "What kind of ship is that, master?"

"It's called a polacre-xebec," he said. It was a type of ship that, if well handled, was particularly fast. There were three masts, the fore and mizzen each with a triangular lateen sail, while the mainmast was square-rigged. For a moment he hoped the xebec was another merchant, a harmless ship passing by. But as it surged past the galleys and the drifting barca-longa he could see the xebec's captain hailing the other Corsairs. The galleys, which had been taking men off the stricken vessel, now raised their own masts and set lateen sails.

It was going to be a chase.

"We can clear the strait before they reach us," Ahmar said, when Hamilton is back on deck.

"Captain Hamilton!" Van Schoonhoven said quickly. "A xebec, yes? They are fast, very fast!"

"I'm aware of that," Hamilton snapped. He looked up at his own sails, and then judged the current. "We can't go north and keep beating against this wind, they'll overtake us easily. If we go west we can escape the galleys, but not the xebec. We might be able to beat her one-on-one, but that takes us away from Istanbul."

"Mor Cuanaich will still have galliots off Italy."

"Yes. That as well. So, we have no choice, we go around Kefalonia and then back south. Although..." Hamilton tried to envision the possibilities. "If I were that pirate, I would turn the galleys around to meet us on the other side of Kefalonia. Then we'd be trapped between them again."

"Your orders Captain?"

"Take us on the other tack, Mr. Ahmar, I want to get clear of this Strait. Then westerly and around Kefalonia." Hamilton leaned against the taffrail. "And let us hope the pirate doesn't send the galleys back to cut us off."