XIII Almirante General
“Tell them we are passing port to port, that we cannot go to starboard because of a shallow.” Rose instructed one of her Spanish-speaking sailors who was on the VHF radio with the Venezuela Navy Ship.
Rose looked through the binoculars again, the Dutch navy ship was heavy listing to starboard, smoke coming from all kinds of openings that aren’t supposed to smoke or be openings at all. She only made a few knots, and the Venezuelan ship was closing up on her, keen to confiscate her, after the losses they’d already had in this war.
The Dutch captain had sought ought some shallow waters to try to out manoeuvre the Venezuelan, but she was too slow.
Now the Sunset Dawn was approaching them from the opposite direction. The Sunset Dawn could easily pass over those shallows on their starboard, but they didn’t need to know that. Rosalind had other plans.
“Prepare the guns, full round. Standby on the lines.”
“Skipper what is that sailing vessel doing here?” An officer on the bridge of the Dutch navy ship asked.
At the moment the stern of the Sunset Dawn passed the bridge of the Dutch vessel, a string of Signal flags shot up.
“Juliet Echo, Mike Alfa India November Tango Alfa”. The lookout on the bridge wing started to call out the names, but before he could finish, they had dropped the flags again.
"I'm sorry skip, I couldn't get them all. I'm not sure what they mean either."
But the Skipper had recognised the combination already, and he was staring with wide eyes to the deck of the sailing vessel, where no one on deck gave them a particular look.
He looked at the plaque on the centre of his bridge bulwark, the Dutch coat-of-arms and the motto below it.
Je Maintiendrai
“Binoculars now!” he shouted. As he climbed to the top of the wheelhouse to have a better look at the situation behind him.
The skipper was just in time to see another set of flags shoot up and down. Uniform, Yank, Five. The Skipper jumped down from the wheelhouse again and grabbed the ICS book from the bookshelf on the bridge. Flipping trough it in a hurry.
UW
UX
UY
UY 5: .. Torpedo…
“STOP THE ENGINES NOW!!!!” The Skipper shouted, and his officer of the watch responded instantly and hit the emergency stops.
The radio was full of Spanish conversation between the Venezuelan Navy ship on their tail and the sailing vessel heading towards it, getting awefully close.
“They are claiming they just want to pass, and can’t go to starboard because of some shallow.” one of the people on the bridge translated for the rest of the crew.
"There is no shallow to starboard of them. What on earth is going on?" The skipper asked, more to himself, as he continued to watch the ships behind them with his binoculars.
“Hoist the Dutch flag! And fire.” Rose commanded. Via the halyard on the mizzen gaff, the Dutch red, white and blue shot up, and the wind passing the mizzen sail filled in instantly. They had picked the largest flag they could find, measuring a huge four by six meters, so it was for all to see who they were claiming to be.
The chaos which erupted on the Venezuelan deck when the flag was hoisted, was resembling an anthill that got attacked by an anteater. Then the Sunset Dawn’s gun crew started doing what they did best, and even though their ship just had one broadside of twelve guns, a continuous roar could be heard. Rose had instructed her crews to fire at speed and to get as much rounds off until the order came to stop firing. And they where not disappointing her.
“Loosen the sheets, let go of the sails, let them fly, slow us down!” Rose ordered to her crew, shouting to get over the roaring guns. First mate Jan de Jongh and the Boatswain repeated the order and bellowed it across deck where the sailors went to work. As soon as the sheets were loosened the Sunset Dawn started to slow down. She’d never get to a complete stop, not with the wind from behind and the sails up in the masts.
Rose turned around, looking to the Sunset's stern. “Mister Fisher, I think it is time to let go of your fish.” She called out.
“Aye indeed it is time for her to swim”. Mister Fisher didn't raise his voice at all, so nobody really heard him.
Fischer pulled some string and a splash could have been heard from the stern if the guns didn't make such a noise. The night before, he had gone to great lengths to explain to the captain that his fish would only go towards propeller noises and not to the noise created by their guns or the generator running inside their hull. The captain had remained sceptical, but now he was allowed to show what his fishies were capable of.
The Skipper of the Dutch vessel was looking with shock at the scene which unfolded behind him. After the sailing vessel had flashed the signals to them, it now showed a huge Dutch flag to the Almirante General behind them, a new flag he reckoned, judging by the brightness of the white band. But now there was a massive cloud of smoke coming from between the ships, as the sailing vessel had moved even closer to their opponent. And the continuous thunder of rapid cannon fire filled the skies. All over, his vessel crew members were watching in awe of the scene behind them.
Apparently the Venezuelan Destroyer behind them had been so surprised, or they were much more damaged than they were showing that they failed to respond. Unbeknownst to the Dutch ship, the Almirante General was also out of ammunition.
Then suddenly a loud heavy bang and the water around the stern of the Almirante General turned white and started to come up in a dome shape before it was shot sky high, taking parts of the stern of the ship with it. A concession of explosions happened inside the Destroyer and less than half a minute after the sailing vessel had opened fire it seized to shoot, the destroyer was listing near 45 degrees to starboard, and her bow was slowly rising out of the water, she went down.
Rose instinctively ducked behind the bulwark, when Mister Fischer his fish found the intended goal.
The shock wave was felled trough out the Sunset Dawn, even listing the ship away from the explosion, she thought she saw the masts vibrate before the water that the torpedo had shot up, splashed down on deck, bringing several fishes with it.
“Cease fire on the guns.” Rose said a bit pointlessly as the gun crew had stopped already. Knowing it was over for their opponent.
“I want a full inspection keel to mast top, bow to stern! Check every bolt, plate and screw. If we got any damage, I want to know about it.” Rose asked, a bit scared by the force of the explosion of the torpedo.
“Mister de Jongh, bring her about, take me alongside that Dutch vessel.”
Rose looked at the destroyer, their port side was riddled with holes from the guns of the Sunset Dawn, showing that even though their guns were small, they gave a good punch. But they were not the cause of the demise of that ship. That would have been the torpedo, if that had been any later and the Venezuelans would have done their job, and fire back with their much bigger and stronger naval guns, they would have been done with, and be the ones sinking and dying.
They left the destroyer to sink on her own, no need to watch it, and turned around to catch up with the Dutch ship. It took about 15 minutes, in that time Rose learned that they had suffered no casualties among the crew, only Alejandro the Cook was injured, he burned his leg as the pot of soup had fallen off the stove when the fish blew up.
Also Bobby reported that he found a crack in a sea cooling water pipe, but he didn’t know for sure if it was already there or new. It wasn't a problem, he told Rose, it could be welded later.
“Michael” Rose called out to the boatswain. “Can you prepare me a boat? I want to visit that grey one.” Tilting her head towards the Dutch navy ship, as Roger had jumped up in her arms, appearing from below as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Michael looked over to the Navy ship beside them, which was a sight for sour eyes, riddled with cannon ball holes, smoking and listing, clearly running on just one engine.
“okay cap. But take Aleksey with you” The boatswain answered.
Aleksey was one of the Sunset Dawn’s sailors, not a bright lad, but a good and honest lad. And the reason why the boatswain picked him; he was just over two meters tall, and almost as near as wide in his shoulders. The thickness of the muscles in his arms made adult trees look like twigs.
Aleksey packed a huge rifle, of which Rose, already forgotten the name, swung over his shoulder, as a sidearm. Although she’d never seen him use it. In truth, Aleksey wouldn’t even swat a mosquito if it bit him. But he had the looks, and she knew that he would do anything to protect her.
“Aleksey!” the bos’n said. “You go with the cap to that grey ship there, don’t lose her out of sight, and don’t let her get hurt.”
Rose hurried below decks, not to change clothes, the denim shorts and her blue under-shirt would do just fine, but she grabbed her sabre, Peter’s Sabre, and quickly put it on with a belt.
The skipper had seen the sailing ship turn around after it was clear the Almirante General was lost, and now watched her sailing alongside them, same course and speed, the Dutch flag was still flying from the mizzen gaff and there was crew fiddling with sails and walking on deck, but mostly they were watching them. The skipper could just make out the outline of gun ports, but only because he had seen the ship firing guns just a while ago. They were closed, but he didn’t think it would take that much time for those guns to bare again. He hadn’t tried to contact the sailing vessel, which didn’t carry a name nor a sail number. He waited.
“They are sending a boat this way” someone on the bridge mentioned, as if the skipper didn’t see that for himself...
“Lower a ladder, welcome them on board.” he ordered.
“Welcome aboard Zr.Ms. Willem Barentsz” the officer said when Rose arrived on deck. There was a bandage around his head and his uniform was ripped in several places.
“And you are?” He asked a bit rude while looking down at Rose.
“Rosalind Abigail Oak, Captain of the Sunset Dawn, nice to meet you.” Rose stated while gesturing at her ship.
Behind her, Aleksey reached the deck with his huge rifle slung over his shoulder. The officer had to look up at him, then down to Rose again. The officer didn’t ask anything.
Rose and Aleksey were escorted to the bridge, which was a mess. Several windows were missing. There was a big hole in one of the consoles, where something clearly had made an impact. Rose guessed the Willem Barentsz was steered from below, as someone on a voice powered emergency telephone was giving helm orders.
"Hello, I'm Commander Pieter Blok. Welcome on the Zr.Ms. Willem Barentsz" the skipper introduced himself.
After the skipper had thanked Rose several times, he asked the question he was dying to ask. “What kind of vessel are you? You look like a super yacht but you’re armed like a warship. Did we get rescued by some secret service ship? Are you even Dutch?”
Rose smiled. “I’m Dutch born and raised. But I haven’t been in the Netherlands in quit some years, my crew is from all over. And the Sunset Dawn, well, she isn’t registered anywhere officially nor unofficially.” She let the skipper think about that.
“Hmm” “What kind of guns you have anyway, hidden behind those gun ports?”
“Ha, no. That is a trade secret.”
great little story! :D
Thank you :)