British hegemon

Chapter 37 Triangular Sail

Roger threw off the smelly wool blanket, muttered something under his breath, got up, scooped up some water from the wooden basin, and splashed it on his face to instantly clear his head.

Pushing open the door to the stern cabin, I saw two masts of different sizes standing on the deck under the blazing sun. The sails had already been lowered, and the triangular wolf head flag flying on the mainmast lookout tower was still in place.

The butler, with his back to him and a sour face, was directing the bald man, the ponytail man, and others to row the boat under the canopy in the middle of the deck.

The two honest fishermen had never operated such a strange two-masted sailboat before, nor did they know how to use two sails of different shapes to move forward smoothly. In addition, the wind direction was complicated today, and the ship was sometimes moving and sometimes stopping in the wind.

Left with no other option, the crew lowered the sails and rowed the pirate ship along the eastern coast, which took them three hours to finally see the mouth of Ram Rush Bay.

Roger's interest was piqued when he heard from the young stable boy beside him that everyone was at a loss with the pirate ship.

He strolled slowly along the starboard side, carefully examining the pirate ship.

The Kirk boat is about 45 feet long and 15 feet wide. It has a short, wide, and rounded hull with three strong deck beams protruding from the hull to reinforce it. There is a prominent ram at the bow. The keel-reinforced flat bottom structure allows the Kirk boat to travel freely on rivers, lakes, and seas.

The hull could carry more cargo, and the hull was made of oak with a tile-like overlapping structure, which was durable. However, pirates inevitably fought at sea for many years, so the hull was full of scars, and there were five oar holes on each side of the hull.

The bow has a tower about two people high, smaller than the stern tower, which can accommodate five or six archers or spearmen. A wooden ladder is placed next to the tower, and there are wooden battens about half a person high on top. During boarding naval battles, this place becomes a floating fortress.

The bottom of the bow tower was not enclosed, and there was a rickety low table leaning against it. Next to the low table was a simple clay stove and a pile of firewood. Pirates spent most of their time at sea, and occasionally they would light a fire here to cook some wheat porridge or hot soup.

An anchor is attached to the deck beam protrusion on the port side of the bow, which is lowered when the ship is at sea.

Near the bow was a felt tent, inside which were several straw mats. A mast protruded abruptly from the front of the tent. The mast was only as thick as a bowl, much smaller than the main mast at the stern of the ship. A triangular sail was hung on it. Judging from the joint between the mast and the hull, it was obviously a later modification.

This surprised Roger, because he seemed to have never seen such a foremast in his vague memory; he had seen many multi-masted sailing ships in later generations, but Roger did not know much about them.

However, after examining it closely, Roger roughly guessed that it was a triangular sail modified by the pirates themselves for sailing against the wind and crosswinds. He couldn't help but admire the creativity that the pirates unleashed in order to survive.

In the middle of the hull, there is a five-foot square window, with a wooden ladder leading directly to the cabin.

This is the hull of the ship, which is low, dark, and somewhat damp. It holds three prisoners and stores some food, fresh water, and ballast stones. Some dry grass is also laid out for the men to rest, but when it doesn't rain, everyone prefers to sleep under the awning on the deck.

Behind the square opening is the tall mainmast, with a square sail hanging on it, and a wooden watchtower at the top.

The stern section contains the tower and the chief's cabin. To the right of the cabin door, there are a dozen or so wooden stairs leading to the tower on the top of the cabin. That area is quite spacious. In addition to serving as a battle tower, there is a long rudder stick under the cloth canopy in the middle of the stern. It is connected to the central rudder at the stern and is usually operated by a dedicated helmsman.

After looking around, Roger asked the sour-faced old butler beside him, "How much can this ship sell for?"

The man with the bitter face tapped on the gunwale and saw that many parts of the hull were rotten. He shook his head and replied, "This should be a merchant ship built by merchants from the five southern ports. It cost around two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds to build. A new ship could probably sell for four hundred pounds."

"However, this ship has been at sea for at least fifteen or sixteen years, and given the pirates' poor maintenance, it's worth at most fifty or sixty pounds."

"Young Master Roger, do you know what the purpose of the sail on that mast is?" The man with the bitter face pointed to the foremast. He had traveled south with merchant ships from Arun Island many times for trade and had seen two-masted sailing ships, but he had never seen a triangular sail like that.

"That thing should be able to make the ship sail against the wind."

With a bitter face full of doubt, he said, "Sailing against the wind? How is that possible?"

Roger couldn't possibly explain the decomposition of forces to him. In his previous life, this was just basic physics knowledge for junior high school students, but for people of this era, it was utter nonsense that transcended time and space.

"I don't know the details either, I just heard it from someone by chance." Roger gave a perfunctory answer, but still decided to bring out those prisoners tomorrow to find out the truth.

"Young Master Roger, we've entered Ram Rush Bay. Should we head home first?" The haggard old butler's brows finally relaxed a little, and his tone became much more relaxed.

Roger pointed to the makeshift wooden pier outside the fishing village on the right bank. "Can this boat dock?"

The man with the sour face behind him thought for a moment, "Yes, the Baron came here once last year."

Roger nodded. "Let's stop at the small fishing village first. You take the hunter and the others to carry the black dog back to the manor, find a house to settle it in, and have someone take care of it. Then have the fat cook prepare food for seven or eight people and send it to Holly Island. We'll wait in the shack on the salt flats."

With a pleading look on his face, he said, "You should go back to the milk house manor first; the lady will be worried."

"Go back and tell my mother that I am unharmed, that I have some things to take care of on Holly Island, and that I will return to the manor tomorrow."

His bitter face turned as bitter as a gourd again, but after seeing those dozen or so corpses today, he suddenly felt a little afraid of the young master Roger in front of him. The islanders used to call him a devil, but from now on they should call him a demon.

Roger's tone was firm, and he dared not disobey. He turned around and directed the rowers to bring the boat to the makeshift pier in Ramlash village, where they took out a gangplank and set it up.

"Bald, ponytail, missing tooth, and gambling addict, you four stay here. The rest of you, follow the butler off the ship." Roger left behind a few thugs; they were idle anyway, so they could lend a hand.

When the guys heard that Young Master Roger wanted to keep them, they were all overjoyed. In the past two days, they had come to understand a profound truth—following Young Master Roger meant there would be plenty to eat.

On the other side, the man with the bitter face was pulling the young stable boy aside and whispering some instructions to him, while the young stable boy looked unwilling.

After a moment, the man with the sour face walked up to Roger and said in a low voice, "Young Master Roger, if you're not going home first, then let Igor stay and serve you. With a servant by your side, Madam will feel much more at ease."

Roger turned and glanced at the somewhat reluctant young stable boy, who was probably terrified by the corpses outside the mill.