"Cussler, Clive - NUMA Files 04 - White Death - with Paul Kemprecos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cussler Clive)

load, aim and fire with clockwork precision unheard of in most ships.

The rowers were visibly tired, and the ship was like a fly crawling
across a bucket of molasses. The galleys were almost within firing
range. Their snipers could pick off the rowers with ease. He decided
that the men would have to stay at their oars. As long as the ship
moved, Aguirrez had a modicum of control. He urged his men to keep
pulling, and he was turning back to help the gun crew when his
fine-tuned senses detected a shift in temperature, usually the
harbinger of a breeze. The smaller lateen sail flapped like the wing
of an injured bird. Then it was still.

As the captain scanned the sea for the puckering of the surface that
would herald a puff of wind, he heard the unmistakable roar of a
bombard. The wide-mouthed mortar was carried in a fixed carriage with
no means of training or elevation. The cannonball splashed

harmlessly into the sea about a hundred yards off the caravel's stern.
Aguirrez laughed, knowing that it was practically impossible to score a
direct hit with a bombard, even on a target as slow-moving as the
caravel.

The galleys had been moving three-abreast. As a cloud of smoke drifted
over the water, the galleys flanking the lead boat shot ahead and came
straight in behind the caravel. The maneuver was a feint. Both
galleys veered to the left, and one took the lead. Galleys had most of
their armament on the right front side. As they passed the slow-moving
caravel, they could rake its deck and rigging with small and medium
guns.

Anticipating the attack, Aguirrez had placed both cannon close together
on the port side and covered their muzzles with a black cloth. The
enemy would assume that the caravel also carried the inefficient
bombard and that its flanks were virtually unprotected.

The captain scanned the artillery platform through the spyglass and
swore as he recognized a former crewman who had sailed with him on many
fishing trips. The man knew the route Aguirrez followed to the Western
Sea. More than likely, the Inquisition was holding a threat against
his family.

Aguirrez checked the elevation of each cannon. He pulled aside the
black cloth and sighted through the gun ports on an imaginary circle on
the sea. Having encountered no opposition, the first galley came in
close to the caravel and Aguirrez gave the order to fire. Both cannon
thundered. One shot was premature and snapped the beak off the galley,
but the second cannonball smashed into the artillery platform.

The bow section disintegrated in a burst of fire and smoke. Water
poured into the ruptured hull, aided by the galley's forward speed, and