Chapter 546: Man On Fire
"Battle stations! Venetian ships!"
"Battle stations!"
"Ring the bells!"
"Release that convoy! Alert the main fleet before it’s too late!"
"How many Venetian ships are there?!"
"It is too dark! I can’t see!"
"One... Two... Three... There are more than thirty Venetian ships spotted!"
"Oh Santa Maria, where the hell did they come from?!"
...
It just seems like countless Venetian ships just came erupting out from nowhere, filling the entire sea up with their white and yellowish sails bearing the Murano cross and the lion of Saint Marco, creeping onto the Roman fleet mounted in the shallow waters of Epirus. Taking the advantage of the darkness they have to a dangerous two nautical miles before the observer is able to sense something, and by the time everyone has been alerted about the approaching threat and started embarking, the closest ship has already come to around one point six nautical miles distance – which is a very, very dangerous distance on the seas.
The patrol ship struggled to set sail turning around, passing the signals to other ships by lighting up the torch, though luckily for them the wind and the tide is in their favour for tonight blowing southwards giving them lesser trouble picking up their speed. But they forgot one thing, that is if the wind is in their favour, it is in the favour of the Venetians as well.
The Venetian commander of Korfu jumped and cheered in joy like a child as he sees one after another blockading Roman ship sailing away from the strait, the citizens and guards of the city scrambled onto the walls and begun hugging with one another, for they knew that their sovereign in the Venetian city council would come for their rescue. The governor is right, the Serene Doge of Venezia shall be powerful for a thousand more years, and dominate the Mediterranean till the end of the time.
The main fleet saw the alert coming at them from a distance away and is immediately mobilised into their respective battle formations, with one after another ship clearing out of the straits sailing into the open sea preparing to deter the incoming offense, the seals made out of dirt on the artilleries are taken off, sailors pouring diluted water over the bodies of the artilleries that have just fired in the day trying to cool it down, and the chemists setting up their Greek fire at the head of their ships for usage later.
The whole fleet, although having practised for numerous times, still somehow landed itself on the brink of chaos due to the difficulty of having a coordinated command because of the pitch darkness and their commander in chief still on land. Because these sailors are relatively new in these waters, a convoy carrying food and water collided with a boulder in the process, almost sealing off half of the sea way. The Romans sailors had no choice but to set the ship on fire to guide the other ships out of the way and warn them of the boulder ahead.
Only did the Roman fleet realise how terribly outmatched are they when they formed into battle formations, these Venetian ships came from every single direction, it is more than obvious now to the Romans that this is a long-prepared operation by their Venetian counterparts, they seemed silent at the start, but they are actually secretly assembling their strength just to make sure that their first strike shall be the deadliest one. The Romans, inclusive of both Antonius and Abraham, knew about this too in their pre war evaluations, but what did the Roman sailors find appalling is that they do not have a single idea on how many ships can the Venetian government mobilise at once for a war going on before their doorstep.
The Adriatic Sea belongs to the Venetians.
In preparation for this battle, Thessaloniki’s master craftsman Orban’s son Jakob has specially invented a type of mine used in water made in animal hide, bamboo, leftover oak from dockyards and of course, wine barrels. Inside these floating containers are artillery shell like balls filled with black powder and iron shrapnel, these mines for the seas are not aimed to blow up an entire ship, but instead to try to blast a hole on the hulks of the enemy ships and see if it can disorganise the enemy fleet forcing them to turn around and crash onto one another.
And another thing, the Romans now only knows how to lay down these mines, but they have idea on how to recycle or remove them.
According to the plan of Abraham, his fleet is going to make a counter offensive on the Venetian main fleet coming up from the North while dispatching a smaller fleet to try to delay the fleet from the South by at least one and half hours. The longer they could hold the Venetians, the more hope they have in winning this war.
Abraham managed to board his commanding ship at the very last-minute heading directly towards the enemy fleet, though it is hard for him to give any form of legitimate command to the entire fleet in this pitch darkness. It means that the captains of respective ships can only act accordingly to the plans being made in a few days ago with no flexibility regarding to any external factors that might change the prerequisite conditions in the battle plans.
Such as, Abraham did not expect the enemies to come and launch an offensive in this pitch darkness, because even the most experienced sailor in this era has a possibility of colliding into a hidden boulder in the Adriatic, sinking his ship and messing up his fleet, but it seems now that the commander of this Venetian fleet is more than just being courageous, but also knowledgeable on these waters as well...
Another thing that is against the norm for this night is the wind of tonight, for it is blowing towards the South instead of blowing towards the North, which is extremely abnormal considering the fact that it is still winter at the current moment. Which also means that the Romans have to be extremely careful about any form of weaponries that functions by starting a fire, for there is a possibility of it being blown onto friendly ships.
Time did not give Abraham any more chance of thinking, the enemy fleet is already close underneath his eyes, and the battle has commenced. All forms of communication between the vessels of the fleet have been totally cut off, and now the captains need to survive through this on their own.
The line of war galleys and other light ships formed in a spearhead formation violently clashed with one another with the hammer mounted at the head of their ships, attempting to push their opponents to the sides in order to allow their pals carrying Greek fire and explosives to charge into the Venetian fleet, burst themselves up while making the Venetian fleet burn in hell. The sailors too know that they will most likely not get a chance to return home, but they have no choice, for there is only minimal hope to defeat such an enormous Venetian fleet if they are going to stick to ordinary measures. Most of the sailors are either orphans who lost their family in the prolonged chaos and wars in Romania during the last three decades, or they have been given a promise by the state government that their family members shall be well taken care of.
Extreme tactics for extreme situations.
However, the pioneer fleet failed terribly, for the Venetian ships sticked on to them without being pushed back. The fire brigade had no choice but to take an even more drastic approach by burning all the ships blocking their way; No matter they are friendly or not letting half of the ocean on fire creating a zone of fiery flames, burning ships and human beings struggling to survive in this boiling winter ocean. After the fire brigade finally sailed pass the dead zone they have created, numerous Venetian vessels went on full sails sailing out from the flanks, and with the help of the Southern wind, they came at a god like speed and intercepted the Roman ships.
All hopes for this small Roman contingent are gone, they have lost too many men, fire starting fuel and ships just now, and who knows how enormous the Venetian fleet really is. Maybe even if they are able to pass through these intercepting ships, there shall be another Venetian intercepting fleet coming for them again? It is too late for them to manoeuvre and turn around now against the wind, hence, this small Roman fleet decided to do some very last thing at their last moments of life to push towards victory. The small contingent continued charging, facing the intercepting fleet head on.
From this point of time onwards, there are already no more chance for this fleet to live through this war.
