1632 Snippets

1637 No Peace Beyond The Line - Snippet 22 Of the seventeen galleons that had been merchantmen, two had been sunk outright and two more would be scuttled as soon as their off-loading was completed. Of the thirteen that remained, five would require extensive repairs but eight were fit for immediate service. The twenty-one naos, an unusually high number for any Spanish fleet, had seen the least combat. Six had escaped. Three more had tried to flee but had been brought to heel by a several punishing broadsides. Twelve had been taken intact....

1637 No Peace Beyond The Line - Snippet 21 Chapter 12 East of Dominica Shortly after a skiff delivered Tromp to the Amelia, the first preliminary report of the engagement was handed to him. La Flota, as hoped and anticipated, had elected not to split into its two primary parts before making landfall in the New World. That was why it was still so large. The bigger of the two parts, the Tierra Firma Fleet, existed to collect the goods waiting along the Spanish Main, from Santa Margarita Island all the way to Cartagena. The route of the Nueva...

1637 No Peace Beyond The Line - Snippet 20 Chapter 11 East of Dominica Tromp was still watching black smoke rise, unabated, from the merchantman that Omlandia and Wappen van Rotterdam had battered into submission when drums and a coronet announced the approach of a small craft. The steam pinnace that had originally been detailed to assist Prins Hendrik was in the process of coming alongside. Her pilot called across that she was ready to ferry the Resolve's boarding-party "experts" to the various sites where they were needed. At a nod from...

1637 No Peace Beyond The Line - Snippet 19 In a day that had been difficult for gunnery to begin with, and with marginally substandard accuracy, the gun crews of Resolve's naval rifles redeemed themselves in that moment: one round went in amidships, the other into the starboard quarter. The explosions were akin to flame demons bursting out through its sides, multiple secondary explosions cracking and blasting in their wake. Smoke poured out of her. The sea around her was thick with smoking debris. Rik looked over at Tromp. "Sir, what orders...

1637 No Peace Beyond The Line - Snippet 18 Chapter 10 East of Dominica Maarten Tromp empathized with the Spanish, even if he felt less than an iota of sympathy for them. If they had had a balloon of their own, they could have foreseen each step of the disaster that had unfolded in the seaway before Dominica. And if they had had a radio, the cargo galleons might have fashioned an organized response to Resolve's dash into their midst at flank speed: a wolf plunging into a flock of sheep. For instance, they might have attempted to box in the USE...

1637 No Peace Beyond The Line - Snippet 17 Touman nodded soberly, stood, and faced back where his invisible entourage was waiting. After a moment, they rose. He pointed at Eddie and started speaking loudly in French. Gallagher whispered the translation over Eddie's shoulder. "This pale man from over the sea has come with words and proposals of peace and respect" -- and he rattled off what Eddie had proposed.  At the end of that list, he paused for a moment to let the gathered warriors reflect on it. "He is the first pale man who has even...

1637 No Peace Beyond The Line - Snippet 16 Chapter 9 Petit-cul-de-sac Marin, Guadeloupe Even after the French survivors had all been removed to Intrepid, the Kalinago didn't emerge from the forest until she lowered a longboat carrying the warriors they'd left behind when fleeing St. Eustatia. Two of them rose into view and approached at a brisk walk. As Eddie and Gallagher went to meet them, the Kalinago seemed to take notice of the unevenness of Eddie's gait; he noticed that they were both missing an eye. They stopped when they were ten feet...

1637 No Peace Beyond The Line - Snippet 15 Chapter 8 Petit-cul-de-sac Marin, Guadeloupe "Starboard battery two, A gun, reports ready, Commodore!" Svantner cried over the flap of Intrepid's sails. "Fire at the crew chief's discretion, Lieutenant!" Eddie shouted back, albeit with none of his XO's animation. That permission, shouted down a speaking tube to the cruiser's gun-deck, brought no immediate response from the weapon. Take your time, thought Eddie, raising his binoculars to examine the state of their target. The French bark, only two...