There were no signals from the hill above the mouth of the River Exe, so Raynar gave the command and they swung away from the river and back out to sea. Tacking back out meant back tracking and the loss of some hours of daylight, so it was dark before the navigator told them to heave to, for he was not sure how close they were to the mouth of Tamara Sound.
Again the men were rocked gently to sleep despite the size of the swells and the push of the wind and spray. The wind calmed about midnight, and the seas a few hours later. At first light, the navigator took them closer to shore and danced a jig across the steering deck when he recognized the jagged edges of the great Mewstone that marked the entrance to Tamara Sound. Every man was put on watch for submerged reefs for this sound was infamous for them.
"Ray,” the navigator said to get his attention away from the other captains, "Once we are around Mewstone we can be seen from inside the Sound. Since you're mission is to block ships from leaving, then you need to know that the center of the sound is fouled with reefs and rocks, but there are deep clear channels along either bank. If both ships enter by one, a ship could escape by the other. We are in the lead so I suggest we enter on the far bank, while Mark's ship enters on the near bank. Inland along the sound there is only one mouth to the harbour and it is narrow enough to block with two such ships."
Raynar gave the order to spill some wind to allow the other ship come into hailing range. Mark had been given the same suggestion by his own navigator, so they tightened the sheets and made for the opposite bank. They timed it so that both ships entered the sound along different banks at the same time. Within the sound they spied a large cog, the largest Raynar had ever seen, and a handful of snekkja, the small longships still abundant in Normandy.
* * * * *
Raynar's ship had been spotted first, and the snekkjas must have thought he was alone, for they all made for him at speed under oar. His ship was an immediate beehive of activity. Half the men were positioning their oars, the other half putting shields in place along the gunnels and breaking out the weapons, the skull cap helmets, and any bits and pieces of armour that men were willing to risk wearing.
Half the men, including Raynar and Henry, were lucky enough to be wearing Frisian brynjas which were the best armour compromise for sea fights. The inside layer was felted sheepskin that was warm even when wet, and would trap enough air to keep a man afloat for up to an hour. Hidden under the skin and sewn into the felted wool were light metal rings which were strong enough to stop the slash of an axe or a sword, but not close enough together to stop a stab by sword or dagger. The outer layer had strips of tough horsehide sewn to the lambs leather for extra strength. The combination of leather and felted wool would snag and slow most arrows before they broke skin.
Other men wore leather jerkins with a sheepskin liner and metal rings sewn onto the outside. These men usually wore sleeves of mail, which could be pulled off quickly if they found themselves in the sea.
Other men wore simple sheepskins to keep them warm and to provide flotation if necessary. They depended on their shields to protect them from arrows and other projectiles. The shields were mostly of wood with some metal, but still light enough to float and provide something to hold onto if you went overboard.
Though each of these men had been chosen because they had a bow, and knew how to use it, most still preferred short spears and axes as weapons when boarding other ships. The handle of each weapon was woven with a thong and the thong had a wrist loop so that a slippery weapon would not be lost overboard.
* * * * *
By the time the snekkjas saw the second twin hull, they were committed to the passage on the west bank of the sound. Mark's ship had the large cog to itself. The cog was like a sitting duck. It had no banks of oars and was dependant on sail and tugs. The snekkjas would likely have been towing it out to the open water and to the open wind.
The cog was by far the newest ship present. It had high castles for and aft, which were aptly named because each was a high fighting tower. The castles allowed for a shelter for the passengers out of the weather in the cabins underneath. The actual hull was like the hull of a barge, bulbous and ugly. It did not need the sharp bow, as it had no oars, and therefore never needed to shoot forward at high speed. It was long, and it's very length made it fast under sail. Most other ships would need to use their oars to catch it if there were any wind. The heavy, wide hull allowed for a towering mast and a massive main sail, and even secondary sails.
The cog's weakness in a fight was its fixed rudder. While a steering oar could be used to swing a ship physically about, a rudder would only work when there was a wake. Because there were no oars, the ship was dependant on the rudder. Yes, there were steadying sails, and yes there were bow sweeps, two large oars to help swing the bow, but without her rudder she was almost helpless.
Mark was a seasoned captain, who had fought sea battles from the Orkneys to Sicily to the Black Sea, and had fought against many types of ships. He made the same decision that Raynar would have made. He attacked the cog's rudder.
* * * * *
Raynar looked hard at the five snekkjas rowing full speed towards him. He had the wind and the sea behind him and was surfing quickly towards them. He had the advantage of speed and he needed no oarsmen to give him that advantage. This gave him the second advantage that all his men could be part of the attack whereas most of the attackers men were pulling on oars and would now already be exhausted.
His final advantage was slight and would seem almost unimportant. This ships gunnels were higher than the gunnels of the attacking snekkjas. These gunnels had been raised for barge work, and without the tons of ballast stones, they rose higher still from the waterline. For sure the gunnels were only two feet higher than the gunnels of the snekkjas, but those two feet put his men out of effective reach of the weapons of the attackers.
His disadvantage was that the five ships had spread apart. He must go between them. If any of the ships were fool hardy enough they could stop him dead just by stopping in front of him. That must never happen. Stopped he would be boarded from all sides.
"Ready the grappling hooks,” he yelled. "Ready the axes to cut the grappling lines. Everyone else, nock up your bows. Bowmen on both sides. Your prime targets are the men on the steering oar, next the captain and the mate, and after that, the far bank of oarsmen. Forget about the close bank, they are too well covered by the gunnels and their shields."
Raynar's first advantage now came into play. These ships had no idea how fast this twinhull could move under sail. They were amongst them before they were ready with their own weapons. The archers did not need to time their shots to the roll of the ship, for the decks of this twinhull were running almost flat. Most ships archers did not carry longbows or expensive heavy arrows, because accuracy was usually so difficult from a ship that most ships archers fired in volleys for effect rather than choosing targets.
Not this time. These were bowmen, not volley archers, and they were laying wagers on who would down the first target. The excitement was contagious. Raynar wished he could stand with them and loose arrows, but he had other more important duties. Henry was standing with the archers, however, and Raynar hoped that no one noticed the quality of his bow. "Not yet,” he yelled. "Don't waste your arrows. Wait until we are on top of them. Wait for my order for the ranging shot, and then shoot at will."
"Which one is Will,” was yelled back by forty men. It was tradition.
"Now, loose, loose, loose,” Raynar yelled slightly ahead of when most archers would have loosed. He wanted the ranging shots finished and the men reloaded at the best range. There was a groan as one man's arrow, by shear chance, hit a man on a steering oar, and made that ship careen to the side. A man was cheering with his bow in the air. He was wealthy from the wagers with his first arrow.
"Grappling hooks at the ready. In their rigging as high as possible. Two men at the bow of each ship swung their heavy hooks in wider and wider circles at the end of the hemp line. Each man had a man called a runner standing behind him, who made sure that the line would run smoothly and not snag or tangle, and would loop the line over a cleat once it had run. Amidships there were another set of grapplers, just in case the bow grapplers missed.
"Grapplers, at your pleasure,” yelled Raynar. The first snaked high in the air and did an arch towards the closest ship. It fell short, and the runner was already hauling at the line to bring it back. The archers were now loosing as fast as they could nock, draw and aim. The murderous heavy arrows were going in flat and hard and aimed and were relentlessly clearing the steering bridge of the closest two ships. Then a few of the oarsmen slumped over their oars and pandemonium broke out aboard the two ships.
Each of the ships had been trying to trap the twin hull between them, but now each of them was careening on the opposite tack with no one at the steering oars. The men slumped over the far side oars had caused a tangle of oars, and the last sweep of the near side oars had spun the ships away from the twinhull.
Now the grappling hooks took purchase high in their rigging and pulled taught almost immediately. The full power of the twinhull running before wind and waves under both sails, and the power of the full weight of two hulls running at about fifteen knots hit the grappling lines. The lines sang and stretched but held, and it suddenly felt as if the twin hull had become stuck in honey, and men were losing their balance and falling or dancing forward to keep their balance
Still the lines did not snap, and that was lucky for under such tension they would have whipsawed along the decks and cut men in two. The power of the momentum plus the leverage of the mast that the grapples had snagged began to tip the two snekkjas sidelong towards them as if they were trying to roll over.
The rolling of each ship shifted their crew, and cargo, and ballast to the near side gunnels. Their crews were screaming in terror. "Axe the grappling lines” yelled Raynar and the two mates beside him bellowed the order out with major volume, "Now, Now, Now, axe dem fuckin' lines."
The grapplers did not need this order. They were already swinging their sea axes at the hemp lines to save the cleats from being torn away and taking a goodly part of the gunnels with them. Suddenly the twin hull leaped forward unhindered and glad to be free of the sea anchors that the snekkjas had become. There was no saving those other ships. They never did roll over, but they were now being swamped by the waves and only a miracle could keep them off the bottom due to the ballast they carried to offset the power of their sails.
The twinhull was now through the line of five snekkjas and also behind the line of rocks and bars and reefs that fouled the entrance to the sound. The navigator confirmed they were in deep water again, so Raynar ordered a change of course and made for the huge cog. Of the other three snekkjas, one had slowed and was fishing men out of the sea. The other two had turned, hoisted their sails and under sail and oar were surfing along fast behind the twin hull
"Archers to the rear,” bellowed the mates, but even as they yelled it they could see they were gaining on the snekkjas. This strange clumsy looking ship was walking away from them.
A howl erupted from the decks as Henry began whooping like the wolfpacks would when they slaughtered the enemy with no loss. Other men had heard the sound before, or had voiced it more than once themselves, and joined in. Raynar let them howl, for it would relieve the battle energy and terror that was surging through their blood.
* * * * *
Mark's ship was closing fast on the huge cog, which itself was almost dead in the water. "Archers for'ard,” Mark yelled. He ran to the bow with them to give them instructions, "I'm going to make straight for them and then go hard port and run along their length towards their rudder. Shoot at anyone that looks over their gunnels, especially from either of the castles."
On his way back to the stern he gave instructions to the grapplers. "We'll never board her. She is too tall in the water, so we will steal her rudder. When she is helpless and drifting towards those reefs, she'll surrender. As I swing by her hull I will get as close to the rudder as I can. You be ready on our starboard hull with your grapples and boat hooks."
He looked across at the five snekkjas making for Raynar. Perhaps he should break off here, and go to his aid. No, Raynar's orders were clear. Skirmisher rules. Attack the leaders first. This cog would be filled with nobs and knights fleeing for Normandy, and their treasure. This was the prime target. Skirmisher rules. Raynar would keep the five snekkjas busy until this cog was taken.
He sent two giant Danes across to the other hull so that both steering oars were manned. At his signal both steering oars would be pushed hard over, and he had ten oarsman ready to back row on the port side. Every free man was stringing their bows. Now he understood why Raynar demanded that every oarsman be an archer. He had hardly needed oarsmen the entire voyage, and even now they were only to aid in steering.
One of the other captains was serving as mate in charge of the archers, so Mark concentrated on the hulls. He was surprised when the mate yelled loose, when they were still a hundred paces from the cog, but then he realized it was a ranging shot. The arrows flew wide at that range, but they gave the crew of the cog something to think about. They wouldn't be eager to stick their heads up.
Fifty paces out the arrows began picking off the men on the cog. They were shooting arrows back, but not many and all wide. "Hard over,” he yelled to both sets of steering men. "Back row” he yelled down to the oarsmen. For a moment he thought he had left it too late, and the momentum of the hulls would take them crashing into the cog. The steering oars seemed to be having little effect, but then the oarsmen dug their blades in hard, and the sail mate helped by spilling wind from the sails, and the ship began to turn, and then almost heeled over for she began to turn so quickly.
They did crash into the cog but it was side on and the screech of scraping barnacles filled the air with a sound worthy of the banshees. The first grapple was thrown, and another, and another, but there was nothing for them to hook into. It was a type of rudder he had never seen before and he turned to the shipwright and asked him about it. Finally one grapple hooked a chain that linked the blade of the rudder to the ship.
The shipwright told him that it was the latest design in rudders. It had bog iron pivots and was so large under water that the chains from the rudder connected to cables on a winch, and the winch was used to turn the rudder. Men were reaching out from the hull with boathooks trying to snag that same chain, but they could not reach. Crossbow bolts were thudding down into the decking, shot from the aft castle, and his own archers were now targeting the arbalesters high above them.
The one grappling hook that had found the chain was tied off onto a cleat but when the full force of the twin hulls at that speed hit the grappling line it tore the cleat right out of the beam and it became a killing snake that cut one of the archers in two and whipped two others into the water. The force seemed to have had no effect on the chain or the rudder.
"Drop the sails,” Mark yelled out and the order was carried by other voices across the ship. "Back row, hard, steering over hard,” he yelled and the ship continued its original turn and in the space of four lengths it had done a complete turn.
"That is the advantage of not having ballast,” yelled the shipwright. "The hulls don't dig deep unless the sail is full."
"Give me oars on both sides, we are going to row up to her stern.” he yelled and a mate ran down the starboard hull grabbing the arms of a dozen archers and yelling at them to man their oars. "Throw some flotsam to those men overboard. Something big enough that they can pull themselves out of the water,” despite the warm current in these bays, it was still cold enough to finish a man in less than an hour.
He turned to all the men on the bridge. "Anyone got any ideas about how to wreck that bloody bitch of a rudder."
"Axes are usual,” said one of the mates.
"Aye, if there were lashings. This has metal pivots.” replied the shipwright. "What about hammering wedges behind the pivots. That could jam the movement."
"It might work,” said the navigator, "but you say the rudder is moved with a winch. Look at the size of that chain. That has to be one bloody strong winch. The wedges may not be enough."
"Go and organize the men you need,” said Mark to the shipwright. "I will put our nose right up her ass so that you can work on the rudder from our fore decks.” He turned to the archer mate. "Your target is any head that pokes over the stern castle. I don't want them attacking the men working on that rudder."
Mark was as good as his word. Through judgment of sea and wind and his oarsmen he pushed the port bow right up next to the starboard side of the rudder and held her there through the force of the oars. Men scrambled forward with axes and hammers and wedges and pry bars and attacked both the lower pivot and the shackle holding the steering chain.
His archers did not hit much, but they kept the men on the cog from lifting their heads to see what was happening. You could sense by the increasing volume of the shouts on the cog, that they knew something was very amiss. They had to know that Mark was trying to cripple their rudder.
The men in the bow with the shipwright were not making much headway against the bog iron shackle or against the bog iron pivots, despite the extreme force and weighted hammers. Suddenly the shipwright screamed bloody murder and disappeared. The man on the steering oar had seen what had happened. "Stones,” he said, "they are lobbing their ballast stones down on the men."
What had begun as just one stone, became a volley. Marks men were retreating save for one lad with a long pry bar who was worrying the chain's shackle. There were no targets for the archers, for the stones were being rolled over the edge without a head to be seen. Mark would have ordered the oarsmen to back away, except that all his men save the lad with the pry bar were safely out from under, and the lad was protected by the curve of the cogs hull.
And then there was the ghastly sound of splintering wood. A massive boulder had been rolled through a gateway and over the edge and down onto the port hull. Then there was another one and another shriek of timbers and planking. And then another.
Now there was another sound. The lad had won against the shackle. The steering chain was hanging loose. The cog's rudder was useless. Even though the chain on the other side of the rudder was still in place, you cannot push with a chain. "Tell him to get back aboard,” Mark yelled down the ship. He turned to the oarsmen. "On my signal back like your life depends on it.” The lads feet touched the deck and he called "Back, Back, Back."
Another boulder rolled over the edge of the cog's deck and crashed down onto the port hull and then they were out from under the curve of the cog's hull.
A mate came dancing back to the stern between men and oars and aimed bows. "The shipwright is done for. He took that first stone in the skull. The planking in the bow of the port hull has been splintered. We are taking on water. Fast."
Both the shipwright and Raynar had warned Mark about this. If one of the hulls was swamped, it would not sink but it would ride so low that it would drag the other hull down. There was only one act that would save the men. Delay the sinking of the split hull by lifting all weight off it. He looked at the mate. "Get everyone, and I mean everyone, onto the starboard hull and tell them to take every thing with them that they can carry."
He himself was standing on the port hull, so his entire helms crew ran and skipped and leaped to the other hull and the other steering oar. "Starboard oars ahead slowly,” he had to turn the ship so that the damaged hull was windward and then raise the sail to lift the damaged hull high in the water.
"Any chance of plugging the leaks,” he yelled to the lad that had been helper the poor dead shipwright.
"Not without the old man,” the lad yelled back, almost in tears, "I wouldn't know where to start."
With both the huge cog and the twinhull now helplessly drifting, Mark's mission was done. Now he had to save his crew. Unfortunately, turning the twinhull and hoisting the sail meant that they were drifting quite quickly. Away from the Cog's crossbows to be sure, but towards a bleak looking rock of an island near to a village on the east shore. The dead hull was no longer a dead weight. Perhaps they could steer for the beach. He looked along the shoreline. It was all cliffs and rock.
The shipwright’s lad now stood beside him. It was the same lad who had used the pry bar on the rudder chain. "Good work, lad. I'm sorry about your dad. Do you have any ideas for getting us out of this mess."
"He was my uncle, not my dad. He said that as a last resort you must take an axe to all the spars, starting with the big ones amidships. Forget the lashings, forget the pins, for if you do not release them all at the same time the spars will splinter the hulls. He said to chop the spars just outside the gunnels of the best hull."
"Right lad, make it so. Go, go, use as many men as you need, but choose the foresters, for those spars are tree trunks and it will take fast axe work to cut them."
"The snekkjas are almost upon us,” yelled one of the three men now struggling with the steering oar.
Mark looked around. The two snekkjas that had been losing the race to the cog with Raynar were changing course. They were no longer in Raynar's wake. They were now on an intercept course with his crippled twin hull. They must not realize that the Cog no longer had rudder control. They must think that the Cog had beaten his twin hull and would beat Raynar's, so now they were closing in to finish his crippled ship off.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The Hoodsman - Forest Law by Skye Smith