After dozens of their sailors got killed, the Carthaginians on this warship chose to surrender.
However, Seclian’s determination to fight the Carthaginian fleet to the death made him order his men not to expend their energies or divide their forces in capturing enemy forces. Instead, they must ensure sufficient men to continue fighting until the battle ends.
Therefore, the fleet infantry proceeded to sever the arms of the captured Carthaginian sailors one by one, rendering them unable to row and then withdrew from the enemy ship.
Although many Theonian warships adopted the same tactic, only a few Carthaginian ships were captured by the corvus drawbridge since most of them managed to avoid it in time, showcasing the experience and skill of the Carthaginian navy. They were agile enough to bypass the front of Theonian ships and attack their stern instead.
But the Theonian warship’s response was to follow the enemy in a circle while keeping its bow pointed at the enemy ship.
As a result, a peculiar spectacle appeared on the battlefield: The ships on both sides circled patiently, with the Carthaginian ships in the outer circle and the Theonian ships in the inner circle. Logically, the Theonian sailors would use less energy and be more efficient, but the difference wouldn’t appear in the short term.
Naturally, the Theonian warships had little room to manoeuvre since they were in the centre, giving them a difficult time to escape once another enemy ship joined the fray and rammed them. But in this naval battle, the Theonian warships outnumbered the enemy, allowing them to intercept the incoming enemies and intensify their attack. This was particularly important since Seclian wanted to avoid engaging the Carthaginians in a prolonged battle due to the unpleasant weather and his unfamiliarity with the sea in the region.
Then the second wave of attack from Theonia arrived as the fast trireme rushed into the battlefield like sharp arrows.
Ilias, a captain of a fast trireme, had been a commoner in the Corinthian port of Lechaion, with his family barely making ends meet for three generations through fishing. However, during the Corinthian War over a decade ago, Spartan King Agesilaus led troops to raid many ports and towns in the Gulf of Corinth. As a result, the Spartans and their allies took his family’s most valuable possessions, two fishing boats, just like they did with many other fishermen. After the war, the destitute Ilias heard about the Kingdom of Theonia’s call for Greeks to settle and obtain land across the Adriatic…
Ilias and his family were already desperate that they were about to sell themselves into slavery. So together with many other fishermen in the Gulf of Corinth in a similar situation, they took a risk and boarded the Theonian transport ships that stopped at the port of Lechaion to pick up refugees… In the end, it turned out well for them, with Ilias even joining the Theonian navy and later becoming a captain of the First Fleet because of his excellent ship-handling skills.
The Theonian fleet had also made room for their ship due to the weather, giving the fast triremes more space to manoeuvre.
Ilias had long eyed an enemy ship before him, engaging in battle with a corvus warship. So he gave the order to quickly rush and sneak into the enemy’s stern.
Unexpectedly, the other side had already noticed Ilias’ ship and avoided it in time, then flexibly avoided the approaching corvus warship. After considering it would be disadvantageous to fight two enemy ships, the Carthaginian warship began to pull back to increase its distance from the slower corvus warship and then deal with the trireme without a drawbridge first. The captain of the Carthaginian warship clearly thought that as long as they weren’t facing the corvus warship, they would have assured victory in naval battles.
After turning around, Ilias’ warship began to chase after the enemy ship, with both sides quickly leaving the corvus warship behind as they sped up their rowing.
When the captain of the Carthaginian ship noticed the enemy ship following closely behind, he shouted immediately, “Turn right!” As soon as he ordered, the sailors immediately reacted.
The Carthaginian captain hoped that his sudden turn would catch the fast-moving enemy ship off guard, causing the Theonian ship’s momentum to move them in front and thus lead to a change in attack and defence.
But his eyes suddenly widened as the enemy ship’s speed continued to increase as it headed straight towards him, almost as if it was flying.
His decades of sailing experience had taught him that a trireme’s maximum speed was thirteen knots, so he based his tactics on that. But the ship behind him was clearly exceeding that speed (which was actually fifteen knots). As the Carthaginian ship had to slow down to turn, he could only watch in disbelief as the enemy’s blackened bronze ram slammed into the stern of his ship at breakneck speed.
The Carthaginian ship, which was several tens of meters long, turned half a circle on the spot and almost capsized with a loud bang due to the enormous impact.
The captain fell heavily to the deck. Then, ignoring the pain, he rushed to cling to the mast beside him.
On the other hand, the sailors in the cabin fell down and shouted in terror, followed by the helmsman’s shrill scream. He didn’t have enough time to escape, resulting in a shattered plank piercing his chest and blood splattering everywhere. He did not survive.
With the warship’s stern shattered, the seawater began to pour in through the breach.
The Carthaginian sailors no longer wanted to row, and the experienced ones immediately grabbed their oars, rushed onto the deck and jumped into the sea.
After colliding with the enemy ship, the fast trireme made a half circle to confirm the result. Then Ilias loudly announced, “Brothers, we sank one!” resulting in cheering that immediately filled the cabin.
“Captain, a big ship ahead!” Exclaimed the lookout on the mast.
‘A big one?!’ Ilias was taken aback. Then he immediately realised that the ship larger than a trireme could only be the rumoured quadrireme.
Although he had never seen it, the Theonian Ministry of Military spared no effort in collecting and studying Carthage’s military intelligence, as they considered them their strongest enemy. Hence, they were naturally aware of the new achievements of the Carthaginian navy in recent years and had conducted a specialised analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of this new ship, which was larger and taller than the triremes. Then they gathered the captains of the various warships so they could study and understand the new warship.
So Ilias immediately thought of a countermeasure, “Avoid it and find another target since this bulky quadrireme cannot catch up with us!”
But the lookout on the mast continued to report, “The quadrireme had turned. It is heading for the corvus warship diagonally ahead of us, which is currently engaged with an enemy ship!”
Ilias became tense since he knew the Carthaginian quadrireme had fifty to sixty infantry who could engage in boarding battles. Now that the corvus warship in front was entangled with an enemy ship, they would fall into a dangerous situation once they got attacked again.
So Ilias decisively ordered, “Head straight in full speed, catch up with that big ship!”
The sailors, still elated from their victory, immediately began rowing with great vigour, causing the warship to leave an arc of water in its wake as it accelerated forward.
It didn’t take long for Ilias to see the full extent of the Carthaginian warship: its broad hull was two metres taller than his own, with layers of oars protruding from the middle of the ship’s side, resembling a skirt for the warship. He could also faintly see a dense concentration of oarsmen inside…
Ilias carefully counted and found that there were indeed four layers of oars.
The Carthaginian quadrireme did not evade the approaching Theonian warship, even though it could clearly see it. Instead, it continued fearlessly towards the corvus warship in front of it.
“Rush forward! Break its oars!” Ilias ordered calmly. He didn’t order the ship to ram the quadrireme because he remembered Seclian emphasising that this warship had a reinforced hull that could withstand few impacts.
So Ilias thought he wouldn’t be able to sink it and would instead be attacked by the enemy boarding unit because he was so close to the enemy ship.
The warship’s speed reached thirteen knots and was still increasing as it quickly caught up with the enemy ship.
The helmsman nervously controlled the ship’s rudder, making sure that the warship faced the right side of the enemy ship’s hull without deviation.
“Retract the oars!” At Ilias’ command, the oarsmen quickly retracted the oars as the warship lurched forward with momentum, ready to glide past the enemy ship.
Unexpectedly, the Carthaginian sailors also retracted their oars quickly and skilfully, even though they had more oars. In addition, the archers on the enemy’s deck shot arrows at Ilias’ warship while throwing over a dozen hooks with ropes.
Unfortunately for the Carthaginians, the Theonians did not install ship railings on either side of the fast trireme’s deck in order to increase its speed. Therefore, besides the mast, there were no other locations for the hook to attach to.
On the other hand, the arrow they shot hit the lookout at the top of the mast, causing him to fall straight to the deck. Then several arrows went through the gap in the middle of the deck and fell into the cabin, causing several screams.
As a result, the Theonian sailors became flustered.
Luckily, the fast trireme was so quick that it was past the enemy ship before the enemy archers could fire the second round of arrows.
After leaving the cabin, Ilias immediately ordered the ship to turn around and get ready to attack again.
But the Carthaginian quadrireme ignored them and remained on course, continuing to head towards the corvus warship ahead.
The infantry of the corvus warship had already rushed out of the enemy ship’s cabin and was returning to their ship. However, they did not have enough time to dodge, as the quadrireme ship was only about ten meters away.
Suddenly, another lookout from Ilias’ ship excitedly shouted after climbing onto the main mast, “Captain, another fast trireme! The other fast trireme is about to collide-”
Before he could finish, Ilias heard a bang, and the massive hull of the quadrireme in front of him shook as if it had sneezed, halting its movement and bringing the sailors aboard to a screeching halt.
Although the massive hull of the quadrireme blocked their view and made it impossible to see the situation on the other side of the enemy ship, Ilias knew through his lookout that their comrade had bravely rammed the enemy warship.