Quoted By:
Ajax opens the assembly.
“Gentlemen, we have four unknown ships sailing towards us. We must assume they are pirates, and act accordingly. Any objections?” Castor speaks up.
“Lord Ajax, how can you be sure they are pirates? To my eyes, they appear merchantmen all.” Teukros responds on his brother’s behalf.
“Lord Castor, merchants do not sail in packs typically. And those who do, would not fan out in a formation designed to deny us any easy way around them.” This strikes you as odd, and you say so.
“And why can we not avoid them? If they are merchant ships crewed by pirates, they should have no shot at catching our galley with our crew.” Ajax responds.
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“Because Nikandros, the island is leeward of us. To keep something even approximating our current heading while avoiding the formation ahead of us would require us to row into the wind- which, even should we take down the sails, would still render us easy to catch.” You suppose you cannot contest that. Pollux then speaks up.
“In that case, we should take the initiative and attack. If we maneuver correctly it should be possible to take one of the merchantmen in the side with a ram, no?” Teukros gives immediate reply.
“In theory, yes- however, if we do not extricate ourselves from the stricken ship fast enough her sisters will be able to surround us. It would be a treacherous action.” This brings to mind an anecdote of Pollux’s about a naval action where the Argo successfully made off with gold of an entire tribe through interdiction. You give voice to your idea.
“Then why ram the ship at all? We could use our superior speed to get into boarding position, and our superior manpower to quickly slaughter the pirates.” Pollux nods at this and voices support for the idea. Thus far silent, Andocides speaks up.
“My lord, such an action is not without its own risks. We could get stuck to the pirate ship by accident and there will be losses to the crew if the pirates manage to pose a meaningful defense. A good ram does not present those risks- in the straits my ship sunk five Heraclid ships in just that way.” Castor speaks again.
“And simply turning around to avoid them presents no risks at all aside from a minor delay. You all forget that the Spartan vessel is just behind us- they do not have nearly the same experience in ramming or the same faculty in marine actions as we do. We must keep them in mind.”
>cont
