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denly flaming. Simon, who had been going for his own armor stopped and held his breath. He wondered if he was too far away to interpose his own body between the King and Queen if Richard lost control. However Alinor and Joanna appeared virtually on Berengaria's heels. |
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"Damn all women!" Richard snarled, but his color began to fade. "Do not lay us alongside," he said to the captain. "Call to Peter des Barres to bring his galley up to her and test the truth of what the ship is." |
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There was little need for much testing. As they approached missiles and arrows began to fly from the three-master. The other galleys came around also. Since the larger ship had more speed, owing to its greater sail surface, a dozen skillful swimmers dove under her and bound her rudder fast. Once the ship was unmanageable, several unsuccessful attempts were made to board her while Richard danced with rage and cursed his own helplessness, sure that if he led the attacks in person they would have been successful. |
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"May I be rotted, may I be drowned, may I be damned if I ever take a woman aboard my ship again," he raged. |
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In the end the ship was never taken. The great height of the sides prevented a mass boarding, leaving the men who clambered up one by one too much at the mercy of the vessel's defenders. Moreover, from the castles fore and aft, the men on the lower galleys were clear targets. Seeing that the losses being sustained would outweigh the value of the prize, Richard at last ordered his galleys to ram. Drawing off far enough to pick up speed, the oarsmen drove the iron beaks of the galleys into the helpless vessel repeatedly. Richard watched her break up and sink with displeasure. He had wanted that ship for his own. |
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His irritation was not a bit abated when he learned from a prisoner they fished out of the sea that there had been important Saracens aboard. Richard fumed |
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