Castillo de Salmuera

Castillo de Salmuera

*Castillo de Salmuera* was a wooden first-rate three-decked ship of the line commissioned for sea service in the Sarcostan Navy. She was the largest ship constructed for the Sarcostan Navy at that time. Her primary armament was intended to consist of 121 naval cannons, although she was never equipped with her full complement. Controversial uses of naval budget plagued her construction, and after an inauspicious christening ceremony attended onboard by many members of the Assembly of Notables, she was sunk in action by pirates on her maiden voyage.

## Construction

*Castillo de Salmuera* was a wooden sailing ship with three full main decks. Her keel and frame were constructed from wood, as was her planking. Wooden tree trunks were used for her three main masts, and her sails were made of spun canvas. She was intended to be armed with 121 naval cannons - 60 to each broadside and a large artillery piece on the upper deck - although due to budget constraints she only carried her starboard complement.

Rather unusually for a ship of her type, *Castillo de Salmuera* was built primarily to entertain the members of the House of Notables instead of fighting enemy ships of the line. As a result, during her construction, priority was given to constructing bars, restaurant parlors, and even a dance floor. The ship had many storage spaces and liquor cabinets used to store expensive cases of alcoholic beverages. The cannons were of notably shoddy construction, built from scrap iron, and the ship carried substantially less ammunition than normal. Wood for decks and areas not meant for entertainment and leisure were of noticeably cheap quality.

The captain's office took up a third of the middle deck and included gilded decorations, whale bones, ship models, and pirate skulls. It was easily the most opulent part of the ship and must have cost the lion's share of the ship's budget to construct and furnish.

## Launch

On her launch date, *Castillo de Salmuera* was captained by Admiral Kismet, who had personally supervised the ship's construction. The launch ceremony was planned to be a lavish affair, with the ship playing host to the Assembly of Notables, House of Burgesses, merchants, aristocrats, naval personnel, and diplomats. Many of the invitees also brought along family and personal servants, and hundreds of civilians crowded onboard the ship for the ceremony. Admiral Kismet's son, Vice Admiral Kismet, was tasked with the christening of the ship. The younger Kismet had just turned 16 years old and had served in the Sarcostan Navy for two months. During his christening speech, a gunnery mate misinterpreted Vice Admiral Kismet's orders and fired the 10-gun salute early, causing Vice Admiral Kismet to lose his balance and fall into the sea, dropping the ceremonial bottle of christening champagne. Fortunately, Adrianu Verdis caught the champagne and shattered it on an ice statue of a shrimp, completing the christening.

After the christening, the ship was to sail outside the harbor entrance in sight of Fort Pareta and fire a 60-gun salute before returning to the harbor. However, during the opening festivities, a guest had slipped and fallen against a cannon, knocking it into the water. Witnesses noted that the cannon floated rather than sank, indicating its suspicious quality. When the ship reached Fort Pareta, she fired her remaining 59 guns, but 10 guns on the middle deck became unseated and started fires all around the port side of the ship. Several Notables on the middle deck including Nestore Estran-Fusciano, Dominique Ironside, and Augusto de Lorenz managed to subdue the fires before they grew out of control.

## Engagement

Admiral Kismet the elder had returned topside after entertaining guests in his office to deliver a speech. At this time, however, a pirate ship emerged from the fog ahead of the *Castillo de Salmuera* and began bearing down on the Sarcostan ship. Admiral Kismet fled back to his office in abject terror, charging his guests lingering there - Casha Nikolaou, Burgundy Diskari, and Dominique Ironside - to save his expensive liquors and carry them from the office to the main deck where it was likely Kismet would have attempted an escape. However, the guests rejected Kismet's order, and a struggle ensued. During the brawl, Kismet injured D. Ironside with a pistol shot but was then subdued by a kick to the groin by Diskari. He negligently discharged his firearm through the ceiling of his office before D. Ironside grabbed a marble statue and crushed Kismet's skull, killing him instantly.

Meanwhile, as the pirate ship steadily approached, the atmosphere on the main deck evolved from festive to fearful. Kismet had fled his position at the ship's wheel, so Celestin Ironside and Jerome du Marceau, both experienced naval commanders, took control of the ship. C. Ironside rallied the ship's crew and prepared them for combat while du Marceau ordered the ship to trim battle sails and load the cannons. The two warships traded fire, with the *Castillo de Salmuera* initially firing star shot to shred the enemy's sails. As the range closed and boarding became inevitable, the gunnery crews switched to grapeshot to decimate the pirate crew. Fort Pareta also fired cannon volleys in an attempt to support the Sarcostan flagship, but several shots missed the pirate vessel and hit the *Castillo de Salmuera* instead.

The pirate captain, Jace D. Gellen, boarded the *Castillo de Salmuera* accompanied by his crew after ramming the ships. The Sarcostan marines and sailors prepared to receive them, forming up a defensive formation with boarding pikes and calling all able-bodied guests to join the fight. The evacuation of civilians had been underway already, with several lifeboats floating away from the fight as the boarding action began. Following a bloody and brutal boarding action, the Sarcostans successfully repelled the pirates, who returned to their ship and fired a parting salvo at the *Castillo de Salmuera*. A flaming bottle thrown from the Sarcostan ship ignited the pirate ship as it pulled away, and the pirate ship burned down to the waterline as it drifted out to sea. Several pirates were observed abandoning their ship in the moonlight, although Gellen evaded capture. However, the *Castillo de Salmuera* had taken fatal damage and begun to sink. The remaining crew evacuated as the *Castillo* *de Salmuera* disappeared beneath the waves. Three Sarcostan frigates had arrived on scene by this time to pick up survivors. Du Marceau and Luciano Valeriano were the last to depart the sinking ship and were pulled down by the ship as it sank, but they eventually drifted to shore with a lucky tidal current.

## Aftermath

The loss of the large and ostentatious flagship dealt a severe blow to the Admiralty's morale and prestige. Critics called for an investigation into the sinking, citing numerous examples of gross misuse of budget during the ship's construction and inappropriate fittings for a combat vessel. Decisive defensive action from the crew and an orderly evacuation minimized the deaths of civilians and government officials attending the launch ceremony, although several dignitaries and Notables were still lost, including Kreios Rothschild and Admiral Kismet.