Chapter 491: Battle of the sea near Crotone (III)
Nearly 200 sailors panicky rushed to the deck one after another. But when they heard a loud bang, the whole ship shook and caused the sailors to scream as they fell one after another.
A gap was opened at the bottom cabin of the Theonian ship’s middle-right side, showing the ferocious appearance of the enemy ship’s bow and followed by the surging seawater.
However, the enemy ship’s momentum still did not stop as it continued to push forward and expand the gap again. Furthermore, the powerful forward force had caused the Theonian ship to pan several metres.
Knowing the inevitable, the Theonian rowers jumped into the sea.
Unfortunately for Melisander, he had just climbed into the ship and had to jump into the sea again with his long shield.
He then heard the floating sailors complaining, “Why didn’t the penteconter come to block and cover us?!!”
But in fact, they already lost more than half of Theonia’s penteconter.
Leptines already knew that Syracuse wouldn’t have the upper hand in the boarding battle even when he allowed the untrained heavy infantry in the ship. But with the Syracusan navy having nearly 50 more triremes, he resolutely adopted the strategy that used their numerical advantage by having the extra ship on the outside. So once both the enemy and their sides were “linked”, they could take the opportunity to pierce through the battlefield and ram the enemy ship that couldn’t move.
In the previous naval battle, the legionaries quickly settled the enemy ships, allowing their own ships to retrieve the corvus and rejoin the battle immediately. But the increased heavy infantry on the Syracusan ships caused the combat longer, thus providing an opportunity for the Syracusan ships to break in.
After nearly ten Theonian ships sunk, the other ships began to realise that their situation was not good. Thus before the legionaries could defeat the enemy ships, the Theonian ships would retrieve the corvus and starts a real naval battle with the enemy, and they no longer dared to hook the enemy ship with the corvus because there were no more legionaries on their ships(they are still fighting on the enemy ships), so they began disassembling the corvus.
However, even with the Syracusans’ experience in naval battles and better sailor cooperation, they were less fast and agile because they carried more soldiers. The Theonian ships, on the other hand, although they were somewhat less experience in ship-to-ship battles, had an advantage in speed as they didn’t have soldiers on board, causing the situation of both sides to be a reverse of the previous naval battle.
Thus the ship from both sides seek opportunities on the sea, chasing, circling, rushing and ramming…
From time to time, the oars broke, the ship grazed each other, and sometimes even sank…
But as time passed, the Syracusans began to be at a disadvantage in the clash between ships. After all, once the Theonian fleet disconnects, they would have more ships capable of engaging in combat than the Syracusan ships, which would often leave the Syracusan ships in a one-vs-two situation. (Theonian and Syracusan soldiers are fighting on board, resulting in those ships’ inability to move.)
Leptines, who was at the rear and not involved in the battle, was extremely anxious and flustered after learning the situation of their fleet through the lookout on his ship, ‘Should I kneel and beg again?!’
Suddenly, the lookout shouted, “A squadron approaches from the rear!”
‘A squadron coming from the south? Is it ours?!’ Although Leptines knew that Dionysius had not sent an order to Syracuse’s port to call on more ships, he still eagerly awaited with expectation.
But after a while, the lookout’s cry broke his expectation, “It’s a black flag! A black flag!”
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‘They finally arrived!’ Mithridates breathed a sigh of relief as he stared at the fierce naval battle ahead.
Before they set out, Seclian and the other captains had already made plans for this naval battle as they feared the Syracusans would avoid them once they saw their massive and powerful fleet. Hence they decided after a discussion that they would divide the fleet into two, with the more than 60 captured Syracusan triremes forming a squadron under the leadership of Mithridates. So after departing from Thurii’s port, the squadron headed southeast to avoid Syracuse’s scouting ships and make a great semi-circle to meet up with the main fleet led by Seclian, heading south along the coast, at Scylletium.
But what they didn’t expect was the originally stationed Syracusan fleet at Scylletium’s port had moved to Crotone this morning. So Mithridates’ fleet that had not received timely information arrived at the empty Scylletium.
Mithridates quickly decided to turn the squadron around and found the two parties battling on the sea near Crotone.
At the command of Mithridates, the squadron quickly entered the battle, giving the last nail in the coffin for the Syracusan fleet!
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Dionysius, who watched the entire naval battle from the port’s lighthouse, has turned ashen. Afterwards, he turned around without saying a word.
Phidias, who was the last to leave, continued to watch the naval battlefield while thinking, ‘Theonia’s novel way of naval warfare is quite suitable for Sparta. Should I suggest it to the Gerousia after returning?’
Theonia’s successive naval victory significantly impacted the war situation of the whole Magna Graecia and changed the strength comparison between Theonia and Syracuse. Phidias was happy to see it because the western Mediterranean still needs a city-state union that can check Syracuse. Furthermore, he had a feeling that Syracuse’s land attack on Theonia would be more violent…
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The naval battle has ended. However, unlike the previous naval battle that ended with a relatively clean naval battlefield, the sea near Crotone has scattered oars, broken boards, sunken ships, floating dead bodies and countless sailors and soldiers struggling for help in the water.
The Theonains sailed their broken ships back and forth across the sea to rescue the Theonian sailors and soldiers who had fallen overboard and placed them as close as possible to the ships that the legionaries had captured.
The Theonian navy also lent the Syracusans a helping hand because, before their departure, Davos reminded Seclian that ‘after winning the naval battle, try to rescue the Syracusans who fell overboard if conditions permit.’ However, they would be tied up and guarded after boarding the ship.
But some of the Syracusans were close to the shore when they fell, so they refused Theonia’s assistance as they swam desperately to the shore. In this regard, the Theonians’ attitude would change and drive their ship to crush them directly.
The entire battlefield cleanup and rescue work continued until dusk. Only after the sunset’s light dyed the ships on the sea orange did Seclian order to return.
In the massive Theonian fleet, the captured Syracusan ships were placed in the centre while the Theonian ships surrounded them. Although the sailors were tired, the joy of victory made them row their oars powerfully as the fleet slowly headed north accompanied by their salpinx that resounded across the sea and the sound of their lively pipes…
Seclian turned to look back at the battlefield where they had fought fiercely. The thrilling sight of his ship almost getting hit by an enemy ship came to his mind, making him excited at the moment. His eyes then moved to the far end of the horizon, where the sky connects with the sea…
In his heart, he felt a great passion and shouted to the captain, “From now on, we have the final say on this sea!”
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In this naval battle, except for the more than 40 triremes led by Leptines to flee into the port of Crotone in time, the rest were either sank or captured.
On Theonia’s side, 23 corvus sunk, and more than ten were damaged, But they had captured 68 Syracusan triremes and nearly 10,000 sailors.
But what angered Dionysius the most was that the more than 9,000 Syracusan heavy infantry he sent, only more than 2,000 returned, with most of the soldiers either killed in battle or drowned at sea, and Theonia’s fleet had only captured less than a thousand. Thus it could be said that they had lost not only the naval battle but also the land battle.
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The Theonian army continued to march until they arrived at Roscianum, where the city’s polemarchos, Amikles, and officials stood by the wooden bridge built by Heracleides the Younger for Roscianum. They came to see off the Theonian army, who were on their way to the battlefield and sent the more than a thousand Roscianum soldiers and a hundred cavalrymen to join the army as part of their duty as allies.
Although the Theonian army was rushing, Davos still took time to go the wooden bridge, thanked the officials of Roscianum and exchanged greetings, which dissipates some potential unpleasantness in laughter.
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With the first legion following the Theonian fleet, the second legion was now at the forefront of the whole army. Although Amintas fought bravely on the battlefield, he is responsible for the safety of the soldiers of the whole legion as a legatus. Thus after they crossed the Trionto River, he increased the marching column to ten and placed the light infantry in the middle column. And due to Davos’ warning, Amintas did not take Syracuse’s mercenary cavalries lightly even though the second legion hadn’t fought them yet.
In recent years, the Crucoli River’s marsh area had largely disappeared, transforming into a high-quality plain due to the tremendous development of the Theonian people, resulting in the population increasing dramatically. But today, the legionaries could see only the ruins of several villages along the road.
‘Those Syracusan sailors manage to invade Theonia’s territory this far!’ The legionaries were surprised and, at the same time, outraged by the atrocities committed by the enemy. Fortunately, they had defeated the Syracusan navy in the previous naval battle, stopping them from returning to endanger Theonia’s territory. However, those damned mercenary cavalries still remained!