On board Revenge, Drake bellowed orders, "Signal all ships to turn about, follow Revenge! We'll devour these galleons first! Do not board, shoot to sink them with cannons!"
Revenge was one of the five warships Drake had seized from Haidong Port; the Venetian navy thought there were only four, but actually, the fifth had escaped to the sea and was also captured by the Tanyrians.
Even though it was clear that warships with higher freeboards and castles held an advantage in boarding combat, Drake knew all too well that his pirate crew lacked the capability to endure casualties in brutal close combat—they could only fight with the wind at their backs.
Once the enemy boarded their ships and turned naval combat into brutal hand-to-hand combat, the pirates' morale would collapse immediately.
The Tanyria fleet turned about and charged towards the Venetian galleons.