Frequent raids by the Cossacks forced the Turks to build a small fortress called Kyzykermen near the mouth of the Dnfpr, which was supposed to prevent Cossack seagulls from going out to sea; From the loopholes of the fortress, the muzzles of cannons peered menacingly at the water, always ready to destroy the martyred Cossack flotilla. In addition, the Turks blocked the Dnfir near Kyzykermen with ifpyas, which, however, did not fully reach the center, since they sagged due to their weight, and the small-bodied, light-weight seagulls could freely swim over them. Cossacks everything is fine
Ve they knew, and therefore, choosing the dead of night, in complete darkness they slipped past the fortress, not revealing themselves with either a splash of water or a clanking oar: as soon as they safely went out to sea, there, on their fast-moving seagulls, the Cossacks were afraid of few people.
Here is the sea! How wide and far you can see all around. It seems that the sky and water merge into one, you can’t tell. where the first ends and the second begins. With a quiet roar, the waves roll one after another, rhythmically swaying the seagulls; clouds quickly slide across the sky, the sun plays with rays in the splashes of water, and the water itself is either blue or green, but in the depths it looks like black, bitter-salty, disgusting to the taste.
All around is quiet and deserted; a darker strip of land appeared to the left in the distant blue fog. “That’s Crimea,” the experienced Cossacks said; The young Cossacks looked in that direction for a long time, for the first time the Cossacks emerged into the sea, but Crimea soon disappeared from their eyes, as if it had dived into the water, the seagulls turned to the side so that the Tatars and Turks would not notice them from the shore and would not send large warships in pursuit.
The days at sea were boring for the Cossacks; All around, except for the sky and water, nothing is visible, and here you can’t take your soul away except for the stump: you’re not allowed to drink vodka on the hike, only dried meat and crackers, and they give you little water. The days drag on, boring and monotonous - today is yesterday; even the stories of experienced people about the Crimea, about its rich cities, about how poor slaves languish and suffer on galleys (ships) - were lost.
“Even if something happened, really!” the young Cossacks think sadly; the old ones look around indifferently, smoking pipes and spitting into the sea: they know that there will be enough work ahead of them. “Galley to the left!” The signalman suddenly shouted. Everyone perked up and looked where the signalman’s outstretched hand indicated: a black dot slowly, barely noticeably moved near the horizon; a koshev appeared on the ataman's gull tower. “What will he say: go to sea or get a galley?” The Koshevoi looked at the galley for a long time, covering his eyes with his hand from the sun, then he talked about something with the elders around him, turned his face to the seagulls and waved his hand, pointing to the galley.
“Get to work, kids!” the helmsmen shouted, the rowers rushed along the muffets; the oars struck at once, the water began to rustle and darken; the seagulls trembled, rushed and rushed like an arrow. The rowers worked feverishly, only the spray flew sparklingly, and the oars bent under the pressure of the water.
Taken by surprise, the clumsy Turkish galley could not, of course, cope with the fast-moving Cossack seagulls; onf have already crumbled into lava, i.e. with a long and ruff hand, and tried to surround the galley. The Turks did not know which way to fly, and the seagulls either splashed the crests of the waves with their chests, then dived down and moved closer every minute. The Turkish cannonballs uselessly plowed the sea water, sometimes flying over the heads of the Cossacks, sometimes not reaching them.
A few minutes later, the seagulls approached the galley, dozens of Cossack hooks dug into its sides, a gun burst rang out from all the seagulls, and before the gunpowder smoke cleared, the seagulls were pulled close to the galley, and the Cossacks, like cats, climbed from all sides.
The Turks defended themselves desperately, because they knew that there would be no mercy for anyone. Without killing all the Turks, the Cossacks freed the slaves from the depths of the galley, from where the joyful cries of these unfortunates had long been heard when they saw their liberators, the Cossacks.
All galleys moved with the help of long oars located in several rows above each other