Somewhere in the Baltic
In the name of his Royal Majesty, Oluf, By Gods grace KIng of Denmark and Norway.
Onto his loyal vassal, holder of the landless fief of Marienburg Harbour, commanding five ships of war in the Baltic, emissary to the Teutonic Order, Hans Hansen.
Due to recent outbreak of open warfare between our catholic brethen in the Teutonic and Livonian Orders and their pagan foe, Lithuania, and additional 3 ships of war will arrive to support those ships allready under control. These ships will serve under their own captains, but will be subject to your orders. Any tax colected or other income generated by these ships will be divided per the old traditions of the ledung.
With these reinforcements, your task will be threefold.
You will continue to uphold your obligations as holder of the landless fief Marienburg Harbour.
In addition, you will prevent such supplies as necessary for warfare to reach Lithuania through sea. Ships bound for Samogotia will be intercepted, their cargo inspected, and should it, by the best judgement of the captain commanding the intercepting ship, be supplies for warfare, the cargo shall be redirected to Danzig.
In addition, you will protect Christian shipping. We cannot trust Lithuanian pagans to respect that only the brothers of the Crusading Orders wage war upon them, and not to show their frustration on other non-warring christians in their lands. Therefore, should ships commanded by christian captains, mainly from the Hanseatic League, attempt to conduct business in materials not needed for war with Samogotia, said ships are, for the safety of their crew, to be redirected to Danzig or other harbours under command of Christian nations. Ships not obeying such orders or actively resisting such orders are to be treated as hostile.
In the name of her son
Margrethe Valdemarsdatter, Guardian of Oluf.
Hans Hansen had read that order several times, and each time he praised himself lucky. It was almost as good as an direct order to prey on Hanseatic merchants, and all knew that it was in preying on the Hansa the real profit lay. The landless fief, and with it the right to tax merchants a protective tax, had been paying nicely, but the chance to capture ships was the real reason he'd come here, and now it was about to pay of.
So far, the ship he personally commanded had not been overly succesfull. He had inspected two Swedish ships, but they had not been carrying supplies for war, and he dared not anger the Swedes by redirecting them to Danzig, not without direct orders to do so. He had followed one Hanseatic ship, but it had eluded him before he boarded, and he had not had the chance to test his orders.
So the slow Hanseatic cog he had his eyes in now came as sent from Heaven. As low as it lay in the water, it had to be fully loaded, and that also meant it would have great difficulties outrunning him. Whether or not it was bound for Samogotia was debatable, but Hans Hansen could claim he had inspected it just to be certain, and once he and his armed men got aboard, he could easily construct an excuse to seize it.
His men was almost as eager as he were. Allthough he as captain and owner would claim the greatest part of the bounty, they knew that the ledung rules for dividing plunder ensured them a nice profit as well. So his orders to raise sail and navigate closer to the cog were quickly followed.
The Hanseatic vessel, her captain knowing full well that he was chanceless to outrun the Danish ship, did not even try to run, and Hans Hansen smiled to himself as his ship came alongside and threw boarding lines over. The Hanseatic sailors even helped secure the lines, and those of them who carried weapond had not drawn them. Obviously, they did not expect a Danish ship to behave like a common pirate, and puzzlement was clear on the Hanseatic captains face as he greeted the Danish boarders.
"What is the meaning of this?", the merchant asked, but without any real anger.
"My ship and goods are under the protection of the Hanseatic League." He invoked the Leagues protection more from habit than any real fear, but was allready reaching for his purse. Even the Germans respected the Danish fleets right to demand protection tax in these water, mainly because the protection tax was pretty low, and because the Danish ships did keep the waters almost safe.
This time, however, Hans Hansen was not about to be feed of with a few coins. His orders gave him far greater authority.
"In the name of the Danish king, to support the Crusading Orders of the Teutons and Livonia, I demand to see your goods."
The German captain actually smiled when hearing this, as he mistakenly believed that placed him outside danger.
"If you like. As you'll see, I'm transporting salted fish from Skåne to Stettin. Nothing to worry about for the crusaders.""
Hans decided he was not about to let any price slip through his fingers. Never mind that salted fish was obviously not meant for warfare, and never mind that Stettin was obviously not under the command of the Lithuanian pagans. He could allways claim the German had lied to him, or refused to cooperate.
"I don't trust you. I don't care what you're selling, but for your own safety, I refuse to let you land in Samogotia. The Lithuanian pagans will surely kill both you and your crew. You are to let a small group of my men come aboard, and sail to Danzig. It is for your own good."
Now the German realized that this was no ordinary Danish taxation. However, his voice betrayed more anger than fear.
"I shall do no such thing. I have no business in Danzig, but plenty in Stettin. And I am not even about to land in Samogotia. Did you not hear what I said?"
That was what Hans had waited for. A pure refusal to cooperate, thus allowing him to treat the captain and his outnumbered crew as hostiles. Hans drew his sword and stepped closer to the German, and across the ship, his men, who had been prepared for such an eventuality, had their weapons drawn before the German sailors had the chance to react.
With his weapon posed to strike, Hans once again spoke to the German captain, this time in a voice so loud that most of those aboard heard it.
"Your refusal to cooperate with my reasonable requests proves that you are working for the pagans, upon which true christians are waging a crusade. Your ownership of this ship is forfeit as a result. This ships now belongs to me. Do you surrender?"
The Hanseatic captain was no fool. A fight would be lost within seconds, as all the Danes were armed, and only a handfull of his own men even carried undrawn weapons. Still with more anger than fear, he responded.
"Have it your way, pirate. I surrender. My family in Lübeck will pay for my safe return, and then I shall have Hanseatic ships hunt you down."
Ignoring the theath, Hans spoke again, this time directed to the sailors:
"An armed party will take this ship to Danzig, there to sell the cargo. Those of you who so desire can be transferred to my vessel and serve as sailors to replace them. Those not willing to take service with me will be kept in chains and released in Danzig. Climb aboard my ship if you accept my offer, stay here and lay down your weapons if you prefer captivity and a trip to Danzig."
Of the 11 Hanseatic sailors, 5 choose to serve on Hans' ship. In their reasoning, one master was almost as good as the other, and they could make their way back to whatever port they came from in time. The remaining six were chained, as was the captain who had just lost his ship without bloodsheed, and Hans transferred 8 of his men to take his price to Danzig.
Back aboard his own ship, Hans smiled as he saw the cog sail onwards. The cargo would fetch a nice price, and so would the ship itself once he found a buyer for it. In the meantime, he would see if he could find a merchantman or two more. The crusaders would soon have their foes subdued, and thus his fragile excuse for capturing ships would be lost. He had to make the best of it while it lasted...