The Rescue

You begin this mission on the deck of your ship. Once you're ready, climb the mast all the way to the top until you reach the objective marker. After a cutscene, run to the ship's wheel and interact with it to take control of the Aquila.

Your main goal is to reach the merchant ship in the distance, which is marked with a blue objective marker. This mission introduces a couple of new elements for combat. First, due to the storm, large waves can either block your shots or serve as cover from enemy attacks. Second, you'll encounter rogue waves.

These rogue waves appear as an orange line on your mini-map. They'll approach your ship and can deal significant damage unless you take cover at the right moment. You'll know it's time to take cover when someone on deck yells “rogue wave!” and a bell rings. Listen for this cue and get to cover immediately to avoid damage.

Now, pilot the ship through the rocky area ahead. Be mindful of a couple of rogue wave events here. After passing the rocks and reaching open sea, you'll need to avoid damage from a few more rogue waves as you continue towards the merchant ship, which is currently under attack by British ships. A cutscene will play as you get closer.

You'll now need to eliminate four enemy ships. There's an optional objective here: be very accurate. If you miss completely with a shot twice, you'll fail this objective. These first four ships are all gunboats, meaning you can destroy them in one hit by striking their weak spots with the swivel gun.

Once all four gunboats are destroyed, the merchant ship will be safe. Your objective marker will then prompt you to head in another direction. As before, this is a fairly long trip, so be sure to avoid taking damage from rogue waves as you proceed.

After a short while, a pair of enemy frigates will appear. You need to destroy them, and there's a final optional objective: destroy both frigates by firing on their weak spots. To do this, broadside the front of an enemy ship once or twice until you see its weak spot revealed, then hit it with the swivel gun to destroy it. Once both frigates are down, the mission will be complete.