She's not really looking at the mast anyway, she's looking at the monster, freezing it as fast as she can.

It shoots out a tendril toward her with astonishing speed; she drops, more than dives, to get away, and has to spend the next fifteen seconds recovering and dodging sideways to avoid a second grab before she's back at the altitude they've been maintaining.

Little Kitty Tilney darts across her field of vision. She's wearing an eight-year-old girl's interpretation of a Royal Navy captain's dress uniform. The coat terminates in a full skirt, with lace. There is a remarkable quantity of gold frogging. She looks very determined. 

"- Kitty! Kitty, you don't even -" She's not sure what Kitty doesn't even but she certainly doesn't even something. It's likely Kitty can't hear her, though, the noise of the water freezing and rushing in strange directions is tremendous.

At least Kitty is staying high, tossing spars of wood and bits of shot at the monster from hundreds of feet in the air. 

Another ship is visible in the distance. Rebecca doesn't have a glass, but Captain Price does, and he can see they're flying a French flag. 

He turns to his first lieutenant. "Make ready to fire the first broadside." 

"But, sir - " He doesn't need to finish. They don't have enough powder to engage the monster and the French. The noise will draw the other ship to their position. The girls are holding it off - for now.

"Tell Mr. Baynton he may fire when ready." 

Rebecca, for her part, hopes the other ship is going to send them some backup, because she can't freeze this thing very quickly relative to its size, especially not when she keeps having to flinch aside as its shape ripples.

The monster tries diving.

The water under the Clarence swells and rises. Emma falls back to the surface of the water and starts wrapping the monster in current to keep from surfacing under one of the ships. She gestures frantically at Kitty, who seems to understand - and shoots off in the direction of the French ship. They won't be able to reach the battle in time, but they must have magical girls. She hopes. 

Rebecca can't just outright stand on the water, but she can alight on some rigging, close enough to the surface to track the monster by swarmsense and keep freezing bits of it, especially any bits that reach up.

That's helpful! Emma follows her lead, focusing her attacks on any part of the monster that looks likely to surface. It's working so far, but she can't do much about those lightning-fast tendrils except dodge, and her reflexes are getting slower. 

Rebecca's not sure how much effort it takes Emma to stand on the water, and if something happens to her that messes with her magic it'll get harder, maybe impossible, very suddenly; she makes her an ice platform near where she's at to step onto.

Emma lands on the platform and seems to slump. She might have nodded at Rebecca gratefully - it's hard to tell, with the spray and the rising waves - but after a minute she's off again, always keeping in contact with the water's surface. 

If Rebecca turns around, she'll see a V-formation in the sky. Maybe birds, maybe magical girls. It's hard to tell at this point. 

The water under the Albemarle starts rising alarmingly. 

Rebecca takes off again, skims as low over the water as she dares, keeps trying to freeze chunks of monster when she can catch them.

It's staying under, but the water keeps rising. The Albemarle is nearly on her side.

Rebecca doesn't know how to handle that without punching through the hull with ice. She tries to ignore it and just concentrate on the monster, which is at least very attention-getting.

An enormous black mass shoots out of the water in a nimbus of ice and shattered timber. Between the writhing tentacles, there are gaping holes that look like they might be mouths, with teeth the size of clipper's bowsprit, and things caught halfway between wings and fins - none of it the same from one moment to the next. The Albemarle goes down. So does Emma. 

- is she at the monster's periphery so Rebecca could maybe shield her long enough for her to extricate herself or -

Not that Rebecca can see. (She's under, but trying to drag the monster down with her). 

The answer to a surprising number of mid-combat tactical questions is "continue trying to kill the monster", isn't it.

Yep.

She flies. She ices. She keeps glancing at the French ship. It can't have taken that long for Kitty to get a magical girl, can it?

Lightning splits the sky. The monster - well, it doesn't wail, exactly, but it makes some sort of a noise that can't and shouldn't be described. More importantly, it pulls away from the ships. 

Maybe that's a French girl. Rebecca tries to make herself a bit obvious, dart around a little less, so she won't be collaterally struck.

It's definitely not natural. The wind picks up, blowing the other ships (and Rebecca) away from the monster. The lightning strikes get faster and closer together, interspersed with pure concussive blasts. For a moment, the air glows white. 

Rebecca's not sure whether to interpret that as an accident or a suggestion that she get out of the way so this other more combat-oriented girl can solo the monster. She tumbles through the air and blinks spots out of her eyes and brakes when she seems clear of the worst of it. Lands on an ice platform to collect herself.

The monster is nowhere in sight. The French magical girls - if she can make them out - are hovering above the Clarence.

She squints. She catches her breath and flies toward them in case any of them has enough English to tell her if she ought to stay back from the weather, or add hail to it, or what.