1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 559

On January 1646, 1, in the eastern waters of Hanzhou.

Bian Anliang stood high on the mast of "Fengqing 2", holding a binoculars, and carefully searching the boundless and endless sea level.The glare of the sun made his eyes hurt after observing for a long time.But he didn't dare to slack off, just rubbed his eyes lightly, and continued to look at the sea, looking for possible whales.

Although Bian Anliang is only 19 years old, he is still an experienced whaler. He has already experienced two years of whaling activities in this sea area, and has gradually proved his ability.

Before coming to Hanzhou, he was a lonely and helpless Dan family in Guangdong. He lived a life of hunger and cold, and occasionally returned to the shore, but he was disgusted and loathed by countless people.Fortunately, three years ago, several immigrant ships from Hanzhou sailed into Guangzhou Wharf. The Danjia sailors who first immigrated to Hanzhou brought a group of poor refugees on the water to the Hanzhou people’s boat, and traveled all the way to Hanzhou native.

He was first assigned to the general administration area of ​​Daxing (now Brisbane, Australia) in the eastern part of Hanzhou, fishing and boating for the local people, and still engaged in the waterwork that he had been accustomed to doing since he was a child, but here, he enjoyed unprecedented Happy life.No one discriminates against them anymore, and no one prevents them from going ashore to live.The food you eat is no longer the same fish, shrimp, oysters and seaweed (kelp), but there are rice, corn, and even white flour, and it can make you full.

I heard that in a few years, the local officials will allocate a house and a daughter-in-law to each immigrant.Although these need to be repaid to the government in installments in the next few years (or more than ten years), after all, it gives every immigrant unlimited hope, and they can also have a home on the shore.

Two years ago, a group of Western barbarians came from Jianye City in the north. They said they were specially hired from Europe to teach the Hanzhou people to hunt whales in the sea.Because he was young and quick-witted, he was selected together with more than 100 people to go out to sea to hunt whales with those Westerners.

When they cooperated with these barbarians for the first time to catch a whale the size of a house in the depths of the sea, everyone was stunned.Such a big fish might not be enough for thousands of people to finish a meal.

However, the barbarians on board and several craftsmen from Jianye Mansion laughed at their idea.They say that the greatest value of a whale is not its huge amount of fish meat, but its whale oil, which is an important industrial oil.Used in tanning, also used in tempering bath (for steelmaking) and used as a lubricant for precision instruments, etc.After hydrogenation, it can be used as a raw material for food and making soap, candles, etc.

In addition, whales are important food and chemical raw materials, whether they are bone, skin, meat (not tasty, tastes like fishy meat), whiskers, oil, or milk. It can also be used as fertilizer.The whole body of the whale can be used by humans. The whale meat can be ground into coarse powder as feed and artificial fiber. The whale skin can also be used to make clothes and leather bags. The whale bone can be made into fertilizer, and the internal organs can be used to extract medicine.Baleen can be made into many items, such as brushes, women's corsets, and umbrella ribs.

Today, in Daxing City (now Brisbane, Australia), the local government has built two whale processing plants to process the captured whales and process various parts such as whale meat, whale oil, whale bones, and baleen.Considering that catching whales and returning them to the shore for processing may be time-consuming, labor-intensive and inefficient.The fishery administration department in this area has submitted a demand for a new type of whaling ship to Jianye Shipyard, that is, to design and build a special ship that can directly handle some whales at sea, so as to save the round-trip time of the whaling ship.

"A whale is found ahead!" Bian Anliang straightened his waist suddenly, and shouted loudly: "There is a huge whale ahead on the left!"

Many sailors on board heard the shout and cheered up. They all looked in the direction where Bian Anliang pointed his finger, but they couldn't see anything on the choppy sea.Some people couldn't help but wonder if the lookout on the mast was delusional.

"Everyone is paddling at full speed!" Ivy Holt, the temporary captain on Fengqing 2, said loudly, and at the same time sent a signal to another nearby "Fengqing 1" to follow quickly.Regarding the discovery of the young man on the mast, he chose to trust unconditionally. There must be whales in front of the left. If he can't see them at this time, he may have dived into the bottom again.

The current position of the two whaling ships is about 100 kilometers southeast of Daxing City, and it is also in the relatively quiet area of ​​the South Pacific Ocean. There is only weak wind, which makes the sails on the ship look a little Useless.The sailors had to grab the oars, row hard, and sail in the direction indicated by the lookout.

Less than half an hour after the whaling ship rowed, the people on board became excited, and a huge whale emerged from the sea.Although it sank to the bottom of the water again before the ship was about to approach it, it was finally found.

The two whaling ships were less than 200 meters apart. Following the instructions of the watchmen and the hired Dutch captain, they kept searching for the whale's swimming track and tried to approach it.

According to past experience, if the whale is looking for food, it will resurface in the nearby sea in about two to three 10 minutes. At that time, it is the best time for the sailors on the whaler to attack it.However, if it ran away directly because of the approach of a whaler, then before it surfaced again to breathe air, it could swim at least ten kilometers away, and then escaped from the sight of the whaler.

"Left front! That whale is in the left front!" Bian Anliang loudly pointed out the direction of the whale to his companions on the boat, "Look, it is breathing there!"

On the surface of the sea more than 2 meters in front of the left of "Fengqing 700", a huge whale surfaced and was spraying out a huge water column. Obviously, it was breathing air on the sea surface.When its two lungs are filled with air, it will not dive into the bottom of the water for a while.At this time, it is the best opportunity for whaling ships.

Two whaling ships approached the whale slowly, and it lay there quietly, with its back peak protruding two or three meters above the sea, lazily breathing quietly.This huge whale, like a floating black island, sinks and floats from time to time, gently flipping from side to side with the gentle sea waves.

"Fengqing No. 2" approached slightly, its tail, which was the size of a small boat, was swaying slowly on the bottom of the water.The sailors could already feel the foul-smelling mist exhaled by the whale, and this distance was already within the attackable range.

But this whale is still not aware of the danger. Because it is on the sea surface, its hearing is not very adapted to the surrounding environment. Its ears are far less sensitive to the sound transmitted in the air than it is to receive the sound transmitted by water.And its two small eyes are located on both sides of the wide head, and each side can only see a limited range (about 125 degrees before and after the eyes).

Bian Anliang had already climbed down from the observation frame on the mast. At this moment, he and several companions were holding a sharp harpoon, waiting for the whale to fully emerge from the water.

As the whale paddled slowly, the part between the head and the body rose above the surface of the sea, and the sailors' attack began.

The three harpoons plunged fiercely into the thick blubber, and were clearly inserted into the bottom.The whale shuddered from the impact, and its huge tail began to wobble.

"Oars! Oars! . . . back!" Ivy Holt ordered loudly.

Every sailor seemed to have his heart in his throat as the whaler raced away from the maelstrom caused by the enraged whale.The whale's huge tail was lifted five or six meters above the water, and then it fell down with all its strength. Huge waves rushed towards the whaling ship, splashing the sailors with sea water all over their heads and faces.

After a while, the injured whale had dived into the water, and the rope connected to the harpoon was sliding rapidly. As the whale dived, the rope also went deep into the water.A sailor in charge of the rope winch, according to the diving speed of the whale, worked hard to adjust the drag force of the rope, sometimes tightening and sometimes loosening, and occasionally, he moved the winch vigorously, pulling the rope back for a certain distance.

The huge drag force of the whale caused the bow of the 300-ton whaling ship to sink a bit. At this time, the captain would loudly order the sailors in charge of the winch to loosen the force and not to overturn the ship. up.

Maybe it was struggling too much underwater, the whale came up to the surface again, the rope connected to the harpoon was quickly tightened, and the boat was driven close to the whale.

A few sailors raised their harpoons and wooden spears again, ready to pierce the whale's heart or lungs. In these two parts, the whale's dense and thick aorta is distributed, which is called the whale's life zone.Of course, failure to hit this spot could re-enrage the whale and cause serious injury to those on board.

Fortunately, several harpoons and wooden spears accurately hit the whale's aorta and pierced the trachea. Almost immediately, the whale's lungs rushed into the tide, staining the nearby sea red.

The mortally wounded whale sank briefly in the water before resurfacing, spraying a pink mist of blood into the air.After about seven or eight minutes, it turned white and floated on the sea.

After the sailors cheered for a while, a small boat came to the tail of the whale, and then cut a hole and threaded several strands of strong wire to tie it to the tail of the whaler.

The captain and the first mate generously took out honey wine and canned fruit, and shared them with many sailors on board to celebrate today's harvest, and once again praised their bravery and fearlessness.

Captain Ivy Holt looked at the huge whale towed behind the ship with satisfaction, and secretly calculated how much reward he could get from the Hanzhou people.Compared with the whaling work in Europe, the rewards paid by the Hanzhou people are undoubtedly very generous.After catching whales, he will naturally get special rewards. However, teaching these children to learn the skills of catching whales faster is his main income.

Hired by the Ludwild family, he came to the East Indies to pan for gold. He thought it would be a very difficult job, but after arriving in Hanzhou, he realized that the actual situation was much easier than he had imagined, and the treatment was even worse. generous.

Officials in Hanzhou have begun to lobby the whalers from Europe, hoping to stay in Hanzhou and continue to serve them after the five-year service period ends.They offered a good deal, whether it was continuing on as whaling professors, or entering their naval service.

Captain Ivy Holt is still a little hesitant about this. Although the conditions given by Hanzhou are very favorable, this is a country that is very different from Europe after all. He does not know whether he can adapt to everything here in the future, such as climate and geography , environment, and different humanistic societies.

However, Hanzhou is a new immigrant country, and all affairs are booming. The population, economy, military and other aspects are all on the rise, just like the Netherlands now.Perhaps, given time, Hanzhou will definitely grow into the most competitive country in the region.

(End of this chapter)