The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 94 Whaling Ship

On August 1724, 8, on the vast Indian Ocean, two whaling ships were traveling rapidly southwestward on the south equatorial warm current, and their destination was directly in the South African waters.

Every year from September to November, thousands of whales swim here in the warm waters where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, forming a unique scenery.At this time, it is a feast for all whalers, who flock to the sea area to hunt this giant sea beast.

Both whalers are traditional sailboats, with a displacement of about three hundred tons, and both come from the United Provinces.They had been stationed in the southern waters of Hanzhou for more than half a year, killing more than [-] whales, brewing hundreds of barrels of whale oil, and collecting a considerable amount of whale baleen, which was a full harvest.

What's particularly gratifying is that because they are close to the Hanzhou coast port, they can also sell the whale meat that would have been thrown into the sea to the people of Qi, making an extra fortune.

As the monsoons and ocean currents change, whales migrate in large numbers, and the number of whales in the waters near Hanzhou decreases significantly. Qi State’s marine fishery department also begins to implement the so-called half-year “fishing ban period” and declares a ban on all foreign whaling ships. Hunting whales in the waters around Hanzhou.The euphemistic name is to protect the whale population.

Huh, to put it bluntly, the people of Qi will regard the whales in the waters near Hanzhou as their own forbidden animals. When the number of whales gradually decreases, they will only allow their own whaling ships to hunt whales.

You must know that during this period, Qi State definitely ranked first in terms of the number of whales killed, far exceeding the United Provinces, which was once a major whaling power.

"Captain Green, do you still need to climb up to the mast to observe the sea today?" Young Joey Rudy looked at the rolling waves on the sea. The entire hull also rose and fell violently, and the strong sea wind blew the sails abnormally. Bulging.

In such wind and waves, the danger of climbing to a high mast increases significantly.

"Little Rudy, if you want to be lazy, you won't learn anything." Captain Perkes Green, who was standing on the deck, put down his telescope and looked at the half-grown child who was less than 15 years old in front of him with a sneer. "You need to grow up quickly and become a strong man as soon as possible. Only in this way can you earn enough income like an adult to subsidize your impoverished family."

"Okay, Captain Green." Joey Rudy took the telescope, hung it around his neck, turned around and ran towards the mast.

"Look carefully, maybe there are some huge whales hidden in this sea area." Captain Pekes Green shouted loudly behind him.

Although we are transferring to the waters of South Africa, if we can hunt a few whales on the way, it will be somewhat rewarding, right?

Captain Pekes Green was born in Zeeland. He is 38 years old, but he has experienced more adventures than others will encounter in several lifetimes combined.He was a shipwreck survivor, worked as a pirate in the Caribbean, traveled across Europe, and participated in the wars between the Netherlands and France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire.He was wounded five times in battle and defeated and killed three men in duels.He even worked as a slave to a local pasha in the Ottoman Empire.

Three years ago, he and two other partners purchased the whaling ship, hired 35 skilled workers in Germany, Denmark and other places, and began engaging in the lucrative whaling business.

During this period, with the improvement of Europe's economic level and the rapid development of cities, more and more city streets and public squares began to imitate Qi's urban lighting system, quickly lighting up whale oil lamps.The governments of many countries have built more and more lighthouses in ports, docks, and along the coast to illuminate the safe return route for sailors. Of course, whale oil is used in the lighthouses.

Spermabra candles also burned extraordinarily brightly in the homes or businesses of the wealthy.Whale oil was also the primary lubricant in an increasingly mechanized world and the primary raw material used to process the fabric used for military uniforms throughout Europe.The petticoats or corset supports made of whalebone were among the most fashionable designs of the period.

In order to meet people's demand for whale products, the number of whaling ships owned by England, Denmark, Sweden, and the United Provinces is increasing day by day. Conservative estimates put the number of whaling ships at more than [-], and they capture thousands of whales every year.

In 1596, Dutchman William Barentz accidentally discovered the Spitsbergen Islands while searching for the Northeast Passage.Here, along the rocky coast, are numerous right whales.As a result, the Dutch planted a flag in the sea, occupied the waters, and in the following century, almost dominated the entire trade in whale products.

However, after experiencing three Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Franco-Dutch War, the Netherlands' national power has gradually become exhausted, and it can no longer fully control the whaling industry of the Spitsbergen Islands it possesses. France, Britain, and the Hanseatic League Whaling ships from Japan, Denmark and Sweden also arrived one after another and began to share the whaling benefits enjoyed by the Dutch for decades.

Moreover, after decades of fishing, the number of whales in the waters near the Spitsbergen Islands has been greatly reduced, making competition among the many whaling ships in the waters increasingly fierce.

Captain Pekes Green then took a different route and came to the remote southern Indian Ocean, which is adjacent to the intersection of hot and cold waters. Countless humpback whales of huge size are distributed in this vast sea area.

However, what Captain Pekes Green did not expect was that in this area, they still encountered a strong competitor-the whaling ship from Qi.

Compared with its European counterparts, Qi's whaling industry developed very late, less than 50 years ago.However, with the accelerated industrialization process in Qi and the large-scale popularization of steam engines, the demand for whale oil products has increased day by day.In order to meet the huge market demand, Qi State earlier cooperated with the Dutch East India Company to jointly issue hunting licenses, introduced a large number of whaling ships from Europe, hunted whales in the waters around Hanzhou, and provided whale oil products nearby.

With the "help" of the Dutch, Qi's whaling industry started from scratch and gradually developed and expanded. It has now grown into the largest whaling country in the world.As of last year, the number of whaling ships registered with the fishery administration department in Qi reached 380, with 4000 crew members working on them. The amount of cargo they transport back to the port every year is approximately 4 barrels of whale oil and [-] barrels of whale oil. Many kilograms of baleen.As for the number of whales killed, it may be around [-] to [-], accounting for more than half of the global catch.The whaling industry has become the most important maritime industry in Qi State.

What amazed Captain Pekes Green even more was that Qi State transformed their whaling ship into an offshore whale oil processing plant.The clever people of Qi built a stove with bricks in the middle of the main deck of the ship, and then installed several large iron pots. After capturing the whale, they cut the whale directly on the deck, refined the oil, and put the entire whaling ship on the ship. The ship transforms into a factory floating on the sea.

Captain Perkes Green had the honor to visit the Qi people's whaling ship, and he was worried that the wood and flames would be too close to the crew's living area, causing a fire on the ship.But his question was ridiculed by the people of Qi, because the stove was made of thickened bricks and there would be no sparks flying at all. Even if it did not ignite the fire on the deck, the crew had advanced steam Water pumps and endless seawater are readily available to extinguish fires.The people of Qi evolved the whaling activity into a series of strict and seamless flow operations. They discovered the whereabouts of the whales, launched the whaling boats into the water, and then used various whaling tools to kill the whales, drag the whales back, cut the whale carcasses, and put them into the water. The blubber and baleen are pulled up on the deck, the oil is refined, the oil is sealed, and finally stored in barrels in the hold, the deck is cleaned, and then the next time someone yells, "The whale is spouting!"

By using this model of hunting whales and refining whale oil at the same time, the people of Qi could stay at sea longer, and they did not return until the barrels of whale oil filled the entire cabin.

In Europe, almost all whaling ships kill whales, cut the whale carcass, remove the oil and baleen, discard the whale carcass, and then transport it back to the port and hand it over to workshops and factories that specialize in refining whale oil.Compared with the Qi people, this model is extremely inefficient.

What surprised Captain Peckers Green the most was that the Qi people also used the whale meat randomly discarded by traditional whaling ships.

They invented and built a whale meat processing ship.When many whaling ships were operating, they followed closely behind.After those whaling ships removed useful parts such as whale blubber and baleen, they quickly sailed next to the whaling ship, purchased the whale meat at a very low price, and then immediately carried out simple processing on the ship.

It is said that after these whale meat processing ships dock, they sell the preliminary processed whale meat to canneries or seafood processing plants at several times the price for secondary deep processing.

The huge mass of whales results in a huge amount of meat on their bodies. Compared to an ordinary fish weighing several kilograms of meat, these creatures weighing several tons or even larger are undoubtedly the best source of fish meat.What's more interesting is that whale meat has almost become a necessity in some European countries, because at that time, ordinary beef, mutton and other "red meat" were considered "hot", and the church prohibited believers from eating it during festivals.

But whale meat is considered "cold", so during religious festivals, the church allows believers to eat whale meat.You know, in Europe at this time, there were more than a hundred religious festivals a year, so the people had a very urgent demand for whale meat, which almost became the main source of meat in some countries.

Can you imagine?Qi people can earn more than 200 million Dutch guilders (3.5-3.7 Dutch guilders equivalent to 1 tael of silver) in profits from Europe every year just by exporting canned whale meat.

It can be said that the people of Qi made full use of the whole body of the whale and did not let go of any "waste" on the whale.The huge whale spine and ribs are used to make chairs and fences, the internal organs are used to extract a medicine, cod liver oil, and the ambergris from the intestinal secretions is made into the top spice material.Whale skin can also be made into leather and clothing, and even whale excrement can be used to make red dye for textiles.

To a certain extent, Qi State completely used whales as fuel to support their industrial development, which penetrated into all aspects of society. When European countries are all envious of their great Industrial Revolution achievements, I wonder if they can see it. The bodies of whales behind every machine in Qi are carrying Qi's technology and civilization forward, every step of the way.

In order to further improve the efficiency of whaling, the greedy people of Qi State racked their brains to develop various advanced equipment, such as steam whaling ships, whaling cannons, towing winches to tow whale bodies, and towing machines to buffer the hit whales. The tow boat buffer device, the tow boat controller that controls the retraction speed of the tow boat, and the whale lifting winch that drags the whale body to the deck of the mother ship, etc.With these, whaling has become a manual job, without the romance and bravery of the past. Only the spear enters the whale's body, and the blood stains the sea and the ship's planks red.

"It's a pity that the people of Qi strictly prohibit the export of steam whaling ships. Otherwise, we will definitely raise funds to buy one to replace this old whaling ship." Jie, the partner and first mate on the ship Elm Henie said regretfully.

"Indeed, if we had a steam whaling ship, we wouldn't have to make such a big circle in order to use the ocean currents and monsoons to reach the South African waters. We can do what the people of Qi did, directly from the southwest coast of Hanzhou , crossing the Indian Ocean, this can save at least one-third of the voyage and time." Captain Green nodded.

"Conservative and stingy Qi people!" Jerome Heine couldn't help but complain.

"Where's Quinn? I haven't seen him for a long time. What is he doing?"

"Quinn may have been with the two Jews. ... He seemed to be more interested in some of the business plans mentioned by the Jews, and probably wanted to further discuss and demonstrate them."

"He shouldn't get too close to those two Jews." Captain Green shook his head and said, "Be careful that you end up being tricked by the Jews and losing everything. They are a people who eat people but don't spit out bones."

"Eating people without spitting out their bones? Then should we throw them into the sea now and feed them to the fish, lest there be two more insidious and cunning Jews in the world?"

"Although we are not serious businessmen, we still want to maintain the business reputation of our Dutch people." Captain Green said: "We still follow the contract we made in advance and send them safely to Cape Town." Come on, the Sassoon family is also a very famous Jewish family in the Mediterranean region. Perhaps, one day we can get some goodwill from them in return."

"Dear Green, your ideas are so naive." Jerome Heine sneered: "They are not a nation that repays kindness. In our United Provinces, we are the most capricious and insidious group of loan sharks. Businessmen, why are they Jews!”

"Forget it, let's not mention them." Captain Green planned to end the topic, "Go find Quinn, and then pay close attention to every crew member on the ship, spy on their conversations and behaviors, and monitor for any abnormalities at all times."

"Are you worried that there will be another crew escape incident in Cape Town?"

"The Qi people discovered a huge amount of gold mines in South Africa, and it has already spread all over the world." Captain Green sighed and said with a wry smile: "If we don't restrain them, maybe all the crew will run away after arriving in Cape Town. Gotta be clean.”

For ocean-going whalers, any whaling ship is like an independent kingdom. Almost all laws are decided by the captain. On the ship, the captain is the king, and he can beat, scold, corporally punish and even punish the crew at any time. There are darker things going on.And all the crew members worked hard to go to sea and endured loneliness for months or even years. The wages they received in the end were actually very meager, and most of them went to the captain or investors.

Therefore, when many whaling ships docked for rest, crew members often took the opportunity to escape privately because they could not bear the captain's exploitation and abuse.Not to mention, under the fatal temptation of the gold mine, I don’t know how many crew members will have other ideas in their hearts.
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(End of this chapter)