Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 708 Across the Ocean (VIII)

On August 1648, 8, Jinshan Port, Australia.

After being filled with supplies, the motor-sail expedition ship "Discovery" slowly left the port, and then, driven by steam power, crossed the Bass Strait, turned east by south, and followed the route between 38-42 degrees south latitude. The edge of the westerly belt in between sails eastward.They have been staying in Jinshan Port for four or five days. The ship has been repaired and maintained, and the personnel have received sufficient rest. Now it is time to embark on a new journey.

On the way back to Jinshan Port from Tahiti Island, the ship stopped briefly in the Cairns area in the northeast of Australia, and then the team leader Zhang Jinhua ordered to transplant some of the lemons and sugarcane collected from Tahiti Island here. , and also left sixteen expedition members here to guard.Therefore, there are only 40 people left on the voyage from Jinshan Port to the Chilean coast of South America.

Exploring and opening up the route from Jinshan Port, Australia to Port Araucan (Puerto Natales) is an extremely important task of the expedition team led by Zhang Jinhua.After all, this is related to the implementation of the national strategy. No matter in the short term or in the medium and long term, this is a matter of great significance to the country and the people.

When the "Discovery" set off, more than 60 people from [-] households were randomly selected from the immigrants waiting to be shipped in Jinshan Port, including men, women and children. They will follow the "Discovery" ship along the north coast of the westerly belt of the South Pacific. The route crosses the entire ocean, and then sails to the coast of Chile in South America-they will become the first group of Far East immigrants in the free city of Araucan.

However, from a practical point of view, this so-called South Pacific route is destined to be unable to compete with the South Indian Ocean and South Atlantic routes in the initial thoughts.Because the latter route has the New China region, which is extremely important to the East Coast Republic of China, and the immigrant ships passing through here can continuously replenish the declining population of the many settlements on the east coast of New China Island, making the island's population The development can continue to go on in depth.

As for the former, all the way from Australia to the east is nothing but the vast ocean except New Zealand.Their destination—southern Chile—is also an area that is not very fertile. Except for the strong winds that blow all year round, there are only large pieces of broken mountain islands and desolate grasslands. Develop grain planting, and the population that animal husbandry can carry is obviously not as high as grain planting.

Therefore, within the East Coast Republic of China, there are not a few people who have doubts or even oppose the South Pacific immigration route.Because this route is not cost-effective from an economic point of view, and there are many practical difficulties from a technical point of view.The lack of numerous supply and maintenance points along the way, especially the lack of an indispensable port near Peru, made this route much more difficult to navigate.

But no matter how difficult it is, we must continue to explore.Inside the executive committee—especially when the crossover people are still in power or can exert sufficient influence—it can be said that it is an undisputed "political correct" thing to transport more Ming people to the east bank, " "Immigrate from the Far East as the keynote" is a slogan put forward by some members of the Imperial Han Dynasty. Although it is too radical, it still represents a certain tendency of most of the time-traveling people.No matter what happens in the future, at least when they themselves or the next generation who can exert direct influence are in power, they will unswervingly migrate a large number of Ming people from the Far East to the east coast.This amount, the more the better!

After sailing for a few days, the expedition ship wobbled to the estuary of the later Aureti River on the South Island of New Zealand.Zhang Jinhua asked the crew and immigrants to go ashore in batches to rest and replenish fresh water at the same time.They met some Maori by the river. These New Zealand aborigines seemed to be friendly, at least they didn't show their weapons to the east coast people who came ashore for supplies.Zhang Jinhua asked the sailors to take out some goods from the east coast to trade with them, and bought some dried fruits and cured meat they had stockpiled. In addition, the two sides had no other intersections.

These Maori have entered the agricultural society, at least know how to farm, and have left the original life of gathering and hunting.However, their technical level and social organization were still quite primitive, and the tools they used were either stone or wood.This is not a bad thing for people on the east coast, because it means that the cost of colonizing here in the future is very low.

A place like New Zealand has a suitable climate and abundant rainfall. There are mature farmland and irrigation systems left by the Maori, and the soil is quite fertile. The agricultural conditions are many times stronger than those in Australia.If you intend to develop Oceania in the future, New Zealand is definitely the first choice. It is suitable for farming, animal husbandry, mining, and fishing. Under the current conditions, it is not a problem to feed a million people.

The expedition members who landed paid the Maori for the goods (glass balls, magnifying glasses, metal knives, cloth, spirits, etc.), and then pulled anchor on the morning of August 8, left the southern tip of New Zealand, and continued eastward go.And after they left, a large-scale influenza outbreak quickly broke out among the Maori who had been in contact with the East Coast people. Of course, the East Coast people themselves didn't know about it, or even if they knew it, they wouldn't care.

From New Zealand to the east, the "Discovery" has been stably maintained in the sea area between 40-42 degrees south latitude.Due to the lack of land barriers, the wind and waves in this sea area are relatively strong, which makes the crew who sailed here for the first time extremely nervous.At this time, even Zhang Jinhua, who had been staying in his room before, ran to the deck, while carefully feeling the ups and downs and left and right tilt angles of this 1250-ton ship with a standard displacement of [-] tons on the constantly churning sea. The expedition team members on board carefully recorded this information.

These data are extremely valuable information that can provide reference for ships on the east coast that may sail on this route in the future.After all, even in later generations, this route is not a popular route, and a lot of information is not complete, so people from the east coast must explore one by one by themselves.

"Keep the speed, don't adjust the course temporarily in bad sea conditions, and at the same time grasp all kinds of information in the sea area along the way as detailed as possible—mainly the weather information." Zhang Jinhua stood on the deck, trying to stabilize his body, and followed Captain Shay, who was by his side, said: "The weather patterns in this sea area are extremely important to us, especially these rare and abnormal weather conditions. We need to figure out the reasons and background of these weathers. Some weather is not caused by a single Meteorology causes it, but the interaction of many weather systems."

"I understand. I have arranged for people to measure wind speed, air pressure, and temperature. Well, the humidity cannot be measured accurately for the time being, but can only be estimated." Captain Ji Wen echoed, "We will bring back the collected data to organize experts Carrying out analysis and research, maybe in the future, we can predict future weather changes, which are crucial for ships to avoid severe weather and improve the safety of ocean navigation."

Zhang Jinhua nodded, and then continued to observe the changes in the wind and waves at sea.Now there is no doubt that the expedition ship "Explorer" heading east by north is slowly sailing in the sea area at about 40.5 degrees south latitude. A section of cold air blowing from the southwest is covering the nearby sea area. The front is moving east-north, so the impact on the navigation of ships is not very great.

In the route along the edge of the westerly belt, whether it is the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean, there are often some cyclones blowing from the Southern Ocean (the ocean surrounding Antarctica), causing severe weather and strong winds and waves in the relevant sea areas.In this kind of sea conditions, ships powered by pure sails are quite dangerous, because once the direction of the cyclone is opposite to the course of the ship, it is hard to say what will happen in such a large wind and wave area.The Dutch ships to Batavia often took the westerly belt (going northward along the cold current after passing the coast of Western Australia), and many of them were unlucky enough to hit icebergs and encounter bad weather.Since the people on the east coast started the Far East immigration route, there have been three ships that have sunk in the waters around 40 degrees south latitude in recent years. will be higher.

The cold front lasted for a whole day, weakened slightly after nightfall, and gradually subsided at four or five in the morning.At this time, the wind and waves on the sea also decreased significantly, which indicated that the "Discovery" expedition ship successfully crossed a dangerous sea area again.

As if the bad luck had run out in the waters east of the Chatham Islands (encountering a cold front), the expedition ship "Discovery" basically went smoothly in the next voyage, except for a big encounter in the early morning of September 9. The storm caused two traffic boats and several artillery pieces to be blown into the sea, and one mast was broken. The ship saw the towering towering towers in the distance in the early morning of September 10th in a sea area with variable wind direction. mountains.

Maybe it's off the coast of Chile!Everyone involuntarily came up with this idea.Zhang Jinhua and Ji Wen met with the navigator on the "Explorer" to make calculations together, and then compared it with a confidential map, and found that the ship is probably in the complex sea area between the Jonos Islands.

After reaching this conclusion, Zhang Jinhua decisively ordered a change of course, and then the "Explorer" sailed southward at a low speed of 2.5-3 knots against the sea wind and ocean currents, and dragged its scarred body on September 9. In the evening, it slowly docked at the side of the port of Araucan, and the people on the shore were stunned.By this time, there were only 22 people left from the 107 people (including immigrants) who set off from Australia, including 85 crew members and 32 immigrants.

After a few days of emergency repairs in the port of Araucan, the "Discovery" unanchored again on September 9 and set sail for the Strait of Magellan.They will cross the strait along the westerly wind, and then go north to return to their homeland, Dongfang Port, to complete this feat of voyage around the world.

(End of this chapter)