One might ask – why not establish a trading post at the mouth of the land river? Actually, this question, the Portuguese have also tried.

However, Senegal is not the same as the Gulf of Guinea. The West African region of the Gulf of Guinea is surrounded by tropical rainforests along the coast. There, rivers are not uncommon. And when the Portuguese colonists landed on land, the locals didn't care too much.

But Senegal is different, it has a savannah climate, and a little further north, the Sahara Desert. It is a semi-arid region, and rivers are precious. And the area of the estuary is also a treasure. If the Portuguese dared to land without permission, it would attract an attack from the local natives. After all, the establishment of a colonial stronghold by the Portuguese at the mouth of the river would affect the local people's access to water. It may be okay in a place where there is no shortage of water, but if you build a colony in a place where there is a shortage of water, you will be beaten by the locals.

The other is that the ratio of input to output is not worth it. You know, in this year, the gold resources of Senegal have not yet been discovered. The Portuguese mainly traded with the locals for golden sands in the northern shore of the Gulf of Guinea. Without gold, the Portuguese wouldn't have ventured to land and build castles with the locals. The ivory and rhino horn resources were obviously not enough for the Portuguese to send troops to fight the local natives.

Therefore, Gorée Island is just a relatively weak stronghold. Here, only a limited amount of ivory and rhino horn can be purchased from the local natives, and it is not very cost-effective to spend a lot of money every year to repair the boats. Therefore, no big family attaches importance to it, and only small families are willing to take over. Today, the Duke of Coimbra, Jorge. Morality. Lencastree wanted the island, and the Sereu family decisively traded it for part of the benefits of Madeira. After all, Madeira is a place that is closer to the mainland and has a more stable income.

……

Eschwein's renovation of the dock was actually a solution to the problem of maggots gnawing at the bottom of the ship......

His solution was simple – dig two small ponds with gates on the pier, just enough to accommodate boats. After the boat enters the small pond, close the gates.

Eschwein then had the workers remove bags of quicklime from the boat, take some out, and pour them into the pond......

Suddenly, the pond began to boil. The limestone and seawater react violently, emitting a large amount of heat and blisters, tumbling in the pond. The temperature of the water in the pond has also risen sharply.

Then, the maggots attached to the bottom of the two ships were all boiled to death......

And because the pond has a sluice gate, it is cut off from the outside sea. Therefore, the maggots in the sea outside cannot enter. Before the gates are opened, boats can stay in the pond for as long as they like without worrying about the hazards of maggots.

This method was seen on the Internet in Marin's previous life. I don't remember when Marlin was invented, but it's certainly not very popular at the moment. Because, according to records, on Columbus's fourth voyage in 1502, the fleet was seriously damaged by maggots, so Columbus had to stop the fleet in the Caribbean for a long time.

The most famous ship maggot hazard incident is the Anglo-Spanish naval battle in 1588, the Spanish Armada, because of the strong erosion of the ship maggot on the battleship, the hull structure of the Spanish battleship was seriously damaged, and some of the battleships were damaged by the blow of the British shells, which caused the serious damage of the ship maggot decay, resulting in water leakage and silence. And some of them simply leaked and sank due to the wind and waves.

The mighty "Invincible Armada", with the help of the maggots, lost to England, which was still relatively weak at that time. And the British, too, began to gain self-confidence and began to challenge Spain's hegemony in the Americas. Historically, the first British colony in North America, Virginia, was not established until 1607.

……

In other words, European countries, in fact, do not have a mature plan to deal with sea maggots. Otherwise, Spain would not have lost to the English in 1588.

In fact, Marin had mastered the method of nailing the bottom of the ship with nickel iron to prevent maggots from gnawing at the bottom of the ship. But the problem is that the fur company on the island of Gorée is Marín and the Duke of Coimbra, Jorge. Morality. Lencastrey Joint Venture.

That is, on the base of Île Gorée, there are not only Marin's people, but also the Duke of Coimbra, Jorge. Morality. The men of Rencastre's men. After all, the two sides have long agreed - the fur will go to Marin, and the ivory and rhino horn will go to Jorge, the Duke of Coimbra. Morality. Lencastre......

Therefore, in the presence of outsiders, Marin does not want anyone to see that the North Sea State has solved the problem of ship maggots. Even if the nickel-iron sheet on the bottom of the boat is painted, it is easy to be seen. So, Marin needed a compromise solution to keep his secrets from being seen.

After thinking about it, Marin came up with the stupid way of boiling dead ship maggots with quicklime. This is not a clever solution, but it can protect ships to a great extent, and can make it possible for the docks of Gorée Island to moor ships for a long time.

Anyway, when you send a ship from the mainland, you can bring more quicklime. And every time you clean up the maggots, you don't need a few bags of quicklime. As long as quicklime is concentrated on the bottom of the ship, the heat released when the quicklime reacts with the water, as well as the strong alkalinity of the hydrated lime, are enough to kill the ship maggots attached to the bottom of the ship.

As for small and medium-sized ships traveling to and from the mainland, Eschwein also has a corresponding plan - if the boat returns to berth, it will be directly hoisted with a pulley block to make the boat hang in the air and dry. Boat maggots cannot survive in a waterless environment and die naturally.

Finally medium-sized boats, because it is difficult to suspend with a pulley set. So, dig a few small ponds and install the gates. The principle of killing ship maggots is similar to that of a large ship. Also, less quicklime is used.

Quicklime is not valuable, and every time you use it, it doesn't cost much. Compared to expensive ships, quicklime is not worth mentioning. Of course, it's not cheap. After all, labor costs in Europe have always been high.

But Marin's original intention was not to use this method to deal with the ship maggots, but to confuse the Duke of Coimbra, Jorge. Morality. Lencastre.

Although the two are business partners, they are not from the same country after all. Maybe one day, Marin will turn against Portugal and war will break out between the two sides. When the time comes, will Marin still be able to fight with the Duke of Coimbra, Jorge. Morality. It is difficult to say that Lencastel maintained friendly relations.

Although it is said that the Duke of Coimbra, Jorge. Morality. Lencastre had a poor relationship with the current King of Portugal, Manuel I. However, Jorge. Morality. Lencastre, after all, is Portuguese and also lives in Lisbon.

If Marin nails iron sheets in the bottom of the ship to prevent ship maggots, the method is Jorge. Morality. Rencastel knew it, and he would surely imitate it too. Then, his ship always had to return to Portugal, right? As long as you return to Lisbon to anchor, the secret cannot be kept. At that time, the Portuguese will also learn this technique.

Apparently, Marin did not intend to tell the Portuguese about this secret. So, he came up with a compromise - using an enclosed pond to moor the boat, and using the lime boiling method to kill the ship maggots.

This method may seem simple, but it has many limitations. For example, it's okay to use it in places close to Europe. If it is too far from the European mainland, the transportation of quicklime alone is a huge trouble. The cost is large and the quantity is small. After all, it is even more difficult to obtain quicklime if you can't find a mooring spot with fresh water too far from the mainland......

Therefore, the method given by Marin seems to be very good, but there are actually many restrictions. Only a region like Senegal, which is closer to the European mainland, is more suitable for this method. Moreover, this approach also has a significant cost. Unlike nickel-iron sheets nailed to the bottom of a ship, it can be done once and for all......

In addition, at the port of Laayoune, near the Canary Islands, Marin intends to use this method as well. Spanish ships often passed through there, and Laayoune's ships transporting phosphate rock often replenished fresh water and food in the Canary Islands. Therefore, the method of boiling lime water can also confuse the Spaniards at the same time......

Everyone paid attention to the method of boiling lime water to deal with ship maggots, and the method of nailing iron sheets to the bottom of the ship was naturally less noticeable. Moreover, Marlin will also paint the exterior of the iron sheet to cover it up......