On the wharf of the inner harbor of Luocha Port, a tall and wide sailing ship slowly raised its sails, ready to sail towards the open sea. This ship is a whaling ship newly purchased by the Ministry of Agriculture, built by a modern special shipyard, and the ship type has been enlarged and modified with reference to the original "Scud" class large flying shear transport ship: mainly with anti-roll and double-deck design.

The upper deck of the ship is wide and tidy, which makes it easy for sailors to pull up the whales they have hunted for processing, such as cutting whale fat, skinning and so on. Below deck is a mini-processing workshop, where a steam refinery is installed to process the whales in a timely manner, so that the whales' most valuable parts of the oil can be extracted in the first place. However, due to the small size of the ship, the processing capacity of the workshop is still relatively limited. But in any case, at least this ship already has the ability to hunt, handle, and refine independently.

The ship was delivered at the Fort Estuary dock at the end of last month, and because it was equipped with a large amount of fuel, fresh water, whaling equipment, processing equipment, self-defense artillery and other items, its standard displacement also reached more than 1,250 tons, and the full load displacement was nearly 1,700 tons, using a 62.8-horsepower Popeye-2 steam unit, plus eight large and small longitudinal sails (all installed in the rear half of the ship), and the standard speed was 10 knots. The captain is Zhang Yun, a 36th graduate of the Navigation School and a former Ming Dynasty child from Jiangsu, with a total of 60 crew members, including 24 gunners.

As the first whaling operation in the history of the East Coast Republic of China, the voyage of the whaling ship, named "Hunter 1", was unusually low-key, and there was no one else on the dock except for two officials from the Ministry of Agriculture who came to see it off. After handing over the departure paperwork to the terminal officer. Hunter 1 turned west-south. Heading along the coast of mainland South America towards Baleen Whale Harbor on the Falklands Islands.

Baleen Whale Harbour is located in the westerly winds of the Southern Hemisphere. The proximity to the Southern Ocean makes it extremely rich in whales. According to some later information, about 80% of the whales in the world lived in the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica. And when the Southern Ocean begins to enter winter and the waters freeze, large numbers of whales leave their habitats and look north in search of warmer water for food. At this time, it is a great opportunity for whaling, and ships from Spain and the east coast of the Falklands and La Plata often see huge whales on the surface.

It's just a pity that the people on the east coast lacked ships, equipment and sailors before. After a joint application by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the higher authorities finally decided to form the country's first whaling fleet and go to the Falklands to hunt whales. With the development of domestic industry, there are more and more places that need to use lubricating oil, and the general machine uses wax to deal with lubrication, but for some machines with higher requirements such as machine tools, marine steam engines and other equipment, more advanced lubricating oil is needed. In the past, the oil made from seals, sea lions and other animals killed by the residents of Baleen Whale Harbor on the Falklands was used to replace the lubricating oil, but unfortunately the quality of this lubricating oil is good, but the production has been very limited. And nowadays, with the number of machines increasing, seal oil is becoming less and less adequate. Therefore, the Government Council put whaling on the agenda.

Actually, seriously. In the southern hemisphere, you are really blind if you don't hunt whales, the whale resources here are several times that of the northern hemisphere, if the number of ships and equipment is sufficient, whaling alone can meet all the domestic lubricant demand, and even a large number of exports. Whales are almost full of treasures, fat, bones, internal organs, meat, skin, fins, etc., which can be used, and the value is extremely huge.

After sailing south at full speed for more than 10 days, the Hunter 1 sailed through the waves and entered the Falklands Baleen Whale Harbor on 20 September. After years of development, the population of Baleen Whale Harbor has reached more than 800 people, and the economy is mainly based on animal husbandry. The inhabitants of the island grow hardy potatoes and vegetables in the barren and cold land, as well as large herds of sheep, vicuñas, pigs and cattle.

There is also a military horse farm on the island, which is stocked with about 150 military horses, which are transported to the South African military horse farm whenever the number of horses is larger, and the number of horses in the South African military horse farm is transported to the Australian military horse farm after the number of horses is large to a certain extent. In addition to these, one of the few side jobs of the islanders is probably to hunt seals and sea lions on the nearby islands on a regular basis for fur and lubricant. Sometimes they will go to the deserted uninhabited islands to dig up some of the feces of albatrosses, seals, sea lions and other animals that have been accumulated over the years, and sell them back to their homeland in exchange for some cash income from Weibo.

All in all, despite its geographical importance, the Falklands Baleen Whale Harbor is still very inconspicuous on the map of the East Coast Republic of China, and it is still synonymous with poverty and remoteness, and the local residents even laugh at themselves that only sailors remember this place, they belong to the forgotten.

After resting in Baleen Whale Harbor for a few days and replenishing some potatoes, onions, and oranges, on 25 September, Hunter 1 picked a fine day, pulled anchor and left the harbor, heading south, where large whales are said to be frequent. However, although the whale is large, it is still an inconspicuous spot in the vast sea, so the search for whales has been very difficult and boring.

After five or six days on the sea, on October 1st, perhaps just in time, the lookout post on the "Hunter 1" let out an excited shout: "Whale column!" I saw the whale spewing out of the water column! Right in front of the left! ”

The watchman's shout immediately reached the ears of everyone on the deck, and Zhang Yun, who had just eaten lunch and was a little drowsy, was immediately excited, only to see him walk quickly to the stern deck, raise his monoculars and take a closer look in the direction pointed out by the lookout.

"It's a sperm whale!" Zhang Yun put down the binoculars, recalled the whale illustrated book he trained before departure, and said: "The body length is about less than 20 meters, and most of the body is exposed on the sea, he is a big guy!" Luciano, turn the bow of the ship and chase it! Ricardo, is the whaling cannon ready? ”

Captain Luciano commanded the sailors, with the help of a steam engine, to turn the boom as hard as the propeller at the stern spun at high speed, heading towards the huge sperm whale. At the same time, boatswain Ricardo on deck also began to shout to the gunners operating the whaling guns to start preparing for firing. The whaling cannon was more of a large-caliber musket than a cannon, with a metal whaling fork tucked into the barrel at the end and a thick line attached to it, which was threaded through a thread hole in the side of the ship, and the other end wrapped around a wooden drum on the ship.

The "Hunter 1" quickly approached the surface of the sea about ten meters away from the adult sperm whale, and the gunner operating the whaling cannon took aim and aim, and then looked at the boatswain with expectant eyes. Boatswain Ricardo looked at Captain Zhang Yun, who had already walked to the deck, Zhang Yun quietly wiped his sweaty palms, and then said resolutely: "Shoot!" ”

"Huh" The sharp barbed whaling fork was pushed by the high-pressure gas generated by the combustion of gunpowder in the barrel, and pierced straight into the body of the sperm whale not far away.

"I hit!" The gunner shouted excitedly, but no one paid attention to him, and everyone's attention was on the whale that was shaking violently from pain. The sperm whale's tail fin swayed violently, and the surrounding large expanse of water was stirred violently.

"Drop the line!" Zhang Yun ordered loudly. Several sailors quickly rushed to the wooden drum wrapped around the fishing line, which was already rolling rapidly under the action of the whale, and the sailors turned the handle to release the line into the sea, and at the same time lifted a bucket of seawater and poured it on the line to prevent the line from heating and catching fire due to the rapid friction.

"Boatswain, take someone down on a whaling boat, and give this big guy another time!" Zhang Yun looked at the churning whale and continued to order. The boatswain saluted, then picked a dozen sailors and lowered a dinghy to the surface with the assistance of a steam boom. There was a forked whaling rifle on the dinghy, and a whaling spear attached to the stern by a rope, which could also be fired with this musket.

The sperm whale's vitality is tenacious, and although a sharp harpoon is inserted into its body, it still churns on the surface of the sea, tightening the fishing line on the "Hunter 1". Fortunately, the ship was designed with the roll problem in mind, and there were pressed bottom irons on both sides of the ship, so this big guy weighing dozens of tons could not do anything about the big ship, at most just let it shake it gently.

After tossing back and forth for a while, the sperm whale suddenly sank head-down, and its huge tail fin rose sharply above the water.

"It's going to dive!" Boatswain Ricar, who had just descended to the surface, let out a roar and ordered the sailors to quickly paddle towards the place where the whale was diving. By the time they rowed nearby, the sperm whale's huge tail fin had split through the sea and disappeared into the sea. However, at this time, the straight fishing line in the rope hole on the side of the "Hunter 1" ship was still telling everyone that the whale still could not escape.

"Slowly reel in the line." Zhang Yun ordered the sailors who operated the fishing line roller. The whale fork was stabbed in its body, and the sperm whale could not dive freely, so it quickly resurfaced. Perhaps the sprint dive had consumed too much of its physical strength, and it slowly swam on the surface of the sea, spewing out a jet of water from time to time.

"Whew"! The sharp sound of breaking the air sounded again, and the whaling spear shot from the whaling dinghy also pierced the back of the sperm whale's eye, and the spearhead with the blood groove penetrated deep into the flesh, and a large cloud of whale blood spurted out from the wound like a broken fire hose, staining the nearby sea water red. (To be continued......)