On July 1o, 1647, in the Falklands Baleen Whale Harbor, heavy snow and heavy waves made it difficult for the captain of the battleship "East Coast" to sail safely into the relatively calm harbor.

Even in the cold midwinter, operating such a huge ship to dock safely in a high-latitude harbor in such harsh sea conditions is still a very test of people's skills and courage. The captain of the East Coast, though he had withstood the test, was still drenched in sweat and fear, and he could not imagine the skill and luck required for a purely sail-powered ship to enter and leave Baleen Whale Harbor. And for those Dutch whaling ships that have safely sailed into baleen whale harbor for shelter during these days, he can only say a word of admiration from the bottom of his heart.

At this time, there were more than 20 ships moored in the small baleen whale harbor, which is absolutely rare for the Falklands, which has been untouched all year round. It is surprising that there are so many ships at once in this alpine port, which has less than a thousand official inhabitants, and where only a small number of hardy crops (potatoes, rye) are cultivated, and livestock (vicuñas, sheep) are predominant. You must know that a few years ago, Baleen Whale Harbor was generally only a fixed east coast to South Africa ships passing here for replenishment, by the way, replenishment here, you can hardly see more than three ships at the same time in the harbor, many times only one ship is lonely anchored in the harbor waiting for the good weather to sail.

Today, however, the battleship "East Coast" that had just entered service brought four squid fishing boats, two cod fishing ships, and one whaling ship of the South China Sea Fisheries Company, as well as two ammunition supply ships of the First Fleet, one troop transport ship (carrying 300 Guaraní, 300 Klandis, and some coal), one water supply ship, and one coal carrier, carrying a large number of personnel, ammunition, coal, food, medical supplies, and other supplies.

Among these vessels are the fishing vessels of the South China Sea Transport Company. The rest of the ships are from the First Fleet. They familiarize themselves with the route. While he began to hoard personnel and supplies in Baleen Whale Harbor, anyone with a little brains could guess what he wanted. Although the main force of the Navy has not yet returned from Europe, the First Fleet of the Navy still has one battleship, three frigates, and six river shallow gunboats remaining in the country, and such strength cannot be underestimated by the Spanish and Peruvian fleets.

The Peruvian fleet of the Spanish Royal Navy, stationed in Callao, had only five main warships, but it was shouldering a rather heavy task, and it did not dare to leave the coast of the line from Chile to Panama lightly. In the second half of the 16th century, the coastline was often bustled with pirate ships from England, France and the Netherlands, waiting to raid Spanish ships transporting supplies or silver bullion (from Valdivia to Callao).

And since the rise of the East Coasters, such attacks have become more frequent. They were apparently well supplied within the ports of the people on the east coast, so much so that they were able to stay longer within the Pacific coast of the Kingdom of Spain. For example, the Dutch West India Company, a company that had been in poor financial condition, insisted on sending pirate ships to the coasts of Chile and Peru for nearly a decade, much to the anger of the Spaniards.

But they could only be angry, after all, the people on the East Coast had never rolled up their sleeves and went to the Pacific to commit piracy, and at most they bought some stolen goods from the pirates, and they were beyond reproach in this regard. Moreover, the strength of the Peruvian fleet has been declining in recent years, and there have been no new ships for many years, and the few warships that have to protect the vast coastline are still safe. I can't leave. Thus, even after the two countries officially went to war, the Spanish-Peruvian fleet never considered leaving the Pacific Ocean and entering the Atlantic Ocean to attack the sea lines of the people on the east coast. If you don't want to, you can't!

But just because the Spaniards can't come doesn't mean that the East Coasters won't come! Although the civilian officials are already collectively trying to end the war as best they can in order to absorb the fruits of victory—newly occupied land, captured money, livestock, etc.—the military forces still have no intention of ending the war, at least for the time being, and their appetite is clearly greater than that of the civilian officials. Like the greedy python, they tried to swallow the fertile La Plata in one fell swoop, and even after plundering a large number of gold and silver livestock, they wanted to cross the Strait of Magellan and go to the rich coasts of Chile and Peru to raid the Spanish towns, plunder their money, and defeat the enemy's will to war.

Although the civilians were very keen to end the war as much as possible, they knew that this would not work on their own, and they needed the nod of the Spaniards to agree. And in order to convince the Spaniards, the necessary military action was indeed inevitable and at the same time the most effective. Therefore, they had to continue to grit their teeth and raise war materials to continue to cooperate with the actions of the military department, for which the treasury treasury was almost invisible not even a single mouse hair.

This time, the battleship "East Coast Doctrine" came over with a slip of ship to make a forward stop for the next operation. Considering that these ships had only been in service for a long time, the ships needed to be run-in, and the crews were inexperienced, the voyage was organized to familiarize the sailors with the route, and to store a certain amount of war materials in the harbor for the next westward crossing of the Strait of Magellan.

Of course, not all the ships of the Navy's First Fleet came with warships, and the seven fishing boats of the South China Sea Fisheries Company (with twice as many people) also followed. Among them, four squid fishing boats, which had previously fished for squid in the waters around 43 degrees south latitude, had now followed the navy to the waters off the Falklands - mainly because they had heard from Dutch sailors who were whaling here that there were squid (squid) off the coast of Baleen Whale Harbour.

As for what you said about the high winds and high waves, the boats are not safe or something. Big brother, please look at the Dutch whaling boats, but they are only 1oo tons, 2oo tons, and the squid fishing boats of the people on the east coast must not be considered small, don't you see Magellan's more than 100-ton boat crossing the Strait of Magellan to make a round-the-world voyage?

With the exception of the squid fishing boats, the situation is similar for the other two cod fishing vessels. They had a lot of fun catching hake in the waters around the six large Patagonian planes, each boat could catch more than 10,000 fish per month, but over time the catch would definitely drop slightly, so this time they also divided two boats to the waters near the Falklands to catch African cod, which is rich in resources, while the other two cod fishing boats still stayed in the waters near Patagonia to patrol and train sailors.

Whether it is the extremely rich fish resources of the Falklands, such as gun squid and African cod, or the few fish such as slippery fish and blue cod, they are all good things that can greatly enrich the table of the people on the east coast, so it is worth sending boats from the South China Sea Fishery Company to fish here.

In addition to these six vessels, a fully functional whaling vessel, the Hunter 7, also followed the fleet and quietly sailed into the harbor, bringing the total number of whaling vessels operating in the waters off the Falklands to eight (including a supply vessel).

It's a great time to hunt whales. Because the weather in the southern hemisphere begins to get colder at this time, a large number of whales that originally frolicked in the Zhangyun Sea (Weddell Sea) began to move north due to the freezing of the sea, looking for relatively warm waters and rich food sources to spend the winter, and the waters near the Falklands Island are the ideal habitat for these sea giants.

In the waters east of Baleen Whale Harbor, whaling sailors all over the world often see whales floating slowly on the surface of the sea. And every time this happens, it's their chance to make money. Those brave Dutch whaling sailors sailed more than a dozen tons of dinghy, approached the whales in the wind and waves, and then harvested their prey with extraordinary courage and wisdom.

In the past, when the Dutch whaled on Spitzbergen Island, they often just cut the blubber at sea and threw away the rest, which was too wasteful and would also reduce the income of the whaling crew. After hearing that the East Coast people bought all the whale meat, whale skin, whale bones, whale entrails and other whale items that they had abandoned in the past, and the whale resources here are indeed very rich, a large number of Dutch whaling ships flocked here and began to hunt whales for the East Coasters.

There are currently 21 foreign whaling vessels active in the nearby waters, including 16 from the Netherlands, 3 from England, 1 from Denmark and 1 from the Spanish Basque Country, plus the whaling ships of the East Coast, which can hunt an average of 15-18 whales per month a year.

All whales are purchased by Baleen Whale Port, and after processing, an average of about 17o tons of whale oil, 38 tons of whale skin (fresh skin, non-salt skin), 41o tons of whale meat (or more than 13o tons of whale jerky), 5o tons of whalebone meal (high-quality nitrogen and phosphorus compound fertilizer), 2.75 tons of cod liver oil (rich in vitamin A, D, children's health products), as well as a large number of fish fins (famous dishes), whale baleen (clothing), fish intestines (raincoats, covers) and other useful substances, the output value is huge, 120,000 yuan per month. These have undoubtedly strongly supported the construction of industry and agriculture in China and enriched the commodity market.

After unloading their supplies, the ships of the Navy's First Fleet, led by the battleship "East Coast Doctrine," stayed in the harbor for two days, replenishing the fleet with fresh fresh water, vegetables, pickled whale meat, flour, and other fresh water, and then sailed out of the harbor one after another and embarked on the return journey. And the date of their next arrival is believed not to be too far away. Maybe in August, maybe in September, maybe with a large 6th Army, in a word, it would be a nightmare for the Spaniards. (To be continued......)

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