Blanquilla Island is a low-lying lime island surrounded by gently sloping white sand beaches covered with fine grains of sand. This gently sloping sandy beach is important for pirates who lack infrastructure.

During this time, Chen Shouxu captured three carpenters, one of whom volunteered to stay and join the pirates. Chen Shouxu said to the other two, "Help us repair the ship quietly, and I will let you go next time I loot the ship." Otherwise, I will abandon you on this desert island. ”

Quiet or not, the carpenters went to work trembling under the threat of knives and guns. The pirates cut down trees on the island, made four large winches from parts from the ship, and sharpened hundreds of poles.

Blanquilla Island is an uninhabited island, inhabited only by parrots and boobies. Because of the many sandy beaches made of limestone and shells, Venezuelans occasionally come to the island to calcine the lime and have some simple facilities. The pirates took advantage of it, and with the exception of the loggers and fishers, the rest of the sailors were involved in the lime production.

Once all the materials were ready, the Storm unloaded the cannon and cargo. Chen Shouxu took advantage of a gentle tide to bring the boat to the shore. Tied to the bow and tail and hull with cables, all the sailors gathered around the winch, which was used to pull up the hull until the keel was completely exposed to the sea, and then the hull was held firmly with struts.

The Tempest's bottom was painted in black, using wood tar and pine gum mixed with sulphur and hair. The seams of every plank and the entire bottom of the Tempest were painted with this unsightly thing.

The tropical waters look crystal clear in the sun, but in reality they are filled with unseen plankton, barnacles and larvae of ship maggots. Barnacles still cling to the surface of the ship, slowing it down, and the maggots can completely disintegrate an unprotected plank in a matter of months.

The ship maggot is slender and long, and is a maggot-like shell that has a small shell that only retains a small piece of its head. The maggots use these two small shells, like the drill bits of a shield machine, to drill through the planks of the sailboat and reproduce and spread all over the bottom of the ship. Minor impacts can cause water leaks in all directions, while serious ships will fall apart at sea.

In order to slow down the corrosion of maggots, the bottom of the sailboat needs to be coated with a layer of protection. Battleships usually use white material made of whale oil, which is more effective but expensive, and merchant ships and civilian ships generally use cheap black material. In temperate waters, maggots grow and reproduce slowly, and it usually takes half a year to penetrate the protective layer of the bottom of the ship, but in this terrible Caribbean Sea, if they are not cleaned up for 3 months, ship maggots can burrow into the hull.

The sailors pulled up the bottom of the boat and examined it carefully, and the coating was relatively intact in most places, but in a few places the maggots had broken through the coating.

The chairman of the board of directors, Drip, is very experienced in dealing with these things, and he walked up to Chen Shouxu's side, "Captain, there may be ship maggots that have already gotten in. To be on the safe side, let's burn it with fire. ”

"Do a good job of fire prevention, you just do it."

The sailors agreed, using the ship's reed mats, unused canvas and other materials soaked in seawater, and spread above the waterline. Then the bottom of the boat was set on fire.

The wood tar and pine gum were flammable, and soon the bottom of the boat was on fire, and a layer of flame spread over half of the bottom of the boat in the open air, roasting barnacles and other attachments with a crackling sound.

The flames not only swept away the surface of the ship's bottom, but also completely killed other parasites such as ship maggots in unseen places. It is easier to use fire than to manually clean the bottom of the ship, but this heat must be mastered, otherwise it will be bad if the ship board is burned through. Seeing that the coating was about to burn, Drep commanded the prepared sailors to quickly extinguish the fire. Seawater was poured on it, making a noise, and steaming mist filled the hull of the ship.

When the flames were extinguished and the mist cleared, the sailors carefully inspected the bottom of the ship and, when they found it to be all right, applied the white mixture of whale oil, lime and sulphur used for this time. After the painting is completed, the bottom of the boat turns a snow-white color from a distance, but it is actually uneven when you look closely. This is the best way to do this before wrapping the bottom of the boat with copper skin and copper-zinc alloy nails.

The paint dried, and the crew carefully lowered the boat, pulled it around with the cooperation of the captive boat, and re-pulled it on the other side to repeat the process. The whole process is very laborious and costly. And that's just a ship, and if there is a large fleet, this consumption is simply astronomical.

It's not that ancient China didn't have a maritime mindset, but when there were better options on the mainland, it was difficult to maintain a large fleet for long periods of time due to costs like these. Many of the merchant ships built in China are disposable, and they can make do with some inferior ship materials, and sell them together with the ship and goods after a trip to the South Seas.

It took more than half a month for the Storm to completely clean the bottom of the ship, and Chen Shouxu once again had a three-month service cycle. The captive ship was useless, and Chen Shouxu should have burned the ship, but when he saw the food that the Tempest could not hold, he felt a little pity, so he took advantage of the tide to drive the captive ship to the beach and ran it aground, fixed it with an anchor, and discarded it there.

Then came the final leg of the Banshee's scheduled voyage, Curacao, the strongest Dutch stronghold on the northern coast of the South American continent.

Curacao is also a relatively arid island, without the mangrove swamps that dot the coast and thousands of mosquitoes. Surrounded by white sand beaches and pale blue bays, the island is far from the Caribbean hurricane belt and has a natural harbour. On the heights outside the Dutchman's Willemstad, the towering Neusa Castle overlooks the harbor. Heavy artillery of 24 pounder and above completely covered the entire city, and to conquer such a complete fortress, in addition to a long siege, it would have to be filled with ten times as many human lives.

As the patrol ships approached the harbor, the Tempest folded most of its sails and stopped sailing into the wind. The patrol boat climbed up four Dutchmen, two of whom were soldiers of the West India Company and one pot-bellied who was the tax collector of the port.

Maiden greeted him and negotiated with the fat man for a while, because Chen Shouxu could only understand a few Dutch words, and he had to rely on the Germans to communicate with the Dutch. Maiden pointed at Chen Shouxu as he spoke, both of them had loud voices, and finally shook his head and walked over.

"What did he say?"

"This Dutch fat man says that we are not ships hired by the West India Company, nor are we from any neutral country. The port did not allow us to enter. ”

"Where's the Banshee's privateer license?"

"It's useless, we don't have any evidence."

Chen Shouxu nodded, "So, the Banshee hasn't been to Curacao?" ”

"This fat man has never heard of it."

"If you really can't enter the port, forget it, run for nothing, let's go."

"The fat man said that he would have to pay if he left."

Chen Shouxu spit out a national scolding, "We didn't enter Hong Kong, why should we pay him?" ”

Maiden spread his hands, "He said that we illegally used the Dutch flag and broke into Dutch waters. A fine is payable. ”

Chen Shouxu was angry, "I didn't pay the money, but I can send her a few bullets." Didn't he see that we were pirates? ”

"I told him about it, and he said he knew. The Tempest was now famous, and the character of our ship was so distinct, he could see it at a glance. But he said that even the most famous pirates had to pay when they came to his territory. ”

"I think he's asking for money and dying!"

Maiden saw that Chen Shouxu was about to pull out his gun, and hurriedly persuaded him.

While the stalemate was at a standstill, the port sent another small boat to come up.

A younger official walked up to the tax officer and whispered a few words, the fat man's expression seemed a little surprised, and finally nodded helplessly in agreement.

Chen Shouxu asked Maiden, "What kind of tricks are they doing?" ”

Maiden shook his head and said he didn't know either.

The Dutch official who came up later stepped forward, gave a salute, and said, "Dear Captain of Order, our Governor invites you to come to the island, he wants to meet you. ”

In the Caribbean, the story of piracy is like a legendary story, spread quickly by various people.

Chen Shouxu frowned, he had never dealt with Dutch officials, and his first reaction was to refuse, "I'm sorry, I don't know your governor, and I don't need to find your governor, so I won't meet." ”

"The Governor says he has a business, and you will certainly be interested, Captain."

Chen Shouxu hesitated, but Maiden suggested that he agree.

"I still know some people in the West India Company, and there should be no problem with the safety of the island."

"Okay then." Chen Shouxu agreed.

The Dutch official turned around and went back to his life, and Chen Shouxu was preparing to dock at the port under the guidance of the pilot. Unexpectedly, the Dutch fat man spoke again, "Wait, although the governor has allowed you to enter the port, I still have to inspect your cabin, and the goods on board must be registered and paid taxes before entering the port." ”

Chen Shouxuan was angry, and the governor's subordinates had expressions of helplessness. This can't be helped, fat people also do things according to the rules, but ordinary people rarely take it so seriously.

I had to let the fat man take people into the cabin, and inspected the few seized goods on the Tempest, which were indeed very few, and most of them were accumulated before the storm.

A sailor took out a dagger, licked the tip of the knife with his tongue, and made a motion to wipe his neck. But the fat man turned a blind eye and used a quill pen and a notebook to register the goods. Chen Shouxu was speechless, but he also admired it a little.

After completing the port entry procedures, the fat man left the ship. The Tempest slowly approached Willemstad's trestle. Several ships were moored in the harbor, and in addition to the two Frut merchant ships of the West India Company, there were also two combat Yahats. In addition to these distinctly Dutch-style ships, there were several mixed ship types, all with gun doors on their hulls.

Perhaps because it was so close to the Spanish mainland, Chen Shouxu felt different from other places as soon as he set foot in the port. Everyone was in a hurry, and there was tension in the air.

"It's kind of like entering the battlefield." Maiden took a deep breath, "It's a familiar smell." ”

Chen Shouxu glanced at Maiden deeply, this business may not be easy, if the Dutch governor wants to requisition the Storm to fight the Spanish army, he will not accept it. Drap, Fraser, and Robert were ordered to guard the ship and that no one was allowed to enter the city until Chen Shouxu returned.