After leaving Batavia, the Tasman's expedition entered the Sunda Strait without stopping at Banten, arriving at the Princes' Island (Panitan Island), which is at X on the island of Great Java

The Hemskek and Zehan routinely docked at the Princes' Islands to wait for the wind and replenish fresh water. The Orange flag flew high above the mast, and the pirates of the Channel were silent.

The Hemskek underwent a second roll call with a crew of 78 people. Captain Tasman, senior navigator of Fishair, one senior helmsman, two junior helmsmen, replacing the first mate and second officer with the shift, the second officer being Enzo. A ship-based ombudsman. Lao Wu is one of the two non-commissioned officers, who are responsible for the communication between the shift guard post and the expedition ship. An attending military doctor and a military medical assistant. An artillery officer and four assistants. A ship-accompanying priest and a cartographer. In addition, there were several scholars who accompanied the expedition on the ship. The staffing on board the Zehan was broadly similar, with the captain being the deputy commander of the voyage, Major Visch.

It is about to sail into the Indian Ocean, and after the flagship roll call is completed, manpower will be allocated. As is customary, the crew of the ship is divided into two teams, one for the prince and the other for the Earl of Maurice. Except for the captain, senior navigator, inspector, priest, scholar, cook, etc., everyone else was assigned to one of the teams. Tasman posted two charts on the mainmast so that everyone could clearly see where they belonged, and the order and time of each person's duty was indicated on the table.

Enzo was on the Earl of Morris's team and had to take the dog class on his first day. The dog class was the hardest class, and later the British split the dog class into two shifts of 2 hours each in order to reduce the burden. The Dutch have not yet reformed, and the dog class is still 4 hours before the morning.

There was a chiming clock in front of the stern, and the officer in charge had four hourglasses, which rang more than once every half hour, and by the time the fourth hour was over, the bell had already sounded.

Wu Zhixiang was assigned to the prince's team, and he first arranged for two sailors to carry out the mainmast lookout, and if it were not for the extremely bad weather, there would always be people on the lookout.

Tasman announced the discipline of navigation, in addition to the usual rules, mainly requiring the crew to use as little force as possible when encountering the natives, to find ways to try to establish good relations with the natives, to give respect to the barbaric and backward natives as much as possible, and to use peaceful means in exchange for supplies.

After the disbandment, Enzo had time to take a closer look at the ship while he was at anchorage.

The Hemskek is a sturdy expedition ship.

The requirements of the expedition ship are different from that of the merchant ship and the warship, the expedition ship cannot be large, the draft is too large and too deep will be very unfavorable for navigation, and the large ship will not be flexible enough in complex sea conditions, and it will be difficult to repair in case of damage.

The age of the expedition ship should be new, and the planks should not be riddled with holes drilled by maggots. Enough food and reserves for the voyage. The speed is generally relatively fast, the structure is sturdy, and there is some armament but not too strong.

Expedition is not a war, a strong dragon can hardly suppress the head snake, even if there is a generation difference in weapons, it is very dangerous to rashly challenge the natives who are familiar with the climate and geography, and the Spaniards have a lot of blood and tears on this point. With six 4-pounder cannons and eight slalom guns, the Hemskek had only enough firepower for self-defense, as was the case with the Zehan.

After walking through the whole ship, Enzo had some regrets, although the Dutch had tried their best to choose, but this expedition ship still adhered to the inherent shortcomings of the Dutch ship, the front and rear masts were too high, the bow was heavy, and the wind performance was very average. Of course, the Dutch ship was already better than the Spanish one, and the sail outfits and rigging were more reasonable than the Spanish ones.

On the stairs on the lower deck, Enzo and Wu Zhixiang passed by and greeted each other. Because he was on night duty, Enzo returned to his hammock early and lay down to rest.

The sailing plan was not smooth from the start, and in order to catch the southern hemisphere summer, Fishair had to sail during the southerly wind. The expedition waited for three days at the Princes' Islands without a suitable wind direction.

At the officers' council, Fishair strongly demanded that the southwest wind be ignored and set sail. In Enzo's view, Tasman was a cautious captain, and he was undecided. The Senate voted and the majority voted in favor of sailing. The members of the Council sign the minutes of the meeting and keep them on file.

Tasman was a typical East India Company captain who was proficient in dead reckoning. Unlike the Spanish navigator, he was not a glorious otherworldly hero.

Maybe that's not a bad thing, Enzo thought.

Two expedition ships left the Princes' Islands. Sailing in the wind is different from the downwind schedule, and the workload of the wind is much larger. In the high sea, the side is changed every 2 hours, and the corresponding duty time is 2 hours.

Enzo and the first mate took turns in battle. During his ten years with the East India Company, Enzo spent half of his time in the Indian Ocean. He is familiar with the sea conditions here and the Dutch, and there is no difficulty.

The wind is hard and the damage to the ship is relatively large, but fortunately, it is not against the current. The expedition approached the island of Mauritius step by step.

Between the islands of Mauritius, Madagascar and the Cape of Good Hope is a sea of storms, another sea that is intimidating to Dutch sailors.

Tasman promised that whoever discovered the island of Mauritius, named after Prince Maurice, would receive a silver prize of 10 guilders. So the sailors on the ship opened their eyes wide and watched closely ahead.

Early in the morning, when the exhilarating sound of "land" came from the lookout, the crew poured onto the deck, and the highest mountain on the island of Mauritius was clearly visible in the distance, and the crew rejoiced that they had successfully reached their first goal.

But God forbids you, and the joy quickly fades, and it is nothing but a dream to be safe and sound. The safety measures taken by the expedition ships according to their orientation and latitude are far less than those of God's master. Without waiting for Enzo to think about it, the sky was dark and the wind was raging. To the horror of the sailors, the hull of the ship rattled in the huge waves, and a terrible popping sound erupted.

The captain straightened up in the stern, no longer divided into shifts, and everyone was engaged in work. The bravest sailors climbed the mast, put away the sails, and the top masts, and the top trusses were all lowered. In the end, even the main truss of the foremast was lowered. The hull of the ship began to seep water, and those who were not involved in the operation of the boat were engaged in the work of draining the water.

The Hemskek is a sturdy sea-going ship with no major holes in its hull. This made Enzo very happy.

The waves lifted the port side high, and a sailor was knocked into the sea and disappeared from view in an instant. Everyone looked at Tasman, and the captain shook his head resolutely. In this kind of sea condition, he can't send people to the sea to rescue, so that for one person, he will definitely catch the entire rescue team.

The crew put away the sadness in their hearts and continued to fight against the sea.

Within a short sight distance from the island of Mauritius, the expedition ship struggled in the storm for two full days until the wind and waves subsided. The Zehan vanished from view, and Tasman made no attempt to find the friendly ship. The island of Mauritius is in sight, and if there is no accident, the Zehan will definitely anchor at the island.

Carefully skirt the reef and drive along the coast into a sheltered harbor. The Dutch did not have a garrison on the island of Mauritius, but they built improvised facilities for merchant ships who had to anchor on the island.

The Hemskek was in good use. While the ship was at anchor, there was another accident. One of the sailors who was in the foremast dropped the mast, hit the large iron anchor, and fell into the sea. The blood immediately spread on the surface of the sea, and when the other sailors scooped him up, there was no need for a military doctor, everyone knew that he was hopeless.

Successive casualties cast a shadow over the expeditionary voyage. Tasman was also unable to lift the depressed morale. The situation was only improved two days later, when the Zehan stumbled into the bay.

What happened to the Zehan? They had lost the midmast and the upper mast of the foremast, the bowmast was crooked to one side, the crossbow of the mainmast looked badly damaged, and even the hull had several holes, which were hastily patched with planks.

Tasman reconvened the Officers' Council.

The stern of the Hemskek was filled with an oppressive atmosphere, smoke billowing the cabin and everyone smoking pipes.

Until the first mate of the Zehan spoke, "Captain Tasman, Captain Visch, let's sail back to Batavia." ”

Before Tasman could speak, Fishair stood up and said resolutely: "No, we are going east, to the southern continent." ”

"The situation of the Kzerhan is very bad."

"There are big trees on the island of Mauritius, and we have enough tools and spare materials to repair the boat. ”

Enzo put down his pipe and looked at the other officers. Yes, the island of Mauritius is rich in ebony and other timbers, and it is a large island where the fleet can get the supplies it needs.

The two captains looked at each other, and although Tasman was the commander, Fishair's temper was well known to everyone in the room, and this was a person to be provoked. As a veteran navigator of the East India Company, he had a higher status in the company than the average captain.

Tasman coughed, motioned for Fishair to sit down, and comforted the Zehan's first mate. Then he decided, "We're going to rest on the island of Mauritius and do our best to repair the ship." ”

Fishair's face only then became a little better.

The decision was made by the officers' council, and the crew went to work after two days of rest.

The Zehan's cannon supplies were unloaded and the ship's hold was emptied. The crew cut down large logs to make winches and poles, and pulled up one side of the ship's side. That's the benefit of a small boat, which is difficult to carry out complete repairs on an island that lacks infrastructure.

There was felled wood in the depot, and the fleet had selected some that could be used. Blacksmiths set up stoves on the island to forge parts for ship repairs. Broken sails are removed and laid on the beach, where sailsmiths repair and reassemble working sails. The fleet also needs to cut down some fresh wood for fuel or other purposes.

As the situation gradually improved, morale slowly recovered. That's when Enzo was in the mood to enjoy the scenery of the island of Mauritius. The expedition measured the highest peak on the island of Mauritius at an altitude of more than 820 meters. The island's landscape is diverse, with narrow plains along the coast and highlands in the middle, with multiple mountains and isolated peaks.

Yang Wei, Yang Bang, and Wu Zhixiang said hello to Enzo and led a group of sailors into the interior. The island of Mauritius is uninhabited and the island is rich in produce. There are no ferocious carnivores, and there are a lot of happy wild deer living here. The fleet needed fresh venison. The sailors carried arquebuses, they went hunting. Yang Wei couldn't use an arquebus, and he carried a huge steel-armed crossbow. It was his own weapon.

Tasman also sent Enzo a task, since repairing the ship is not a matter of a few days, then by the way, he will collect some products on the island, and later take them to Batavia and sell them, which is also a subsidy for the fleet.

Enzo sighed that the Dutch never forget business wherever they go. He also led 20 sailors to the island to harvest ebony wood and amber.