On August 20, 1724, in the vast waters of the Indian Ocean, two whaling ships were speeding southwestward by the warm current of the southern equator, and their destination was not to the sea.

Every year from September to November, thousands of whales visit the warm waters where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet, creating a unique landscape. And at this time, it is a feast for all whalers, who have flocked to the sea area to hunt this sea beast on a large scale.

Both whaling vessels are traditional sailing vessels with a displacement of about three hundred tons, both from the United Provinces. They had been staying in the southern waters of Hanzhou for more than half a year, killing more than 20 whales, boiling hundreds of barrels of whale oil, and collecting a considerable amount of whale baleen, and harvesting a lot.

What is particularly gratifying is that because of the proximity to the port on the coast of Hanzhou, they can also sell the whale meat that was originally going to be thrown into the sea to the Qi people, making an extra profit.

With the change of monsoon and ocean currents, whales migrated in large numbers, the number of whales in the waters near Hanzhou decreased significantly, and the marine fishery administration department of Qi also began to implement the so-called six-month "fishing ban", announcing that all foreign whaling ships were prohibited from killing whales in the waters around Hanzhou. In the name of it, it is necessary to protect the whale population.

Hmph, to put it bluntly, the people of Qi want to regard the whales in the waters near Hanzhou as their own forbidden belly, and only allow their own whaling boats to hunt whales when the number of whales is gradually decreasing.

You must know that in this period, when it comes to the number of whales killed, Qi definitely ranks first, far exceeding the United Provinces, which were once a major whaling country.

"Captain Green, do you still need to climb to the mast today to observe the sea?" Young Joey Rudy watched the waves roll on the sea, and the whole hull of the ship rose and fell violently, and the strong sea wind blew the sails unusually flat.

Under such wind and waves, climbing to a high mast, the danger increases significantly.

"Little Rudy, if you want to be lazy, then you won't learn anything." Captain Pex-Green, who was standing on the deck, put down his binoculars and looked at the half-year-old child in front of him with a sneer, "You need to grow up quickly and become a strong man as soon as possible." Only then will you be able to earn enough income to support your impoverished family, just like an adult. ”

"Okay, Captain Green." Joey Rudy took the binoculars, hung them around his neck, and turned to run towards the mast.

"If you keep an eye on it, maybe there are a few huge whales hiding in this area." Captain Pex Green shouted loudly behind him.

Although it is a transfer to South African waters, if you can hunt a few whales on the way, it will be somewhat rewarding, right?

Captain Pex-Green was born in Zeeland and is 38 years old, but he's had more adventures than anyone else has ever encountered in a lifetime combined. A survivor of a shipwreck, he pirated in the Caribbean, traveled throughout Europe, and fought in wars between the Netherlands and France, and between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire. He was wounded five times in battle, and also defeated and killed three people in duels. He even worked as a slave for a local Pasha in the Ottoman Empire.

Three years ago, he and two other partners bought the whaling ship, hired thirty-five skilled workers in Germany, Denmark and other places, and began a lucrative whaling business.

During this period, with the improvement of the European economic level and the rapid development of cities, more and more urban streets and public squares began to imitate the urban lighting system of Qi State, and the whale oil lamps were quickly lit. Many governments are building more and more lighthouses in ports, wharves and along the coast to light the safe route for sailors to return home, and the lighthouses are also made of whale oil.

Whale brain candles in the homes of the wealthy or in commercial establishments also burn exceptionally brightly. Whale oil is also the main lubricant in an increasingly mechanized world and the main raw material for the fabrics used in military uniforms throughout Europe. A petticoat made of baleen or a support for a corset was the most fashionable design of this period.

In order to meet the demand for whale products, England, Denmark, Sweden and the United Provincial Republics have an increasing number of whaling vessels, which are conservatively estimated to be more than 400 in size, and thousands of whales are caught each year.

In 1596, the Dutchman Wilhelm Barentz stumbled upon the Spitsbergen archipelago while searching for the Northeast Passage. Here, along the rocky coast, there are countless right whales. The Dutch planted a flag in the area, occupied the waters, and for the next century, dominated almost the entire trade in whale products.

However, after three Anglo-Dutch wars and the Franco-Dutch war, the Netherlands had become too weak to fully control the whaling industry in the Spitsbergen Islands, and French, British, Hanseatic, Danish, and Swedish whaling ships arrived to eat the whaling benefits that the Dutch had enjoyed for decades.

Moreover, after decades of fishing, the whale population in the waters around Spitsbergen has been greatly reduced, making the competition for many whaling boats in the area even more fierce.

Captain Pex Green then took a different route to the far southern Indian Ocean, where the vast expanse of humpback whales is located near the confluence of hot and cold waters.

However, what Captain Pex-Green did not expect was that in this area, they still encountered a strong competitor - a whaling ship from the Qi Kingdom.

Compared with its European counterparts, the whaling industry in Qi developed very late, and so far, it has not been 50 years. However, with the acceleration of the industrialization process of Qi and the large-scale popularization of steam engines, the demand for whale oil products is increasing day by day. In order to meet the huge market demand, Qi cooperated with the Dutch East India Company to jointly issue a hunting license to import a large number of whaling ships from Europe to kill whales in the waters around Hanzhou and provide whale oil products nearby.

With the "help" of the Dutch, Qi's whaling industry started from scratch and gradually developed and expanded, and has now grown into the largest whaling country in the world. As of last year, there were 380 whaling vessels registered with the Qi fishery administration department, with 14,000 crew members working on board, and the amount of cargo they transported back to the port each year was about 58,000 barrels of whale oil and more than 40,000 kilograms of baleen every year. As for the number of whales killed, it may be around 5,000 to 6,000, accounting for more than half of the global catch. The whaling industry has become the most important maritime industry in Qi.

To Captain Pex-Green's amazement, Qi transformed their whaling ship into an offshore whale oil processing plant. The clever Qi people built a stove with bricks in the middle of the main deck of the ship, and then installed a few large iron pots, and after catching the whales, they cut the whales directly on the deck, refined the oil, and transformed the entire whaling ship into a factory floating on the sea.

Captain Pex Green, who had the privilege of visiting a whaling ship of the Qi people, was worried that the wood and flames would be too close to the crew's living quarters, causing a fire on board. But his question was ridiculed by the Qi people, because the furnace was built by thickened bricks, and there was no sparks at all, and even if the fire did not ignite much on the deck, the crew had advanced steam pumps and endless seawater, which could be used to extinguish the fire at any time.

The Qi people evolved the whaling activity into a series of tight and seamless flow operations, discovering the whereabouts of the whales, lowering the whaling dinghy into the water, and then using various whaling tools to kill the whales, dragging the whales back, cutting the whale carcass, pulling the whale fat and baleen up the deck, refining the whale oil, sealing the whale oil, and finally storing it in a wooden barrel in the cargo hold, cleaning the deck, and then waiting for the next time someone shouted: "The whale sprayed water!" ”

Through this mode of killing whales and refining whale oil at the same time, the Qi people can stay at sea for a longer time until the whale oil barrel fills the entire cabin and then return to the sea.

In Europe, almost all whaling ships kill whales, cut whale carcasses, remove grease and baleen from whale baleen, discard whale carcasses, and then transport them back to ports and handed over to workshops and workshops specializing in whale oil refining. Compared with the Qi people, this model can be described as extremely inefficient.

What surprised Captain Pex Green the most was that the Qi people also used whale meat that was haphazardly abandoned by traditional whaling ships.

They invented and built a whale meat processing ship. When many whaling ships are operating, they follow closely behind. When the whaling ships have removed the useful parts such as blubber and baleen, they quickly sail to the whaling ship, buy the whale meat at a very low price, and then immediately carry out simple processing on board.

It is said that after these whale meat processing ships dock, they sell the pre-processed whale meat to canneries or seafood processing factories for secondary further processing at several times the price.

The huge mass of whales makes them have a huge amount of meat, and compared to an ordinary fish weighing a few pounds of meat, these creatures weighing several tons or even more are undoubtedly the best source of fish meat. What's even more interesting is that whale meat has become almost a necessity in some European countries, because at that time, ordinary "red meat" such as beef, lamb and so on was considered "hot", and the church forbade believers to eat it during festivals.

But whale meat is considered "cold", so during religious holidays, the church allows believers to eat whale meat. You must know that at this time in Europe, there are more than 100 religious festivals a year, so the people have a very urgent demand for whale meat, and it has almost become the main source of meat in some countries.

Can you imagine? The people of Qi can earn more than 2 million guilders (3.5-3.7 guilders equivalent to 1 tael of silver) from Europe just by exporting canned whale meat every year.

It can be said that the people of Qi make full use of the whole body of the whale and do not let go of any trace of "waste" on the whale. The huge whale spine and ribs are used to make chairs and fences, the internal organs are used to extract a medicine, and cod liver oil and ambergris from intestinal secretions are used to make the finest spice materials. Whale skins can also be made into leather and clothing, and even whale excrement can be used to make red dye for textiles.

To a certain extent, the Qi country is completely using the whale as a fuel to support their industrial development, penetrating into all aspects of society, when all European countries envy their great industrial revolution achievements, I don't know if we can see the body of the whales behind each machine in the Qi country, it is they who are carrying the technology and civilization of the Qi country to move forward, step by step blood.

In order to further improve the efficiency of whaling, the greedy Qi people racked their brains to develop various advanced equipment, such as steam whaling ships, whaling guns, towing winches for towing whale bodies, towing buffer devices for buffering hit whales, towing controllers to control the speed of towing and twisting, and whale winches for towing whales to the deck of the mother ship. With these, whaling becomes a physical task, there is no romance and bravery at all, only the spear enters the whale's body, and the blood stains the sea and the gore of the ship's planks.

"It's a pity that the people of Qi strictly prohibit the export of steam whaling ships. Otherwise, we would have raised money to buy one to replace this old whaling ship. Jerm Heaney, the ship's partner and first mate, said regretfully.

"Indeed, if we had a steam whaling ship, we wouldn't have to go around in such a big circle to get to South African waters with the help of ocean currents and monsoons. We can directly cross the Indian Ocean from the southwest coast of Hanzhou, as the Qi people did, which can save at least one-third of the voyage and time. Captain Green nodded.

"Conservative and stingy Qi people!" Jerm Heane couldn't help but complain.

"What about Quinn? I haven't seen him for a long time, what is he doing? ”

"Quinn may have been with those two Jews. …… He seems to be interested in some of the business plans mentioned by the Jews, and probably wants to explore and argue further. ”

"He shouldn't have gotten too close to those two Jews." Captain Green shook his head and said, "Be careful of being left with nothing left by the Jews, they are a people who eat people and don't spit out bones. ”

"Eat people without spitting out bones? Shall we throw them into the sea now and feed them to the fish, lest there be two more sinister and cunning Jews in this world? ”

"We're not serious businessmen, but we're still going to maintain the business reputation we have always had in the Netherlands." Captain Green said: "We still sent them safely to Cape Town according to the contract we had made beforehand. Speaking of which, the Sassoons are also very famous Jewish families in the Mediterranean, and perhaps, one day, we will be able to get some kindness in return from them. ”

"Dear Green, your idea is too naïve." Jerm Heiney scoffed, "They are not a people who know how to repay their kindness. The most capricious and cunning group of usury merchants in our United Province belong to them Jews! ”

"Forget it, don't mention them." Captain Green was going to end the conversation, "You go find Quinn, and then keep an eye on every crew member on board, snooping on their conversations and behaviors, and keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. ”

"Are you worried that there will be another crew escape in Cape Town?"

"The discovery of a huge amount of gold in South Africa by the Qi people has long been spread all over the world." Captain Green sighed and said with a wry smile, "If we don't restrain ourselves, maybe when we get to Cape Town, all the crew will run away." ”

For ocean-going whalers, any whaling ship is like a separate kingdom, and almost all laws are decided by the captain, who is the king at any time, and beats, punishes and even darker things to the crew at any time. And all the crew went to sea hard, endured loneliness for months or even years, and finally got a very meager salary, most of which went to the captain or investors.

As a result, many whaling ships often have crew members who cannot stand the exploitation and abuse of the captain when they are at shore to rest, and often take the opportunity to escape without permission. Not to mention, under the fatal temptation of the gold mine, I don't know how many crew members will have different ideas in their hearts.

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(End of chapter)