War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1158 The Whaling Ship Nagazuka Maru

When the bright sunshine and the sea breeze woke up the whaling ship Nagatsuka Maru parked on the pier, Wei Ran and his party were also a shirtless sailor in his thirties, wearing clogs and big pants. Under the leadership, he walked into the remodeled cabin, stepped on the stairs all the way up, and finally saw the captain of the ship.

"Welcome to Nagazuka Maru"

The captain, who seemed to be in his 40s, took the initiative to shake hands with Wei Ran and others one by one, and at the same time introduced in English with no cherry blossom accent, "I am the captain of this ship, Nagatsuka Joji. Of course, this name is very important to you. It may be a mouthful, but you can call me by my English name, Fernando, or Captain Fernando, and frankly, I like the title of Captain Fernando very much.”

"Mr. Nagatsuka is the recruiter?" Wei Ran asked abruptly in Japanese that surprised Hugo and others.

"Do you know Japanese?"

Nagatsuka raised his eyebrows in surprise, and there was a flash of panic on his face. Before Wei Ran could answer, he smiled and waved his hands, and took Wei Ran and others to visit the road. The whaling boat explained in Japanese, "I am a Brazilian immigrant of Japanese descent. I grew up in Brazil. Although I have a Japanese name, I have never actually been to recruit nuclear weapons."

This coin is lying!

Wei Ran muttered something in his heart, with a trace of deliberate surprise in the sincerity of his face, he also explained in Japanese, "I have a good friend who is a Japanese-born Palauan immigrant, and he is also a sailor. His name is Kano Ming, of course, he also has an English name, Akila."

"Which ship is he on?" Nagatsuka asked with a smile, "If he is willing to change jobs, he can come and work on our ship."

"Unfortunately." Wei Ran spread his hands pretending to be sad, "He died in a disaster a few years ago."

“What a pity”

"yes"

Wei Ran switched back to English, "Mr. Nagatsuka, no, Captain Fernando, let us communicate in English, otherwise it would be too rude, wouldn't it?"

"you're right"

The "Captain Fernando" laughed and nodded, then switched back to English and responded, "Let me show you around in person."

While speaking, it has brought everyone to the highest point of the ship, pointing to the bow and stern, and said in English, "Our ship was originally a British warship. After World War II, she was sold to South America. My friends in Brazil and I bought the boat together and converted it into a large whaling vessel.

Not only is this much cheaper than buying a second-hand whaling ship, but it is also larger, can carry more supplies, and can have a larger cold storage warehouse. "

"Captain Fernando" Hugo leaned on the railing and pointed to the chimney not far away and asked, "How fast can this boat run?"

"As I said just now, she was originally a warship."

Captain Fernando repeated it emphatically, seeming to attach great importance to this point, "Moreover, it is a Hua-class submarine destroyer produced in the later stage. Her original top speed was 16 knots. After removing the heavy weapons and equipment, even if it is installed With the whaling equipment and so on, it is still much lighter than before.

So if it runs at full power, it may be able to run to 20 knots at the fastest when the sea conditions are good.Of course, this speed cannot last for a long time, she is very old after all. "

After some explanation, Captain Fernando personally took the four of them to visit their respective work places and introduced their work in detail.

Through chatting along the way, the four of Wei Ran also learned that the reason why this whaling ship recruited them was mainly because the sailors on this ship were all Japanese-Brazilian immigrants.

It is conceivable that such a ship calls at various ports in Australia where the White Australia policy is still implemented. It will undoubtedly be much more convenient if there is a white first officer on the surface.

Because of this, at the end of the tour, Hugo became the assistant of Captain Fernando and the first officer who only took office when he was in port and under inspection.

Callan, who was bruised and swollen, became the titular boatswain.Of course, he still has to go to the kitchen with Valoro to help in the kitchen.

As for Wei Ran, as Hugo said before boarding the ship, he was in charge of the warehouse entry and exit registration work, and also obtained two warehouse keys.

It's just that what these two warehouses contain are basically all kinds of supplies and various materials for eating and drinking.Of course, there are still two guards at the door of the two warehouses, but he does not have the warehouse key.

From this small detail, it can be seen that the captain does not seem to trust his crew [-]%, otherwise he would not have allowed an "outsider" like Wei Ran to be in charge of the warehouse key.

And this little detail made Wei Ran wonder if there was anything in the two warehouses that shouldn't be on the ship.

Suppressing the doubts in their hearts, a group of four people visited the whaling ship under the leadership of the captain, and were finally taken to the door of a cabin closest to the cabin door leading to the deck.

"This cabin is yours"

Captain Fernando reminded again, "In the usual whaling work, you only need to do what you can, but it is up to you to call at the port and encounter inspections."

"Do not worry"

While speaking, Hugo took out an old-fashioned key as long as chopsticks from his pocket and handed it to Valoro, taking advantage of the time when the other party opened the cabin, he asked, "When are we going to set sail?"

"very soon"

Fernando pointed to the outside of the cabin, "We still have a few sailors who haven't come back. After they come back, we will make the last replenishment and we will set sail immediately. You will also start working by then. Before that, you can take a rest."

The captain who was doing everything himself was sent away with a false politeness, and Valoro had already opened the cabin.

Apart from being a bit stuffy, the cabin was unexpectedly clean.Unlike the previous ship, the cabin used in this cabin is not an iron canopy bed, but a canvas hammock that is quite traditional in the British and Japanese navies.

In addition to the four sailor bags hanging against the wall like boxing sandbags, under the only porthole in this cabin, there is a solid wood long table fixed to the wall and four fixed to the ground with screws chair, plus two oscillating electric fans fixed on the wall.

On one side of the entrance, there are two iron cabinets welded to the wall, and on the other side, there are two tight long wooden boxes fixed with iron straps.

Hugo just kicked the two stacked crates with the toe of his shoe, and Wei Ran realized that the corpses of the two Brazilians might be contained there.

"Let's find a chance to throw them into the sea tonight"

Hugo waited for Valoro to close the door and said in a low voice, "In addition to the corpses, there are some stones in the box, enough for them to sink to the bottom of the sea, and we will be safe by then."

After finishing speaking, Hugo looked at Wei Ran and asked curiously, "Victor, why didn't I know you can speak Japanese? What did you say just now?"

"I learned it myself after the war"

Wei Ran made a random explanation, then recounted the conversation between him and the ghost captain named Fernando, and finally reminded cryptically, "I always feel that the captain is hiding something, so we should all be cautious."

“Do be cautious”

Hugo nodded, "You two haven't seen those sailors. I noticed when Valoro and I came over last night. Those sailors are very disciplined, just like"

"Like the invaders on the Kokoda Trail" Valoro, who usually doesn't talk much, gave an appropriate description.

"That's right"

Hugo nodded in agreement, "So everyone should be more cautious, especially pay attention to staying sober, and don't let yourself drink too much."

"I'm sure I won't drink a sip of wine," Karan, who had just gotten into trouble yesterday, immediately made a promise.

Seeing this, Hugo didn't say anything more, and he and Wei Ran opened the porthole, the two electric fans and the cabin door respectively.

Taking advantage of the cool sea breeze to take away the sweltering heat in the cabin, the three of Hugo also untied the sailor bags against the wall, and hung the hammock on the iron rings on the bulkheads at both ends.As for Wei Ran, he naturally changed into the hammock in the sailor bag he brought.

They had just finished tidying up the cabin for rest, and the ship started roaring and trembling.

Seeing this, Wei Ran was the first to leave the cabin, went down the stairs diagonally opposite this cabin to the cargo hold, and started the entry and exit registration work that he was in charge of.

This job is also simple, it is nothing more than recording what and how many supplies are sent into the warehouse, and the supplies are basically all kinds of food and drink.

After he finished the registration work and locked the warehouse door himself, the whaling ship also slowly left the port with a low and melodious whistle.

Without rushing back to the cabin, Wei Ran took a leisurely tour of the whaling ship.

The biggest feature of this so-called whaling ship is the whaling cannon at the bow and the upper deck used to slaughter whales.And on the lower deck, there are even simple processing equipment.

Relying on the convenience of being able to speak Japanese, Wei Ran not only successfully found the engine that he needed to blow up, but also learned from the side-by-side chat with the sailors he met that the ship had started whaling since June, and it took nearly four months. Time has only captured five whales and a dozen dolphins.

Such a catch would at best break even, in other words, they hadn't made a real profit for nearly four months.If there is no way to make a profit this month, these sailors are ready to leave the ship and return to their hometown.

After a few hours of wandering and chatting, Wei Ran, who had nothing to do, returned to the cabin before the sun rose to its highest point, lying on his own hammock, blowing the sea breeze coming in through the porthole, secretly looking forward to the moment of killing.

Compared with his relaxed and leisurely side, Waloro and Karan, who were busy in the kitchen at this time, were extraordinarily busy.

There can be more than 30 people on this boat, but apart from the two of them busy in the kitchen, there are only three other ghost sailors who can't even speak English.Not only that, because they had never cooked Japanese food, the two of them could only do the basics of peeling vegetables and washing dishes.

Hugo, on the other hand, not only followed the devil captain, but also got mixed up in a serious crew uniform.

In their own leisure and busyness, this whaling ship is getting farther and farther away from Sydney Harbour, and there are fewer and fewer ships sailing around, and finally only the boundless sea is left.

As the evening approached, when the sun was less than two finger widths from the sea level, urgent Japanese shouts came from the speakers all over the ship—"Whales were found at 10 o'clock!"

On the sea under the setting sun, the Nagatsuka Maru whaling ship started to get busy with the good news from the watchtower.

Soon, the whaling ship's speed increased sharply and at the same time it began to turn slightly, and a large number of Japanese sailors also rushed to their respective posts.

Soon, with the sound of "Boom!", a whaling cannon fired first, and then there was a Japanese message on the deck that made Wei Ran subconsciously want to take out the anti-Japanese sword and prepare for the stabbing.

Soon, the second and third gunshots came one after another, and cheers came one after another.And in the viewfinder of the camera that Wei Ran has raised, he also saw the sea surface stained red by blood and the setting sun and the huge figure tumbling in the red sea water, and heard the occasional final screams of those huge creatures that were hunted down. There was a cry.

After an unknown period of time, the speed of the boat gradually slowed down, and the sky gradually darkened.But under the guidance of the dazzling searchlight on the top of the whaling ship's mast, a huge whale still splashed with blood was dragged by the winch from the stern to the brightly lit deck.

Under the peeping of the shutters pressed again and again, the sailors holding long-handled sharp blades, with the help of those brand-new machines, efficiently peeled off the whale skin, divided large pieces of fish meat, and collected any body parts that could be exchanged for money. .

Soon, when Wei Ran finished shooting the second box of film, the four whales caught this time were also cut up and sent into the refrigerated cargo hold without his supervision, and the blood accumulated on the upper deck of the stern was also washed away. It was clean, as if nothing had happened just now.

But at this time, the whole ship was filled with the laughter of the sailors, Wei Ran was also called into the cabin by a guard in charge of the warehouse to open the warehouse, signed by the real chief officer of the ship, and took away two large boxes Recruit homegrown sake and five cases of Australian beer.

By the time he locked the warehouse door and returned to the upper deck, the aroma of food, Japanese music, and even Japanese whaling songs sang along with the music wafted from the brightly lit dining room.

Is it this night?
When Wei Ran couldn't wait to go back to the cabin, he found that Waloro and Karan, who had been helping in the kitchen all day, had returned. At this time, there was a table full of A small wooden bowl filled with rice, some curry-like things, a few Japanese side dishes, a bowl of vegetable salad, and some fruits. In addition, there are four bottles of cold beer.

Almost back and forth, Hugo also returned to the cabin, and kicked the two wooden boxes with the toe of his shoe again.

There was no communication at all, the four of them worked in groups of two, and together they lifted two heavy wooden boxes, and while the rest of the sailors were busy celebrating their catch, they lifted them to the deck and pushed them outside the guardrail , into the dark sea.

"Now we are safe." Hugo clapped his hands and said, "Alright, it's time for us to celebrate."

(End of this chapter)