1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 380 Sven Island

"Stop it! Stop it! That's my cargo! You're violating my private property!"

Two British ships in good condition: the Yukon and the Kangaroo are rescuing the crew of the glass that fell into the water.The crew of the Audacity were busy with the cargo that had fallen into the water from the Merchant Ship Glass.

George was so angry that he swung his fist at the Bold, wishing to smash the Bold into pieces.

After scrambling with the British to salvage the floating cargo, Liang Yao walked away amidst the protests of the British crew and returned to San Francisco in Jinshan Bay.

The Golden Gate Strait has coastal defense artillery forts guarding San Francisco, and they followed it to the Golden Gate Strait.

Liang Yao looked back at these British ships. These British ships had no intention of chasing the Bold, but watched the Glass sink to the bottom of the sea after salvaging the few remaining cargo and crew. , and finally went north in desperation to return to their lair.

"Fasten the development of the ironclad ship, the British are very vengeful, and they will not forget the loss they suffered today." Liang Yao explained to Jeremiah.

He can take advantage of it for a while and make the Briton temporarily deflated, but only for a while.

When he was withdrawn from the Near East battlefield, the British had plenty of time to deal with him.

As for being a dog for an Englishman?

This is an unrealistic idea. The British are very happy to see the former British colony of the United States as a dog on the North American continent.

But the premise is that you are white, and the most important thing is not to touch the fundamental interests of the British, that is, the economic interests of the British.

I'm just sorry, Liang Yao can't do this.

If he wants to industrialize, he will inevitably have to compete with the British. This is an unavoidable problem.

"I used to think that wasting money on building warships was a waste. What happened today made me realize that it is very necessary for California to build its own warships and maintain a sea force that can protect itself." Jeremiah sighed.

The U.S. Navy does not have a fleet along the Pacific coast, and the Admiralty has no idea of ​​establishing a Pacific Fleet.After all, with the budget of the Ministry of the Navy, it is barely enough to maintain the current size of the navy to ensure the safety of the Atlantic coast.

Not to mention the establishment of another Pacific Fleet to ensure the coastal defense security of the Pacific coastal areas.

If California wants to deal with threats from the sea, the US Navy cannot count on it and can only rely on its own strength!
"It's good to know, let's do it, Jeremiah, I believe in your ability. Just come to me for anything that the shipyard needs." Liang Yao said with his hands on Jeremiah's shoulders.

"What happened today is that the Brit was rude first, and I will submit a report to Congress to clarify the facts."

After finishing speaking, Fremont pointed to the drugs salvaged from the sea and asked.

"What are you going to do with these things? Take them back and destroy them?"

"destroy?"

Liang Yao stared at these drugs, shook his head and said.

"It's a pity that the British guys transported these things from South Asia all the way here, and they were destroyed directly. What a valuable thing."

Drugs are not just for smoking. California hospitals and military doctors in military camps use opium as a pain reliever and cough medicine.

Narcotics are a double-edged sword. When used properly, they are drugs, but when used improperly, they are addictive drugs.

However, the medicines in California definitely don't need so many drugs, so we still have to find a way to deal with the excess drugs so that these things can play their due value.

Liang Yao has reached a cooperation with the Rothschild family to use the sales channels of the Rothschild family in Europe to sell kerosene.

The demand for kerosene is so great that there are varying amounts of kerosene and other cargoes sent from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Europe almost every week.

The sales channels of the Rothschild family in Europe naturally also include the channels of the British market.

Liang Yao is still able to carry some drugs into these goods and send them to the British market.

What's more, Jardine House has even opened a tobacco shop in London, selling the drugs they grew in the Mexican plantation.

It can be seen that this stuff also has a market in the UK.

Since the British like drugs, it doesn't hurt to let them try the authentic drugs produced by the British East India Company.

At the same time, thousands of miles away, the Micronesia region of the Central Pacific Ocean is under clear skies.

According to the fuzzy coordinates given by Liang Yao: 60 kilometers south of the equator, between 165° and 169° east longitude, looking for the island that is rich in phosphate minerals and where birds poop.

After several days of sailing, an oval coral reef island appeared in front of Sven.

Sven and the navigator immediately calculated the latitude and longitude of the island, and finally determined that the longitude of the coral island was about 166.5°.

"Is there really such an island? Are the records of those Chinese navigators true?"

Sven said suspiciously.

Within the area given by Liang Yao, only this coral island is eligible.

Sven ordered his James Day to circle the coral island for a week, firstly to conduct a rough survey of the coral island, and secondly to confirm whether other people had already boarded first, so as not to cause unnecessary disputes.

After some rough surveying and mapping, Sven estimated that the length of this coral island is more than 6 kilometers, the width is more than 4 kilometers, the circumference of the island is about 30 kilometers, and the land area is about 22 to 23 square kilometers. It is a small, small island.

Fortunately, there is no one else on the island who has arrived first, only a few scattered natives are curiously looking at the black smoking monster that moves freely on the sea under Sven's feet.

After seeing James Dai, some aborigines ran away, and some aborigines paid homage to James Dai.

The sea conditions around this tiny island are unknown. James Day is a large paddle steamer with a displacement of more than [-] tons. There are few other ships passing by in this sea area. Once the ship runs aground, the consequences will be disastrous of.

Therefore, Sven could only put down three lifeboats, and boarded the coral island with 23 fully armed crew members and the California scientific research personnel accompanying the ship.

Sven took out some glass beads, bottles, knives, and cotton cloth to communicate with the local aborigines, and Sven said it was a gift for them.

After more than ten minutes of difficult communication, these natives finally understood what Sven meant, and happily accepted Sven's gift.

Then Sven pointed to his mouth again, gesturing to ask these local natives for fresh food and drinking water.

The local aborigines soon understood what Sven meant. Sven wanted to exchange these things for them to eat. Soon, the chief asked the young people in the tribe to bring some bananas, coconuts, fish, seabirds, mice and some unknown famous mammals.

This is the daily food of the local aborigines. Now the crew members retch when they see fish and rats. Naturally, they have no appetite. As for those unknown mammals, they don't dare to eat them.

However, the tropical fruits such as bananas and coconuts brought by the indigenous people were quickly looted.This is the nutritional composition they need to consume now.

Sven also cracked open a coconut and poured coconut juice into his mouth.

After eating, Sven sent 8 crew members to protect the scientific research personnel in search of phosphate mines.

Sven exchanged some bananas and coconuts with the local aborigines, and sent people to deliver these fresh fruits to the James Day for the crew on board to enjoy.

I took 12 crew members to search for fresh water on the island.

There were flocks of birds on the island, one after another, and it didn't take long for Sven's body to be covered with bird droppings that fell from the sky.

Looking at the dense black, brown, cyan, white, gray, yellow and white bird droppings on his body, he is not angry but happy.

Since there are so many birds on the island, there is naturally no shortage of phosphate. The scientific research personnel in California told him that phosphate ore is formed by the changes of bird droppings over tens of thousands of years.

That's good news. Last year, California spent more than $500 million importing guano from Peru, Chile, and Bolivia.

If the island is really rich in phosphate deposits, the value of the island will be incalculable.

California can also escape the situation where the phosphate mines are stuck by the British and South Americans.

After all, the phosphate mines currently used in California are minted with California dollars, which is heavy gold.

More importantly, he discovered this island, and he himself can get real benefits from it.

Sven took the accompanying crew members around the tiny island but found no fresh water.

The island's surface is too permeable to retain fresh water.

As for rivers, they don't exist either. There are lakes one after another, but it's a pity that it's a saltwater lake.

Fortunately, the local aborigines told him that it often rains here, and he can collect some rainwater to filter and drink when it rains.

After a few days of investigation, the scientific research personnel in California brought the expected good news to Sven. The island is indeed rich in phosphate ore, very high-quality phosphate ore.

When Sven asked about the approximate reserves, the scientific research personnel gave a reply after pondering for a long time: "It's hard to estimate."

Sven jumped up excitedly. He ran under a coconut tree, drew out the Bowie hunting knife on his waist, and scratched a few letters on the trunk of the coconut tree.

"Sven Island, this island will be called Sven Island from now on." Sven muttered to himself while admiring the few letters he had carved.

(End of this chapter)