Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 330 The Great Voyage ([-])

On April 1642, 4, it was sunny and the southwest wind was four. It was already the 5th day since sailing from Tacheng Port.

On the deck of the "Chopper", a Taoist priest on board was standing there, chanting something non-stop.Following his voice, the four sailors slowly threw a tied sack into the sea.This is the No.9 Eight Banners warrior who died since departure. These children who grew up on the South African prairie may not be able to adapt to the long-term bumpy sea voyage. died.Fortunately, the sailors on the ship and the officers of the Eight Banners warriors have been closely monitoring their health conditions. Once they found someone dead, they would immediately throw the body into the sea, so no infectious disease broke out on the ship.

After the ceremony, Li Yi put on his military cap, walked into the bridge on the third floor, and began to order: "Now I order, the ship turns to the north and sails at full speed. If you find the outline of the land, report it as soon as possible." After the order was issued, the officers quickly took their positions, and passed the news to the "Breaking Wave" behind them through the signal flag.

The two expedition ships with the yards adjusted sailed due north at full speed at a speed of 6 knots, and in the early morning of April 4, the lookout from the "Chopper" first discovered a stretch of land.The crew immediately cheered when they heard the news, and they have been drifting at sea for 8 days. Although this is not a big problem for the sailors on the east coast who often can't go ashore for more than a month, who made this time to explore unfamiliar land? As for the route, and it was such a desolate and remote route, everyone's mental pressure was quite high from the very beginning.

When sailing, many officers doubted whether the hand-drawn map in their hands was accurate or not, whether the legendary continent called "Australia" existed, and whether this route could be passed through.Now all these doubts have disappeared, and there is no doubt that everyone has discovered a large landmass, and it does not look like this landmass is an island, because it seems to stretch out for a long time, reaching the end of the sea level in the distance.

The two ships have not been ashore for a long time. After sailing for so long in the windy and turbulent southern Indian Ocean, not only the Eight Banners warriors were a little dizzy, eager to disembark and go ashore to rest and recuperate, even many sailors were eager to put their feet on a solid land.And not only that, everyone also hoped to add some fresh water. They didn't want to drink the fresh water in the water tank that was full of suspicious green suspensions.

The "Chopper" lowered all sails and switched to full steam power.She led the way, and the Wavebreaker followed, and the two ships now began to turn due west, sailing slowly against the wind and current.There is a desolate scenery everywhere on the shore. Li Yi stood on the top of the stern deck and observed with a telescope, and found that this is a flat prairie area, which can be seen to be relatively dry. After sailing for more than half an hour, there are not even trees See you.

In this way, the two ships sailed west along the coast at a low speed of 2-2.5 knots. It was not until the evening when the sky was getting dark in the afternoon that a large dense virgin forest began to appear on the shore.Li Yi flipped through the information at hand and felt that he might be very close to the southwest corner of the Australian mainland.The climate here is Mediterranean. Unlike most parts of Australia, the annual precipitation here is quite abundant, so a large area of ​​virgin forest along the coast has been bred.Considering that it was going to be dark, the two boats did not dare to sail in the dark in this unfamiliar coastal waters. It would not be a joke if they ran aground or ran aground.Therefore, both ships turned off the main engines, lowered the bow and stern anchors, and just parked on the sea for the night.

At six o'clock in the morning on April 4th, the sailors who had just finished breakfast stowed the anchor under the officer's loud order, started the steam engine and continued to sail forward.The navigators and trainee planners on the two ships had long been standing in the bridge, carefully observing the terrain on the shore with binoculars, and began to draw maps, and compared them with the maps they had at hand to determine what they were doing now. Where are you.

After passing through an island group, several intern staff officers finally confirmed their position after comparing the maps at hand-they agreed that the fleet is now located near Cape Grande in the Great Australian Bay. Li Yi was listening to After reading their analysis, they also endorsed their opinions.Now that he has determined his location, things will be much easier. Li Yi spread out a large-scale accurate map with a high level of confidentiality in his hand. After searching carefully, he directly pointed his finger to a certain place on the map. , Said: "Here! Continue to sail forward for 150 nautical miles, and we will anchor here and go ashore."

"Yes, sir!" Staff Sergeant Johnson glanced at the map.The map was drawn in pencil and looked accurate, down to every fold of the coastline.Latitude and longitude are also marked in many places above, and some larger rivers are also drawn. It is said that it is a sea chart handed down by the ancestors of the nobles in the country.

I don't know how much effort their ancestors spent in the first place, and how many difficulties and obstacles they went through to fully explore this coast. Sergeant Johnson was a little awed.But it was obviously not the time to be emotional about these things. Johnson put away his emotions and strode out of the bridge. He was going to convey orders to the sailors.

The two expedition ships finally arrived at the location that Li Yi had finalized on the chart at noon on April 4.This is an excellent sheltered bay. A peninsula inserted obliquely into the sea blocks the raging waves, forming a natural sheltered bay.Many small boats were lowered from the two ships at the same time. Sergeant Johnson led the sailors to row the small boats into the bay, and began to measure the water depth and mark the channel.

After working for a long time, Sergeant Johnson finally returned to the big ship with the sailors until it was almost dark.Soon, two expedition ships sailed into this natural harbor along the marked channel one after the other, and then chose a place near the shore to anchor.Thankfully, the sea floor here is not hard rock, but viscous silt, which allows the anchor to be firmly fixed on the bottom of the sea.

As soon as the next day dawned, several small boats were put down from the two ships, and the sailors rowed the small boats to send a large number of Eight Banners warriors ashore.Armed with spears and step bows, these Eight Banners warriors searched the surrounding area carefully, but found no trace of human activities.After confirming that this is a deserted land, Li Yi also went ashore in a small boat.

He kicked hard on the ground with his cowhide military boots, then grinned.This is the Port of Albany in Western Australia, a good natural port.The small bay in front of me should be the so-called Princess Royal Bay, and the bay to the east of Princess Royal Bay should be the later King George Fjord, which should also be the earliest European activity area in Western Australia.Of course, now this place belongs to the East Coasters!Two sailors buried a stone tablet on the beach, officially declaring the Chinese East Coast Republic's claim to sovereignty over this place.

Now that he has declared his sovereignty, Li Yi then became addicted to naming this newly "discovered" land.This place is probably the loneliest area on earth at the moment. Well, that lonely mountain is called Gushan, and this bay is called Gushan Bay.A naval trainee staff officer stood behind Li Yi, and immediately faithfully wrote the name on a newly drawn map after hearing his words.

The sailors went ashore in search of water under the escort of some Eight Banners warriors, and the remaining more than 400 Eight Banners warriors had all gone ashore by this time.After setting foot on solid land, many of them who were almost insane from the wind and waves were almost moved to tears.Under Li Yi's order, Mo Dayong, the leader of the Eight Banners warriors, took a group of Eight Banners warriors who were still in good spirits and began to cut down some trees on the edge of the inland forest.

According to Li Yi's idea, some Eight Banners warriors who are in such poor physical condition that they are no longer suitable to continue sailing with the fleet will be temporarily placed here.What everyone needs to do now is to build a simple defense and living facility for them, such as wooden fences, houses and so on.Some sailors who had no work to do also joined in. They moved a lot of saws and logging axes from the cabin, and then went to the forest to cut trees.

Everyone has been busy like this for several days, until they built a wooden fence wall, two watchtowers, and a row of a dozen or so wooden houses for the about [-] or [-] Eight Banners warriors who are about to stay here, and they are finally ready to call it a day and go back. Boat.Mo Dayong appointed a principal, a deputy, and two managers among the Eight Banners warriors who stayed here, and told them to stick to their posts here. If there is spare capacity, it is best to build a wooden trestle bridge on the coast to facilitate the next time ships come. Arrive and stop.

The expedition fleet left them enough food for two years, two hump cows, one male and one female, some grain farming tools, tools and weapons, salt cloth and other living materials, and even two 4-pound cannons for them.Although no indigenous activities have been found in this area, and if there is, it is likely to be in the Stone Age, but it is always right to be prepared.

After everything was arranged, on April 4th, the expedition fleet, which had been resting for several days, left the dozens of Eight Banners warriors guarding this place alone, left Gushan Bay, and began to follow the ocean current and west wind and continue heading east. go ahead.This time, with the Australian land stretching in the east-west direction as a reference, the journey of the east coast expedition fleet sailing eastward along the Great Australian Bight was much smoother.The wind and waves along the way are not too big, and the ocean current and wind direction have given enough face. The voyage to the east coast of Australia is really very pleasant.

(End of this chapter)