It's like heaven!
For most people, life in Nanhua is like paradise.
Of course, the premise is to adapt to the life here, for example, from eating rice to getting used to eating staple foods such as steamed buns and potatoes. In addition, you can eat meat every day. For those who come from China, most of them don’t even have enough to eat.
For people, this day naturally feels like paradise.
The reason why we can eat meat is not because there are many cattle here, but because of the whales. There are several whaling ships in Nanhua that specialize in whaling. With whales, there will naturally be enough meat.
For Wang Dahai, who is a fisherman in his hometown in Zhejiang, he enjoys his current life, especially the life on the whaling ship. He likes the days of sailing on the sea. Moreover, he is still learning the navigation skills of Westerners.
.
In the early morning, when a ray of sunlight shone into the cabin through the deck window, he turned over and jumped out while sleeping in the hammock.
"Okay, guys, let's get to work!"
As soon as the sky lightened up, the whaling ship "Frede" became lively. Captain Henry held his pipe and watched the crew busy there. Although the deck had been washed countless times, the deck was still filled with
A faint smell of blood.
This is the unique smell of whalers.
"Captain, I just went down to check. The ice in the compartment has begun to show signs of melting. It's almost time for us to return."
Standing in front of the captain, the second officer Wang Dahai said to the captain in blunt English.
The fishing boats of this era did not have refrigeration devices and could only rely on ice blocks to cool down to ensure that the whale meat would not rot. The ice blocks began to melt, indicating that it was time to return, otherwise the trip would have been in vain.
"Yes, I know. We are going back today to see if we can catch another whale. We only have less than 200 tons of whale meat in the cabin."
Whale meat!
Henrys, who has been working on a whaling ship for half his life, never imagined that one day he would go out to sea to catch whales for whale meat instead of whale oil. In the past, whale meat was even thrown directly into the sea -
—Even if it is used to refine oil, it is a waste of fuel.
But what about now?
The American company's whaling ships go to sea to obtain whale meat. If it were not for whale meat, the whaling ships may have been eliminated.
"At least I'm not unemployed yet!"
Henrys said to himself while holding a pipe in his mouth.
In fact, he was destined to be unemployed. In the past ten years, almost all whales in Europe, America and other places have been hunted. In order to obtain whales, they can only go to Antarctica to hunt whales. But even so, whales
The catch is still getting less and less. A few years ago, when oil was discovered, what followed was a heavy blow to the whaling industry - the kerosene extracted from oil was brighter and cleaner than whales in terms of lighting brightness and cleanliness.
The oil is better, and one oil well can produce 3,000 barrels of crude oil every day. Compared with an ocean-going whaling ship that can bring back 400 barrels of whale oil from Antarctica in two years, this gap in production is difficult to make up.
What's even more terrible is that with the outbreak of the Civil War, a large number of strong adult men were recruited into the army by the Union and the Confederacy. There was a serious shortage of manpower to work on the whaling ships! While the American whaling industry was rapidly declining, Henry and many
Like everyone, we face the crisis of unemployment.
Of course he could accept employment from the Navy and participate in the blockade of the South, but that would be a war, the kind that would kill people. At this time, the company's employment made him leave the United States, where he was engaged in the whaling industry he was most familiar with.
, but it is no longer to obtain whale oil, but to obtain whale meat.
Whale meat is the most common meat in South China, it is also the cheapest and the most abundant meat supply.
"Return!"
Following the captain's order, the sailors on the 600-ton whaling ship "Frede" began to get busy. They either climbed up the sail pole or lifted the rigging skillfully to control the ship.
Return to Nanhua.
In fact, Henrys did not know that the greatest significance of whaling to South China was not to obtain meat, but to train crews, or to prepare sailors.
After all, the first step to the ocean is to become familiar with the sea, and whaling is the first step to becoming familiar with the sea.
"Unlike ordinary merchant ships that follow fixed routes, whaling ships' sailing routes are not fixed and they often encounter various sea conditions at sea. Their sailing status is closer to that of the navy. Currently, we have seven whaling ships of about 600 tons.
There are about 400 crew members. After a year of training, they are almost ready to go to the training ship to learn navigation and gunnery..."
A naval consultant hired by the company, Stuff Harry, was a retired Royal Navy officer who devised the plan to use whaling ships to train sailors.
The core of this plan is to move from understanding the ocean to the sea step by step.
"What about naval officer training?"
Zhu Xianhai asked.
"Sir, I think it can be divided into two steps. While establishing a naval school to train cadets, we can also send some young people to the UK to study the navy,"
"To England? Will the British naval academy accept our cadets?"
Zhu Xianhai asked.
"The British government will definitely not accept company students to enter the Naval Academy, but they can go to merchant marine schools. It is said to be a merchant marine school. In fact, a considerable number of students will enter the navy for internship after graduation, and all merchant marine schools in the UK are
Merchant sailors are trained according to the standards of naval officers, because they may be recruited by the navy at any time, so the difference between them is not big."
When he said this, Zhu Xianhai thought of one thing. It was like the Japanese Togo Heihachiro. When he was studying in the UK, he was transferred to the Merchant Marine School because he was refused admission to the Naval Academy by the British government. However, the British did not bully the Japanese. They practiced
At that time, they also started their internship as the lowest-ranking sailor on a warship. In the end, it did not affect them in commanding naval battles and building the navy!
Steve Harry emphasized again.
"Sir, the soul of a warship is the officer. Without officers, the sailors will not be able to develop their strengths; if the sailors cannot develop their strengths, the ship will become a pile of scrap metal... Educating naval officers is the top priority in building a navy.
,So, my suggestion is that if you want to build a navy, the training of naval officers is the most important thing. If conditions permit, I hope you can select 20-30 students to study in the UK, and then send 10 students every year.
-15 people study abroad to study the navy, and supplemented by locally trained officers, in ten years or so, you will have a fleet that can sail across the ocean!"
ten years!
It’s just that you can sail across the ocean…
"Ten years, isn't it too long?"
"Sir, do you know how long it takes to train a qualified battleship captain?"
Steve Harry emphasized.
"It will take twenty years! Ten years...it's just the beginning!"
It actually takes twenty years to train a captain!
It is indeed worthy of being called "the army of ten years, the navy of a hundred years." The navy is indeed different from the army. The training of officers and soldiers can only be done step by step. There is no shortcut. With such a sigh in his heart, Zhu Xianhai nodded and said
.
"Just do as you say, apprenticeship training, selection of international students, you will handle it, ten years..."
After a pause, Zhu Xianhai smiled.
"Step by step, we will always have a powerful navy..."
This chapter has been completed!