John couldn't believe his ears: "Trapped?" He looked around blankly. Wherever he looked, except for the blue sea and sky, there were only a few dotted white clouds, and there was nothing else.
"Damn storm!" Carlos was filled with indignation.
Carter advised: "Anger will not help, the most important thing now is to figure out where we are!"
"Where's the compass? You should know the direction, right?" John asked eagerly.
"Sorry, the compass is broken." Rand shrugged helplessly, "If you know the direction, it won't be considered a trek."
"Isn't it?" Carlos felt bad, pointing to his wrist and said urgently, "You soldiers, can't you use your watch to determine the direction?"
It is not difficult to determine the direction of a watch, and there is more than one way.
One is the Northern Capital method, which Ye Han learned when he was a recruit. There are also two formulas: the hour is divided in half to the sun, and the twelve points point to the north.
That is, at six o'clock, aim at the sun with the three o'clock mark, and point twelve to the north; at six o'clock in the evening, at eighteen o'clock, aim at the sun at nine o'clock, with the twelve o'clock mark pointing to the north.
There is another method commonly used in the West, when the angle bisector between the hand and the twelve o'clock mark is aligned with the sun, and the twelve o'clock mark points to the south.
These two methods are simple and clear, easy to learn and use, and as long as you have a mechanical watch, you can determine the general direction.
Rand showed his bare wrist with great regret: "Unfortunately, not a single watch can be found on this ship. Moreover, this place is very close to the equator, and it is difficult to judge the direction by looking at the sun."
Carlos suddenly deflated like a popped balloon.
"It would be great if there was a magnet. It could be a simple compass." John scratched his salt-covered hair vigorously, feeling extremely distressed.
"Yes, magnet!" Carlos shouted, "Is there a radio on the ship?"
"No!" Rand shook his head.
"Is there a walkie-talkie?"
"No!" Rand still shook his head.
"Is there a radio? Is there..."
"No, not at all!" Rand shook his head firmly, "I searched the entire ship and couldn't find a single magnet!"
Carlos' eyes widened in surprise: "How is that possible?"
Rand pointed to the cabin impatiently: "If you don't believe me, go find it yourself!"
John said: "The pirates dismantled everything on the ship that could be dismantled."
Carlos was completely speechless at this time, but he quickly raised his head again and looked at Carter with hopeful eyes: "Dr. Carter, you should have something to do, right? You are a doctor!"
Carter smiled bitterly: "I am engaged in biology, not a Ph.D. in physics. I know what electromagnets are, but there is no electricity on the ship at all, so it is useless for me to know."
John asked reluctantly: "Is there no electricity left in the battery?"
"The battery is dead a long time ago," Rand said.
Carlos spread his hands: "I can't think of a way at all."
Carter raised his head and squinted his eyes to look at the hot sun: "It would be great if there was a solar panel."
John said: "How about searching again carefully? Especially the engine room and so on, the generator or other motors, there should be magnets inside, right?"
This sailboat is a yacht, and it is equipped with an engine room, but the equipment in the cabin has been dismantled by the pirates, leaving almost an empty shell.
"Then let's look for it again." Carter agreed unequivocally.
"Okay!" Rand agreed.
Modern equipment is inseparable from electricity and magnetism. On such a large sailboat, there should always be something useful left.
So the group of people got into the cabin again, and while they were looking for magnets separately, John did not forget to mobilize the crowd and tell others about the need for magnets.
Before John finished speaking, a bug man stood up and said, "It's not easy to get a magnet. Isn't there a whistle under the bow of the ship?"
John almost jumped up and immediately called Spade over and asked him to hoist him under the bow of the ship to see if there were any magnets.
It only took Spade a few minutes to climb up, holding an electric horn in his hand.
The magnet was found, and the big and small bosses headed by John gathered together again. John personally rubbed a piece of wire on the magnet a few times, passed it through a plastic piece to increase buoyancy, and then placed it in a coconut shell filled with seawater.
.
The magnetic needle floated on the water with the help of the buoyancy of the plastic piece, slowly turned half a circle, and soon stabilized!
Everyone was overjoyed, but Carlos asked a question that made everyone's laughter freeze on their faces: "Which side is south and which side is north?"
John waved his hand: "You don't need to know so much detail, just find a direction to go!"
Having said this, he looked up at the sun, then at the shadow left by the mast, and suddenly said: "No, why is the sun moving counterclockwise? We are in the southern hemisphere!"
Everyone was stunned. If they recalled carefully, the movement of the sun was indeed different from before.
"How could this happen?" Carlos almost pulled out all his hair. He looked blankly at the sun and then at the sea. He was completely lost.
John smiled bitterly: "We are so lucky."
This is not nonsense. The location of Buha Island is very good. There are large islands in the east, west and north directions, with only a gap in the south.
No matter where the storm blows the ship, there is an island waiting in the end, but to the south is the real sea.
Carter said: "The most important thing now is to determine where we are!"
"Let me do the math!" Rand said, "It's almost noon, so it's the right time!"
John and others didn't understand what Rand meant. When Rand took action, everyone suddenly realized.
Rand's approach was very simple. He first measured the height of the mast, then the length of the shadow, and used trigonometric functions to calculate the angle between the sun and the ground. Then he took the month into consideration, and finally concluded that the location here is approximately south latitude.
Around 14 degrees.
Carlos's eyes went straight: "Buha Island is 4 degrees north latitude, and now it is 14 degrees south latitude. The storm pushed us a full 18 latitudes? 18 latitudes... Well, the radius of the earth is more than 6,000 kilometers, 6,000 times
0 is then multiplied by 3.14...and finally divided by 360..."
Rand rolled his eyes helplessly: "Why bother? The circumference of the equator is 40,000 kilometers. If divided by 360, one latitude is 111 kilometers!"
"Oh my God!" Carlos was dumbfounded on the spot, "Nearly two thousand kilometers? Where are we?"
Rand said: "If I remember correctly, this place should not be far from Northern Australia..."
At this moment, Spade on the mast suddenly pointed to the south and exclaimed: "Look, land!"
John and others looked at each other, is it such a coincidence?
But life is often more coincidental than drama. Soon, the coastline rose from the sea, and everyone cheered and was overjoyed.
Six days and six nights of suffering are finally over!
Soon after, the sailboat washed up on the beach. John was the first to jump out of the boat. He laughed wildly and knelt on the sand. He kissed the sand excitedly and vowed never to go to sea again until he died.
Since then, more than 60 bug-men led by John have taken root in northern Australia and began a difficult road to survive in the gap between humans and aliens.
The story of the Insects has come to an end for the time being, but the story of the Insects is not over yet. A little spoiler, they will play an extremely important role in the future war... Well, I can only reveal so much, and the secret must be revealed.
Also, there is actually no good or bad among insect people. They are humans and insects. What they seek is survival. There is only a difference in stance between them and Beidu, not good or bad.
