"What happened?" Lawrence, who had just returned to the temporary office, had not yet dismounted, but he heard the sound of a horn in the distance. Then he looked up and saw the red flag raised on the lighthouse flagpole. "Yes.
I haven’t heard of any pirate activity nearby!”
"Could it be an extraordinary sea beast or a marine creature?" Saifei also did his homework beforehand, so he raised a possibility. "If I remember correctly, this area was formed due to the intersection of two ocean currents.
It’s a fishing ground, so it’s normal for some monsters to be attracted to it.”
Although there were various speculations, the specific situation still had to be seen in person. So Lawrence and the others simply rode straight to the port. Then they took a small armed steamboat patrolling the port and drove towards the lighthouse.
At the same time, Nora had already gone ahead to investigate.
"There is a sailboat approaching the port, but it does not follow the correct channel to enter the port." Just as Lawrence and the others were floating on the bay, Nora had already arrived at the lighthouse. After asking the sentry guarding the tower, she began
He told Lawrence through the spiritual connection. "Because I was worried that it would block the channel or collide with other ships after entering the channel, the lighthouse raised a warning flag to alert the port."
"Why didn't that ship listen to the greeting?" Lawrence asked an important question here. "Is it caused by some kind of accident or because the other party is a hostile disguised attack ship? If it is the kind of disguised attack that is hostile to us
If it is a ship, we will sink the ship immediately. If it is an accident, then the tugboat on the fort side will tow it away to avoid collision."
"It's not clear yet, because the other party is still some distance away from us." Nora said, "But now I find that there is no one on the deck of the ship, which is obviously abnormal. I guess they must have encountered something.
.However, the specific situation can only be determined after boarding the ship for inspection.”
For safety reasons, Nora first flew to the tugboat to slow them down temporarily, and then boarded the sailboat to inspect it. A few minutes later, Lawrence stood on the bow of the armed boat and saw the sailboat.
All the sails were furled and the ship's anchor dropped.
Because the distance between the two parties was getting closer, Lawrence also saw clearly at this time that the ship was a two-masted fast sailing ship that was relatively common in this area. It was also the smallest tonnage ship that could cross the ocean and go to the Old World. Even though the steam engine had already begun in this era
Slowly becoming popular, but most of the ships sailing on the sea are pure sailing boats.
In particular, the popularity rate of steam engines on small ships of 200 to 300 tons is even lower. At least Lawrence has not seen this type of steam engine on ships other than warships and some special ships, especially those commercial ships that pay attention to economic efficiency.
I will not buy those terrible steam engines that are both expensive and expensive to use.
But this situation has also created some troubles. For example, Lawrence now discovered that the original ship name on the side of the ship has been severely peeled off due to use, and only a few letters can be seen clearly. And the ship itself is also the most popular local ship type. In this case
Under such circumstances, it is difficult to determine the original identity of the ship.
"The situation is a bit abnormal." At this time, Nora's voice rang in Lawrence's mind through the soul link. "There is no one on the deck and upper cabin. I am searching for the middle cabin. I hope to find some lives.
If there is no one, I hope the other party can leave me some clues. I think if there are no accidents, I should finish checking the boat when you arrive, and then you can come up and have a look."
Sure enough, when Lawrence's boat docked with the sailboat ten minutes later, the little puppet had already checked the entire boat and determined that it was safe enough. Following the rope ladder put down by the little puppet, Lawrence climbed up with Saifei.
He went up to the deck, and then successfully reunited with Nora, who had arrived earlier, at the bow of the ship.
"The situation on the ship is very strange." After seeing Lawrence and Saphire board the ship, Nora said while taking them to visit the entire ship, "Look, we can tell from the traces on the deck that this
The ship was underway, and the sailors disappeared from their posts almost simultaneously."
Following the direction of Nora's finger, Lawrence checked the working stations of the sailors on the deck one by one. Sure enough, he found that there were no signs of struggle in these places, everything was so normal. Lawrence was even next to a sailor's station.
I found a peeled and half-eaten, slightly shriveled orange.
"Is there anything wrong with this orange?" Seeing Lawrence looking at the obviously broken apple with inquiring eyes, Saphire also walked up. "If I'm not mistaken, this orange looks like it has been put out."
It took about a day and a half and began to rot. At most, it can only prove that the ship had an accident a day and a half ago."
"You are right, but this half orange also shows one thing, that is, everything was very normal when these people disappeared, and it can even be said that everything was calm." Lawrence added. "Because only in this kind of situation
Only when the situation arises do the sailors who are manipulating the cables have time to eat some fruit.”
"To be precise, it's dinner time at this time." Nora said after hearing what Lawrence said, "because I found the extinguished stove fire and half-stewed paste in the kitchen below, and there was a metal plate next to it.
It looked like fried bacon and something stewed in red wine and beans for the people on board the ship."
"Have you found anything on the ship that proves the identity of the ship, such as tableware with the name of the ship printed on it?" Lawrence asked. The reason for his inquiry is simple, because when a ship is launched in this era, it is customary for the shipyard to give it as a gift.
Give those ships a batch of tableware engraved with the name of the ship and the shipyard.
"No, I didn't find anything." Nora said seriously at this time, "All the tableware on the whole boat feels messy, as if everyone is using the tableware they bring with them, and there is no original tableware from the shipyard.
"There are only two possibilities for this situation, either this ship may have been transferred to many shipowners, or this ship may be a smuggling ship."
"Why not a pirate ship?" Saifeir asked with some confusion. "If I remember correctly, those pirate ships will also eliminate all traces of the original ship to avoid being identified. And in this area, this kind of
The brig and another type of sloop were the two most common types of pirate ships."
"You will know when you go to the lower deck and take a look." Nora waved to Lawrence and the others to follow her, and then walked together below the deck. "I found some very interesting things below the deck. You can take a look.
This is a relatively rare ship, at least the internal structure should have been modified, and it is not a normal ketch."
Sure enough, when they got down to the lower deck, they discovered at first glance that this ship did not have 4-6 small cannons for defense like a conventional merchant ship, nor did it have 12 or even 16 cannons like a pirate ship. This ship
There was not a single cannon, and what was placed on all the gun emplacements were actually fake cannons made of wood.
In addition, the only weapons on the entire ship, apart from the two decorative knives in the captain's cabin, are a few palm-sized sailor's knives. The entire ship looks like some ships that are prohibited from carrying any weapons.
Just as peaceful.
You must know that in addition to pirates, there are a large number of dangerous extraordinary creatures in this world. Therefore, even the stingiest businessman will carry a large number of weapons and artillery on the ship so that he can have a chance to fight when encountering those enemies.
Sex. To be completely disarmed like this is patently abnormal.