The sailors of the steamship quickly pulled down the gray canvas. Steamships of this era still retain the sails.
Although there is a supply station near the Bering Strait, it is the empire's closest supply station to the Arctic Ocean, located on what would become St. Lawrence Island.
However, ocean voyages are risky no matter what era they were in, let alone the Age of Discovery in the 17th century.
Therefore, steamships will keep sails as a backup plan in case the steam engine fails.
Wei Dahu looked at the lush coast, which was about two kilometers away: "Mengzi, go over and explore the way."
A strong man with a shaved head nodded, and with six younger brothers, he got off the side of the steamer. Below was a small wooden escape boat.
Mengzi and others had a clear division of labor. Four people were rowing, and the remaining three were exploring the hydrological conditions of the bay. After all, there may be reefs around the coastline.
If you don’t carry out hydrographic survey and just land directly with a boat, it would be really a scam if you hit a rock.
Mengzi led people to explore the bay for more than seven hours, and initially found a safe channel. Then he took the steamship Golden and slowly entered the bay.
Next to a calm coastal reef, the Golden Ship is anchored here.
Wei Dahu and a group of sailors finally set foot on land. After dropping anchor and tying up cables, they began to prepare to set up a camp.
Two days later, the camp setup went very smoothly, and we caught some sea fish and seals, and collected some berries from the tundra bushes.
During long-term voyages, timely supplementation of vitamins is very necessary, otherwise scurvy can severely damage or even destroy a ship.
After two days of preparation, Wei Dahu couldn't wait to lead 30 fully armed sailors and move inland along the river.
During the advance, Wei Dahu and his party discovered many animals, such as Arctic wolves, polar bears, and reindeer.
"Captain, it looks like it's going to rain." Mengzi said worriedly.
Wei Dahu looked at the sky to the north and saw that cumulonimbus clouds were quickly coming south. It was estimated that they would reach them in a few hours.
He raised his watch and saw that it was almost 14 o'clock in Snow Platform City time: "Find a place to set up camp."
The group soon found a mountain ridge and set up a dozen tents on the gentle mountainside. They also picked up some dead grass and reindeer dung, and lit water and cooked rice.
Just after setting up the tent, less than an hour later, a freezing drizzle arrived as promised.
I hunted three Arctic hares and they were roasted until they were sizzling. The Arctic hares in September are at their most plump.
Pulling out a knife and cutting off a roasted golden rabbit leg, Wei Dahu sprinkled a little chili powder on it and ate it with relish.
As soon as I took a sip of rice wine, the drizzle subsided.
Half an hour later, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. The water droplets on the moss and weeds looked like dazzling gems in the setting sun.
"Captain, Captain..." A Korean sailor hurried over, tying his belt as he walked.
Wei Dahu had just finished drinking and eating. He sat on the stone and asked lazily: "What's wrong?"
"We found a cave over there," the Korean sailor replied hurriedly.
"Isn't it just a hole? What a fuss."
"Hahaha……"
The other sailors laughed.
The Korean sailor became a little angry and spoke quickly and garbledly: "The cave seems... to have traces of carvings."
Wei Dahu also became interested when he heard this. He picked up the shotgun on the side, called six or seven sailors to join him, and then asked the Korean sailors to lead the way.
After walking for more than 200 meters, behind a huge rock, there was a small pit dug out, which contained the convenience items of the Korean sailors.
On the north side of the two-meter-high boulder, there was a small patch of bushes. Wei Dahu walked over to the bushes and found an obvious cave, which was dark inside.
Mengzi looked at the rock at the entrance of the cave: "Huh? There are really artificial traces. Could it be the stronghold of the Igloo People (Eskimos)?"
"Torches, be on guard." Wei Dahu gave concise and concise instructions.
The Korean sailor quickly lit two torches and walked cautiously into the cave, followed by Mengzi holding a flintlock gun and Wei Dahu holding a shotgun.
The entrance to the cave is about three meters high and six to seven meters wide.
Looking at the blazing flames of the torches, everyone felt a little relieved, but they did not relax their vigilance. After all, there is a high possibility of polar bears, arctic wolves and the like in large caves.
After walking along the cave for perhaps more than a hundred meters, their eyes suddenly opened up and they came to a huge cave.
There were quite a few skeletons on the ground, and Wei Dahu discovered that among these skeletons were not only polar bears, arctic wolves, reindeer, but also humans.
But soon his eyes were attracted by a statue in the middle of the cave, sitting on a throne carved from ivory.
The statue has an almost spherical torso with six curved limbs with crab claw-like limbs at the end.
At the upper end of the sphere, there is a sphere that expands forward like a bubble; there are three triangle-shaped eyes on it, which are round and glaring like fish, and there is a long snout that is three meters long and obviously soft and flexible.
As well as a set of expanded membrane systems similar to gills, all indicate that this is its head.
Most parts of the statue's body are covered with some kind of strange organs. They look like hair at first glance, but upon closer inspection, you will find that they are thickly grown dark slender tentacles, or immature thin tentacles.
Silk.
There is a mouth at the tip of these tentacles, which looks like the head of a horned viper.
In the part of the head under the long snout, the tentacles become longer and more dense, and show spiral stripes, like the traditional snake hair of Medusa.
"Captain, what the hell is this?"
"Who knows? Maybe it was carved by the igloo people!" Wei Dahu replied absently.
"But this statue is too detailed. It seems to be real. There is also this throne made of ivory and jade. It feels so weird." Mengzi said while touching the ivory throne.
Wei Dahu also had some wild thoughts. After all, this is the Arctic Circle, and there are no elephants here. Where did the ivory on the ivory throne come from?
However, despite their confusion, Wei Dahu and others had no intention of letting go of the statue. They pried the statue up from the ground and then carefully carried it back to the camp.
Wei Dahu and others were attracted by the ivory throne. After all, they were gold diggers, and the ivory throne seemed to be worth a little money.
There is also a weird crab statue. If you meet some curious collectors, you may be able to sell it for a good price.
As for the search for gold mines, Wei Dahu is not in a hurry. After all, gold mines are uncertain, but the statues and ivory jade seats in front of him are of real value.
After moving the statue and the ivory throne back to the camp, Wei Dahu took the sailors back to the depths of the cave and dug three feet into the ground to search.
Sure enough, some primitive gems and some gold and silver products were found.
One month slipped away quietly in the blink of an eye.
After climbing mountains and wading in nearby rivers for a month, Wei Dahu and others found nothing except hunting some polar bears and arctic wolves.
Seeing that the time was approaching mid-October and the temperature was dropping rapidly, Wei Dahu, who was afraid that the Bering Strait would freeze, could only take everyone back to Snow Moss City.