Today's sky is very bright and clear, which makes Zhang Jinhua, who has just gotten up, breathe a sigh of relief. This is the Pacific Ocean at about 10 degrees south latitude, and today is May 30, and it has been more than 20 days since the anchor was pulled out and left Jinshan Port.

"The weather was calm and the sun was warm, but it was a little farther away from the shore, and not even a seagull could be seen. Ensign Giving, where are we now? Zhang Jinhua took out his glass kettle from his waist and poured two sips of West Lake beer into his mouth before asking.

Thanks to the Ministry of Health's advocacy, many officers and men on the navy's ships are now switching to glass kettles – drinking utensils with a glass pot inside and a cushion on the outside. The reason why they abandoned the cowhide water bladder still used by the army was because of the extremely poor hygiene of the cowhide water bladder. Especially in the summer, bacteria breed in large quantities, and the water quality is very perishable, affecting the health of drinkers, so the Navy has ordered a gradual switch to glass water bottles.

It has been more than 20 days since I went to sea, and the fresh water loaded at the time of departure has long since deteriorated, and there is a large amount of suspicious green suspended matter that can be seen with the naked eye. In Zhang Jinhua's opinion, this disgusting fresh water does not feel very appropriate even if it is boiled for people to drink, so he usually drinks beer and red wine to quench his thirst. If you really want to drink boiled water, some distilled water will be collected regularly in the bilge boiler room - this is the prerogative of Zhang Jinhua, Captain Jiwen and others, although this distilled water still has a peculiar smell that cannot be removed, but it is much stronger than drinking the green, smelly fresh water.

Soldiers can of course quench their thirst with beer, but there is a limit to the number per day. About half of the drinking water barrels on the Discovery were filled with beer. The other half is filled with fresh water. This was learned from the later British Captain Cook. After all, beer has a much longer shelf life than fresh water. Of course. There is also a small desalination unit on board, which is everyone's last talisman, and it will not be wasted on precious coal unless it is absolutely necessary.

"Sir, honestly, I don't know where it is." Givens blushed a little and said, "But it should not be far from Tahiti Island, and according to the latitude and longitude measured a few days ago, if nothing else, it will take about four or five days to sail." ”

"Sailing is a very strict thing. Don't say uncertain words like 'should' and 'probably'. Zhang Jinhua patted the young Irishman on the shoulder, then pulled out his sleeve, revealing the Glashütte on his wrist, then looked at the sky again, and said: "It's very close to noon, and it's five minutes earlier than yesterday's time, which is a multi-longitude pass." ”

Second Lieutenant Givens nodded and did not speak. Before setting sail, he was sent a top-secret text with the location of Tahiti. That's 17°32' south latitude and 149°34' west longitude. Such precise positioning. This made Ensign Jiwen, the first graduate of the navigation school, feel a little frightened, Tianzun is above, how did they know that there is such an island in the vast sea. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that there was a very high level of secrecy in it—and the fact that it had been proven to be 100% accurate—it would have been hard for Jiwen to believe that there would be an island of no small size on this desolate and lonely sea.

From Australia to the east, the sea is dead silent, with no seabirds, no catch (fish are mostly only near the offshore continental shelf), and no movement. What everyone sees is still sea water except for a pool of turquoise water, and the ships sailing on the sea at this time are basically like camel caravans entering the heart of the desert, so helpless, so worthless. In front of nature, people are really too small.

At this time, everyone's psychological pressure is generally very great, in order to relieve this pressure, the alcohol consumption on the boat has also been relaxed, and at the same time, everyone is organized to use trawl or longline fishing, even if you can only catch a few fish a day, it can also boost the morale of everyone.

"In a moment, we will turn south-east, adjust our course to around 17 degrees 42' south latitude, and then sail straight east." After Zhang Jinhua said this, he looked up at the double-sword goshawk pennant that was hunting and flying on the top of the mast, and the lookout who was doing nothing on the mast looked at Zhang Jinhua and immediately used the flag language to hit today's wind direction: northwest wind level five.

Zhang Jinhua nodded, and then continued to say to Ji Wen: "Calm down!" We're in the right direction, and it's just bad luck that we didn't run into any islands. Last night I reviewed the trajectory of our ship over the past few days, and found that it was the two tropical cyclones that had come in the past few days that had derailed us, but it was only temporary, and we were back on track these days. In just five days, we will be able to sail to our destination, and then we can have a good rest. ”

"Yes, sir." Givens straightened up and said, "I'll order the Navigator to adjust course." It's just that...... Do we need to turn on the steam engine? After all, the speed is a bit slower now, and if the two propellers at the stern are also activated, we can go up to 8 knots, which is much faster. It hadn't rained for many days, and the officers didn't have enough clean drinking water, so I thought maybe the boiler room needed some of it, and some of the sick people on board also needed clean water. ”

"Then start the steam engine." Zhang Jinhua only thought about it for a moment before agreeing. The four-masted schooner "Exploration" didn't bring much other things, but the coal was loaded enough in Tacheng Port, and at present, the bilge is slowly being filled, and the draft of the ship is very watery. Moreover, after arriving at the port of Jinshan in Australia, they added some locally produced lignite, although the quality is not very good, but it can be used as fuel for a while.

"Try to burn as much Australian lignite as possible." Zhang Jinhua added. The coal near Jinshan Port is notoriously poor in quality, and the captains of the migrant ships from Heishui to Jinshan have been scolding, but the main component of the coal mine in that place is lignite, so they can only use it. When departing from Jinshan Port this time, the "Exploration" also loaded a large amount of lignite into the hold in case of emergency, and now it is just right to take it out.

It's the end of May, and it's the time when the wind is changing. At this time, the direct point of the sun begins to move northward, and the southeast trade wind belt, which was originally suppressed to the south, will gradually move northward as a whole, and then the "Exploration" will be shrouded in the influence of the southeast trade wind belt. In this way, everyone is both against the wind and against the water, although there is a steam propeller propulsion system to assist, but the speed will drop to about the same as a turtle climbing, which is definitely not what everyone wants to see.

In the age of sails, knowledge of meteorology, hydrology, ocean currents, wind direction, astronomy, etc., is indispensable, otherwise you will get into great trouble. Back then, Columbus and Dias sailed purely by mistake, and it was simply bad luck that the ship was not destroyed and people died. Of course, it is impossible for the people on the east coast to sail around the world in a small boat of more than 100 tons like them, and they are much more advanced in equipment and more knowledgeable than Columbus, but because of this, the time and route of the ships are picky. For example, the route they set out to find Tahiti Island this time was chosen by Zhang Jinhua and others after careful study and demonstration, and the season was just right, it was in early May, the southeast trade wind belt was pushed back to the south and had not yet returned to the north, and the ships could still sail with the help of some northwest winds, although there were some adverse waters (warm currents of the south equator), but it was already the best and most suitable time to sail.

After the steam engine was activated, the speed of the ship was much faster. After the voyage was stable, a sailor measured the speed, which was about 6-7 knots, which is quite good for a long-distance voyage. After all, you can't expect ships to always be at high speeds, and the fact that the average speed of most ocean-going ships in Europe at this age was less than 4 knots, which shows that sailing at sea is not so easy.

When Zhang Jinhua didn't understand it at first, he always liked to measure the distance between the two ports on the map, and then draw a straight line to sail. Later he learned how ridiculous such an act was. The choice of route between the two ports is a very strict thing, you need to consider the season, weather, wind direction, ocean current, different seasons may be completely different routes, sometimes maybe the wind direction and water flow are suitable, but the sea conditions are bad, that can not be coursed. In short, navigation is a complex system engineering, without advanced technology, rich knowledge and a certain amount of luck, navigation can not be successful.

They are now exploring an unfamiliar route, although there are advanced tools (sextants, mechanical watches), highly survivable ships, and experienced sailors, but in the end it is still a matter of luck, the odds of finding and not finding are basically on June Fourth, and there are too many things that can affect the positioning of ships: calculation errors, bad weather, and other factors have always been common in navigation.

Fortunately, Zhang Jinhua's luck was not ridiculously bad, and after several days of wandering around the waters of Tahiti Island, the lookout on the mast finally spotted a dark gray outline of land on the distant sea level. The news immediately boiled the whole ship, and the sailors changed their previous lazy demeanor, adjusted the sail booms under the command of the chief navigator and boatswain, and began to sail in the direction of the discovered land.

At the same time, the gunner also armed a group of able-bodied sailors on board to avoid any unexpected situation after going ashore. Zhang Jinhua also went back to the captain's room to change into new clothes, and then called all the members of his expedition up from the bilge, each carrying some small goods, which were used for trading with the natives. Of course, they didn't forget to bring weapons to themselves, for example, Zhang Jinhua put on a cuirass for himself despite the hot weather, and at the same time hung two Type 1633 flintlock pistols with good ammunition around his waist. (To be continued......)