Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 257, Whaling

On the vast surface of the Bohai Sea, a large ship was sailing slowly, with only one of the three mast sails raised, obviously not in a hurry.

Although this ship is as huge as a blessing boat, with a length of twelve feet and a width of three feet, its shape is completely different from that of a blessing boat. This boat has a big belly and a deep draft. It looks like a triangle, and there is a harpoon gun that needs to be driven by a winch.

That's right, this is a whaling ship, the first real whaling ship manufactured by Tianjin Shipyard. All its structures are imitated from the later bottlenose whaling ships that were born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

'Kunpeng' is the name of this whaling ship. At this time, on this ship, the crew members are looking for traces of whales with binoculars. They have been out for two full days, but they have not found any whales until now, so Captain Tian Baiyi also seemed anxious.

"I used to see these whales every time I went fishing, but now these whales know that we are out to hunt whales, so they all avoid us."

Tian Baiyi put down the binoculars in his hand and looked around, but he never found any trace of the whale. The daily expenses of this boat going out to sea are a huge sum, not to mention, the sunset is about to set, and there is no harvest today If not, it will have to wait until tomorrow.

"Maybe we forgot to offer incense to the Dragon King when we went out to sea."

Next to Tian Boyi, the deputy captain Peng Yi said with a smile.

"I just dare not offer incense to the Dragon King. If the Dragon King knew about the whale general we went to hunt and kill, he would definitely not bless us."

Tian Boyi smiled and said, sailors nowadays usually offer incense to the Dragon Lord when they go to sea, and almost every household enshrines the statue of the Dragon Lord. In this era, all walks of life have their own gods. The carpenter made offerings to Lu Ban, and the sailors went to sea to offer offerings to Mazu in the southeast coastal area. In the northern area, people did not believe in Mazu, so they asked the Dragon King to come out to offer offerings.

In short, in everything you do, ask God to ask Buddha, so that you can feel more at ease in your heart.

"Whale, whale~"

While the two were chatting, there was an exclamation from the top of the mast, and everyone immediately regained their spirits.

"Skinny man, in which direction?"

Tian Baiyi hurriedly asked.

"About 2 nautical miles ahead~"

On the mast, the so-called thin man was as thin as a monkey, holding a telescope in his hand and pointing forward.

"Ring the bell, get to work~"

Tian Boyi looked straight ahead with a telescope and saw nothing, but he still ordered the 'Kunpeng' to move.

"Clang~clang~"

Accompanied by bursts of rapid bells ringing on the 'Kunpeng', the people on the whole ship suddenly became busy, and at the same time everyone became extremely excited. After two days at sea, they finally found the whale.

"Hey~ Hey~"

Here at the bow, a few strong and strong sailors with bare necks began to stir the winch to install an iron spear with a thick rope and a full two feet long on the harpoon gun.

There is a barb design on the spear. Once it hits the whale, it will bite into the meat, and no matter how hard the whale struggles, it will not get out of the hook.

The ropes connecting the spears are all special ropes, which are very thick and strong enough to ensure that they will not break.

The sails on the 'Kunpeng' were raised one by one, and soon swelled under the sea wind, and the speed of the ship also began to soar rapidly.

The journey of 2 nautical miles does not take too long, and Tian Boyi and others can see fountain-like water columns rising from the sea.

This is the water column ejected by whales when they breathe. Whales are mammals. They cannot breathe directly in the water like other sea fish. They need to go to the sea surface to breathe from time to time. This is the most direct, simple and effective way to find whales. way.

"Drink~ There are quite a few whales in this group, probably hundreds of them."

Tian Boyi looked at the water columns rising from the sea with a smile on his face. These whales lived carefree on the ocean.

Since ancient times, they have been the overlords of the ocean, and their status is unshakable. Even if human beings run amok on land, they have nothing to do with the giant beasts in the ocean.

"Tsk tsk, Lao Tian, ​​let's choose the biggest whale."

Peng Yi's eyes were shining brightly. As the boat got closer to the whale group, he could already clearly see the huge body of the whale. These whales were not afraid of the boat at all, and even roosted around the boat.

"No, it's our first time hunting whales. It's better to be safe and choose a medium-sized one."

Tian Boyi thought for a while, shook his head and said, he is quite cautious. It is his first time to go out to sea to hunt whaling, he does not expect merit but no fault, as long as he can catch the whale, he can go back safely.

As for how much profit this first whaling must have, I really don't care too much. After all, the owner of this ship is Liu Jin, and he has plenty of money, so he doesn't care about it at all.

"Everyone looked carefully and chose a medium-sized whale. We will finish the work before sunset and return to Hong Kong early tomorrow morning."

Tian Boyi said loudly to the crew on the ship.

"Okay, I think the one over here is very good. It is about seven feet long and average in size. It is very suitable for starting."

"I also have a good one here~"

"Brother Tian, ​​you can do it the day before~"

As soon as the crew members heard it, they immediately searched for their targets at sea and shouted.

"Harpoon gun ready~"

Tian Baiyi smiled, everyone eating on the same boat, the relationship is still very good, as the captain, he has great power, on this boat he is the one who decides.

He came to the bow of the ship and looked at the group of whales ahead. At this time, the group of whales seemed to have had enough to eat and drink. They breathed very leisurely on the sea surface and did not go under the water, so it was a good time to strike.

As his words fell, beside the harpoon gun, the person in charge of operating the harpoon gun was a tall and strong man. He became tense and concentrated his attention on the group of whales ahead.

"That's the one. If you look at it, it's best to be able to shoot it in the head with one shot."

Soon, Tian Boyi pointed to a whale more than ten meters ahead and said.

"Look at me~"

Gao Shan nodded, and said confidently that he had always been the number one in the training of manipulating the harpoon gun. The harpoon gun was used with a hundred shots, so he also became the gunner on the "Kunpeng", specializing in Take control of this harpoon gun.

"中~"

The sea is rough, and the ship is constantly shaking with the waves. It is also a test of experience and technology to target whales in such an environment.

After waiting for a while, only Gao Shan yelled, and the harpoon flew out quickly while dragging the rope.

"Pfft~"

Not surprisingly, the gun landed firmly on the whale's body, but it didn't land on the whale's head, but on the whale's thick back.

"Crash~"

A large amount of blood gushed out of the sea in an instant, dyeing the surrounding sea red. At the same time, the injured whale twisted its body in pain and slapped the water surface, causing huge waves to rise immediately.

At the same time, the rope dragged by the harpoon was straightened and tightened rapidly, and then the speed of the 'Kunpeng' soared suddenly, and there was also a teeth-stinging sound from the hull.

The size of the whale is really too big, and its strength is too big. Now that it is injured, it starts to flee desperately. Under the huge pulling force, the 'Kunpeng' also bears huge pressure.

Tian Baiyi, Peng Yi, Gao Shan and others also changed slightly when they heard the sound of toothache on the boat, and began to worry about whether the boat could withstand the pull of this giant sea beast.

"Prepare the knife~"

For the sake of safety, Tian Boyi also immediately ordered that a crew member hold a sharp machete and wait for orders at any time. Once the ship showed signs of being unbearable, he would immediately cut the rope to prevent the ship from being pulled down.

At sea, the whales were also frightened, and they began to dive into the sea one after another. Soon, there was only one injured whale on the sea, dragging a rope, and pulling the Kunpeng to drive rapidly on the sea.

The performance of the whaling ship is still very good. Although the strength of the whale is very strong, pulling the ship at high speed on the sea, the ship is still intact and does not look unbearable at all.

This made everyone on the boat feel relieved, and only then did they have time to take a look at the whale.

A large amount of blood gushed out from the whale's body all the time. Wherever it passed, the sea water was blown away, emitting bursts of bloody smell.

"Crash~"

The whale twisted and rolled, trying to break free, but the harpoon was firmly biting into its flesh, no matter how hard it struggled, there was no way to escape.

"It seems that we have to wait slowly, we can only consume it like this."

Tian Boyi looked at the sunset in the west, and looked at the still very powerful whale. He was also ready for a protracted battle, so he also ordered: "Take turns to eat, and take turns to watch at night~"

Soon, the crew on the ship started to get busy again, eating, resting, and resting. Only when they were full did they have the energy to fight this giant beast in the sea.

The sun slowly sank into the sea water, dyeing half of the sky red.

Soon, night fell. This is a rare good weather, the stars are shining, the moon is clear, even if there is no light, you can still see everything on the sea very clearly.

"Haha, the direction the whale is leading us now is exactly in the direction of Tianjin Port. There is still a lot of way left."

Tian Boyi habitually measured the position of the ship, quickly calculated the position, and burst out laughing happily.

When I came to the bow of the ship, I looked at the whale in front. After a period of struggle, it had gradually lost its strength. At this time, it was no longer as fierce as it was at the beginning, but after a while, it would struggle again. , apparently not quite dead yet.

That night, Tian Boyi didn't sleep all the time, and kept watching the movements of the whales on the deck.

In the middle of the night, the whale no longer made any movement, apparently dead, which made him completely relieved.

Early the next morning.

"Haha, I've turned my stomach, I've turned my stomach~"

The first thing for the crew members who got up early was naturally to see the whale they caught yesterday, and soon they were pleasantly surprised to find that the whale, which was so ferocious yesterday, had turned over at this time, revealing its snow-white, snow-white belly, suspended above the water surface superior.

"This whaling is not difficult. The key is that the shot must be shot accurately and cannot be unhooked. The rest is much simpler. Just wait for it to bleed to death."

Tian Boyi looked at the whale with its belly turned over, and immediately smiled and said to the crew beside him.

"It's really not difficult. At first I thought whaling would be difficult and risky, but now it seems that's the case."

Peng Yi also nodded and said.

"Our ship is still powerful. If it was an ordinary ship, it would have been towed to pieces long ago. Without this professional whaling ship, we really can't deal with this giant beast in the sea."

This time he personally hunted whaling once, and he knew the way of whaling. The technology is not so technical, the key is to aim with one shot, and the rest is easy.

What is really difficult is the whaling ship and the specially designed harpoon gun. Without these things, there is really no way to deal with this giant beast in the sea.

"How much do you think this whale is worth?"

Peng Yi looked at the belly-turning big fish on the sea and said.

"No matter what, it must be sold for several thousand taels of silver~"

"A few thousand taels is too little, I think at least tens of thousands of taels of silver~"

"Ten thousand taels is too much, at most it's worth a few thousand taels of silver."

Everyone immediately talked to each other, and they reckoned happily.

This whale is as huge as this ship. It is really difficult for everyone to calculate how much such a huge fish is worth.

"Old Tian, ​​how much silver do you think you can sell?"

Peng Yi asked Tian Boyi with a smile.

"Thousands of taels of silver can definitely be sold. Didn't I say it in class, it's full of treasures."

Tian Boyi said with a smile all over his face, if he could sell for several thousand taels of silver, his commission for this trip would not be less.

"Maybe there are tens of thousands of taels of silver~"

Peng Yi looked at the huge body of the whale and said.

"You'll know when you go back~"

"Let's take action, quickly buckle it to the side of the ship, and drag it back to the port."

Tian Boyi didn't waste too much time estimating its value, and soon ordered to get busy.

As soon as the crew got the order, they began to get busy. There were many specially designed tools on board, and the bow and stern of the ship were fastened to the side of the ship. With the help of the buoyancy of the sea water and the thrust of the wind, they followed the "Kunpeng" towards the port of Tianjin. return.

"Clang~clang~"

Tianjin port is very busy in the morning. The watchman on the lighthouse keeps looking at the sea and rings the bell whenever a ship returns to the port.

　Whales are protected animals, please don’t hunt whales~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)