industrial lord

Chapter 672 Weather is the Enemy

On the vast sea, the wind rolled up the dark clouds. Between the dark clouds and the sea, the coconuts were flying proudly like green lightning.

People from inland and offshore experienced the storms in the deep ocean for the first time.

All ships were parked in sheltered places on various islands and all personnel were evacuated.

The tents were scattered in the woods and tied to sturdy trees to prevent them from being blown away.

Someone was not afraid of the storm and shouted at the seaside: "Let the storm come even harder!"

Then he was hit by a coconut.

The tent was rustling in the strong wind. Inside, Amy was introducing purple flowers to Lulu.

The leaves of this flower are a bit like orchids, with a layer of wax on the thick leaves. Now the leaves are a bit dry and the surface is wrinkled. Several flower stalks grow in the middle of the leaves. The flowers that were purple not long ago have now grown into dandelion-like seeds.

People on the western coast of the southern continent call it the storm flower. It usually only has leaves, but when a storm is about to come, it blooms and seeds in a short period of time, allowing the wind to blow the seeds far away.

Lulu planned to have people dry the coconut shells to make flower pots and plant a few on each boat as an experiment.

Frederick was still wet when he returned to the tent. When he opened the curtain, mist came out of his body. When he went in, the rain had disappeared without a trace.

"You want a coconut?" He handed the coconut to Lulu, "I just happened to pick one up."

The outer layer of a fresh coconut is very soft, with a depression on it that feels a bit like the shape of the back of Frederick's head.

There was only one casualty during the storm that lasted for a day and two nights, but the situation of the ship was not optimistic.

"It seems that the shortcomings of paddle steamers are still obvious." Frederick couldn't help but shook his head. "The water wheel is still too easy to be damaged."

Lulu nodded and said, "From now on, we should focus our resources on propeller boats."

The water wheels of eight out of ten paddle steamers were damaged to varying degrees. Fortunately, the steel pipe frame of the blades could be repaired by straightening it or welding it. The damaged wooden blades could be repaired by cutting pine trees on the mountain. In addition, the margin left in the design did not affect the subsequent voyage.

In comparison, apart from a swordfish piercing the Flying Tulip, the two new ships had basically no major incidents. Several life buoys were blown away, passengers' unsecured luggage rolled around in the cabin, and some vegetables and meat in the ice storage collapsed.

The photographers on the boat got busy, taking pictures of the swordfish from different angles and then grilled it.

This made the captains of the paddle steamer fleet very depressed. They still wanted to accompany them on the voyage, but now they could only wait for Frederick and his men to open the map and follow up.

Frederick arranged the follow-up work and then found Kamala.

"Are there many storms like this?" asked Frederick.

Kamala said puzzledly, "Normally, storms like this only occur after the sun is at its highest point in the year, and they only occur once in many years in this season."

Frederick was a little depressed, probably because of bad luck and the extreme weather.

But this also has its advantages. First of all, the design of the stronghold houses needs to be changed.

The original square house was changed into a round one, and the three-story building was changed into a two-story one.

Frederick asked them to build a shed on the second floor to prevent the sun from shining directly on the roof, otherwise they would be burned to death in the summer.

This situation does not happen in the north, and the translators in the south have no say in the matter. Frederick had lived in a container house on a construction site in his previous life, and knew how strong the midday sun was in the south, so he reminded them.

Two days later, the fleet set out and sailed straight south for about 500 kilometers.

Frederick was worried that misfortunes would never come alone, with storms coming one after another. After a discussion with Lulu, he decided not to look for the Horseshoe Islands anymore, but to set up the second base on a small island close to the southern continent.

The weather became hotter as we traveled south. Everyone on the ship wore clothes made of light-colored spider silk, and the air conditioner in the cabin was on all the time.

"You're from the south and you're afraid of heat!"

Frederick pinched Susan's nose and handed her a small glass of salt water.

Most of the northerners in the fleet had never experienced such weather, and as a result, more people suffered from heatstroke than seasickness.

Susan was from the south and also got heat stroke. "I've lived in the north for many years." She took the cup and took a sip, then handed it back to Frederick and said, "I want an iced drink."

Frederick shook his head and said, "No, drinking something too cold suddenly will make you sick."

"You're a doctor yourself, and you don't know?"

Susan smiled a little embarrassedly. Of course she knew this, but she just wanted to act coquettishly towards Frederick.

When she finished, she placed the cup on the bedside table and stretched out her arms toward Frederick for a hug.

Frederick put the cup into the basket to prevent it from breaking due to the rough sea conditions, then went to turn down the air conditioner temperature, then returned to the bed and lay down with Susan in his arms.

In less than two minutes, Susan fell asleep in his arms, snoring softly.

Frederick touched her back and armpits and found that her body temperature had returned to normal. She just needed to rest and drink more salty soda.

After Susan fell asleep, Frederick gently pulled away the arm that was used as a pillow for her, put the pillow in place, and then went to the captain's room.

Lulu is studying the nautical chart, but many places on the chart are empty, with only longitude and latitude grids, which need to be filled in by the fleet.

All we can do now is calculate how far we have traveled in these days.

When Lulu saw Frederick coming in, she said, "We've deviated."

Frederick asked, "Is it serious?"

Lulu replied: "It may be due to the ocean current. The location is further west than the planned location and is getting farther and farther away from the coast."

"I plan to take a bearing at noon tomorrow and then adjust the course."

Frederick said, "Yes, I suggest we find a place to dock first so that everyone can adapt to the climate here."

Lilu thought about it and agreed to his suggestion.

The biggest trouble of this sea trip was the weather. The storms, high temperatures and high humidity were beyond everyone's imagination.

Even Kamala, who used to work in inland rivers, is not used to the high temperature and humidity at sea. His heatstroke is more serious than Susan's, and he is now hanging saline solution in the cabin.

Frederick was looking for a document when he saw a black envelope on Lulu's desk. He frowned and asked, "Whose will is this?"

Lulu sighed helplessly.

Frederick asked and found out what was going on.

The sun is quite strong in the south, and the lookout did not wear long-sleeved clothes while working in order to stay cool. This morning, he found that a large area of ​​his skin was peeling, so he wrote a will to the captain and is now waiting to die in the cabin.

Frederick's mouth twitched, and he turned to his secretary and said, "Christina, go and see how he is doing on my behalf and ask about the situation."

Christina came back ten minutes later and reported to Frederick: "His skin peeled badly, half of his back was peeled off, but he is in a stable mood now, and there are many people accompanying him in the cabin."

Frederick just smiled. The sunlight in the north was not that strong, and no one knew that one could get skin peeling from sun exposure.

Christina felt unhappy. How could he laugh when he was about to die?

Frederick said to Lulu, "Let the lookout open the awning next time."

Lilu said, "I have already arranged it."

Frederick found the food list on board, studied it carefully for a while, and said, "Tell the kitchen to make more salt soda, add some banana powder and mix well, and send one cup to the engine room every hour."

The Kingdom of Kush introduced bananas from India, but due to storage and transportation reasons, the Principality of Wessen could only eat dehydrated bananas, which could be made into banana puree after adding water. Some of them were on the ship as snack ingredients.

It was very hot in the engine room and people sweated a lot, so they could only rely on banana salt soda to replenish various minerals.

As soon as Frederick finished speaking, the lookout reported that there was a strange ship ahead.

(End of this chapter)