From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 13 Bilge Supplies
Precious metals are symbols of wealth, especially gold.

It is stable in nature, rare in quantity, and cannot be synthesized chemically. It also has a historical background and a dazzling luster.

In the East, it is the favorite casting material of royal princes, a treasure rewarded to ministers, and the most valuable currency in circulation among the people.

In the West, it is the food of the ancient Greek gods, the sacrifice offered to God by the gods' servants, and the treasure hoarded by dragons.

Whether it is the once prosperous ancient Egypt, the lost ruins of Mayan civilization, or the excavation site of the mysterious and splendid ancient Shu Kingdom.

From five thousand years ago to the present day, the glory of gold has never faded, making other jewels dim, and its appeal spans the East and the West, making other metals ashamed.

Grabbing the gold coins from the drawer and letting them slip through his fingers, feeling their heavy weight and cold texture, Chen Zhou couldn't help but imagine how he would squander this wealth after returning to the modern era.

For a few minutes, he was so immersed in the dream of being a "rich man" that he almost forgot that these gold coins would not truly belong to him until 28 years later.

But dreams are just dreams, and we will eventually wake up.

Chen Zhou is not a child. He is long past the age where he cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality.

After playing with the gold coins for a while, he finally counted all the coins and put them back in the cabinet.

The drawer slowly closed, and the pleasant golden color gradually shortened to a thin crack and then disappeared.

Feeling inexplicably empty in the heart, after hesitating for a moment, Chen Zhou opened the drawer again, picked out the best quality gold coin and put it in his pocket, then walked away.

As one of the highest-ranking sailors on the entire ship, the homeowner's life is still filled with the refinement and luxury unique to the social elite even at sea.

His tableware was not only made of silver, but also engraved with patterns, and came in various types and large numbers.

There were twelve silver teacups alone, as well as knives, forks, spoons, small spoons, shallow dishes, and silver bowls. The weight of any two or three of them combined would exceed the amount of clean mercury in the large kitchen bucket.

Looking at these silver wares that are no longer shiny due to oxidation, Chen Zhou couldn't help but think.

"If homeowners put some of the unused dishes in a bucket to disinfect them, the quality of life of all sailors might be improved."

"But will he do that?"

Chen Zhou smiled and thought of the leader in the factory who was clamoring to seek benefits for everyone at all costs.

The young people who have just joined the factory are always fooled and get excited after hearing his slogans, but after a while they find out that they are also what the leader calls the "cost".

In the eyes of the homeowner, the sailors who kept dying and being replenished while going out to sea might also be a "price". Their health was not even as valuable as two silver teacups.

In comparison, the factory leaders who shout slogans and make big promises seem to have a conscience.

But in Chen Zhou's heart, these silver tableware that symbolize identity and status do not have the value of luxury goods.

He prefers to use them as practical utensils to improve the quality of his life.

After all, silver crafts are not valuable in modern society. Even antiques are more popular with silverware of oriental background. These European crafts are not suitable for local conditions and cannot be sold at a high price even if they are sold.

As for whether the wear and tear during use would cause these utensils to depreciate, Chen Zhou didn't care.

As he had thought, 28 years was a long time, and he would rather have a few bags of different seeds to enrich his diet than a lot of redundant food and useless crafts.

In addition to the silverware, the room's cabinets and shelves contained cans of tea, bags of white bread, bottles of wine, and large square-necked glass bottles of clean drinking water.

Under the pillow of the hammock, Chen Zhou found a navigation notebook.

The notes recorded in detail the departure date of the ship, the longitude and latitude of the supply stop, the bill for purchased supplies, the sailors' duty arrangements, and the specific plan of the voyage.

Based on this, he inferred that the owner of the house should be the first mate.

Because as the master of the ship, the captain is most of the time only responsible for setting the general direction and managing the crew while ensuring the smooth transportation of goods. He does not have to personally deal with the details and argue with the merchants who dock for supplies about the price of a few barrels of rum or how much a bag of rivets or a barrel of tar costs. These trivial matters can be handled by the first mate.

Moreover, the stern building has two floors, and although the lower floor has a larger overall area, it is divided into five rooms. The corridors are narrow and crowded.

Put yourself in his shoes. If he were the captain, he would definitely choose to live in the more spacious upper cabin with a better view, which would be convenient for steering and he wouldn't have to squeeze together with the ship's doctor, carpenter and others.

Of course, the lower poop is not without its merits.

For Chen Zhou, who is alone, it doesn’t matter whether the room is big or small. What is more important is whether it is convenient to transport supplies. In this regard, the lower floor has more advantages.

As for the view, there are two large windows on both sides of the first mate's room. Although the view is not as wide as the upper level, it is still possible to see the sea clearly and understand the laws of the tides. When the weather is clear, the lighting conditions are not too bad and are completely sufficient.

As he was thinking this, Chen Zhou heard the sound of raindrops falling outside the house again.

When I opened the window, I saw that the dark clouds were still making their last struggle. There was a drizzle in the sky, and it would not stop for a while.

In October, the days are long and the nights are short in the central Pacific Ocean, and even on rainy days it is still gray and bright.

On the first night on the ship, Chen Zhou planned to rest in the first mate's room. He was very satisfied with the environment and hammock there.

But it was not dark yet, and he planned to do some more work between dusk and night.

It’s not that he is so diligent, but he knows that delayed work will not disappear, but will only pile up until tomorrow and become a double burden.

If he can't get rid of this extra burden, the work will pile up until it overwhelms him and he messes up the whole thing.

Besides, when it rained heavily just now, a lot of water must have flooded into the cabin. If it is not cleaned up in time, the water will rot the food and crush the wood and gunpowder, and it will be too late to regret it then.

After eating and drinking to his heart's content, and seeing the rewards for successfully completing the challenge in advance, Chen Zhou, motivated by the gold coins, felt that he had reached his peak both physically and mentally, and was filled with energy.

After arriving at the drainage room and pumping the well for a while, Chen Zhou endured the stench and carried out the sewage into the sea. He also discovered that a lot of rainwater had accumulated on the floor in the middle of the cabin.

There were no brooms, dustpans or other tools on the boat to sweep the water, so Chen Zhou could only use his ingenuity. He used a short wooden board to push the water toward the bow where the terrain was lower, and then used a large iron spoon to scoop water into a bucket and clean it out.

Repeating this process over and over again is indeed very inefficient.

But the accumulated water on the ship was always limited and was constantly decreasing, until only a thin layer remained, which could no longer cause any harm.

After a short rest, Chen Zhou came to the front cabin which he had never set foot in before.

The space here is even narrower than the lower cargo hold. In addition to the lower half of the winch drum installed under the deck, there are large barrels of biscuits, wine, whole boxes of sugar and flour, as well as salt and some crushed tea leaves piled up randomly.

The sailors seemed to have been assimilated by the cockroaches and lice on the ship, placing their beds in every corner here.

They would spread their black tattered mattresses in the middle of the corridor, or put two wooden boards between two wine barrels to sleep in the air, or squeeze into the gap between wooden boxes. There were all kinds of strange things. In short, there was nothing they couldn't do, except what you couldn't think of.

As for their luggage, it was full of tattered clothes full of holes and patches and dirty, smelly shoes.

In line with the principle of "a thief never leaves empty-handed", Chen Zhou lifted up the sailors' sheets and blankets, trying to find unexpected treasures.

But most of the time he could only disturb a nest of hiding cockroaches or bedbugs. Occasionally he would find a few blackened mushrooms, sea fish with their mouths wide open and their eyes flashing with strange light, and curved body hair, which made his psychological shadow area grow larger and larger.

"No wonder they risk their lives and endure the stench to become sailors. It seems they are all poor and have no money to make."

He turned over another mattress and looked at the black bread underneath that was broken into two pieces and was infested with maggots. Chen Zhou almost vomited.

Just as he was about to give up this "treasure hunt", he glanced to the end of the corridor and saw that there were only four or five beds left. He finally decided to persevere.

"Let's take a look. Maybe there will be something good. It's just a matter of convenience."

Just like that, with a glimmer of hope in his heart, Chen Zhou continued to move forward while checking the supplies in the wooden barrels and boxes.

Under the planks of the bed nearest the end of the corridor he found a small can filled with grease.

The color of the grease in the can was very similar to the crushed oil in the pickle barrel in the kitchen. The surface of the slippery filling had traces of being moved by fingers, leaving two streaks of black dirt, which made Chen Zhou feel nauseous.

In fact, the use of this grease is not as extreme as he imagined. It is not a food, but a product used by sailors to wipe their hand guards.

Frequently exposed to the sea breeze and scorching sun, as well as doing heavy physical work such as grabbing cables and turning capstans, the skin of lower-level sailors was severely damaged, which led to the birth of the original hand cream.

However, Chen Zhou was destined to be unable to understand the bitterness unique to the lower-class sailors in the 17th century.

After unscrewing the lid of the jar and seeing what was inside, he had already thrown away the grease can that the sailors treasured, and searched all the way to the last bunk.

The owner of this bed seemed to be very aware of personal privacy. He placed the bedding behind two wooden boxes placed side by side, relying on the boxes and the wall to form an independent space. He did not sleep in the open like other sailors.

Due to the limitations of the terrain, it was quite difficult to find his bed. One had to either climb over a wooden box that was more than one meter high, or move the box away.

Because the coat was too tight, Chen Zhou couldn't move his legs and could only choose the latter method.

There was no space at the bottom of the wooden box, and it was extremely heavy after being soaked with water. Chen Zhou had to use all his strength to move it out.

When he turned over the bed again, he found a piece of white bread that had been eaten twice and a silver spoon under the thin bedding. Judging from the pattern, the tableware was the same as the one in the first mate's room.

"Good fellow, no wonder he hid in such a secluded place, it turns out he has something to hide."

While lamenting that these guys were not honest, Chen Zhou put the silver spoon into his pocket.

"This can be considered a guaranteed draw, it's worth all my effort."

Muttering to himself, Chen Zhou pushed open the door leading to the bow cabin on the lower level, and walked into the dark lower cabin along the downward sloping steps.

Just as it was written in the original book, the ship was carried forward by the storm, and its head hit a reef. Cracks appeared on the top of the bottom cabin wall, and the cracks that allowed light to pass through were particularly eye-catching in the dark environment.

Fortunately, after the ship ran aground, most of the bow was above the water, so the seawater could not penetrate the gap and rush into the cabin. There were no huge waves to impact the hull and expand the damage, otherwise the ship would have fallen apart long ago.

Despite this, the bow cabin was still full of water. As soon as Chen Zhou walked down the steps, he felt the uppers of his leather boots were submerged. He quickly took a step back and returned to a higher place.

He took a wooden stick to measure the water depth and found that the water at the entrance of the room alone was deep enough to cover his calves. Because the bow of the ship was tilted downward, the water got deeper as he went deeper. A conservative estimate was that the water at the bottom of the sea was at least one meter deep.

More importantly, the accumulated water obstructed the vision, making it impossible to determine whether there was a hole underwater that was continuously leaking water.

If seawater continues to pour in, the situation will not improve even if you keep pumping water out with buckets. The best option is to just leave it alone and pretend that the room doesn't exist.

But Chen Zhou didn't want to give up easily, he wanted to know more.

Opening the door leading to the bow cabin on the lower level as wide as possible, Chen Zhou leaned sideways to try not to block the light coming into the room, and endeavored to identify the furnishings inside.

He found several wooden racks placed against the walls on both sides of the cabin.

The wooden rack was the same style as the racks in the kitchen, divided into four layers. The bottom two and a half layers were submerged in water. One could vaguely see a quarter of the wooden barrel placed on the third layer exposed, while the sack on the top layer was spared because it was high enough.

These sacks were placed close together, stretching from one side of the room to the other. There were more than thirty of them, and even though most of them were soaked by sea water, some of them were still useful.

When it comes to supplies, Chen Zhou has always believed that the more the better. As long as there is still hope for rescue, he will do his best.

Silently noting that there were a batch of sacks in the front cabin that could be moved, he left the room and prepared to go to the kitchen to get an oil lamp and see how the water was boiling.

Even after the fire has been turned off for a long time, there is still residual heat under the stove.

The big dog was snoring and didn't move until Chen Zhou lit the oil lamp with the remaining fire from the charcoal. Then he leisurely got up, shook his hair and stretched.

Ignoring the big dog that was trying to get close to him, Chen Zhou opened the lid of the tin. Steam immediately gushed out, scalding hot and blocking his vision. For a moment, he couldn't see the water inside at all.

Helplessly, Chen Zhou could only put down the lid and wait for the steam to dissipate. Taking advantage of this free time, he left the kitchen with a lamp and began to check the cargo holds on both sides.

Seeing this, the big dog followed him closely, wagging its tail.

The packaging of the materials in the cargo hold was very simple and perfunctory.

The box is thin and the bag opening is loose, so the contents will spill everywhere with a slight pull.

Checking them one by one, there are all kinds of shell jewelry, crudely made telescopes, small ceramic dolls, glass beads, glassware, long iron knives, scissors, and axes.

They are cheap and poorly made.

The handle of the long sword is fixed with only two rivets and a little glue, so it will be dislocated if it is slightly bumped.

The axe head is made of cast iron. Although it has high hardness, it has almost no plasticity and very poor toughness. The blade will inevitably break when it hits hard objects.

Glass beads are full of bubbles, and so are glassware.

The painting skills on the ceramic doll were poor, and a perfectly good doll was turned into Annabell. The indigenous children had nightmares after playing with it at night.

Those monocular telescopes with two loose lenses are an insult to intelligence. They can only magnify scenery a dozen meters away at most. They have no practical value at all and are not as good as the toy telescope that Chen Zhou bought when he was a child.

In a nutshell, they are all inferior goods used to deceive the natives into completing the bloody and dirty human trade. They have limited durability and will break down within a few days.

(End of this chapter)