When Marin was thinking about going to the Ming Empire in the future, the Americo he was looking forward to also led four ships to a large circle, passed through the southern end of South America, came to the Pacific Ocean, and headed northward, and finally arrived at the city of Panama under construction.
At this time, Panama City was just a castle with a simple port area, and there were only a few simple manual excavation docks. The small river next to Panama City was also named Panama River by the bald head of the temporary governor of Panama City.
When four new 250 armed merchant ships from Americo arrived at the mouth of the Panama River, they did not rush to enter the Panama River. This was because several Aben's ships were parked in the estuary of the Panama River, and some of their four ships could not be squeezed in.
When the bald Aben saw that this was not possible. If a long-term sailing ship did not enter the Tamsui River to clean up the sea maggots, it would not be eroded and penetrated into the bottom?
However, Americo did not wait for Aben to clear out the berth for him, but instead docked and landed on the beach, and then logged directly on his own.
"Teacher, why don't you stop the boat to Hanoi? The maggots cannot be removed in the saltwater area! Wait a moment, I will order the berth for your fleet!" Aben asked in confusion.
At the Captain's School, Columbus and Americo were the two most important professor-level teachers. Aben was the first group of students in the Captain's School. When he saw Americo, he naturally called him a teacher.
But Americo smiled and refused:
"No need, Aben, the teacher's four ships are not afraid of sea maggots. They don't even need to be overhauled!"
"What?" Aben was shocked. As the first group of outstanding students of the East Friesian Captain's School, Aben knew the difficulty of sailing. After every voyage, overhaul was almost necessary because of the erosion of sea maggots on the bottom of the ship, as well as the slap of waves along the way and some bumps. The main content of the overhaul was to replace several wooden boards with severe or damaged parts of the waterline at the bottom of the ship. This required a professional drainable dock to facilitate maintenance of craftsmen. Therefore, Aben was surprised to say that his ship did not need to be overhauled. After all, Aben was sailing around the Americas for a long time. To say that the bottom of the ship did not require overhaul, Aben obviously did not believe it. However, Aben was the vice principal and navigation professor of the Captain's School. He said that there was no overhaul, and it was obviously not wrong.
"Has you repaired it elsewhere, teacher?" Aben could only guess this way. After all, there seems to be a small stronghold on the island of Santa Maria along Chile. Could it be that the small stronghold also built a new repair dock?
Yameiro shook his head and said:
"No, no, no, Aben, you misunderstood. The bottom of the teacher's four boats are covered with special iron sheets. You are not afraid of sea maggots, nor are you afraid of minor collisions and damage. As long as you don't encounter large reefs, you almost don't need to repair them!"
"Iron?" Bald Aben was shocked and then worriedly said:
"But, teacher, the iron sheet can't be supported for too long, right? It's easy to be rusted by sea water! Could it be... it's the iron sheet?" Aben remembered that the last time he returned to China, he seemed to have heard that the iron sheet in China was not afraid of rust. However, last time he seemed to have heard that if the outer skin of the iron sheet bumped, it would be easy to rust... And the sailing process, especially the process of exploring new routes, is inevitably bumped, and the iron sheet is not a problem...
The sailing regulations of the North Sea Kingdom are very strict. The first time they sail, they are usually led by experienced sailors like Columbus and Americo. Then, they will record the coordinates along the way and mark which section of the sea area will have reefs, so special attention is needed.
Moreover, at the bow of each ship, Malin specially built an observation room, arranged for sailors to be on duty to observe continuously, and used low-power telescopes to observe whether there were reefs not far ahead to avoid hitting the reefs.
Of course, this kind of observation is generally used when exploring the route for the first time. If the first exploring route is successful, the sailing log of the leader will clearly inform the later generations which section is in danger.
Therefore, under such strict navigation regulations, as long as the later captain sailed strictly according to the coordinates provided by the previous navigation log, there would be almost no danger. Unless a hurricane or typhoon was unlucky, it would be difficult for a sailing accident. Americo also sailed all the way according to the navigation logs provided by Aben. Even the dangerous Strait of Magellan, they had passed by safely. At the beginning, when Aben's fleet first passed through the Strait of Magellan, he almost lost two ships. If it weren't for the help of the ships who were traveling with him, it might have been done.
Yameiro naturally saw Aben's doubts and happily told Aben that the grand duke had created a new tin sheet (Marin didn't tell them that it was nickel-tin sheet, but they didn't know what nickel was anyway, they just told them that it was a new tin sheet), and they were not afraid of sea water corrosion. Moreover, after the bottom of the ship was wrapped with the tin sheet, ordinary collisions would not hurt the ship at all. Unless it hit the sharp reef straight and straight. However, for navigators of Columbus and Yameiro, that situation is very rare.
Aben suddenly realized and enthusiastically invited Americo and his party. Now, although the cement road connecting Panama City in the Cologne Bay in the Caribbean has not been repaired, the land road has been opened. As long as it is not rainy weather, the Port of Cologne can already provide some supplies to Panama City. In addition, Aben will also return to some nearby natives to eat some sweet potatoes, peanuts and peppers. Also, Aben will sometimes send boats to sea for fishing. For example, this time, Aben will entertain Americo and his party, in addition to regular food such as bread, bacon, as well as fresh fish, roasted sweet potatoes and fried peanuts and other dishes, which made Americo and his party who had been sailing on the sea for several months had a great time.
After the entertainment, Aben began to order to help Americo and his party prepare freshwater for navigation.
The preparation method is very simple. It is to use the simulated steaming can invented by Marin to put the whole bucket of fresh water in a large pot full of water (it is also OK to fill the mouth of the bucket), seal it and steam it until it boils. In this way, the fresh water in the wooden bucket becomes boiling water, which is absolutely sterile. Then, the sailors put gloves on the bucket while it is hot, quickly plug the wood plug and put it on the sealing mud, and then take it out to dry. When the surface and sealing mud on the wooden bucket are dried, a bucket of fresh water that has been sealed and can be kept for several months will be ready.
According to Marin's prediction, the fleet of Asiatico crossed the Pacific Ocean this time, because it was smooth sailing, it only took about 3 months. Therefore, it is not difficult to prepare enough fresh water. Moreover, within 3 months, fresh water will never deteriorate.
In addition, he helped prepare some food. For example, Aben gave a lot of peanuts and sweet potatoes to Americo for them to eat during the voyage. After all, peanuts and sweet potatoes are also vegetables, which contain vitamins and are more resistant to preservation. Of course, Aben didn't understand these. He only knew that Marin once said that eating more vegetables during the voyage is correct. Moreover, he was right that sweet potatoes have a high vitamin C content. As long as they are properly preserved, fresh sweet potatoes can be kept for three or four months, and they can survive this wave of voyage.
Chapter completed!