please remember
address
The loading lists on the two ships have been translated. According to the loading lists, in addition to the royal subsidy of 230,000 pesos, the cargo on the ships also contains 60,000 pesos of personal money. <-> However, according to the conjecture of the Grand Library, silver smuggling was rampant in Manila Galen at that time. New Spanish dignitaries exported large amounts of American silver and went to Manila to purchase Chinese goods and shipped them back to the Americas for sale.
The results of the inventory proved that their speculation in advance was accurate. In addition to the 310,000 pesos listed on the list, personal money that was not registered in the name of "groceries" but was opened in the name of silver coins totaled 124,000 pesos in silver. This resulted in a harvest of 410,000 pesos in silver coins alone. There are also 311 silver bars, each weighing 1 Spanish arova. Some are stamped with the mine's stamp, and some are stamped with nothing at all.
Each Spanish arova equals 11.5 kilograms, totaling 3.5 tons. However, Yan Maoda, the former jewelry company manager who was specially summoned from Guangzhou to appraise this batch of gold and silver, thought that the purity of this batch of silver bars was very different after looking at it. The best ones are around 85% pure. Most of the stamps come from silver mines such as Zacatecas and Guanajuato in New Spain. The purity of silver bars struck from Peruvian silver mines such as Potosi is generally not high, ranging between 60% and 70%.
There are also some unstamped silver bars of varying fineness, ranging from as high as 90% to less than 60%.
"Since the purity is not enough, what are the remaining ingredients?" Sun Xiao asked.
"It's probably mainly lead - this stuff is very close to silver and looks very similar. So it's often used as filler. Of course there's also copper and gold. These are associated with silver mines and can easily be taken away if they're not refined into pure form. With these impurities.”
"I thought it was sterling silver." Sun Xiao was slightly disappointed.
"It can't be pure silver. Even the best Spanish peso is only 84% pure. Even if we want to mint silver coins, there is no need to have a purity higher than the peso." Yan Maoda said, "In addition, you can see that these silver coins also have different qualities." He picked up a silver coin and said, "This is a peso minted in New Spain, with a fineness of 84%; this one was minted in Peru, with a fineness of only 60 to 70% at best. You can feel the comparison between Peru when you weigh it." light."
"So if you want to use it to mint coins, you have to re-smelt it."
"That's right. The composition of these silver coins and silver bars is very different. They must be smelted into a unified currency material first." Yan Maoda said, "Let me see the others."
Not much gold. But there are many types, including those from Spain, Portugal, and other European countries. There are more than 3,400 gold coins in the two ships, with different colors and weights. Another 35 gold bars were seized. Each piece is one quarter Spanish arrova. A total of one hundred kilograms. The quality is about 80%.
Although the quality is not high. But that much gold is also a big gain. If calculated based on the gold standard of the 19th century, which contained 7.9 grams of pure gold per pound, approximately 10,000 pounds could be issued as a reserve fund.
"As for this pile of jewelry, it's difficult to estimate." Yan Maoda said, "Except for the gold chains, almost all of them are inlaid with gems and pearls. They are very heavy and the materials alone are valuable. And the workmanship is not bad. , I’m afraid it’s worth a lot of money if you include the cost of craftsmanship. It’s a pity to melt it back into the furnace. It’s more cost-effective to sell it directly as a handicraft. The difficulty is that no one wants this kind of jewelry in the Ming Dynasty. I think it can be handed over to the Portuguese or the Dutch to try to cash it in. . Just return the gold chain to the furnace."
The largest quantity of jewelry seized was emeralds. There are eighty yuan. Emerald is the most produced gemstone in Spanish America. Although the cut is rough, Yan Maoda estimates that the value is not low. If it is re-cut according to modern technology, the value can be even higher. Next are various gemstones: rubies, garnets, opals, corundum and diamonds, not in large quantities. There are also 1.5 liters of Caribbean pearls of different sizes.
"These seawater pearls can be sold for a lot of money." Yan Maoda put on his gloves and carefully picked up a blue seawater pearl the size of his little finger. "If you take this thing to Beijing and sell it, you can sell it for at least 800 to 1,000 taels of silver." ――But it’s difficult to get rid of it. After all, there are very few people who can buy this kind of thing.”
After registering all the precious metals and jewelry and sorting them into special boxes, Sun Xiao estimated that the loot of precious metals and jewelry obtained during the entire hunger operation was worth 800,000 pesos.
As for other goods, there is a wide variety. The largest bales of cotton and huge rolls of extremely tough thread. Sun Xiao consulted someone at the Great Library and found out that this thread was agave thread. The Philippine colonial government imported American cotton for weaving canvas and agave thread for caulking - all for shipbuilding and ship repairing. of.
Secondly, there are a large number of animal skins-mainly cowhide and sheepskin, with a number of tens of thousands. In addition to animal skins, bulk cargo also included magenta—the secretion of this insect is a fine red dye; and hundreds of barrels of tobacco from Cuba. Hundreds of bags of inexplicable potato roots with an extremely unpronounceable Spanish name: salsapaglia. It is listed as "drugs" in the cargo list category. People at the Great Library checked the information and found out that this was a specialty of America. At that time, it was considered a special medicine that could treat many diseases.
As for the various gorgeous clothing made of silk and woolen and sets of silverware packed in large reinforced boxes wrapped in animal skins, they were obviously the luggage of the dignitaries who were traveling aboard the ship. If in the end the Senate allowed the ransom of the captives, then the baggage would also be allowed to be ransomed. Therefore, for the time being, the items will only be counted and registered and re-sealed, and will not be included in the storage list.
However, the goods that surprised Sun Xiao the most came from the bottom warehouse—packed in sealed earthenware jars: two hundred jars of mercury, each with a volume of a quarter of a farner, or 13.75 liters. The stamp on the jar indicates that the mercury came from the Huancavelica mercury mine in Peru.
The greatest use of mercury in this time and space is to refine silver. Does the Philippines require so much mercury? Do they also want to develop silver mines?
Sun Xiao didn't know if there were any silver mines in the Philippines, but it was obviously very abnormal to ship so much mercury on the Manila Galen. He immediately reported this information to the Executive Committee.
But this situation alone does not mean it is true - because the Philippines has been importing mercury from China. But such a huge amount of input is abnormal. The Executive Committee therefore referred the issue to the Foreign Intelligence Service and tasked them with investigating it.
After cleaning, the two Spanish Galen ships were towed to the Bobu Shipyard to undergo comprehensive renovations. The ship's cannon, remaining masts, sails and rigging have all been dismantled. Modify and utilize it as appropriate.
Naturally, the cannons were towed directly to the smelting plant. The 65 bronze cannons disassembled from the two ships made the metallurgical and materials departments smile from ear to ear - we just lack high-quality bronze!
The Galen ship is a very sturdy sea-going ship. The ship's materials are all made of strong oak. The thickest part of the hull plate can reach 11 inches. The ribs are thicker and denser than ordinary ships. No wonder the Spaniards used it. Come to transport gold and silver treasures across the sea.
Conduct surveys based on checking ship registers and on-site. The St. Louis had a registered deadweight of 800 gross tons and a displacement of 1,450 tons. The San Raymondo was slightly smaller, with a registered deadweight of 650 gross tons and a displacement of about 1,200 tons.
After visiting, Wen Desi believed that these two ships could be modified and reused - after all, the deadweight tonnage of these two ships was close to the h800 level. Although the hull lines were a bit different and the speed was slower, the hulls were strong and durable. If modified with steam power, it would be a very useful transport ship.
"Actually, with the size of these two ships, if equipped with enough cannons, they can go sideways in the South China Sea without steam engines," Chen Haiyang said after visiting, "The problem is that we don't have that many sailors to operate them. .”
"It would be great if we could use the Spanish prisoners." Qian Shuiting said, shaking his head regretfully. First of all, this was "politically incorrect." Secondly, the reliability of the Spanish prisoners could not be guaranteed.
"I think it is okay to at least employ Europeans in non-military shipping companies - after all, we lack qualified senior seamen." Chen Haiyang said, "At least they are much better at navigation than the local indigenous people - Guang Being able to cross the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans is enough to instantly kill most of the naturalized captains in our navy and shipping companies."
According to the captain's certificate issued by the navy, the captains of the navy and shipping companies under the Senate have three certificates: A, B and C. Class A: Proficient in using navigation instruments, able to rely on charts to navigate across the ocean; Class B: Able to use navigation instruments, familiar with traditional Chinese ocean routes, able to sail to Japan, Thailand, Manila and Batavia; Class C: Familiar with the coast of China The route can sail from Hainan to Tianjin.
Most of the captains of the Senate who were pirates and fishermen were the recipients of second- and third-class certificates. Only a handful of steam warship captains had first-class certificates - without exception, they were all Yerba Buena naval cadets. Born in class.
"Reliability, reliability." Qian Shuiting said, "Don't you know that sailors on ocean-going ships these days are like scum concentration camps?"
"That's true, but senior seamen might give it a try - I remember reading a book on this before. At that time, the salary of these senior seamen was not high, and many of them were not serving their country. They only needed to pay for it - Italian seamen were Serving everyone. By the way, Columbus is Italian." To be continued. )
No pop-up novel website
