Three days later, a giant "An-124" transport plane landed at the Cape Town International Airport in South Africa. Several huge flatbed trucks and cranes drove into the airport apron. The huge objects unloaded from the transport plane were wrapped in canvas. It was tightly packed and quickly hoisted onto a truck. Judging from its shape, some airport personnel even thought it was an alien "UFO."
Several young people stepped off the transport plane, followed by a middle-aged man with gray hair. It was summer in the southern hemisphere. They were all dressed in tight-fitting military half-sleeved T-shirts and marine camouflage military pants, with large sunglasses on their faces. , it is impossible to see clearly what they look like, and it can only be seen from the color of their hair that they are a group of Asians.
A gentleman in a suit and tie got out of a Land Rover that followed the truck into the tarmac. He walked quickly to a long-haired girl in front of the transport plane who was carrying a trolley suitcase. He said awkwardly: "Miss, I It has been arranged according to your instructions. I can arrange your next itinerary. I have even prepared the ship and parked it in Cape Town Port. I also found out about the wealthy Greek businessman. They Now on the sea near the Cape of Good Hope, the 3,000-ton salvage ship "Little Jennifer" of the Odyssey Ocean Exploration Company, carrying deep-diving equipment, sailed out of the Mediterranean two days ago and probably arrived near Cape Town the day after tomorrow to meet with the Greeks. Convergence.”
The person who was called the eldest lady did not speak in a hurry. Instead, she took out a tube of sunscreen from the pocket of her camouflage military pants, smeared it on her smooth arms, and then said casually: "Thank you, Gray Sir, you are very efficient in doing things. I really feel wronged by you in a place like South Africa. I will discuss the possibility of transferring you to the Asian headquarters." This girl's superior demeanor is everywhere, not Anne... Who else could Rothschild be?
Ling Hao on the side carried a large travel bag on his back and said, "The situation is not bad. The young man from the Greek shipping family did not leave the coordinates last time. As expected, he found the wrong place this time. What are they doing in the waters near the Cape of Good Hope?" I can't find them all. But the situation may be different when 'Odyssey' comes. We still have at least two days to get a head start. Let's leave the airport quickly. After a while, I'm afraid there will be onlookers." As he said that, Go to a jeep nearby.
Annie smiled helplessly and asked: "Then you have to tell us where you are going, right?"
"The southernmost tip of Africa, 'Cape Agulhas'! It's less than 200 kilometers away from here. Isn't our ship in the port of Cape Town? Let's get there first, load the equipment on the ship, and then set sail. Hurry up. If you do, you can reach the target sea area before dark." Ling Hao threw his backpack into the back seat of the car and waved the others to get in the car.
Gray looked embarrassed: "Are you in such a hurry? I've even booked a hotel to pick you up."
Ling Hao waved his hand: "No, according to the weather forecast, there are only three days of good weather. This sea is not accessible at any time. Even an aircraft carrier will capsize if it turns against us."
The sun sets, leaving a red fire cloud on the horizon. Even the calm sea surface is dyed golden. A huge catamaran drilling platform maintenance ship "Black King Kong" is parked on the sea. Ling Hao stands on Looking up at the sky from the edge of the deck, a middle-aged man with glasses and a sweaty face stood next to him. "Ling Hao, if you don't get out of this job, you don't know how hard it is. Being on the sea all year round in the wind and waves and the scorching sun is really not a good job. I have almost vomited out the last night's meal." This middle-aged man was talking. It was Cheng Linfeng who had been begging for nothing. When he got off the plane, he felt that it was too hot here. When he got on the ship, he started to get seasick again. God knows how he, the boss of a shipping company, could get seasick.
Ling Hao was very helpless: "I won't let you come. You insist on coming. There are basically no wind and waves now. The waves will be about one meter high tomorrow. What will you do then? How about I ask someone to use a speedboat to take you there?" Just send it ashore and wait."
Cheng Linfeng rolled his eyes at Ling Hao and said: "You look down on me, don't you? I was also a person who went to the mountains and countryside and endured hardships. After all, I was still the boss of a shipping company. How could I be able to do nothing about this storm? Don’t worry, I will never hold you back.”
Ling Hao was even more speechless. If he wasn't his future father-in-law, he would have to forcefully throw him off the boat. He smiled and said: "Uncle, we have agreed. I am here to ensure that you do not fall into the trap of the Greek shipping family. I don't come here to make money from dead people. The sunken ship is like this." Planting things has always been a very evil way, and greedy people will basically stay down there without getting out of the water. You wouldn’t want your future son-in-law to be gone before Zhuxin comes in, right?”
"Bah, bah, bah! Can't you say something auspicious? I'm not blind. Isn't this also for this family and for the sake of so many company employees? I promise you, I will accept it when you see it. As soon as I have money, I Just buy back the shares and completely distance yourself from the Greek shipping family."
While Ling Hao and Cheng Linfeng were chatting on the deck, everyone else gathered in the control room and stared at Shi Si's detection equipment.
"The salinity has changed again. Such a large salinity difference is enough to stratify the seawater and hinder the transmission of sonar and radio signals." Yuan Bing murmured while holding his arms.
Zuo Pengfei glanced at him and said, "Not only does the salinity change greatly, but the water temperature also changes greatly. The visibility of the seawater in each layer is different. It's almost like a cocktail."
Shi Si waved his hand impatiently: "Don't make any noise. They all look like they have never seen the world. Where is this place? This is Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. The Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet here. The Mozambique Current in the Indian Ocean The Agulhas Warm Current flows south along the east coast of Africa, and the Benguela Current in the Atlantic flows north along the west coast of Africa. The two oceans meet here. The Indian Ocean is warmer than the Atlantic Ocean, so it is normal for the salinity and temperature of the sea water to be relatively chaotic. Okay. Although the sea conditions here are complicated, it is rich in products and the fish are frighteningly numerous. The detector has discovered a large number of biological signals. This is probably the most complex diving environment we have ever encountered. "
"That's right." At this time, Ling Hao came in with Cheng Linfeng. He calmly poured two cups of coffee for himself and his future father-in-law, and then said: "Many people in the world have a misunderstanding. Most people People think that the southernmost point of Africa is the 'Cape of Good Hope'. In fact, this is wrong. The real southernmost point of Africa is 'Cape Agulhas'. It does not have as amazing scenery as the Cape of Good Hope, and it is not even as weird as the 'Cape of Good Hope'. Unpredictable waves, but the situation below the sea surface is much more complicated. It is not an exaggeration to say that the underwater environment here is the most complex on earth. Therefore, no one has ever dived here, and there are no relevant records of salvage activities. , but the lack of records does not mean that it has never happened. Unfortunately, I went on a diving and salvage mission here. The reason why it is unfortunate is because there were 5 companions who went into the water at that time, and only two came out alive, and I was one of them. One." Ling Hao's tone was calm, but his words made everyone stunned.
He took a sip of coffee and continued: "Let's not talk about that mission. Let me talk about the sea conditions here in detail. The winter storms and huge waves in the waters of Cape Agulhas are very famous. This situation is caused by many factors. The wind blowing from west to east here is the storm wind in the westerly belt of 40 degrees south latitude. It moves in the same direction as the cold Antarctic Circumpolar Current and collides with the warm Agulhas Current in the Cape Agulhas area. Each other The fighting currents have different water densities, and the direction of the westerly wind is exactly opposite to that of the Agulhas Current. These different winds and currents can cause very dangerous waves. In addition, the water near Cape Agulhas is relatively shallow, and the local The continental shelf extends 250 kilometers south from Cape Agulhas, and then drops suddenly to the abyssal plain. This submarine topography will cause ferocious 'subsidence currents', deep-sea vortices often appear, and giant ships traveling normally on the sea will even be destroyed. The sudden appearance of the vortex was involved in the subsidence current, and it sank to the bottom of the sea in an instant, leaving not even a single floating object, as if it had disappeared out of thin air. Since the latitude of Cape Agulhas is 34 degrees 49 minutes south latitude, the continental shelf extends 250 After kilometers, we are very close to the famous 'Roaring Westerly Belt'. This 'Roaring Westerly Belt', as anyone who does shipping in the Southern Hemisphere knows, is about 40 degrees to 60 degrees south latitude, there is a belt that surrounds the earth. In the low-pressure area, westerly winds of level 5 or 6 and swells of 4 to 5 meters are prevalent all year round. Windy weather of level 7 or above can last for more than 7 to 10 days every month throughout the year. This is what people usually call the westerly belt of the southern hemisphere. It is called the "roaring westerly belt" and is the "ghost gate" that must be passed through when entering the Antarctic. In fact, the westerly belt exists in both the northern and southern hemispheres, but in the northern hemisphere there is more land, and mountains and plateaus will greatly consume the westerly wind power. But in the southern hemisphere, it is different. There is almost no land at this latitude, and the endless sea water is unobstructed, which allows the westerly wind to carry the 'Antarctic Gyre', and the ocean currents increase the wind speed, making the storm endless and the sea restless."
Ling Hao looked at everyone who was listening attentively like a primary school student, then drank the coffee in one gulp, and continued: "You all know that our current location is in the sea 250 kilometers away from Cape Agulhas. Below us is The edge of the continental shelf, and the submarine plain with an average depth of 1,300 meters. You have just learned about the sea conditions through the equipment. The sea water here is divided into at least 5 layers. The turbulence caused by the collision of ocean currents makes it difficult to judge the flow direction. The intersection of cold and warm currents produces a large amount of nutrients. Substances nourish countless marine life here. The large marine predators we know, except for the Gulf crocodile, all exist here. Diving here is indeed a crazy move. Since ancient times, it has been affected by the currents and There are countless ships buried in the storm. I am not surprised if there are shipwrecks anywhere on the seabed, but it is strange that Julian said there is a "shipwreck cemetery" here. What is the reason for so many ships to be concentrated? What about sinking in the same area? I asked Shi Si to use a computer to make a model of westerly winds and ocean currents, and hypothesized many possibilities. In the end, I felt that only one result was possible. Suppose that the continental shelf sinks to the cliff of the submarine plain. Below, there is a huge rock angle protruding obliquely, the shape of which is very similar to the Cape of Good Hope. After the subsidence current pulls the ship into the seabed, the strong current will push the ship that has not yet sunk to the bottom to move laterally, especially if it is light in weight. , a wooden ship with a large buoyancy will even be driven by the current, far away from the crash site. Of course, no matter how far it moves, it is inevitable to continue sinking, and if it is about to reach the bottom, the current encounters me just now What will happen to the kind of rock corner mentioned? When the sea current passes through the rock corner, it will form a huge tail swirling vortex behind the rock corner. The sunken ship will inevitably be involved in the tail swirling vortex, and finally "land" on the seabed behind the rock corner. Julian said that the positioning system on his ship was destroyed by the storm, but the sonar sounding system was still intact. The depth of the shipwreck cemetery reached more than 1,500 meters, which is to say that it was greater than the average depth of 1,300 meters on the seabed. Depth, this further proves my conjecture. It has been continuously eroded by the wake vortex for endless years. It is normal for the seabed behind the rocky corner to be 200 meters lower than other places. Therefore, we will spend the next two days Here, the only task is to look for this seafloor rock corner along the continental shelf rock wall. As long as we find it, we will find the shipwreck cemetery. We are very lucky. Young Master Julian did not remember the exact coordinates last time, and this time he found it because of lack of knowledge. Wrong place, we must find the shipwreck cemetery before them. Whoever finds the sunken civilian ships on the seabed of the high seas will own 90% of the wealth. This must be registered with the relevant South African official departments. It is said to be a horse race. Whether it's land enclosures or trademark squatting, the meanings are the same. Now everyone knows what they're doing, so let's do it quickly."
Although everyone was confused by Ling Hao's theory of ocean currents, they understood clearly how to find a shipwreck graveyard. Who would have trouble with the treasures on the seabed? So a group of people followed him. As if, he began to work day and night, forgetting food and sleep.
