What is it like to sail on the ocean in the winter? If you are not a stupid person, you probably won’t have the idea of “I want to give it a try”.
Because it is really not something that humans can easily bear.
Entering the second half of December, the North Rigaro Sea is cold and windy. When the Oriental Moon crossed the northernmost headland of Aurora and completely distanced itself from the Suao Marina area, the desolate and lonely white lighthouse standing on the North Riga Sea was no longer visible. For the first time, the passengers truly felt the fact that human civilization had been left behind.
From here on, they will not have any contact with any land during the nearly two-month voyage. Everyone's life and supplies depended on the ship itself - and this fact caused the first-time passengers to suffer a lot just a week after embarking on the northern route.
There is a huge difference between the freezing cold winter in the north and the damp and muggy feeling in the south. It is the embodiment of extreme cold. In areas with extremely high latitudes like the North Liga Sea, the cold wind can even make the Suomir people, who are famous for their cold tolerance, shiver.
This level of cold is not just cold anymore, you will feel pain when the wind blows on your body. And because of the cold wind, the mouth will be dry, which is why sailors have chapped lips all year round. And there are more serious things than that. When a first-time passenger who has been nesting in the warm cabin feels that he "should come out for some air" and subconsciously reaches out to grab the railing because of the rocking of the ship.
Because of the action of clenching the fist, the skin on the fist joints burst open, revealing bright red flesh.
And because the cold slowed his senses, he didn't even notice that his hands were torn. However, a passing sailor noticed and immediately drove him back to the cabin.
After returning to the warmth of the crowded cabin, the passenger's gradual return to consciousness caused him to scream in pain. Just a moment of carelessness caused such serious consequences. This can be said to be a disgrace given to mankind by the power of nature - but when the passengers felt trembling, the sailors said this:
"You should be thankful that it's a warm winter this year."
If it were a really cold winter, they would lose even this channel. Because the sea surface will be completely frozen so far north, even if you are lucky enough to find a narrow navigable channel, if you are not careful and a cold wind blows, the boat and people will be frozen on the ice and unable to move.
People can only use pickaxes and ice shovels to try in vain to clear it, and as long as another gust of cold wind blows, the entire day's efforts will be completely wiped out.
Huge ships are very majestic in the eyes of humans, and many people are often proud of the size of the ships they board. But when they are placed in the endless North Riga Sea, they look like ants walking on the wide avenue of Parnira.
The northern region of Suomir, the entire eastern coast of the continent is a bit like a human hand pointing upwards - the northernmost headland of Aurora, far from the lonely lighthouse, is the southernmost part of this hand. About the tip of your thumb. Ships sailing eastward through the North Riga Sea will bid farewell to human society at the lighthouse, sail straight north for a certain distance, and then turn east.
After crossing the highest point of the continent - equivalent to the tip of the middle finger of the "human hand", the ship turned again and began to travel southeast.
The most difficult place to navigate is the northernmost part of the North Riga Sea, past the "tip of the middle finger", because the weather is extremely cold and even the seawater with extremely high salt content will freeze. In this year's "warm winter" weather, you must always be careful not to be hit by ice floes brought by ocean currents during navigation, causing damage to the hull and sinking.
On a clear day in December, looking from the left side of the ship's side to the northernmost point, you can already see a patch of white in the distance.
They look like they are connected together as the earth, but there is no land there, it is all an illusion composed of ice that has accumulated for countless years.
Even in summer, it's still covered in snow.
This is a very unimaginable scene - although the area where the Eastern Moon is now is cold, there are only a few floating ice in the deep blue water, and the white land made of ice is in an unknown place, even if you look at it It seems that it only takes a few days of sailing to reach it, but there is a saying that "you can only run to death if you look up the mountain", and this situation will only get worse on the sea.
And such a huge sea surface seems like an endless vast waterway at the moment. During the coldest time, all the water will freeze, leaving only a waterway that is difficult for even ships to pass.
It can only be said that the power of nature is truly beyond any human imagination.
The sailors' statement was not a mere threat. This fact was witnessed by everyone on the last day of December.
At first, it was just the sound of chattering discussions in the cabin. When the sound attracted everyone, they gathered around the heavily frosted glass portholes at the lower edge and looked outside. The vaguely visible wreckage of the past glory passed by outside.
The huge wooden bow was frozen in the ice and moved slowly along with the ice floes.
The name "Conchisto" - meaning "Conqueror" - written in Raman script on the side of the ship is still clearly visible, but it has not faded too much due to being blocked by ice. This is a warship, a warship from one hundred and fifty years ago. As proof of the overwhelming pride of the Padrosi, they sent out a fleet to conduct an eastern expedition across the Northern Ligaro Sea.
After being frozen, the ice split and was torn apart by the movement of the sea surface. Finally, it was sealed in the ice floes. Only one-third of the front of the hull was left, which was almost five-fifths of the Oriental Moon. The four major ones. This huge ship was once the flagship of Padrosi's ocean-going navy, and the setbacks this arrogant naval fleet encountered in the end can be seen from this wreckage.
The ships were almost frozen, and the sailors lost all. They were frozen on the sea for nearly two years. When they finally arrived in the east, they were only one-twentieth of their size, and they were all small sailing ships that were scarred and undermanned.
What brought an end to the dream of "conquering the East" was the pirate group in the Great Eastern Sea. These confident Lamanites finally landed on the Eastern continent as captives and slaves. As the ice melted, much of the frozen fleet sank into the abyss, leaving only parts like the wreckage of the flagship Conqueror, which were still frozen in the ice floes, drifting ownerlessly with the ocean currents.
It's like nature is laughing at human arrogance.
Only those who embrace awe can survive. In the sailor industry, Captain Francisco is the most practical spokesperson for this sentence.
Even the most experienced sailors can easily die if they lose their respect. On the first day of January, they witnessed this scene with their own eyes. At that time, the Oriental Moon, with its sails lowered, was traveling at an extremely slow speed - the sea area at the end of the "Middle Finger" point was often foggy, and it was extremely scary to cooperate with the ice floes in this kind of winter. Even with extreme caution, slight collision sounds could still be heard from the Eastern Moon's hull from time to time.
The sailors were scattered on both sides of the ship's side and picked up long bamboo poles and whaling harpoons. As the ship moved forward slowly, they used bamboo poles to push away the oversized ice floes to prevent the ship from being trapped by the ice floes.
Because there were not enough manpower, experienced old passengers as well as newcomers such as Henry and Mira, who had a calmer personality, were also asked to help. In this kind of closed space, the spirit of everyone being for oneself and one being for everyone is brought to the extreme. After all, if you are selfish, you will not be able to escape if something happens to others.
It's like a billiards game popular among the upper class of the Padrosi Empire: the sailors choose the right angle and size of the ice floes, push them outwards with their calves and waists, and use the collision between the ice floes to make the ice floes in the distance disappear. As for getting closer.
If you use this method incorrectly, you will get tired quickly. However, our Mr. Sage and the Luoan girl who happened to try it found that it was very similar to the way of exerting force in swordsmanship, and they seemed to be very comfortable with it.
Boring repetitive activities are very tiring, and the cold wind is biting and the skin is prone to cracking. However, due to their participation in labor, the two of them also received the sailors' skin care products - moisturizing cream made from whale oil and herbal juice. After applying it on the exposed skin, the skin can effectively retain moisture. Avoid cracking due to easy movement due to being too dry.
Gifts from the largest creatures in the ocean were necessities for navigation, and the candles and lamp oils that illuminated the cabins and provided some heat were all made from whale oil. After boiling and refining the lamp oil part, the remaining paste is added with a curing agent and a candle wick and left until it solidifies and poured out of the mold, turning it into a high-quality and low-priced lighting fixture.
But this kind of candle has a serious smell, and some more advanced ones will add fragrance to cover it. The most advanced candles used by the upper class are made of beeswax, which has a light honey aroma when burning, which is very pleasant.
Naturally, the ones used by the Oriental Moon cannot be high-end products, because the consumption of ocean voyages is huge. Every time they buy boxes in bulk, even a tenth of the price difference will become a huge expense when multiplied by the quantity.
Fortunately, the weather was cold, and even if there was a lot of burning, the smell was not very strong. However, after more than ten years of burning candles, there was already a strong smell inside the cabin of the Oriental Moon that could not be dissipated no matter what.
This smell is not only present on this ship, but also on other ships that burn whale oil and candles all year round. Coupled with the salty smell of the sea breeze, people with a little experience can distinguish the sailors ashore from the crowd just by their sense of smell, not their words and deeds.
The smell of burning in a confined space is far stronger than what civilians use daily. These whale oils not only provide lighting, but the ointments made can also be used to treat various skin diseases to a large extent. It can be said that human voyages without whales are almost impossible.
But even with the best preparation, accidents still happen.
Suddenly there was a cry from the side of the ship on the other side: "Lare, lare!" The sailors shouted loudly in Lamani, which means "net". Apparently they had discovered something.
Henry and Mira looked at each other and walked over. Galeva, who was wrapped in a blanket, and other passengers also walked out of the cabin because of the commotion.
The huge long-pole fishing net was passed hand by hand, and the sound of "crack--" soon rang out. Two or three tall Suomir sailors worked together to pull up a wooden barrel from the sea. When it is lowered, the cursive Lamantic script of the Port of Parnira above is clearly visible.
"It's rum." Captain Francisco held the kitten named "Curo" on the ship in his arms with one hand, warmed it with his body temperature, and walked over and said.
"There are more!" The sailors looking at the side shouted: "There are also here!" Such a sound also sounded from the port side where Henry and Mira left.
The contents of the sealed wooden barrels floating over were picked up one after another. The sailors checked many of them and salvaged as much as possible the contents of some wooden barrels that were cracked by freezing and waterlogged, while the unusable ones were thrown back into the sea.
"Where did this come from -" Galeva's words that opened his mouth to ask were replaced by silence, because broken wooden boards began to gradually appear among the things that floated with these barrels - their origins are self-evident.
"It must be the Enzigroni. Among the five ships, she is the only one that came from the Port of Parnilla." Francisco took a bottle of liquor from the sailor's hand, holding the cat in one hand and a handbag in the other. He opened the bottle cork with his hand and walked to the beach: "Old Rudolph has always been a bad-tempered man and not very clever."
"May you rest in peace." The captain poured the strong wine into the sea water and said.
"May you rest in peace."
The sailors repeated the words of their captain in unison, while the Luoan girl glanced at a human corpse in the distance that had been dead for a long time and turned blue with cold - she could clearly see that most of the body had been chewed. The traces of dilapidation made him shudder uncontrollably.
"They started just an hour earlier than us, but they were so far ahead. They were obviously running too fast."
"Slow is steady, steady is fast. When the Enzigroni passed through here, it was too impatient, and its hull was broken by the ice floe and sank." Captain Francisco noticed Mira's eyes, so he opened his mouth to explain to her. : "In sea water with this temperature, it would only take a short moment for a person to fall into cramps and lose consciousness. Unless they happen to be close to each other when the accident occurs, even if they see it, it will probably be too late to rush over."
"Even if he is rescued, he will die quickly due to hypothermia."
"It can only be considered unlucky."
"Speaking of which, he is one of the four captains who is unwilling to take you, young lady." The captain said, "So maybe bringing a woman on board is not bad luck. On the contrary, you are our goddess of luck. ,Hahaha."
The unattractive Captain Francisco said this in polite terms and laughed happily.
But there is no way for others to share this ease.
The blue sea is full of dangers beneath the surface, and after crossing the coldest area, their dangers are not over.
The sea area next to the east has very strong ocean currents.
If they're not careful, they could follow in Enzigloni's footsteps.
