"Drive the ship, we continue sailing west.
Pay attention to the navigation angle and do not get close to the Philippines. Those Spaniards will definitely be willing to sink us. ”
Captain Drake stood at the bow and turned to shout at the sailor behind him.
"Yes, Captain, we don't want to get close to the Philippines."
The second councillor behind him answered loudly.
As the sailors stirred the winch, the anchor was slowly pulled from the sea with the chain, and the sails of the ship stormed and sailed westward along the equatorial trade wind.
The Golden Deer is a Garen-type three-masted sailboat, named after the badge and shield of the ship's patron Sir Haydn.
The "Golden Deer" ship has a total length of 22.88 meters, a length of 18.30 meters between the two pillars, a width of 5.80 meters, and a displacement of 120 tons. The ship is a three-masted Garen ship. In addition to the first sail and main sail are hung on the first mast and main mast, there are also top sails. The tail mast is hung with spinnakers, and the head slash sail is supported on the first slash. The ship carries 18 cannons and about 60 sailors.
It was such an advanced armed merchant ship, but the unsuspecting Spaniard was still confused.
In the Peru-Panama waters, Drake robbed a Spanish gold transport ship and obtained 80 pounds of gold and 26 tons of silver and a large amount of gemstones.
And this is just one of the spoils of the "Golden Deer". In fact, by robbing Spanish transport ships, the current Golden Deer has become a mobile vault on the ocean.
Having grabbed enough wealth, Drake now just wants to return to the UK safely, and does not want to provoke the Spanish again.
Just two days ago, they had just crossed the Pacific Ocean and came to this small island.
The island is called Boshu, which seems to be named by the Ming people. However, the ones who come here often seem to be Spanish because Drake can have simple conversations with the island residents in Spanish.
As for the Ming people they mentioned, it seems that they have not arrived for a long time.
"Captain, do you say we will continue to go west and will we reach Mingguo?"
After the ship left the Boshu, the second mate asked next to Drake.
"I don't know, maybe you will meet Ming people when you keep moving forward."
Drake did not have a nearby chart. In fact, during this voyage, they had to perform position measurements many times every day and recorded them on the navigation logs and charts.
These things are brought back to the UK and will be an important information for the UK to explore overseas trade routes.
Although he did not make a comprehensive record of the American continent, in fact, in his cabin, the appearance of the American continent has been roughly pieced together, but the northern part of the continent is missing.
"If we can go to Ming Kingdom and make up for their positions, will we still be here to trade directly with Ming people in the future?"
The second deputy's interest was obviously attracted by the Ming Kingdom mentioned by the residents on the island.
There is no way, Westerners know that there is a rich country in the east of the mainland. According to legend, this great country is very rich and produces the most exquisite goods in the world.
For most Europeans, they can only buy exquisite goods from the East through vampires such as Middle Eastern countries at extremely high prices.
Finding sea routes and conducting direct trade with major Eastern powers has always been something European countries are eager to do.
And now, they did, but the interests were obtained by the Spanish and the Portuguese.
The Ming Dynasty goods that appear in Europe now can only be purchased from merchants in Spain and Portugal, except for obtaining them from Ottomans.
Drake could guess the second mate's idea. He wanted to go directly to the port of Ming Kingdom, at least record the coordinates, so that British merchant ships would know how to reach Ming Kingdom in the future.
Drake thought, but he was not willing to do so now.
Nothing else, the things loaded on the ship are too expensive now, and they can no longer spare much space to load Ming Dynasty goods.
Now, except for the water and food needed by sailors to survive, the cabin of the Golden Deer is filled with gold, silver and gems, and the rest are spices that can be sold at good prices in Europe.
To be safe, they must leave enough fresh water and food on the ship, as well as gunpowder and shells.
If they are greedy and want to load more goods, especially those from Ming Dynasty, they may become fat sheep in the eyes of others, and in the end they will get nothing, and even be in danger of their lives.
"If we go along, we can try it.
However, if it is not going well, I think everyone still hopes to go home safely this morning. ”
Drake whispered to his assistant, "Our enemies not only have the Spaniards, but we will probably also get in touch with the Portuguese soon.
I don't know how the Portuguese were experiencing us for the appearance of British ships here. ”
After being reminded by Drake, the second mate also realized that they were actually in danger now.
It was just because of his comfortable life on Boshu Island these two days that he almost forgot that they were still thousands of miles away from their country.
Before returning to Europe, they could not be too careful.
"You're right, Captain."
The second deputy nodded and agreed.
He kept measuring the position of the sea boat and trying his best to avoid the Philippines. The Golden Deer finally passed by less than a hundred nautical miles south of the Philippines, and did not encounter Spanish patrol ships along the way.
In fact, the Spaniards during this period had no opponents in the entire Pacific and had too many expanded territory, so they were already very alone.
In addition to the limited strongholds, the Spanish actually have very low control over the occupied land.
Except in Mexico and the Philippines, there are very few armed forces left in other places.
It is also the reason why they can rob the Spanish strongholds in a single boat. In those places, the Spaniards left behind only one or twenty people.
The ships were heading southwest, and when they discovered an island again, Drake suspected that they had arrived at the Portuguese legendary Spice Islands according to a chart they had grabbed from the Spanish sea boat.
Continuing sailing along these islands, Drake was so nervous that he dared not close his eyes these days, worried that he would encounter the Spanish or Portuguese if he accidentally did.
For unfamiliar seas, this feeling is infinitely magnified.
"Captain, there is a very strange big ship in front of you."
Drake endured it for three days, but finally couldn't stand it.
Let the second mate continue to take the boat forward, and he returns to the cabin to rest for a while.
Unfortunately, he only had a short time to rest and was woken up after lying down for a while.
"What big ship?"
When Drake heard his subordinates' report, his heart tightened.
"I don't know, I haven't seen the style of a big ship before."
The sailor said, "The Second Mate asked you to go upstairs and take a look. Maybe it was a big ship for the Ming people."
Drake felt relieved when he heard that he might have encountered a ship from the Ming people.
Think about it, whether it is the Portuguese or the Spanish, their sea boats are actually similar to those under their feet, and the sailors cannot not know them.
Only when they encounter the Eastern ship type will they say it is very strange. After all, the Ming Dynasty's sea ships have never been to Europe.
Drake was quick and after a moment he had come out of the cabin and went up to the deck.
"Captain, that boat is there."
When the second mate saw Drake, he immediately pointed him in a direction.
Drake took out his telescope and looked over. It was indeed a big ship I had never seen before. According to his estimate, the other party's ship seemed to be slightly larger than the Golden Deer.
After careful observation, Drake was convinced that the ship was not strong in force and had no muzzle porthole on the hull, so he could only vaguely see that there seemed to be artillery on the deck.
The professional qualities of pirates made him think of whether he could start when he saw other sea boats. But soon, Drake reacted.
Well, in this far far east, don’t make enemies casually.
"Let's go."
Drake ordered.
The chart they seized was actually over the past two days ago, and they are now completely exploring.
Yes, the charts found on Spanish sea boats can only allow them to reach here, marked on them in Hawaii and Philippines locations.
Unfortunately, their ship seemed to be staggering, or the coordinates of the chart were wrong. They did not arrive in Hawaii, but went through there to Boshu.
Now that I finally saw other sea boats, Drake just wanted to get a chart nearby from the other side's boat, so that they could leave here as soon as possible.
Soon, two heavily guarded sea boats slowly moved closer.
Perhaps because their ship type belongs to the conventional European ship type, the other party did not find that they were neither Spanish nor Portuguese.
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However, the boat opposite still shouted to them in Portuguese.
"Captain, they are really from Ming."
Hearing the call from the other side, the second deputy said to Drake with some excitement.
As a successful pirate, being proficient in multilingualism seems to be a must-have skill.
In fact, most sailors nowadays can speak two or three different languages.
Europe is too small. Although their languages have their own characteristics, they are still not much different.
"Tell them we are British."
Drake clenched his fists, then let go, and said to the second deputy.
Now, what they hung on their ships was the flag they obtained after plundering a Spanish merchant ship.
Using such a trick is also the hope of confusing the Spanish Navy's warships, which is also the main reason why the Golden Deer can traverse America.
"The boss, the opposite side said they are Anerians."
At this time, a crew member who was proficient in Portuguese and Spanish said to his side.
"Yeli, who is that?"
The owner asked curiously.
"I don't know, I guess it's a country in Oluba. Spain and Portugal are two countries in Oluba."
The sailors should have had contact with the barbarians, so they also knew what they called Europe.
In fact, as a European translation, Oluba refers to the western region west of the Mediterranean. Its etymology comes from the secluded word "Ilibu", which means "the land of sunset".
When the barbarians came to the east, they used this word for their own area.
This naming method is related to the geographical location division of ancient Mediterranean civilizations centered on themselves. At this time, there was no concept of seven continents, so their collective name for the East is Asia.
The "An Erya" in the sailor's mouth is actually the transliteration of the second deputy opposite who claims to be the country in the sailor's mouth.
Later Chinese people all said "The Three Islands of Britain". In fact, the word "The Three Dao of Britain" may be the Chinese understanding of Britain in the late Ming Dynasty.
At that time, Britain was a kingdom formed by the merger of England, Scotland and Ireland. From the official organizational structure of China, it should be judged as three.
With word of mouth, the "three roads" finally became the "three islands".
"Elia" should be translated as "England" in later generations.
Although they were not familiar with each other, the two ships were gradually getting closer and communicating.
In Drake's mouth, they became a trekking British merchant ship, and somehow got to this place.
From the mouth of the ship owner opposite, they were also convinced that this should be the spice archipelago of the Portuguese population, because the Ming people on the opposite side came here to buy spices and then transported them back to the old port to sell them to Portuguese merchants.
"His Excellency Captain Mingguo, I don't know when you will return to the old port and whether you can take us there.
Perhaps, we can find the sea route back to Europa from there. ”
Drake now needs to leave here and go to the Indian Ocean.
As soon as he reaches the Indian Ocean, he knows how to return to Europe.
It can only be said that the success of the Magellan fleet's global sailing was too exciting, and almost all European maritime merchants knew how to bypass Africa's sea routes.
As long as you can reach the Indian Ocean, you can reach Africa all the way west, and then you can go back to the UK by circling south.
In fact, Europeans of this era, especially British, were not unfamiliar with Africa, and were still very familiar with North Africa.
It belongs to the Mediterranean coastal areas, and its development level is definitely not comparable to that of Central Africa and West Africa.
Many Europeans have long gone to North African cities to make money and do business.
"You can call me Shaoshi Bao, who is a businessman from the old port. I can take you to the old port."
The Ming Dynasty businessman seemed easy to speak and agreed to Drake's request.
"I don't know how far from the old port you mentioned?"
Next, Drake directly communicated with Mr. Bao to learn about some of the situation in the old port.
However, after knowing that it would take thousands of miles to sail from the Old Port to the Ming Dynasty, Drake decisively gave up his idea of going to the Ming Dynasty.
It was too far away. His ship was now full of gold, silver and treasures, so there was no need to take risks.
"I thought of the old port, and I wonder if Captain Charter can bring me to the Ming officials. I have a letter from Queen Elizabeth of our country to the Ming Emperor."
Drake said to Master Bao.
"No problem. The chief of the old port is now Chen Lin and Chen. I will be able to see him if I take you there.
It's just that you said that Queen Elijah wrote a letter to the emperor."
Speaking of this, Master Bao looked at Drake with a slightly change in his eyes.
No matter how stupid he was, he guessed that the identity and purpose of Drake and his group were not simple.
Seeing this, Drake knew it was difficult to hide it, but he had some remarks.
"I was actually the envoy sent by the Queen to the Ming Dynasty, but our five ships, and others were gone in the storm, because Spain and Portugal blocked the waterway."
Drake spoke.
"Haha, I can understand."
Bao Shaoshi just chuckled at this moment. In fact, after communicating with Europeans, they knew that there were many countries in the West, and now the benefits of maritime trade have been dominated by Spain and Portugal.
"If you have sufficient supplies on your ship, we can leave and return to the old port now. We have purchased the goods."
Master Bao said. (This chapter ends)