Chapter 970: Lime method

﹄New Bayi Chinese Network —

﹃Worthy online novel reading network

Some people may ask why not establish a trading base in the land estuary? In fact, this question has also been tried by the Portuguese.

However, Senegal is not the same as the Gulf of Guinea. The West African region of the Gulf of Guinea has tropical rainforests along the coast. There, rivers are not rare. While the Portuguese colonists landed on the land, the locals did not care much.

But Senegal is different, here is the savannah climate, a little further north is the Sahara desert. This is a semi-arid area, and rivers are very valuable. The estuary area is also a treasure. If the Portuguese dare to make unauthorized landings, it will attract local indigenous attack. After all, Portuguese establishment of colonial strongholds in the estuary will affect the local people's water intake. In places where there is no shortage of water, it may be fine. If you build a colony without permission, you will be beaten by the locals.

In addition, the ratio of input to output is not worth it. You know, this year, the gold resources in Senegal have not been discovered. The Portuguese mainly exchanged sands with locals in the northern shore of the Gulf of Guinea. Without gold, Portuguese talent would not venture to build castles and locals die. The resources of ivory and rhino horns are obviously not enough for Portugal to send troops to fight against the local indigenous people.

Therefore, Goree Island is just a relatively strong base. Here, limited ivory and rhino horn can only be acquired from local indigenous people, and a lot of money is spent every year to repair the ship, which is not cost-effective. As a result, no big family valued it, and only a small family would take over. Today, Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra, wants this small island, and the Séré family decisively exchanged it for part of the Madeira Islands. After all, the Madeira Islands are a place close to the mainland and have relatively stable returns.

...

Eschwein's transformation of the pier is actually to solve the problem of the maggots eating the bottom of the ship ...

His solution was simply to dig two small ponds with gates on the wharf, just to accommodate the mooring of boats. After the boat entered the small pond, the gate was closed.

Then, Eschwein asked the workers to remove the bags of quicklime from the boat, take out some, and pour them into the pond ...

Suddenly, the pond began to boil. Limestone reacts violently with seawater, and a lot of heat and blisters erupt in the pond. The temperature of the water in the pond has also risen sharply.

Then, the maggots attached to the bottom of the two ships were all cooked to death ...

And because the pond has a gate, the outside seawater is isolated. Therefore, the maggots in the sea outside could not enter. Before the gate is opened, the boat can stay in the pond for as long as possible, without worrying about the damage of the maggots.

This method was seen on the Internet by Marin's previous life. Marin, which was invented in what era, can not be remembered, but it is definitely not very popular at present. Because, according to records, on Columbus's fourth voyage in 1502, because the fleet was seriously harmed by maggots, Columbus had to stop the fleet in the Caribbean for a long time.

The most famous incident of maggot damage was the Great British-Western Battle in 1588. The invincible fleet of Spain, because of the strong erosion of the battleship by maggots, caused the hull structure of the Spanish battleship to be seriously damaged. Some of the battleships were hit by British shells. The ship's hull, which was seriously eroded by the maggots, was destroyed, resulting in silence. And there is a part, simply because the wind and waves caused the leak to sink.

The powerful "Invincible Fleet" lost to England, which was still weak at the time, because of the help of maggots. And the British, since then, have confidence and began to challenge the Spanish hegemony in the Americas. In history, the first British colony in North America, Virginia, was not established until 1607.

...

In other words, European countries actually do not have a mature plan to deal with maggots. Otherwise, Spain will not lose to the British in 1588.

In fact, Marin has mastered the method of using nickel iron skin nails to prevent the maggots from eating the bottom of the ship. But the problem is that the fur company on Goree Island is a joint venture between Marin and Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra.

In other words, there are not only Marin people on the base of Gore Island, but also the people of Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra. After all, the two sides have long said that the fur belongs to Marin, and the ivory and rhino horns belong to Jorge D. Castellon, Duke of Coimbra ...

Therefore, in the presence of outsiders, Marin does not want anyone to see the North Sea State solve the problem of maggot damage. Even if the nickel iron skin on the bottom of the ship is painted with paint, it is easy to be seen. Therefore, Marin needs a compromise solution, so that people do not see their secrets.

Thinking about it, Marin thought of a stupid way to cook dead boat maggots with quick lime. Although this method is not clever enough, it can protect the ship to a large extent, and can make the Gore Island pier to anchor the sea ship for a long time.

Anyway, when sending the ship from the mainland, just bring more quick lime. And every time you clean the maggots, you can't use a few bags of quicklime. As long as quicklime is concentrated on the bottom of the ship, the heat released when quicklime reacts with water and the strong alkalinity of slaked lime are enough to kill the maggots attached to the bottom of the ship.

As for the small and medium-sized ships traveling to and from the mainland, Eschwein also has a corresponding plan boat. If the return flight is moored, he is directly hoisted with a pulley block to make the boat dry in the air. Ship maggots cannot survive in a waterless environment and die naturally.

Finally, the medium-sized ship, because it is difficult to hang with the pulley block. Therefore, dig a few small ponds and install the gate. The principle of killing maggots is similar to that of big ships. Moreover, the amount of quicklime used is less.

Quicklime is not valuable, and it does not cost much every time it is used. Compared with expensive ships, the value of quicklime is not worth mentioning. Of course, it is not cheap. After all, labor costs in Europe have always been high.

But Marin's original intention was not to use this method to deal with maggots, but to confuse Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra.

Although the two are business partners, they are not in the same country. Perhaps one day, Marin and Portugal will turn their backs and war will break out on both sides. At that time, it is hard to say whether Marin can maintain friendly relations with Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra.

Although Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra, has a poor relationship with the current King of Portugal, Manuel I ~ www.novelhall.com ~, but Jorge de Rencaster Ray is a Portuguese after all and also lives in Lisbon.

If Marin nailed the iron skin against the maggots on the bottom of the ship, Jorge de Rencastre knew that he would also imitate it. Then, will his ship always return to Portugal? As long as you return to Lisbon to park, this secret cannot be kept. By that time, the Portuguese have learned this technique.

Obviously, Marin did not intend to tell the Portuguese the secret. Therefore, he came up with a compromise method to moor ships with closed ponds, and to kill maggots by boiling lime.

This method may seem simple, but it also has many limitations. For example, it is okay to use it near Europe. If it is too far away from the mainland of Europe, the transportation of quick lime is a huge problem. The cost is large and the quantity is small. After all, if you can't find a mooring point with fresh water in a place too far from the mainland, it will be even more difficult to obtain quick lime ...

Therefore, the method given by Marin seems to be very good, but there are actually many restrictions. Only Senegal, which is closer to the European mainland, is more suitable for this method. Moreover, this approach has no small cost. Unlike the nickel iron skin nailed on the bottom of the ship, it can be done once and for all ...

In addition, at the port of Ayún near the Canary Islands, Marin also intends to use this method. There are often Spanish ships passing by, and Ayoun ships carrying phosphate rock often supplement fresh water and food in the Canary Islands. Therefore, the method of boiling lime water can also confuse the Spanish ...

Everyone has focused on the method of boiling lime water against the maggots, and the method of nailing the iron skin on the bottom of the ship is naturally less noticeable. Moreover, Marin will also paint on the iron skin to cover up ...

{Old Railway, please remember the New Bayi Chinese Network}