After several days of sailing, Felix planned to go ashore to search for supplies.
The primary reason is that the drinking water on the ship has seriously deteriorated and is no longer suitable for drinking. Considering the health of the crew, Scala is in urgent need of fresh water and food.
The second reason is to wait for enemy ships.
He was worried that the enemy ship was too slow and gave up the pursuit.
After escaping all the way from Eastern Mediterranean to here, the anger in Felix's heart gradually accumulated. If he doesn't get rid of this damn enemy, he will spend the rest of his life in regret!
On March 12, Scala sailed to a place River Mouth, and the crew sailed three Longboats to the coast to purchase supplies from the villagers.
Throughout the day, more than a hundred crew members took turns paddling, delivering as much fresh water and food as possible to the battleship.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, the lookout found traces of the battleship Venice, and Scala quickly weighed anchor and left.
Continuing to sail along the coast, the traces of human activities become increasingly sparse, and cultivated land and orchards are replaced by rolling desert, with sparse low shrubs scattered on the surface. Some goats are leisurely gnawing on weeds, occasionally using their hooves to dig up the top soil and nibble on the grass roots below.
After passing a mountain range, these tenacious bushes disappeared, leaving only an endless golden desert on the coast, with waves constantly scouring the boundaries of the dunes, as if we had reached the end of the world.
Suddenly, Felix saw a camel caravan marching in the desert.
"It is rumored that there is an overland trade route in the green land south of Morocco and Sahara Desert, which can continuously obtain ivory, spices and gold. If you guessed correctly, this camel caravan is carrying southern goods."
He took out the logbook and map and marked the current location: it was suspected to be the transfer station between Morocco and the Southern Trade Road.
When the time came to March 20, large dark clouds appeared over the southwest sea, and Felix finally arrived at the long-awaited opportunity.
He deliberately slowed down and waited for the Venice battleship behind him to appear in sight.
"Follow me if you have the ability, and we can make a final settlement between the two parties!"
Felix took the initiative to sail towards the dark cloud, and the Venice warship followed closely behind, unwilling to let go of the target that had been pursued for thousands of miles.
The sea conditions this time were more violent than the storm in February. Ahead, huge waves were coming like mountains, the wind was howling, the sky was dark, and the sea water almost merged with the low-hanging dark clouds.
After the last storm sailing, Felix's navigation skills have improved. He still took the helm personally, steering Scala to climb the wave crest lightly and slide down the steep slope.
At the rear, the design flaws of the Venice battleship were exposed. The center of gravity of the ship was high, and it was even slower to turn. On several occasions, it was almost knocked into the sea by horizontal waves.
After a while, the situation of the Venice battleship became worse and worse. Felix couldn't help but sigh:
"I could actually go around to the stern of the enemy's ship and fire, but the rain and waves wet the naval guns, making it impossible to fire. It's a pity."
After some time, the storm intensified, thunder and lightning struck, and the waves became higher and higher. Even Scala was unable to withstand it. Felix tried his best to adjust its direction, trying to avoid the center of the most violent storm.
Before leaving, he looked back at the Venice battleship. Its hull had been tilted by the waves, the top of the foremast had been broken, and the broken mast was floating on the sea. The canvas was undulating with the waves, and it seemed that it would not last long.
"I sank an enemy ship without firing a cannon. I wonder if Admiralty recognizes this achievement?"
Before departure, the military rank of Felix was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and he was qualified to serve as the captain of a regular Double-Deck Warship.
However, the one assigned to him was a damaged warship, which was estimated to need three or four months to be repaired. Felix therefore stayed at Scala to stay with the old guys for a while.
With the results of sinking two Cruisers and destroying the Mamluk mission, he will most likely be promoted to colonel, take charge of a Heavy Double-Deck Warship, and obtain the hereditary military position in the garrison.
"Heavy Double-Deck Warship is tall and looks very majestic. In fact, its maneuverability is poor and it can't do any tricks. The only real test of navigation skills is Cruiser."
Suddenly, a new wave surged onto the deck, and the cold water interrupted Felix's distracting thoughts.
"The premise is to survive this storm. Malaka! The sea conditions in Atlantic Ocean are much more dangerous than Mediterranean Sea. Even on the edge of the storm, the waves still overflow the deck."
Atlantic Ocean The intensity and scope of the storm exceeded Felix's imagination. He desperately sailed in the direction he thought was safe, but the violent storm never stopped.
After an unknown amount of time, the first mate staggered onto the deck and advised Felix to go to the cabin to rest.
"Let me take the helm. You can come back and take my place after a while."
Before the next big wave came, Felix untied the rope that bound him and walked down the stairs to the lower deck. Then his vision went dark and he fainted instantly.
So itchy.
Felix opened his eyes and found a gray bird landing on his shoulder. The next moment, the bird flapped its wings and flew away. He looked around and found himself lying in a hammock between two trees.
Not far away, the sky is high and the clouds are wide, waves are washing over the beach again and again, a black warship is stranded in the shallow water, the hull is slightly tilted, and some crew members are carrying supplies on the ship.
"How long have I been asleep? Where is this place?"
Felix asked the sailmaster not far away, who replied, "You were in a coma for two days. During this period, the storm subsided slightly, but it never ended. The first mate and second mate took turns at the helm, and finally stranded the ship on the Unnamed Island North Sea shore."
Felix Leaving the hammock, I found that the beach was only four hundred steps wide, with steep mountainous areas on the left and right sides. The seaside side of the hillside was blown by the sea wind all year round, and low shrubs grew there, while sparse woods were scattered on the leeward slope.
At this moment, the thirty crew members, holding spears and Matchlock, carefully walked deep into the valley to explore this strange island.
Felix warned the expedition team, "Don't eat strange plants, especially mushrooms!"
Afterwards, he ate some wheat porridge in a hurry, climbed up a nearby hillside with a wooden stick, and used a telescope to observe the interior.
The terrain here is rugged, with deep valleys like cracks in the earth. Farther away, the central mountain range of the island rises from the ground, and the peaks are shrouded in clouds and mist, making it difficult to see the specific movements.
"Judging from the latitude, this cannot be Canary Islands. So, there is an archipelago in the sea south of Sahara, but the Portugal people kept the secret and did not reveal the existence of this archipelago?"
Felix returned to the beach and asked the crew who were busy on the beach, "How is the situation of Scala?"
Second Officer: "The side planks are cracked and the mainmast is in a very bad condition. The officers decided to take advantage of a certain high tide to tow the ship to the beach for temporary repairs."
Suddenly, the logging team on the hillside let out a horrified cry. Felix rushed to the scene and saw the crew members with pale faces, pointing to a big tree and saying in horror:
"It's bleeding, it's alive!"
The height of the tree exceeds ten people. At the top is a huge, dense umbrella-shaped crown. The leaves are grey-green. An iron ax cut a gap in the trunk, and some red sap flows from it.
"Why are you panicking!" Felix grabbed a crew member's Matchlock, pointed it at the tree trunk and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
After a loud noise, the trees showed no reaction. Felix threw the gun to a certain crew member and asked him to quickly call the priest (who also has both medical and religious functions) to appease these idiots who were making a fuss.
After the priest's enlightenment and exorcism, the crew members regained their sanity.
Everyone picked up the fallen tools, avoided this strange and dangerous forest, and cut down the Banyan Tree that grew in the lower areas.
After busy for a long time, the carpenter returned to the beach with a solemn face and told the captain some bad news:
"We found two kinds of trees. The tree with red sap is the worst quality wood and is almost useless. The material of Banyan Tree is poor and easy to rot. If Banyan Tree is used to repair the hull, Scala will most likely not be able to persist in the mainland. It must be docked south of Iberia to replace the new ship planks."
Felix said thoughtfully, "Don't worry, the exploration team hasn't returned yet, maybe they can find pine trees or other tree species. If you really can't find the third kind of tree, just use Banyan Tree to repair the ship's planks and make do as a makeshift."
The most pressing issue is survival.
The crew stored the supplies in the cabin in the cave for long-term storage. After careful counting, they found that the grain and bacon could be eaten for about forty days.
The idea of Felix is to save these shelf-stable foods for emergencies.
He summoned thirty crew members and rowed two boats, Longboat, to fish in shallow waters. There were abundant fish resources here. Felix signaled the crew to stop paddling and then raised the harpoon.
Under the water, a group of silver-gray snappers were swimming slowly. Felix held his breath as the harpoon suddenly penetrated the lower part of the fish.
There was a muffled sound, water splashed everywhere, and the barbs of the harpoon stuck tightly to the fish's body. When he picked it up, the snapper was still flicking its tail desperately, and the splashing water wet the clothes of several people nearby.
"It weighs at least three pounds, and Fish Soup drank it tonight."
Felix took off the harpoon from the snapper and threw it into the barrel without any joy on his face.
He grew up in a family of fishermen and is very aware of the current grim situation: it is difficult to survive by eating only fish, and other food sources are needed.
While he was in a daze, the crew started fishing. Within two hours, Longboat loaded a large bucket of fish. Everyone paddled back to the beach and saw several crew members picking up crabs on the reef area on the east side, or using daggers to pry off shells attached to the surface of the reef.
Crabs and shells are also low-nutrient foods. Especially crabs, whose carapace accounts for most of the weight, is very troublesome to eat, but there is not much meat.
Felix was sitting alone in the shade of a cliff, thinking about the next personnel allocation.
"There are one hundred and nine surviving crew members on the island, ten of whom are injured and recovering, and fifty who collect food and cut wood. When the expedition team returns, let them and the remaining crew repair the ship and leave this poor place as soon as possible."
Felix plans to sail eastward, find the coastline of Africa, and confirm whether it is at the same latitude of Sahara Desert or south of Sahara Desert.
The second day on the desert island.
In the afternoon, Felix was in a good mood, and Boatswain led the crew to find two new food sources: seabirds and large turtles.
According to "Golden Horn News" and "Navy Manual", the more food sources, the better for your health. The only drawback is that there are no wild vegetables and fruits on the island, and only half a month's supply of pickled cabbage and dried peas are left...
"Captain, the expedition team sent someone to report that something big has happened!"
The second mate ran over with the crew and reported an important discovery:
After crossing the mountains, the expedition team arrived at the southeastern side of the island, which is extremely dry and has sparse vegetation. Later, someone climbed up the cliff on the southern coast and discovered a smaller island eight miles away. The Venice battleship ran aground on the reef area!
Looking from a distance, the entire hull of the enemy ship was rolled over in the water, and all three masts were broken, completely losing its repair value. A dozen Venice crewmen controlled a Longboat, fishing on the sea between the two islands.
Felix asked the key point, "Has the enemy discovered us?"
Crew: "Not yet."
"I got it, find a place to rest." Felix sighed, put down the kettle, and quickly called a meeting with officers and non-commissioned officers.
Knowing this news, everyone's vigilance increased to the highest level.
Now the Venice people have lost their warships and do not have the ability to sail across the ocean. Assuming they know that there is a Eastern Roman Empire warship on another island, they will definitely come and fight for it at all costs.
If Scala is bombarded or burned during the fight, the brothers will be trapped on the island for the rest of their lives!
Felix picked up a branch and sketched a pattern on the beach, thoughtfully.
"We are located in the north of the island. In the middle is a mountain peak about a thousand steps high. On the east side of the mountain is the beach, eight miles across the sea, and then the desert island where the Venice people live.
We were burning fires to cook in the north, and the smoke we ignited was blocked by the mountains. The enemy could not see the smoke and did not know that this island was inhabited. As long as we kept a low profile, we could repair the ship before the enemy noticed.
When they go out to sea to fish, we will drive over and sink their small boat!"
Felix sorts various transactions:
The highest priority is to collect food, fresh water, and firewood to maintain the basic survival of personnel.
Next is repairing the ship.
Only after completing the first two tasks will he consider attacking the enemy.
As the news about Venice spread, the crew of Scala began to spread some strange rumors.
Some people claim that the Venice battleship sank to the bottom of the sea two days ago and became a ghost ship full of resentment. Now, the ghost ship carries the undead to seek revenge. Maybe it will launch an attack tonight and kill everyone in their sleep.
Another theory is that there is something wrong with the island itself, and the trees dripping with blood were transformed by living people. As long as the crew members stay on the island for enough time, they will also transform into this kind of monster, and their souls will never be able to escape.
The discussion continued and when the third and fourth legends were about to be derived, Felix led the officers and Marines to rush to the beach and interrupted the discussion with a loud shout.
"I don't care where you end up after death. At least while you're alive, you bastards are at my disposal!"
After receiving the captain's order, Marines officers swarmed forward, arrested the three most violent sailors, and used whips to draw blood from their backs.
During the execution, the captain walked slowly toward the crowd, and then stopped in front of a certain crew member, staring at the other person's face indifferently.
His gray-blue eyes were not angry, but more like the gaze of the sea itself: cold and irresistible, as if looking at a corpse.
The crew members avoided looking at each other, not daring to look at the captain, and instinctively took a step back.
The captain remained silent and looked at the remaining crew members one by one. He was slightly shorter than a normal person and lean. He did not appear to be oppressive at first glance, but the crew members did not dare to respond to his eyes.
Unconsciously, the screams continued intermittently, and their voices became lower and lower. The captain signaled Marines to suspend the whipping, and then ordered the carpenter:
"Don't be busy making the pulley block, and quickly build a gallows. If anyone talks about such nonsense, they will be hanged!"
The regulations of Admiralty clearly stipulate that the captain has absolute authority while at sea and has the right to execute troublesome crew members.
To this day, he still remembers the advice given by his old boss (Fabius): the captain is the tyrant on a ship.
Whether it's the crew spreading rumors or their collective rebellion, Felix won't back down.