In the shimmering sea, a water column suddenly appeared. The lookout hand on the mast saw it and shouted excitedly downward: "The water column, there is a water column on the starboard side, it is a whale!!"

The people on the boat were boiling when they heard this. The captain shouted and directed the crew to control the sails so that the ship could adjust its direction and sail towards the sea where whales appeared. Everyone was as excited as if they saw hunters who were prey.

The whaling ship "Bigou" is a three-masted sea ship. The registered port is Langya Port and the sails are hard sails. The main whaling locations are in the waters between Taizhou, Ryukyu and Japan.

In order to make a good fortune, the name is Big Belly Gull, which means returning with a full load (Belly Gull) and returning safely (Seagulls are always on the sea).

Every autumn and winter, a large number of whales will move south from the extreme northern waters and arrive at the Ryukyu sea through Japan. They will wander in this large area of ​​sea. The whale watching stations on the islands along the route will inform Ryukyu of the movements of the whales with a fast ship, and whaling ships that have been ready will flock to the sea.

This is the busy season for whalers.

After the crew of the "Big Belly Gull" went out to sea, they cruised in the scheduled waters for several days and finally welcomed the first whale they met on this voyage. The wind direction was right, so the "Big Belly Gull" quickly approached the whale, but could not get too close.

The sea boat is huge. Once a whale notices a giant approaching, it is very likely to swim quickly. So at this time, the "hunter" will release the "hound".

The first mate blew a whistle and directed the other crew members to release the boat.

With the "creaking" sound of the pulley group rotating, the small boats hanging on both sides of the ship slowly started the water. The crew members took various tools and long oars off the boat, each six people, and a total of three ships left the main ship and headed for the whales ahead.

Whaling requires at least three or more small boats to cooperate, two of which are tied up with whales, and one of them follows behind to support them. Once there are fewer than three ships, the chance of whaling failure will be high, and whalers will face one more risk.

For the crew of the "Big Belly Gull", whaling is already skillful. They row hard (five people paddling and one person steering) to quickly approach the huge whale in front of them.

Suddenly, the whale dived into the water and disappeared. Just when everyone thought that this guy had discovered the danger and was diving, he heard the sound of water. In the turbulent waves, a huge black figure jumped out of the water.

The huge whale, like a bird soaring in the sky, drew an arc on the sea and entered the water, stirring up a water column to soar into the sky.

That figure surprised everyone, as if he had seen the legendary Kunpeng:

"What a big whale!"

"I can't say I can make for forty barrels of oil!"

"No, I can make fifty barrels!"

An excited smile appeared on the face of every crew member. The market was short of whale oil. A whale was a "goldfish". Isn't everyone taking huge risks to go out to sea to catch whales just to make a lot of money?

The whale swam rapidly on the sea, with big waves. Three small boats shuttled through the waves, swaying and bumping, and the bow broke through the waves, stirring up countless splashes and enveloping all crew members.

The small boat chasing whales is at risk of capsizing at any time, but everyone only has whales in their eyes. The helmman strives to control the direction of the ship's navigation, shouting loudly from time to time, asking the paddler to paddle with the rhythm.

The boat sprinted very fast, surrounding the whale like three hunting dogs. The left boat was the first to approach, and a burly (relatively) crew member stood up, holding a thick whale fork, aiming at the huge whale that was close at hand.

The whale fork bathed in the sun, with a three-part fork on its head flashing with a cold light. The man shouted loudly and threw the whale fork out.

The whale fork drew a graceful arc in the air and landed on the whale. Blood light was rising, and the whale fork pierced into the whale's body.

Amid the whine, the whale swam forward suddenly. The rope tied behind the whale fork then straightened and pulled the boat at the other end to move forward quickly. The crew member who threw the whale fork almost fell into the sea with a shake. Fortunately, his companion pulled his belt and was able to keep it safe.

He then took the second whaling fork handed over by his companion, posed, looked forward to the opportunity to throw it hard, and hit the target again.

Whales that are suffering swim faster, but whales are different from ordinary fish. They cannot swim under the water for a long time and will be exposed to the water to breathe from time to time. Therefore, sometimes they will swim on the water when they escape, which gives the boat on the other side a chance.

The boat on the right side was struggling to approach the whale. The crew threw three whaling forks in succession, all hitting the target. The whale, which was injured by five, increased its blood volume, and because it dragged two small boats, its speed began to slow down.

It suddenly sank downwards and plunged into the sea. The two small boats dragged behind it were instantly pulled into the water.

The moment the ship entered the water, experienced crew members jumped into the ship and escaped. After struggling to float out of the sea, they could no longer see whales and small boats. Only large pieces of blood on the sea surface proved that there was indeed a bloody battle just now.

There are no sharks in this sea area, so the crew members are relatively safe. The third boat that followed will rescue the crew members who fell into the water.

Whaling requires more than three small boats, because the whole process is very dangerous. Two boats are surrounded, one boat is connected or guarded against the whale to suddenly turn and escape, and it is impossible to catch up with it.

Manpower paddling and sprinting distance are limited. Once the injured whales are allowed to escape the pursuit, everyone will be in vain. It is common for capsizing when catching whales. A third ship must be used as a support.

Everyone looked at the surrounding waters, waiting for the whale to unable to stand it and surfaced.

The whale was injured and dragged the boat to dive. The two boats themselves had floating barrels, so they had great resistance in the water, just like a big fish float, hanging on the whale can greatly consume the other party's physical strength.

The injured whale can't last long in this situation, and according to past experience, it should appear soon.

As expected, not long after, the injured whale came out from the side and continued to swim forward, trying to get rid of the danger, but the injury was not light, and a lot of blood flowed out, dyeing the nearby sea red.

The boat dragged into the sea by it was already broken, and the crew continued to follow.

Throwing whaling forks intermittently and following them slowly.

After nearly half an hour of this, the serious injuries and exhausted whale gradually stopped swimming, sinking and floating on the sea, breathing and panting, and seeing it was about to fail.

The whale forks were inserted into the whale's body, and the flesh was blurred with blood. The sea surface was stained with blood. It looked like a sea of ​​blood from a distance.

The whaling scene is so red and so violent.

The main ship, which had been slowly following, was approaching at this time. Several crew members on the boat jumped into the sea with sharp knives, swam to the whale and climbed up, used the knife to thorn their thick bodies into small openings, and then passed the rope connected to the floating barrel through these cutouts and tied them up.

The whale they hunt will have a high chance of sinking into the sea after death, so it must tie a large number of floating objects when it is dying, so it will not be in vain.

The main ship was late, and the exhausted whaler took the hemp rope thrown from the boat and tied the whale that was no longer twitching with a hemp rope.

They wanted to hoist the whales onto the boat, dismembered them, and boiled oil, so they couldn't rest.

This process will take about three days. After three days, the prey will be roughly cleaned, and the deck will be cleaned and the next round of hunting will be continued.

For crew members, whaling is tiring and dangerous, but...

Whale oil does not have to worry about sales, and whale bones and whale meat can also be sold at a good price, so the huge market demand allows every whale ship with a whale level above the passing line to make a fortune.

Stimulated by huge profits, countless ship owners bought and built whaling ships, and then recruited crew members to go out to sea and rushed to the vast sea.

Beiyang Trading Company Ryukyu Port is one of the largest whaling ports in the Beiyang Sea. Countless poor fishermen in coastal areas have put their hearts on whaling ships and gathered in Ryukyu. When the autumn and winter seasons come, they will take a boat to sea to fight against strong winds, waves and giant beasts on the sea.
Chapter completed!