Chapter 163 The South! Setting sail!
Chapter 163 – USS South! Set Sail!
November 11th, 1990 of the Holy Calendar, this was the day that the USS South set sail.
The dock area of Richland Harbor was crowded and bustling with people.
Anyone who had heard of the opening of a new shipping route came to the docks to see the great adventure of sailing a ship to the Bay of Horns in a single breath, a great adventure that many people had never heard of.
The officers and men on board the Southern ship were busy, making final preparations for the upcoming voyage, while shipyard superintendent Rubin and veteran shipwright Benjamin led the craftsmen around the ship to inspect it.
Even the underage prospects were running around the deck, moving this and that as ordered by their superiors.
Allen, a young square boy, was straining with another companion to carry a large wooden barrel down the ladder into the cargo hold.
The two teens set down the barrel and saluted the ship’s food attendant.
“Mr. Food Attendant, this is the last barrel of wine.”
“Six barrels of rum, four barrels of wine, four chickens, ……10 cases of canned goods …… cookies …… bread… …”
The Food Attendant Sergeant counted the supplies in the cargo hold as he spoke into the notebook in his hand.
“Very well, the food is all ready, you may take a break.”
“Yes!”
After working for most of the day, they were finally able to clear their heads, Allen and his companions happily climbed out of the cabin.
For this operation to the south, the candidates who were still small children were extremely excited, because they could go and see a wider world, anyway, they were already orphans, and for such a long time, they had long gotten used to having the warship as their home, and wherever the ship sailed to, their home would be there.
Alan ran to the side of the ship to look at the pier, see a lot of familiar figures, but a little bit of regret is not yo see the figure of Dr. Ward and sister Susan, they went to the heart of the lake town to participate in what training so far has not returned.
He motioned to the alternates who were idling on the deck, “Hey! Big guy, the captain said that this voyage may last for more than a month, let’s go to the dock and say goodbye to the people in the town, we owe them a lot of care some time ago.”
“Yeah!” “Uh-huh!”
This proposal was quickly echoed by many, and they all got off the boat together, heading outside the cordoned off area.
……
“Gentlemen, follow me!”
Captain Quirk led five men who were clearly not dressed like the Navy aboard the Southern.
Four of the five were merchant representatives, not just from Arda, but one of the representatives was also from Emden in Bairdain.
As for the fifth man, he had been placed aboard the ship by the lord lord himself, a little white man by the name of Dirac, supposedly identified as a scholar who was to accompany the Southern to Horn Bay to bring his family to Northwest Bay.
Called him a little white man is really appropriate, this Mr. Dirac is also too handsome, if not for the two moustaches, Quirk wondered if the other party is a woman disguised as a man.
Quirk thought darkly with a bit of jealousy, “If it were in the South, just by the looks of this little white boy, he’d be a regular at those noblewomen’s salons.”
He said to the crowd, “We’re going to have to spend the next month at least on this ship, so let me give you a tour of the Southern.”
Quirk led the crowd slowly around the ship, they first entered the cargo hold.
It was said to be the cargo hold, but it was also where all the crew except the captain slept and rested, there was a rolled up hammock hanging here that only unfolded when it was time to sleep.
Quirk led the five to the area at the rear of the ship.
He reached out and introduced them, “This is where you will rest.”
Unlike the rest of the ship, this area had thick canvas “walls” separating five “small rooms” with hammocks hanging above and a chest underneath for storing personal belongings.
Although each “room” was only about two square meters, it was a rare luxury on the Southern, a special care for the five passengers.
Quake walked to the very back and opened a door, “This is the Captain’s room, and hey …… that’s where I live.”
This captain’s room could be said to be the most luxurious place on the entire ship. It was about four square meters, with a bright window opening on the wall of the ship at the back, and inside, apart from a hammock and a box of items, there was also a small table and a stool with ink bottles, quills, and other objects, which were supposed to be used to record logs.
There was also a ladder in the captain’s room that led to the topmost open deck. “Next we’re going to look at a very important place.”
Quirk led the group to the front of the cargo bay.
There were two doors here, one to the left and one to the right, and Quake opened the left one, and the group realized that inside was a very small compartment, with the special feature of a downward-facing hole in it.
Quickly someone guessed what this place was for, “Master Captain, this isn’t …… going to be a toilet, is it?”
“Yes.” Quirk nodded, “Congratulations on guessing correctly, that hole is conveniently below the ocean! Also, I know a lot of people are a bit more particular and are too embarrassed to take a shower in plain sight, so they can come in here and settle down as well.”
The crowd looked at each other in disbelief and were speechless for a while, but no one found it hard to accept, after all, everyone had traveled extensively in the past, and had lived through many windy days.
“Mr. Dirac was secretly relieved, if the ship did not even have an official toilet, it would be a bit of a problem for him.
Quirk led the way to the food storage area.
“Gentlemen, we have enough food and drink stored for 15 days, we’re going to start with the fresh vegetables, fresh meat, eggs and bread as these usually go bad first, then we’ll have the dried vegetables, jerky and cookies. Oh, and I’m going to want to give you a heads up, please don’t yell if you find maggots crawling out of your cookies, it’s all perfectly normal at sea.”
Maggots? OMG!
The crowd fought back their nausea as they listened to the Captain continue, “When we finally get to the point where we’ve eaten everything else, we’re going to have to rely on those canned goods. Plus we have four hens on deck that will replenish us with a couple fresh eggs a day.”
Quirk clapped his hands together, “All right, gentlemen. Go down to the dock and say goodbye to your friends and family, we’ll be setting sail in about two more hours.”
……
About two hours later, it was nearing noon by now.
“Gentlemen, this mission must be a success, there must be no failures!”
Austin stood on the deck, with the entire officers and men of the Southern, including Quake, standing neatly in front of him, listening to the Lord Admiral’s pre-sailing lecture.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that you are carrying the hopes of the Northwest Gulf on your shoulders, the hopes of His Lordship!”
“When you return, all officers and men who participated in this operation will be promoted one rank, with other material rewards!”
Quake shouted on behalf of the entire ship’s personnel, “Please don’t worry, Lord Commander, we will definitely accomplish our mission!”
“Very well, then I won’t delay you, set sail immediately!”
“Yes!”
Austin turned around and left, before leaving he glanced at the green-haired “male” who gave him a “no problem” gesture.
Only then did he feel relieved to walk across the diving board to the dock.
Quickly, Quake settled into his role as captain.
“Stow the diving board! “
“Raise the anchor!”
“Lower the sails!”
“The Southern! Set sail!”
It was quite a windy day, and the ship was soon moving, heading out of the harbor.
“Have a good trip!”
“Be sure to return safely!”
The crowd of onlookers on the pier boiled up, waving their hats or handkerchiefs while sending words of blessing to the warship that sailed away from the pier, Rubin and the old shipwright Banjie were also among the crowd, and they were bright with tears of joy as they kept waving their hands at the South Flyer as if looking at their own children about to travel far away, with an expression of both pride and worry appearing on their faces.
The sailors idling on the ship also waved at the people on the shore, some even burst into tears, most of them were leaving their homes for the first time, and were going thousands of miles away to the south.
In this way, under the strong sea breeze, the South Flyer sailed towards the depths of the ocean by the wind and waves ……
(End of chapter)