Chapter 163: A Meeting of Madmen
Chapter 162 – Lunatic Gathering
“Arthur, you’re here so early!”
Seeing Arthur’s arrival, Colonel Fitzroy stood up from his walnut sofa chair with a smile on his face, and enthusiastically rushed to the side to introduce a few of his fellow officers, “This is the one I mentioned to you earlier, Arthur Hastings.”
The two naval colonels exchanged glances, and the one among them with a well-built body and short black hair opened his mouth and asked, “The one who knows a handful of Mediterranean semi-swordsmanship and fights aggressively, Master Fioreliu, the one who coolly resembles Admiral Rotherham’s style of fighting?”
Fitzroy smiled and nodded, “Exactly him.”
Hearing this, the other party couldn’t help but smile and extend his hand at Arthur, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Hastings. George Elliot, Squire Attaché of the Royal Navy and current Captain of the ‘HMS Victory’, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I won’t hide it from you, this is not the first time I’ve met Hastings, who has the talent of fighting at sea.”
The richer, round-faced officer on the side also smiled and said, “You remember him too? That Frank Hastings is indeed a capable young man with family support and his own abilities. However, the bad thing is that he violated the naval regulations, in order to be able to return to the Royal Navy, he could only join Cochrane’s ‘Atonement Fleet’ that aided Greece.
But gold shines wherever it is found, and his brilliant results there are a testament to that. If he could survive until the end of the Greek War of Independence, he might be able to be reused by the Admiralty when he returned home. It’s a pity, ah, he ended up like Lord Byron, for the independence of the Greeks, but the two Englishmen died in the exotic Mytholon Gion.”
Arthur sniffed and politely inquired, “May I ask who you are?”
Hearing this, the round-faced officer also smiled and extended his hand at him, “John Franklin, nice to meet you. The three of us have exchanged words about you before, only I’m not as concerned about your Fiore stream as Elliot is, I’m more concerned about your academic contributions.
Because I’m actually more of an explorer than a fighter, and if you and Mr. Faraday can come up with electromagnetically powered warships, maybe the Admiralty can find that coveted Northwest Passage.”
Hearing this, Colonel Fitzroy also rushed to introduce Arthur, “Arthur, let me introduce you. Colonel Franklin, like myself, is charged with a mission of exploration issued by the Admiralty. The mission I was tasked with was a round-the-world voyage expedition, while Colonel Franklin’s mission was to find out about the legendary Northwest Passage that would take us from the North Atlantic through North America and finally into Asia.
You should know that at present the only way to get from Europe to Asia is by way of the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, and if we can find out about this Northwest Passage, then, according to the London Geographic Society’s projections of the radius of the earth, we shall shorten the distance of the route to Asia by at least 2,000 nautical miles, and you should realize how much commercial benefit this will bring to Britain.”
Hearing this, Arthur instantly became interested as well, and he opened his mouth to ask, “So is the opening of the Northwest Passage going well so far? If that shipping lane is indeed found, when Colonel Franklin wants to open a shipping company, I will definitely be quite interested in investing in it.”
Franklin just smiled bitterly, “Alas …… if only it were really that easy to open up. Since I was first tasked with opening up the Northwest Passage twelve years ago, I’ve made several successive and sustained explorations to the northwest along the North Atlantic and Canadian coastline.
The first time, we were unfamiliar with the sea conditions and returned from touching ice in the Arctic. The second time, again, we were unable to proceed further due to monsoon and climatic factors. The third time we learned the hard way, and instead of setting out by boat, we went on a road expedition along the Copperman River in the Northwest Territories of Canada, to get a good idea of the distribution of the coastline first.”
Arthur nodded, “Sounds like a very wise choice.”
Franklin smiled broadly with his coffee cup in his hand, “Indeed it was wise, and that’s why we’ve been traveling off and on for months this time, longer than the previous two expeditions.”
“And then?”
No sooner had Arthur said this than he saw Colonel Fitzroy and Sir Elliot on the sidelines show a look of intolerance.
Franklin saw this look on both of them and shrugged helplessly, “It’s no big deal, isn’t that what happens when you engage in an expedition? However, my failure this time is also considered to be relatively tragic in the expedition, 11 of the 20-member expedition team died, and the remaining nine people also ate lichen and leather boots for almost two months due to the lack of supplies.
But even so, I couldn’t get that place out of my mind. Damn! It was so beautiful, I’ll never forget the colorful Northern Lights and the snowstorms that howled all night long.”
The red devil leaning back on the sofa chair couldn’t help but shake his head in mockery when he heard this, “What a senseless human being, like a moth that pounces on a bonfire, if you want to embrace your beloved thing, you must first consider whether you have the ability to do so or not. Arthur, I assure you that one day, it will be his beloved blizzard that will take his life.”
Seeing the twinkle in Franklin’s eyes, Arthur couldn’t help but admonish him as well, “The Northwest Passage and the North Pole are certainly beautiful, but if you go over there next time, make sure you’re prepared for anything.”
Who knew that Franklin smiled broadly at his words and said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Hastings, I won’t go over there and get killed for nothing. With the lesson from last time, those guys from the Admiralty also understand that finding the Northwest Passage is not going to be that easy. If they don’t grant me a hundred crew members plus three years of supplies the next time they organize an expedition, I won’t set out even if they expel me from the Royal Navy.”
Speaking of this, Franklin couldn’t help but look sympathetically at Fitzroy on the sidelines, “Robert, with me as a reference, you must stock up on enough vegetables and citrus when you organize a round-the-world expedition, and the route planning must be done well, and what can be replenished when you get to where you are must be in your mind beforehand. And the Ministry of the Navy to ask for money, you do not pull the face, you do not want the money and resources now, wait until the future problems, the Ministry of the Navy can not afford to give you support across several oceans.”
As soon as Colonel Franklin’s words fell, he heard a lazy voice coming from the door of the lounge, “Want money? Who wants money from the Admiralty?”
The crowd looked back, and standing in the doorway was a middle-aged gentleman with curly brown hair, a few wrinkles adorning his forehead, a stripped tuxedo in his hand, and a rose-red vest over his body.
Before Arthur could open his mouth to ask, he suddenly realized that the corners of the mouths of the three Royal Navy colonels, who had just been relaxed, were slightly twitching, and the colonels, one by one, straightened their backs and neatly saluted towards the old gentleman, “Good afternoon, General Cochrane!”
Afterwards, Colonel Fitzroy rushed forward to take the tuxedo in his hand and hung it on the coat rack for him, while Franklin and Elliot didn’t dare to be idle, one of them poured tea for Cochran, and the other carried the sofa and chairs for Cochran.
The nimble movements of the three colonels dumbfounded the maidservant who entered with a variety of small food items.
They couldn’t imagine why the always arrogant Royal Navy colonels would be as tame as a few docile rabbits.
Arthur was also curious about this matter, but he was not in a position to ask at this time.
Just when he was embarrassed and didn’t know what he should do, he suddenly felt something tapping his shoulder from behind.
“Arthur!” Arthur turned his head to see that it was none other than Elder, who was revealing a row of neat teeth with a big smile on his face.
Arthur looked behind him at his empty back and asked, “Why are you alone? Where are your aunt and sister?”
Elder carelessly took out his pipe and lit it, while lighting the cigarette he also muttered, “General Codrington’s house has two lounges, one reserved for men to smoke and one for ladies to gossip, they went to the ladies’ side. But you, Arthur, what kind of Mr. Nice Guy are you pretending to be if you don’t light yourself up?”
At the end of his sentence, and without waiting for Arthur to reply, he took it upon himself to reach into Arthur’s coat pocket and find the pipe for him and stuff it into his mouth.
Before Elder could light it, however, he heard General Cochran, who was sitting in the sofa chair behind him, open his mouth again.
Cochran tapped the floor with his cane and called out aloud, “Elder.”
“Hmm?” Elder reached around Arthur’s body to look, only to be almost so shocked that he dropped his pipe on the floor and spilled tobacco with it, “General Cochran? When did you return?”
“Not long ago.” General Cochran glanced at him, and the old man tapped his pipe with his fingers, “Light me up in a moment as well.”
Elder’s face was covered in sweat, he smiled back sarcastically, “Just a moment, I’ll be right there.”
He hurriedly pulled out the matchbook from his pocket and walked up, but he turned it over and over only to find that there wasn’t even a match left in it.
Elder only felt his heart in his throat as he shivered and returned, “Report! I’m out of matches!”
Kirkland sniffed and pulled a shilling out of his pocket and popped it into his palm, “Hurry up and get some.”
Elder stood at attention and saluted, Arthur had never seen the boy show such a serious expression in his life, “Yes, sir!”
Elder hurriedly pulled Arthur out of the lounge, and it wasn’t long before a burst of laughter could be heard from inside.
Elder turned back and glared fiercely at the lounge, cursing incoherently under his breath, “Fuck! These old things, what a fucking bad day!”
Arthur asked, “That General Cochran, what’s the story?”
Elder frowned and cursed in a low voice, “Arthur, haven’t you heard of the great name of ‘Crazy Cochran’?”
“Is he famous?”
Elder sighed helplessly, “Also, he may not be that famous in England. But if you go to South America, whether it’s to Brazil or Chile, the people there will tell you that the most capable admiral in the whole of South America, along with being the first admiral of both those countries, was Admiral Thomas Cochran.”
Arthur wondered, “Wasn’t he an Admiral in the Royal Navy? How did he become the Admiral of Brazil and Chile again?”
Elder exasperatedly replied back, “Because he committed a crime in the country, someone reported him for allegedly manipulating the stock exchange for profiteering, so he was removed from the House of Commons along with the Admiralty. Turns out the guy was so pissed off that he ran off to South America to help Chile defeat the Spanish Navy, and later to Brazil to help them defeat the Portuguese fleet.
Cochran had a lot to do with Chile and Brazil getting their independence from the Sovereign respectively, and their two navies still use English to give orders to this day.”
Arthur was even more confused when he heard this, “Doesn’t General Cochran sound quite capable? Why do you call him crazy?”
Elder glared, “No one’s crazy unless he’s crazy. And let’s not even talk about him setting the table with the Admiralty in England.
After this guy arrived in Chile, he helped Chile capture Valdivia, and also captured the Spanish Navy’s strongest battleship in South America, the Esmeralda, and logically became Chile’s first ever Vice Admiral, and was also awarded the Order of Chilean Values, which represents Chile’s highest honor, and said that this is not a bad life, but he was not satisfied, and it was not long after Chile’s independence that he had a falling out with Chilean Consul O’Higgins. broke up.
After the breakup, he ran to Brazil, led the Brazilian Navy has defeated the Portuguese South American fleet and expeditionary fleet, became the Brazilian naval commander, but also because of the war was made a marquis. But not long after, he and the Brazilian emperor Pedro I fell out, with the fleet under the hands of the Brazilian merchant ships near St. Louis are robbed. The Brazilian navy sent ships to engage him, and as a result he towed away a frigate.
Cochrane couldn’t make it in South America, so he tried to go back to Britain again in a desperate attempt. At that time, the Greek War of Independence was being fought, and it was not good for us to announce our direct intervention, so the Admiralty, on the basis of his ability to fight, pinched their noses and sent him to Greece, so that he could help the newly independent Greece to train its navy to defend against the invasion of the Ottoman Empire.
He did a fair job this time around and didn’t cause any trouble. At the end of the Greek War of Independence, the Admiralty restored him to the rank of Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy for his past service in the Napoleonic Wars. But if he had been honest and stayed out of trouble, he might have reached the rank of Admiral by now.
Listen to his resume, and his temper, if he’s not crazy, who else is?”
Elder’s bitterness had just been poured out, and before he could catch his breath, he saw an old man with a cane slowly wandering over in front of him.
Just as he got a good look at the other’s face, he couldn’t help but slap his own face, “Fuck, I take back what I just said, when it comes to lunatics in the Admiralty, this one is similar to Admiral Cochran. What kind of fucking people did General Codrington invite today?”
(End of chapter)