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This piece of news was rather disastrous, but what followed was even worse, as half of the remaining crew decided to leave The Explorer when they were exiled.
According to the rules, the exile would usually only apply to the captain and key crew members, such as the first and second mates, bosun, and the like. Ordinary sailors were generally not included in the exile, so many sailors were unwilling to leave the familiar Pearl Island and chose to leave The Explorer.
By the time the current crew had left, out of the sixty or so hands The Explorer used to have, only less than twenty were willing to stay—these were all old-timers who had followed the old man through thick and thin.
It was no easy task to operate a ship over fifty meters long with fewer than twenty people, and considering the dangers at sea, they needed to recruit more crew members, otherwise, they wouldn't have sufficient combat personnel.
