When Elrond returned to the Charles Joss, Captain Cross, still looking surprised at the empty-handed Elrond inquired, "Hey! Elrond, why did you come back empty-handed?"
Elrond certainly didn't come back empty-handed, with an extra Patek Philippe first-generation perpetual calendar watch on his wrist. Just this watch alone, Elrond was under the impression that it was limited to four pieces worldwide, with an auction price of over seventy million dollars. This was something Carlo must give to Elrond as a gift.
Elrond again in Carlo's advice, spend fifty dollars to buy two only Ruger P08 pistols, because according to Carlo's understanding, Ruger P08 pistols in the United States collectibles market is very hot, but the exact value of how much, he can not say, Elrond after considering it again and again but still accepted his proposal. Not to mention one more big fortune.
"Mr. Captain, I've been on the streets of Italy, and I've found nothing but pizzerias and spaghetti stores, so I really don't know what to bring to America." After saying that, he also shrugged his shoulders and looked at Captain Cross with a helpless look on his face.
"Haha ..... Elrond, haven't you ever noticed the beautiful women that are a specialty of the Italian streets?" Captain Cross began to joke man-to-man with Elrond.
"Mr. Captain, I'm too young to notice the difference between an Italian girl and an American girl, and I think I'm going to need your personal demonstration of instruction."
Apparently women are always the most attractive topic of conversation between men, and without Elrond even having to answer, the crew around him began to talk about the difference between Italian and American beauties, and the atmosphere was electric, which made Elrond's integration into the team so much faster.
And so the time flew by, and the night was silent. Early the next morning, before it was quite light, the victory ship Charles Joss set sail, and Elrond began his voyage once more after his rebirth.
Captain Cross had thought that young Elrond was guilty of bragging when he said that he was capable of doing ship's work on a large ocean-going vessel. However, after the first mate took Elrond, and familiarized him with the location of the ship's equipment, and how to use it.
Elrond amazed the entire ship's sailors by performing almost any role on the ship, as if he had a wealth of experience working in every position, much to Captain Cross's satisfaction and the feeling that he had finally found a kindred spirit.
Because in this era of Europe and the United States, the captain is not necessary and modern China, must be from the grass-roots sailor, step by step, and to a position to take the test to be able to ultimately participate in the captain qualification examination, most of the captains are directly in the nautical school to accept the nautical profession after the study of the ship is the management position, and as a modern society of the ocean-going container freighter's engine captain, Elrond is to have the Captain's license and is required to rotate on duty when the captain is off.
The exception was Captain Cross, who, because of his blackness, could not enjoy the same treatment as whites in American society even if you were better than whites, so he, too, started as a sailor at the most basic level, and eventually, through his own hard work and the timing of the shortage of captains during World War II, had the opportunity to become a rare black captain.
It made Cross very fond of Elrond, and although traveling with the convoy didn't give much opportunity for choosing their own routes and such work, Elrond had a great store of nautical knowledge when the two were discussing it, with seasons, climates, currents, weather, and such geography, much of which even Cross had never heard of.
The use of the ship's navigational equipment is also very skillful, sextant, compass, radio compass, astronomical clock all kinds of equipment are picked up and used, measured course, latitude and longitude is very accurate.
Elrond's navigational skills were recognized by the ship's crew and he was placed on duty rotation directly after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.
In fact Elrond has unfamiliar equipment, such as the ship's anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-submarine guns. Whenever he had the chance Elrond would go over and work with the soldiers to maintain these guns and artillery, after all it was a man's romance. I don't know whether the size of the convoy is too large, or because the Germans know that this is an empty ship back to the United States, there is no attack value, so after fifteen days of sailing, Elrond surprisingly did not encounter the German Navy submarine force attack, safely arrived in the United States East Coast's largest port city of New York.
The New York harbor in this period has basically been crowded by the freedom and victory ships to and from Europe, there is no spare berths to moor other merchant ships, so basically all you see in the harbor are American soldiers. Now because it is a time of war, in order to pursue the efficiency of loading ships are basically three shifts, the port's loading and unloading work is basically a state of people rest equipment does not rest, so the efficiency is very high.
Originally, with Elrond's understanding of bulk carriers like the Victory, it would have taken about ten days to load and unload a seven-thousand-ton class Victory, but as it turned out, Captain Cross told Elrond that their time in New York for loading and unloading supplies and overhauling the ship would be a surprisingly short three days.
In fact Elrond had been observing Captain Cross several people on the ship, and after nearly half a month of getting along, Elrond felt that Captain Cross and the others, were trustworthy. After considering it again and again in order to be able to maximize the benefits and expand the number of single purchases he made, he still decided to pull all the crew on his plan, and of course, he wouldn't tell all the things he did.
Just before the ship was about to dock, Elrond found Captain Cross with a serious face and said, "Mr. Captain, I wonder if we can talk alone!"
Cross looked at the fine young man, and after picking up the pipe in his hand and taking a gentle drag, he nodded, "Of course, Elrond, you can always talk to me about anything that's on your mind."
Although he didn't know what was going on in Captain Cross' mind, Elrond knew he must have misunderstood something, but didn't care.
"Mr. Captain, after this half-month together, you all have not treated me as an outsider at all, and I am very grateful for that. In order to thank you all for taking care of me during this period of time, I have a small business that may be able to make you all a small fortune, and I wonder if you would be interested."
Hearing that Elrond can make everyone a small fortune, his heart moved, and with a smile on his face, he said, "Elrond, of course we won't refuse anything that can make us rich, I wonder if I can say, what exactly is it to do, things that are against military discipline won't do, but everything else is fine."
"I wonder if carrying some personal items on board is considered a violation of military discipline?"
Elrond's answer put Captain Cross's heart at ease, seeing the boy's sudden and mysterious desire to have a private chat with himself when he was about to dock, he thought he was up to something illegal and criminal! It turned out that he wanted to smuggle some goods. I think my American soldiers are able to do the thing of using military aircraft to transport drugs, you use the ship to entrap some personal items, but also make such a mysterious, frightening.
"Of course there's no problem, you can bring as much as you want, but what do you mean by bringing us together to get rich!"
"I have a fortune in my hand, now invest one hundred dollars, I will procure the goods and help transport them to Italy for processing, you are guaranteed three times the profit, I don't know if you are interested." Elrond wouldn't tell them the real profit, this kind of profiteering business, the less people know about it, the better.
Hearing Elrond say that there was a threefold profit made Cross' eyes widen, not every business had such a high profit.
"Elrond, are you serious?" Cross said seriously.
"Of course, you guys don't have to care about anything, invest in me, I'll do the purchasing, you guys help me with the transportation, I'll do the selling, guaranteed triple profit, not enough for me to cover the bottom. If this time goes well, in the future, you guys help me purchase and transport to the destination, I will pay you according to the triple price, how about it?" Elrond also looked straight into Cross' eyes and said seriously.
One might wonder, don't these crews themselves know the market for cigarettes on the battlefield! Why don't they go to purchase their own to sell? In fact, the main place of this market of cigarettes is in the first line of battlefield, the Navy's transportation fleet on the crew, basically no time to stay in the war zone, are constantly in the back and forth transfer of supplies.
And during the short stay in the war zone, most of the American GIs would go looking for women, after all, being a soldier during the war years was all about keeping your head in your pants, and surviving one more day was earned, so not many could go thinking about earning a living in such a situation.
However, there will definitely be some black market traders who will find these crews to buy cigarettes, but traders are out to make money and won't let these soldiers make too much, so Elrond's promise of triple profits will definitely get all the crews involved.