In 1579, Sir Herrera of Avilés, Spain, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in his beloved Shallow Water Crocodile to serve as governor of Honduras in the rich New World.
As it turned out, the happy life lasted only the better part of a year before he came down with an infectious disease.
The Shallow Water Crocodile, under the leadership of Captain Mikel Arteta, is returning to his home country for medical treatment. The ship, under the leadership of Captain Mikel Arteta, was carrying the ailing sir back to his home country for medical treatment, and was caught in a storm on the way, which not only broke the navigational compass, but also deviated from its course and, on a foggy day, inadvertently sailed into this strange foggy area.
Lorraine suspects that the ship's people have offended a sky full of Gods and Buddhas ...
They were lost in a foggy area, struggling for survival, and Sir Herrera's contagious disease broke out on board, after a long and agonizing time that eventually claimed the lives of the entire ship.
That's why there would be so few bones on the ship.
Those who died early and those who were about to die were thrown overboard by those who still had strength, and the weak were thrown overboard by those who were strong.
Fewer and fewer people were left on board, and those who abandoned others suffered fear and despair far longer than those who were abandoned, and met their final death in loneliness, guilt and curses.
Lorraine read all the non-cryptic written parts of the diary in silence.
The first half is aspirational, chronicling the voyage of the Shallow Water Crocodile across the Atlantic to the New World, and the second half grows increasingly scribbly, as they return home carrying the sick, encountering storms, disease, going deep into fog zones, and murdering crew members ...
Captain Arteta curses his employer, Sir Herrera, at great length in his diary.
It was the selfish and insane nobleman who ordered the abandonment of the first living men, and it was this ocean-going warship, with its 80 excellent sailors and its hull intact, that lost its last chance in the midst of the revolts and internecine fighting.
And Sir Herrera didn't get a good end.
After two loyal and powerful musket guards fall ill, the master and slave trio are brutally exiled by the last of the crew to a skiff, without food or water, to die with the waves.
"Good and evil will be rewarded in the end ... " Lorraine murmured and closed the diary, looking up to talk to Noa and Haina, "No wonder the captain and the navigator stayed in the lower cabin, so this ship carries honored guests. "
"Passengers?"
"Aye, Sir Herrera of Avilés and his two escorts are staying in the upper cabin."
"Aviles ... Herrera?" Noa looked odd, "I remember ..."
Lorraine smiled and raised the diary in her hand.
"The close ally of the Desai Chamber, the Herrera Chamber, is the Chamber of Avilés. And this diary could bring their family name into disrepute, the most precious gift Captain Arteta has left for us."
Lorraine's words made Hina curious, "What's written inside?"
"A dastardly murder." Lorraine rewrapped the diary in tarpaulin and tied the straps tightly, "Sir Herrera coerced the captain into murdering about twenty sick crewmen, and out of guilt, Captain Arteta recorded everything in detail."
"It's the baby." Hina put it succinctly.
This diary transformed the Shallow Water Crocodile from a wreck to a treasure ship.
From the captain's cabin they went back to the upper deck, and found in the Sir's cabin a ring of the family coat of arms set with rubies, and a small box, about three hundred pistoles.
Pistoles were gold coins minted in Spain, equal in value to the pound sterling, but now rare.
With the Spanish now favoring the compact eights and Spanish gold dollars, the pistoles are circulating less and less, and increasingly have a collector's premium.
With the right buyer, a pistole will sell for about two to three pounds.
Compared to Mr. Captain's diary, these things are only minor.
With the trio fully loaded, the sailors untied their bonds with the Shallow Water Crocodile and watched as the ghost ship of the Fog Zone disappeared once more into the fog to continue its never-ending wanderings.
The atmosphere on the ship was depressing.
Lorraine gathered her seafarers together and had a short meeting by the ragged hole in the bow.
"We found Mr. Arteta's journal on board the Shallow Water Crocodile, and in accordance with his guess, this is probably Herbasi."
"Herbasi?"
The expressions on the faces of the seamen were completely different; Haina, Noa and Pierce were dumbfounded, while Keren and Acharin, tied to the bowsprit, were filled with horror.
Herbasi is the name of a mysterious island that has been in the talk of ocean-going sailors since 1325.
In the earliest days, it was speculated to be the New World at the end of the ocean, and when Columbus discovered it, it became Devil's Island hanging alone in the middle of the Atlantic.
The insularity theory prevailed in Europe from the 15th to 17th centuries, and the island of Herbasi was labeled in The Sailor's Mirror, in mid-latitude waters farther west than Iceland, but was soon proven wrong.
In 1674, the Irish adventurer John Nasbolt of Kilbegs claimed to have found and landed on the island of Herbas. John Nasbolt, an adventurer from Kilbegs, Ireland, claimed to have found and landed on the island of Herbas.
He said there was a male wizard living on the island who kept a black rabbit the size of a mountain as a pet and liked to give out gold coins to lucky sailors.
But he didn't announce the location of the island, and the seamen and sailors on the ship didn't respond positively to his claims.
Two years later, his ship, the Macaw, disappeared in the North Atlantic, and some say they once again went to Herbasi and were kept by the island's sorcerer.
Lorraine had always scoffed at the legend of Herbasi, but what if ... John . Nasbolt was telling the truth?
He briefly told the seamen about the past of Herbasi Island, and one by one the seamen frowned deeply.
Hina stared into Lorraine's eyes, "You plan to explore the Fog Zone?"
Lorraine held the compass and shrugged, "We're heading west."
"Turned?"
"Turned. We rushed into the fog zone from the northeast, first drifted south, and now we're drifting west. The fact that the Shallow Water Crocodile hasn't been able to drift out of this modest area of ocean for two hundred years suggests that we're on a closed loop current."
Lorraine circled around the broken hole, looking inexplicably at the center of the hole, "If this is really Herbasi Island, then the island must be in the center of the circulation, or else the closed loop would be opened, and the currents would be in disarray, and it couldn't be this stable."
"The Wizard Who Gives Away Gold ..." He laughed a little and looked up at his seafarers, "Ladies and gentlemen, would you like to be guests in the Wizard's home?"
...
It's not too hard of a decision to make, because they're in a bad place right now.
Nearly a thousand kilometers from the mainland, the watertight compartments are seeping, and there may be murderous men waiting for them outside the fog zone.
Everyone knew in their hearts that if they couldn't get ashore for repairs in a short time, the likelihood of them sailing back to England in one piece was close to zero.
In contrast, exploring the unknown was much less risky, and at least, they could still see a chance to live.
Choose to explore in order to stay alive.
To boost the sailors' morale, Lorraine took out the pistoles she had recovered from the Shallow Water Crocodile and gave each sailor a bonus of two.
From six to ten pounds was equivalent to several months' wages, a windfall that cheered the sailors and lifted their spirits.
Right in the middle of the laughter, Lorraine announced Herbasi's message, which was unanimously embraced by the entire ship.
The Buttercup got busy as she slowly but surely twisted her bow around and cut across the Loop Current, making her way northward to the unknown, the depths of the Sea of Fog.
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