Lorraine is back.
Rescued Haina, crossed the fog zone, swam across ten kilometers or even wider seas, overcame obstacles that in the minds of sailors only angels or demons could overcome, and emerged unharmed.
Before he leapt off the sea, he was a president, an employer, a governor, a captain, a young but skillful man of the sea, capable of intimidating people.
After his re-entry, he became a hero, a legend, a leader.
Believers in God believe in the Holy Trinity, and sailors who believe in God use the Holy Trinity to perceive life at sea even more.
Their ship was the Father, the sailors on board were the Son, and the captain was the only spirit on board.
The Holy Trinity is a different Person of the one true God, the Trinity, and the ship, the sailor, and the captain have the same Trinity, though they do not possess the Holy Spirit.
A strong captain is a strong ship, and a strong ship is every sailor strong.
Every sailor on the Buttercup felt honored to have such a powerful spirit.
They ... will be invincible!
Lorraine didn't realize that this adventure would bring him such great glory, and he had been worried about the ship's morale, because the broken ship, the lonely island, the dead land ...
Now it seemed as if he didn't need to worry.
He quickly gathered his seamen into a group, and on deck, Lorraine, cradling her meek white ears, looked with an odd expression at Achalin, who had wrapped his head into a mummy.
"I said ... tease the cat with gold coins, do you really think that white ears are small and have a good temper?"
The completely changed white ears yawned lazily, and the milky tiger teeth were exposed, sparkling in the sun.
Yacharin shivered and piled on the aggravation with a face full of bandages, "Captain, I am the heir of the Desai family painstakingly trained! It's nobility and elite! Do you think I would be so foolish as to tease a cat with gold coins?"
Lorraine's face became even more odd, "Isn't the question something you said yourself? How lazy do you think White Ears is? Hina caught the mouse in front of it and it didn't even bother to scratch it. For no reason at all, how could it think of scratching you?"
"Uh ... that's what I find strange." Acharin scratches his bandage in embarrassment, "I distinctly remember being hardwired to feed the cat with Pistol, but rationally, why would I want to feed the cat?"
"Can't figure it out?"
"Can't figure it out."
"Then I don't want to."
"Eh?"
Lorraine cleared her throat, "Gentlemen and ladies, from the volcano in the middle of this island, we can basically conclude that this is what John. Nasbolt called Herbasi. He didn't lie to the world, there are indeed black rabbits as big as mountains on this island, which brings us to the problem, since the black rabbits are real, what about the wizard?"
Little Pierce stared in horror, "The wizard who likes to give gold coins to sailors? The wizard who left Mr. Nasbolt on the island and was never seen in the world again?"
"To be more precise, the first one was described by Nasbolt, and the second one was speculated by bored people." Lorraine smacked her lips, "Let's assume for a moment that wizards exist, and so do gold coins, and that Nasbolt encountered these at least a hundred years ago."
Keren frowned, "Captain, our priority is not exploration, it is survival."
"I know, dear Keren. The way things are now, our ship is broken, our food and water won't last three days, and there's probably a wizard hiding somewhere on the island. Even without a sorcerer, we don't know anything about the island, and we don't even have a clue how to get out."
Lorraine broke things down piece by piece, and soon settled on a plan for what to do next.
In order to fully utilize the war effort, the Buttercup was deployed with 120 sailors, and no deaths or serious injuries appeared in the sea battle with the Reindeer; with only seven minor injuries, there were no impediments to movement.
So they still have 120 manpower, which is plenty of manpower on the one hand, and huge logistical pressure on the other.
Keren's stated priorities were broken down into three parts by Lorraine; repairing the boat, gathering food, and finding water and scouting the island and removing potential safety hazards.
Both seafarers and sailors are required to perform their duties in accordance with this objective.
For the logging crew, Keren had to lead 40 sailors to repair the boat. They need to build a minimal dry dock on the beach and gather enough wood to seal the breaches and paint with gelcoat.
For the logistics group, Yacharin had to command 40 sailors to fish, hunt, and gather all the food they could, as well as collect some of the clean water as best they could.
Pierce and Noa, on the other hand, had to command 20 sailors who were responsible for making fish into dried fish, processing other food into types that could be easily preserved, and boiling and storing all the water.
The exploration group, Lorraine and Haina, will take 20 sailors deep into the island, with the most central task being to find a source of fresh water, followed by figuring out what the wizard is referring to and clearing the way for the Buttercup.
With Lorraine's day-to-day authority, the assignments of the three groups quickly fell into place.
The strongest followed Keren, the skilled followed Acharin, the most resourceful followed Lorraine and Haina, and the rest followed Pierce and Noa to take care of chores.
After a night's rest, Lorraine's men gathered behind him.
Their mission was to find a suitable source of fresh water in Herbasi, and for that he was prepared to go into the jungle.
Searching for fresh water on a deserted island is an essential lesson for a seafarer, and the first thing that needs to be established is a determination of the island and reef.
The common conception is that both islands and reefs are surrounded by water, but the elevation of an island is higher than the high tide level, while the elevation of a reef is lower than the high tide level. In other words, a small piece of land that never sinks is called an island, while one that sinks at high tide is called a reef.
There's an even easier way for mariners to determine islands and reefs, and that's vegetation.
The sea is not suitable for shrubs, and Herbasi, being able to have a large area of jungle, certainly doesn't soak in the sea from time to time, so it's a real island.
Establishing this concept is important for those at sea.
Because only islands have enough conditions to store fresh water in the ocean, reefs in most cases have no fresh water.
After identifying the possibility of finding water, the next step is to find water with a purpose.
Most of the fresh water in the islands comes from rainfall accumulation, and the distribution of water sources has its own characteristics.
Firstly, there is often water on the windward side of the island, and secondly rocky caves are isolated from the sea and the terrain tends to retain fresh water.
This means that Lorraine and his expedition team must venture deep into the unfamiliar jungle.
He thought a lot about this.
Comparing the stars last night, he determined that Herbasi Island was located at a relatively high latitude, roughly between fifty and fifty-two degrees north.
Jungles at this latitude are generally less prone to swarms of flies and mosquitoes with virulent and epidemic diseases.
But with two active volcanoes in the center of the island, and the sea blocked by a nearly closed wall of fog around it, this particular terrain makes Herbasi hot, hot, and muggy.
It's a tropical jungle at a high latitude, perhaps even a more dangerous rainforest.
Swarms of flies, highly venomous spiders, poisonous bees flying around, poisonous snakes hiding in the grass ... any of them can easily take a sailor's life.
For safety, Lorraine required each sailor to put on a cold-proof smock, tighten the cuffs and cuffs of his boots with thin cords, pull on a smocked hat, and even cover his face with a sailor's turban after Haina's example, revealing only his eyes and hands, which were covered with ointment.
Then there are machetes, torches, ropes, long strips of wood, small compasses and binoculars, and other equipment readily available on board, making sure that nothing is missing.
Until all the preparations were done, Lorraine took a deep breath and slashed down the bush in front of her.
"Let's go, let's go exploring."