The Rise of the European Emperor

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Some people may ask why not establish a trading post at the mouth of a land estuary? In fact, this problem, the Portuguese have also tried.

However, the Senegal region is not the same as the Gulf of Guinea side. The West African region of the Gulf of Guinea has tropical rainforests along the coast. There, rivers are not uncommon. And the Portuguese colonists landed on land, and the locals didn't care too much.

But Senegal is different. It has a savanna climate, and a little further north is the Sahara Desert. This is a semi-arid region and rivers are precious. The estuary area is also a treasure land. If the Portuguese dared to land without authorization, they would be attacked by the local natives. After all, the Portuguese colonization of the estuary would affect the water intake of the locals. It may be fine in places where there is no shortage of water. If you build colonies in places where there is no water, you will be beaten by the locals.

In addition, the ratio of input and output is not worth it. You know, this year, the gold resources in Senegal have not yet been discovered. The Portuguese traded sand with locals mainly on the northern shores of the Gulf of Guinea. Without gold, the Portuguese would not venture to build castles and fight with the locals. The ivory and rhino horn resources are obviously not enough for Portugal to send troops to fight the local indigenous people.

Therefore, Goree Island is just a relatively tasteless stronghold. Here, only a limited amount of ivory and rhino horn can be purchased from the local indigenous people, and it is not cost-effective to spend a lot of money to maintain the boat every year. Therefore, no big family attaches great importance to it, only the small family is willing to take over. Now, the Duke of Coimbra, Jorge de Rencastre, wants this small island, and the Sereu family decisively used it in exchange for some of the interests of the Madeira Islands. After all, Madeira is a place that is closer to the mainland and has relatively stable income.

...

Eschwein's renovation of the dock is actually to solve the problem of ship maggots eating the bottom of the ship...

His solution was simple enough to dig two small gated ponds on the quay just enough to accommodate boats. Once the boat has entered the small pond, close the gate.

Eschwein then had the workers remove the sacks of quicklime from the boat and take some out and pour it into the pond…

Suddenly, the pond began to boil. The limestone reacted violently with the sea water, emitting a lot of heat and blisters, tumbling in the pond. The temperature of the water in the pond also rose sharply.

Then, the maggots attached to the bottom of the two ships were all boiled to death...

And because the pond has a gate, it isolates the seawater from outside. Therefore, the maggots in the sea outside cannot get in. Before the gates open, boats can stay in the pond for as long as they want without worrying about the danger of boat maggots.

This method was seen online by Marin in his previous life. I can't remember when Marlin was invented, but it's certainly not very popular these days. Because, according to records, on the fourth voyage of Columbus in 1502, because the fleet was seriously endangered by ship maggots, Columbus had to stop the fleet in the Caribbean for a long time.

The most famous ship maggot hazard event was the 1588 English-Western Great War. The Spanish Armada suffered serious damage to the hull structure of the Spanish battleship due to the strong erosion of the battleship by the maggots. Some of the battleships were hit by the British cannonballs. The hull, which was severely corroded by ship maggots, was damaged, resulting in silent water leakage. And some of them were simply slammed by the wind and waves and sank due to water leakage.

The powerful Armada lost to England, which was relatively weak at the time, because of the help of ship maggots. And the British, from that time on, gained self-confidence and began to challenge Spain's hegemony in the Americas. Historically, Virginia, the first colony of the British in North America, was not established until 1607.

...

In other words, European countries, in fact, currently do not have a mature plan to deal with sea maggots. Otherwise, Spain would not have lost to the English in 1588.

In fact, Marin has mastered the method of using nickel-iron nails to the bottom of the boat to prevent the maggots from eating the bottom of the boat.

But the problem is that the fur company on the island of Gore is a joint venture between Marin and Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra.

In other words, there were not only people from Marin, but also people from Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra, at the base on Goree Island. After all, the two sides had already agreed that the fur would go to Marin, and the ivory and rhino horn would go to Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra...

Therefore, in the case of outsiders, Marin does not want anyone to see that the North Sea Kingdom has solved the problem of ship maggots. Even if the nickel-iron sheet on the bottom of the boat is painted, it is easy to be seen. So, Marin needed a compromise solution that kept his secrets from being seen.

After thinking about it, Marin thought of the stupid way to cook dead shipworms with quicklime. Although this method is not clever enough, it can protect the ship to a great extent, and can make the Goree Island pier can berth ships for a long time.

Anyway, when sending ships from the mainland, it is enough to bring more quicklime. And every time the ship maggots are cleaned, a few bags of quicklime are not used. As long as quicklime is concentrated on the bottom of the ship, the heat released when the quicklime reacts with water, as well as the strong alkalinity of slaked lime, is enough to kill the maggots attached to the bottom of the ship.

As for small and medium-sized boats traveling to and from the mainland, Eschwein also has a corresponding plan for small boats. If they return to berth, they can be directly hoisted with a pulley block, so that the boat can be suspended in the air to dry. Boat maggots cannot survive in an anhydrous environment and naturally die.

Finally a medium-sized boat, because it is difficult to suspend with a pulley block. So, just dig a few smaller ponds and install the gates. The principle of killing ship maggots is similar to that of large ships. Also, less quicklime is used.

Quicklime is not valuable, and it doesn't cost much per use. Compared with expensive ships, the value of quicklime is insignificant. Of course, it's not cheap either. After all, labor costs in Europe have always been high.

But Marin's original intention was not to use this method to deal with ship maggots, but to confuse Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra.

Although the two are business partners, they are not from the same country after all. Maybe one day, Marin will turn against Portugal and war will break out. At that time, it is difficult to say whether Marin can maintain friendly relations with Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra.

Although it is said that Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra, and the current King Manuel I of Portugal have a very poor relationship. However, Jorge de Rencastre is Portuguese after all and lives in Lisbon.

If Marin's method of nailing iron sheets on the bottom of the boat to prevent ship maggots was known to Jorge de Lencastre, he would definitely imitate it. Then, his ships always have to go back to Portugal, right? This secret cannot be kept as long as it returns to Lisbon to moor. At that time, the Portuguese also learned this technique.

Obviously, Marin did not intend to tell the Portuguese this secret. So, he came up with a compromise that uses closed ponds to moor boats and boils lime to kill boat maggots.

This method seems simple, but it has many limitations. For example, it's okay to use in places close to Europe. If it is too far from mainland Europe, the transportation of quicklime alone is a huge trouble. The cost is high and the quantity is small. After all, in a place that is too far from the mainland, if you can't even find a mooring point with fresh water, it will be even more difficult to obtain quicklime...

Therefore, the method given by Marin seems to be very good, but there are actually many restrictions. Only in Senegal, which is relatively close to mainland Europe, is this method more suitable. Moreover, this method also has a small cost. Unlike the nickel-iron sheet nailed to the bottom of the boat, it can be done once and for all...

In addition, in the port of Laayoune near the Canary Islands, Marin also intends to use this method. Spanish ships often pass there, and Laayoune ships transporting phosphate rock often replenish fresh water and food in the Canary Islands. Therefore, the method of boiling lime water can also confuse the Spaniards...

Everyone paid attention to the method of boiling lime water to deal with the maggots, and the method of nailing iron sheets to the bottom of the boat was naturally less noticeable. Moreover, Marin will also paint on the surface of the iron sheet to cover up...

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