The loading lists on the two ships have been translated. According to the loading lists, in addition to the royal grant of 230,000 pesos, there is also 60,000 pesos of personal money on board. However, according to the Grand Library
It is speculated that silver smuggling was rampant in Manila Galen at that time. New Spanish dignitaries exported large amounts of American silver and went to Manila to arbitrage Chinese goods and shipped them back to the Americas for sale.
The results of the inventory proved that their speculation in advance was accurate. In addition to the 310,000 pesos listed on the list, the private money that was not registered in the name of "groceries" but was opened in the name of silver coins totaled 124,000 pesos. This only
The silver coins alone yielded 410,000 pesos. There were also 311 silver bars, each weighing 1 Spanish aloi. Some of them had the stamp of the mine, and some had nothing at all.
Each Spanish arova is 11.5 kilograms, totaling 3.5 tons. However, Yan Maoda, the former jewelry company manager who was specially recalled from Guangzhou to appraise this batch of gold and silver, thought after looking at the purity of this batch of silver bars that there was a big difference.
The best ones have a purity of about 85%. The stamps mostly come from silver mines such as Zacatecas and Guanajuato in New Spain. The purity of silver bars stamped from Peruvian silver mines such as Potosi is generally not high.
Between 60% and 70%.
There are also some unstamped silver bars of different colors, some as high as 90% and some as less than 60%.
"Since the purity is insufficient, what are the remaining ingredients?" Sun Xiao asked.
"It's probably mainly lead - this stuff is very close to silver and looks very similar. So it's often used as filler. Of course there's also copper and gold, which are associated with silver mines. If they're not refined into pure form, they can easily be taken away.
With these impurities."
"I thought it was sterling silver." Sun Xiao was slightly disappointed.
"It can't be pure silver. Even the best Spanish peso has a purity of only 84%. Even if we want to mint silver coins, there is no need for the purity to be higher than the peso." Yan Maoda said, "Besides, you can see that these silver coins also have different qualities."
He picked up a silver coin and said, "This is a peso minted in New Spain, with a fineness of 84%; this one was minted in Peru, with a fineness of only 60 to 70% at most. You can feel the comparison between Peru when you weigh it."
light."
"So if you want to use it to mint coins, you have to re-smelt it."
"That's right. The composition of these silver coins and silver bars is very different. They must be smelted into a unified currency material first." Yan Maoda said, "Let me see the others."
There was not much gold, but there were many types, including those from Spain, Portugal, and other European countries. There were more than 3,400 gold coins on the two ships, with different colors and weights. Another 35 gold bars were seized.
The specifications of each stick are one-quarter of the Spanish Arrova. The total is 100 kilograms. The quality is about 80%.
Although the fineness is not high, so much gold is still a big gain. If calculated according to the 19th century gold standard in the old time and space, each pound contains 7.9 grams of pure gold, and approximately 10,000 pounds can be issued as a reserve fund.
"As for this pile of jewelry, it's difficult to estimate." Yan Maoda said, "Except for the gold chains, almost all of them are inlaid with gems and pearls. They are very heavy and the materials alone are valuable. And the workmanship is not bad.
, I'm afraid it's worth a lot of money if you include the cost of craftsmanship. It's a pity to melt it down. It's more cost-effective to sell it directly as a handicraft. The difficulty is that no one wants this kind of jewelry in the Ming Dynasty. I think it can be sold to the Portuguese or the Dutch to try to cash it in.
.The gold chain can be refurbished directly.”
Among the seized jewelry, the largest quantity was emeralds. There were eighty pieces. Emeralds are the most produced gemstones in Spanish America. Although the cut is rough, Yan Maoda estimated that the value is not low. If it is re-cut according to modern technology, the value can be
It is even more improved. Next are various gemstones: rubies, garnets, opals, corundum and diamonds, not many in quantity. In addition, there are 1.5 liters of Caribbean pearls of different sizes.
"These seawater pearls can be sold for a lot of money." Yan Maoda put on his gloves and carefully picked up a blue seawater pearl the size of his little finger. "If you take this thing to Beijing and sell it, you can sell it for at least 800 to 1,000 taels of silver."
――But it’s difficult to get rid of it. After all, there are very few people who can buy this kind of thing.”
After registering all the precious metals and jewelry and sorting them into special boxes, Sun Xiao estimated that the loot of precious metals and jewelry obtained during the entire hunger operation was worth 800,000 pesos.
As for other goods, there are many kinds. The largest ones are bales of cotton and large rolls of extremely tough thread. Sun Xiao asked people in the big library to find out that this kind of thread is agave thread, which was imported by the Philippine colonial government.
American cotton was used to weave canvas, and agave thread was imported for caulking—all for shipbuilding and ship repair.
Next is a large number of animal skins - mainly cowhide and sheepskin, with tens of thousands of pieces. In addition to animal skins, bulk cargo also includes magenta - the secretion of this insect is a fine red dye; hundreds of barrels
Tobacco from Cuba. Hundreds of bags of inexplicable potato roots with an extremely unpronounceable Spanish name: salzapaglia. It was listed as "medicine" in the cargo list. People from the Great Library checked the information.
I know that this is an American specialty and at that time it was considered a special medicine that can treat many diseases.
As for the various gorgeous clothes made of silk and woolen and sets of silverware contained in large reinforced boxes wrapped in animal skins, they are obviously the luggage of the dignitaries who boarded the ship. If the Senate finally allows the ransom of the captives, then these luggage will also
They can be allowed to redeem them. Therefore, for the time being, they will only be counted and registered and re-sealed, and will not be included in the storage list.
However, the goods that surprised Sun Xiao the most came from the bottom warehouse-packed in sealed earthenware jars: two hundred jars of mercury, each jar had a volume of a quarter of a farner, or 13.75 liters. The stamp on the jar
Indicates that the mercury comes from the Huancavelica mercury mine in Peru.
The greatest use of mercury in this time and space is to refine silver. What does the Philippines want with so much mercury? Do they also want to develop silver mines?
Sun Xiao didn't know if there were any silver mines in the Philippines, but the shipment of so much mercury on the Manila Galen was obviously a very abnormal thing. He immediately reported this information to the Executive Committee.
However, this situation alone does not mean anything - because the Philippines has been importing mercury from China. But such a huge import volume is too abnormal. Therefore, the Executive Committee handed over this issue to the Foreign Intelligence Service and tasked them with investigating it.
After the cleaning, the two Spanish Galen ships were towed to the Bobu Shipyard to undergo comprehensive renovations. The cannons, remaining masts, sails and sail cables on the ships have all been dismantled and will be renovated and reused as appropriate.
Naturally, the cannons were towed directly to the smelting plant. The 65 bronze cannons disassembled from the two ships made the metallurgical and materials departments smile from ear to ear - we just lacked high-quality bronze!
The Galen ship is a very strong sea-going ship. The ship is entirely made of solid oak. The thickest part of the hull plate can reach 11 inches. The ribs are thicker and denser than ordinary ships. No wonder the Spanish used it.
Come to transport gold and silver treasures across the sea.
According to the ship's register and field survey, the registered load capacity of the St. Louis is 800 gross tons and the displacement is 1,450 tons. The San Raymondo is slightly smaller, with a registered load capacity of 650 gross tons and a displacement of about 1,200 tons.
After visiting, Wen Desi believed that these two ships could be modified and reused - after all, the deadweight tonnage of these two ships was close to the h800 level. Although the hull lines were a little different and the speed was slower, the hulls were strong and durable. If
If modified with steam power, it would be a very useful transport ship.
"Actually, with the size of these two ships, if equipped with enough cannons, they can travel sideways in the South China Sea without steam engines," Chen Haiyang said after visiting. "The problem is that we don't have that many sailors to operate them."
"It would be great if we could use the Spanish prisoners." Qian Shuiting said, shaking his head regretfully. First of all, this was "politically incorrect", and secondly, the reliability of the Spanish prisoners could not be guaranteed.
“I think it’s okay to at least employ Europeans in shipping companies in the non-military sector – after all, we lack qualified senior seamen.” Chen Haiyang said, “At least they are much better at navigation than the local indigenous people – Guang
Being able to cross the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean is enough to instantly kill most of the naturalized captains in our navy and shipping companies."
According to the captain's certificate issued by the navy, captains of the navy and shipping companies under the Senate have three certificates: A, B, and C. Class A: proficient in using navigation instruments and able to rely on charts to navigate across the ocean; Class B: able to use navigation instruments and familiar with
China's traditional ocean-going sea routes can sail to Japan, Thailand, Manila and Batavia; Class C is familiar with China's coastal routes and can sail from Hainan to Tianjin.
Most of the captains of the Senate who were pirates and fishermen were the recipients of second- and third-class certificates. Only a handful of steam warship captains had first-class certificates - without exception, they were all Yerba Buena naval cadets.
Born in class.
"Reliability, reliability." Qian Shuiting said, "Don't you know that sailors on ocean-going ships these days are like scum concentration camps?"
"That's true, but senior seamen might give it a try - I remember reading a book on this before. At that time, the salary of these senior seamen was not high, and many of them were not serving their country. They only needed to pay money - Italian seamen were
Serving everyone. By the way, isn’t Columbus an Italian?”