There are some coconut trees in the southeastern part of the island. The coconuts recently transported back from Yulin have made travelers feel tired of it, so they are not interested in these poor resources. The island is full of grass, mainly shrubs, and the snow-white beach looks like
It looks a bit like a tropical island, except that it is filled with all kinds of algae washed up by the sea. Some of them are of considerable economic value. However, it is still far away from Lingao, so it is inconvenient to use.
Bai Guoshi led a few people to search for struvite stones while walking, and soon found a thick accumulation of struvite stones near the lagoon. In spring and autumn, a large number of migratory birds stop by the lake.
The amount of struvite produced by the accumulation of guano from passing migratory birds on Dongsha Island amounts to 600,000 tons.
It was summer, and only seabirds such as seagulls stayed by the lagoon, and the air exuded a fishy smell. At this time, it started to rain, and Bai Guoshi put on the hat of his jacket - at this time
It is the rainy season in Dongsha Islands.
"This is it," Bai Guoshi hit the next piece with a hammer and confirmed, "Knock this kind of stone down."
Sailors on the ship, navy soldiers, and workers specially equipped for this mining operation braved the rain to board Dongsha Island and mined the struvite by hand.
Struvite is not very hard and is easy to mine. The mined ore was packed in rattan baskets and transported to Zhenhai. The birds resting by the lagoon were disturbed by this and suddenly flew up and down over the island, cooing.
It screamed.
Bai Guoshi and Gao Xiaosong, who came with the ship for exploration, conducted an inspection on the island. Gao Xiaosong was very interested in Dongsha Island, but his starting point was different from Bai Guoshi. He paid more attention to the strategic location of Dongsha Island.
The Dongsha Islands are located at the hub of international shipping routes from East Asia to the Indian Ocean and Asia, Africa and Australia. The routes from Guangzhou, Hong Kong to Manila or Kaohsiung, Taiwan pass through the nearby waters, which is of great shipping significance. In the 20th century, weather stations and lighthouses were set up here.
The Ministry of Maritime Power has long regarded this island as one of the intermediate links to Taiwan and has a strong interest in it. Chen Haiyang specially assigned Gao Xiaosong to inspect the island this time.
The two people patrolled in the rain and discovered shacks and drying racks left by fishermen along the way. It was summer now, and the fishermen had all retreated to the mainland, leaving the entire island deserted.
"There is a well!" Gao Xiaosong called out.
Not far away, there is indeed a stone fence surrounding a well.
"It's useless." Bai Guoshi shook his head, "You can't store fresh water on this kind of coral island. There is fresh water in the sand layer, but it is easily penetrated by sea water. The water in the well should be lighter than the sea water. You can probably survive by drinking it.
."
"What a pity." Gao Xiaosong felt regretful, "I have heard that there are wells on Dongsha Island..."
"It seems that except for Woody Island, none of the islands in the South China Sea have fresh water resources available." Bai Guoshi said, "If you want to stay permanently, you must either install desalination equipment or build a rainwater collection system - the rainy season here is not short.
The amount of rainwater stored is still very large.”
"If there is such a shortage of fresh water, it is impossible to send people to stay permanently without some construction." Gao Xiaosong assessed the situation of Dongsha Island, "The island is large enough, but it lacks a harbor for ships to berth. It is inconvenient for people to enter and exit. At most, it can be used as a
A temporary rest stop on the way to Taiwan.”
"Look!" Bai Guoshi suddenly shouted and yanked Gao Xiaosong's arm.
"What's going on?" Gao Xiaosong was startled. What did he do in surprise? Is there anything dangerous on Dongsha Island?
"What is this?!" Bai Guoshi pointed his finger directly at the sea southeast of the island.
At first glance, there is nothing on the sea, but there is a strange triangular iron frame. It is less than one meter above the water. It only comes out of the water at low tide. The waves on the sea are undulating. It is really difficult to find it without looking carefully.
Gao Xiaosong took a closer look and felt that it looked very familiar.
"It looks very much like the mast of a small ship..." Gao Xiaosong hesitated. He was a coast guard, and this thing is very familiar to him. It is a typical tripod-type mast on an ocean-going fishing boat.
The two people were immediately horrified. Where could such a mast come from in this time and space? Gao Xiaosong had already pulled out his pistol.
"Don't panic." He said in a deep voice, "There is no one on the island, and you can't hide people in a place like this. Let's go over and see what happens."
"well--"
Gao Xiaosong first used the walkie-talkie to call Lin Chuanqing, telling him that there might be something going on on the island and asking him to pay attention to the surrounding environment.
"What's going on?" Lin Chuanqing was surprised.
"It's not clear yet. Bai Guoshi and I will go over and investigate."
"Okay, you should be careful."
"If there is a situation, I will shoot and call the police." Gao Xiaosong looked at the surrounding environment and said, "The place we are going to is at the southeastern end of the island."
"clear."
The two people carefully walked to the promontory closest to the iron shelf. The coral reef here was rugged and pebbly, extending into the sea water. The iron shelf was in the atoll about seventy or eighty meters away from the cape. It would become clearer now.
Apart from being rusty and missing some components, this is just a tripod mast of a ship.
Gao Xiaosong tried hard to look underwater, and there seemed to be a vague shadow of a ship on the reef - because of the rain, the wind and waves were strong, and the transparency of the water was not high, so he couldn't see carefully.
"There seems to be a boat under the sea." Gao Xiaosong concluded.
"This... this... what is going on..." Bai Guoshi's teeth were chattering. It was obvious that in 1629, neither the Ming Dynasty nor the Europeans had ships equipped with such masts.
"Did you not have any lost or missing ships during this operation?" Gao Xiaosong was following his suspicious wife and was eventually deceived into boarding the Fengcheng ship, so he knows very little about the entire operation so far.
"No." Bai Guoshi said with certainty, "When passing through the wormhole, not a single ship was lost. Now many of them are parked in Bobu Port."
"That's strange -" Gao Xiaosong naturally understood the seriousness of it. If this is indeed a modern fishing boat from the 20th century, then besides them, there are people who do not belong to this time and space.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, accompanied by a strong east wind. The waves were surging and lapping at the promontory. The two people stood there, a little at a loss.
"Should you report it to the executive committee immediately?"
"I'm not busy." Gao Xiaosong calmed down and wiped the rain off his face, "Let's find a place to take shelter from the rain first. Let's talk to Captain Lin by the way and let's discuss what to do. If you want to report, you can't just say that you have a tripod.
Mast.”
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Bai Guoshi said loudly, and the two of them returned from the cape. The island was uncovered, and there was no place to take shelter from the rain, so they had to run all the way to hide under the fishermen's scaffolding.
The scaffolding was actually riddled with holes, which was better than nothing. Due to the heavy rain, the walkie-talkie couldn't make calls, so the two of them had to wrap up in their jackets and wait for the rain to stop.
Bai Guoshi looked at the torrential rain outside the scaffolding and the surging waves on the sea, feeling fear in his heart.
"Instructor Gao." Gao Xiaosong used to be an instructor of the Coast Guard, so everyone respectfully called him that. "Do you think the people on this boat are still on the island?"
"Although Dongsha Island is not too small, there is no place to hide people." Gao Xiaosong said, "We just walked along the road and saw no fresh signs of human activity. It should be gone." He then reassured Bai.
Guoshi, "Maybe it's not a ship at all."
"It's best this way." Bai Guoshi muttered, feeling extremely uneasy. He would rather face a group of pirates from this time and space than meet an unregistered time traveler. If this person appeared in front of Bai Guoshi now,
He would not hesitate to shoot him in the head, and then add seven or eight other injuries - no matter if the person is a man, a woman or a child, whether he is Chinese or a foreigner.
"Don't worry too much. Even if it's a ship, it's probably just an empty ship and got sucked into the wormhole accidentally." Gao Xiaosong saw that he was overly nervous and a little nervous, so he quickly comforted him.
"The place we are crossing is in the Qiongzhou Strait, and this is Dongsha Island."
"This," Gao Xiaosong poured out the rainwater accumulated on his clothes, "maybe it is some kind of space-time disturbance..."
After the rain stopped, Lin Chuanqing was called to the island. After Gao Xiaosong introduced the situation, he was taken to the promontory to see the strange iron frame.
Lin Chuanqing's face turned pale: "I am familiar with this kind of mast... This type of mast is commonly used by ocean-going fishing vessels on the west coast of the United States."
"So maybe it's still an American ship?"
"It's very possible." Lin Chuanqing used to be an American fisherman, so his words are naturally very credible. "It would be great if we could go there and have a look. The water isn't deep, right?"
"About 8 meters." Gao Xiaosong said.
"Just dive in and have a look." Even though Lin Chuanqing said this, he still looked embarrassed. The depth of 8 meters was nothing to him and Gao Xiaosong. They just dived in without diving equipment. The problem is that there are many submarines everywhere.
He is a carefree shark, but he does not have the courage to swim with sharks.
"It seems that the Planning Commission warehouse has diving equipment, shark-proof clothing, shark repellent, etc., but there are none on the Zhenhai."
The three people discussed it and decided to conduct a blanket search of the entire Dongsha Island first. If the people on the boat were really still stranded on the island, they would be found.
"There should be no one on the island," Gao Xiaosong said, "but just in case."
No matter whether the person can be found or not, the information about this situation must be sealed to the outside world. Except for them, no one else on board the Zhenhai will be informed. After the struvite is collected, the report will be reported directly to the executive committee.
Immediately, the action of digging up guano was ordered to be suspended, and the entire ship was placed on first-level alert. Sentries were posted in every corner of the Zhenhai, and then a carpet-like search of the entire island began.
"If you find someone, try to capture him alive." Gao Xiaosong ordered.