Chapter 173
Zhang Heng returned to the captain’s quarters . He was drenched by the rain and got a towel to wipe himself down . Anne quickly got out of her wet clothes as well . As they were both shivering in the cold, Zhang Heng poured themselves a glass of rum to warm up . Rum was the signature drink of pirates . It didn’t have a decent taste, and though fermented from sugar cane, it was very bitter . As compared to wine and brandy, rum wasn’t as smooth . Its only upside was its low price . Not only was it cheap, but it could also be preserved longer than drinking water .
After a month, the drinking water on the ship would start tasting awful as various kinds of plankton would start growing in it . Rum, however, could be preserved for at least a year . That made it an essential item for every pirate ship . Zhang Heng could feel a warmness radiating in his belly after he bottomed a glass of rum . Suddenly, someone knocked at his door .
Billy had come for Zhang Heng with a group of youngsters with him .
“This is Mr . Vincent . I passed the diaries that you gave me earlier to our crew, hoping that someone could read them . I think we are in luck . Mr . Vincent here knows how to read that language!”
Zhang Heng instantly recognized him . He was the Jackdaw’s doctor and had been personally recruited by Billy . Passionate in the field of botany, he was supposed to carry out some research somewhere, but along the way, pirates had unfortunately plundered his ship . Thus, he was forced to become their doctor . A year later, the pirate group that he was in joined forces with another pirate group . Finally, Vincent regained his freedom . However, he feared that others would find out that he once worked for pirates, choosing to stay on the island in the end .
In Nassau, he stayed right beside Billy . They were neighbors . He typically made a living by keeping accounts for the taverns and brothels . Greatly influenced by Billy, he eventually decided that he would join the Jackdaw .
“This is a list of goods on the ship . It’s written in Polish . It records everything they were supposed to transport . These are just everyday items—cotton, nylon, and wood .
This was the very first time Vincent spoke to the Jackdaw’s captain, and he seemed to be nervous . Naturally, he was worried that Zhang Heng might not believe him .
“My father is from Scotland, and my mother is from Poland . When I was young, I stayed in Poland for some time . That’s why I know how to read Polish . ”
“How about these two books?”
Zhang Heng then handed the other two diaries to Vincent . Initially, Anne was about to leave but decided to stay . She, too, was curious about the sudden disappearance of sailors on that ship .
“I think… this is a poetry book,” replied Vincent after he opened up the book and glanced through its contents .
“A poetry book?”
“Yes . A book filled with romantic poems . Most of them were dedicated to a woman called Betty . I must say that the contents are mediocre at best . This is my first time seeing someone using a storm to describe someone he loved . His descriptions are pretty… sensual . ”
Vincent blushed as he read through those poems .
“Can you read them aloud to us?”
“Okay . No… no problem . ”
Immediately, Vincent glanced at Anne, quickly realizing that she was okay with it . He then started to look for a poem to read to them .
“Betty my love, I praise you, I adore you, You are my storm, I’m your master, Your breasts are like the fruits of a crooked branch, Your… erm… Your legs are like a river flowing with honey… . ”
Vincent began sweating profusely as he read the sultry literature . He couldn’t help but loosen his collar .
“Do you want me to continue?” asked Vincent while looking at Zhang Heng .
“Since you are halfway through…”
“Okay . You wrap me with your body, Whisper in my ear, You allow me to fly, I love you so much, Regardless of everything, I love you more than my soul, I’m willing to stay by your side for the rest of my life… . that’s it . You know, I can find you better Polish poems if you like these things . ”
Suddenly, Vincent realized that the three other people in the room were staring at him . Immediately, he picked up the third book .
“It seems like this is a record of where they got their supplies from . The names of different ports, dates, and amounts of goods are recorded here . ”
“So, the captain’s journal is not here?”
“I don’t see it here . ”
“Did you forget to take it?” asked Anne .
“I don’t think so . I searched everywhere in the captain’s quarters . I even checked the books that were scattered all over the floor . There are three handwritten books in the room . The rest of them were published books . ”
“All three books have the same handwriting?” Zhang Heng asked Vincent .
“Two have the same handwriting . These are the list of goods and supply records . The romantic poetry book has different handwriting . ”
“Writing down the list of goods and supplies is the job of the records keeper . Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the captain’s diary . There’s no way that we will ever know what happened to the ship,” said Billy, who looked a little disappointed .
“Hold on . This is weird,” Vincent chipped in .
“I know these two ports . They are far apart from each other . My brother and I spent a month sailing from one port to the next . Their supply records show that they only spent 15 days traveling between these two ports . That would mean the ship must have exceeded nine knots . I don’t think they had a ship that sailed that fast in that era,” continued a perplexed Vincent .
“Theoretically, they might be able to achieve that if they sailed at full speed . In reality, it’s impossible… unless the winds were at their backs for all 15 days and they managed to find a way to prevent the mast from breaking into half . The possibility of these two things happening would be like a bag with 1,000 gold coins suddenly dropping from the sky,” said Billy while shaking his head .
“It seems like the captain of that ship had different ideas . They loaded their vessel with 16-days worth of supplies before they departed . That’s cutting it real close . It’s only a day and a half away from their last voyage . ”
“Ha! No wonder they met with an accident! We found a large number of supplies lying around when we got on board . Clearly, the captain’s ego wasn’t the cause of their mishap . I remember that there was a complete nautical chart on their ship . Let’s look for it and ask Vincent to take a look . I want to see if we can mark down all the ports that they stopped at . Then, we will be able to calculate their average speed . With that, we will know if they met with an accident or not . ”
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