Chương 75: narwhal
The sea cave adventure is over.
The process was a bit convoluted, but thanks to Noa taking most of the sailors with aplomb, not only did they not lose their money, but on the contrary, they made a fortune.
After a public weighing, the expedition snatched back a full crate of ninety-four gold objects and nearly two hundred ancient gold coins, weighing a total of 64.52 kilograms, or 8,814 pounds of gold pounds, and, in accordance with the previous contract, Lorraine generously priced this haul at 10,000 pounds outright, and the ship was raised in jubilation.
It's an expression of throwing in the towel.
Something happened to the advance party of sailors during their retreat that moved Lorraine quite a bit.
When the cave collapsed, the coral serpent abandoned the fluorescent hole, and everyone knew that the battlefield had changed drastically, they were touched by Lorraine's courage in condescending to break the back, and the first thing to be salvaged was actually not the gold, but the symbol that was exclusively the captain of the ship in their hearts, the odd crossbow that had been trodden by Yinger underneath his throne.
When they retreated, they took this half-ton, seemingly worthless, antique ship's uniform that no one even knew if it was still usable with them ...
It was also to carry this antique that they missed the opportunity to carry the gold.
Full of two boxes and buckets of goldware, they only grabbed one box, the rest were all swallowed by the incoming waves and drowned into that deep cavernous hot springs infested with big snakes and full of crises.
This heavy favor was enough for Lorraine to voluntarily share out more profits.
Review and summarize.
The two successive sea cave expeditions, with a total of 125 accepting the sharing agreement and 33 sailors participating in the expeditions, resulted in 15 deaths and 4 injuries, a huge loss and a huge gain.
The haul of the expedition includes the Macaw, made for three thousand pounds, ancient gold artifacts, made for ten thousand pounds, and ancient crossbows that have not yet been verified by Keren and gargoyle skins that have not yet been made into equipment, not valued.
So much for the thirteen thousand pounds of revenue that needs to be shared.
Under the previous agreement, each sailor who signed the contract was entitled to a share of 20 pounds 16 shillings, which was a sitting duck.
The sailors who took part in the adventure were given an additional share of 78 pounds 15 shillings, which was part of the proceeds of the adventure.
There were also pensions, which were 81 pounds, 3 shillings, for each of the victims of the expedition, and 20 pounds, 10 shillings, for the consolation of the wounded.
All the dividends are here, and the most a living person can get is £140, which is an overnight fortune.
Noya and Pearce issued each sailor with a bill of disbursement, which they could present to the Chamber of Commerce at any time as soon as they returned to Southampton.
As for the dead ...
Their wealth and legacies will be delivered by the Chamber to their testators, with a moment of silence and greetings, as is the duty of the hiring party.
How much did Lorraine actually gain from this adventure?
A route to the New World, a frigate of the Brig type, restored and ready for commerce, and up to eight thousand eight hundred pounds of ancient gold of unknown value, which, even at the rate of one to fifty, amounted to four hundred and forty thousand pounds.
Of course, the actual returns certainly cannot be calculated in this way.
Things are expensive because they are rare.
The collector's market for antique gold is that big, and to put a lot of these gold pieces on the market would only make them worthless in a short period of time.
This discounting process can take up to ten years or more.
And in the process, perhaps a lot of gold artifacts will be used by Lorraine as gifts for opportunities, and the actual cash proceeds will have to be discounted by a half, or even a trifle.
Thirty percent off, one hundred and thirty thousand pounds, again a deal that's worth every penny.
The money would be the start-up capital for the Drake Chamber of Commerce's fishbowl, the most valuable gift Lorraine's ancestors had left him on this mysterious island of legends.
After three days of rest, Lorraine, with gratitude, returned to the ruins of the longship with her own seamen, gluing the Viking oars, which she had chipped with her own hands, to the masts of the longship.
It was written on the oars in Old Icelandic:
[The ancestor of the whalers, the king of the wolves, Yinger Arnason, lies here.] Younger Arnason, the king of the wolves.
[His treasure lies in the sea cave of Nooton. If you want it, give your life at the altar.]
Keren looked rather reluctantly in the direction of the sea cave, "Captain, it's tens of thousands of pounds of goldware! That big snake was badly wounded, it might have been poisoned by the sulfur by now, do you really not consider sending a few men down to explore?"
"Too much is too little." Lorraine softly recited a Chinese phrase.
Keren froze, "What did you say?"
"This is an old Eastern proverb which means that when faced with wealth, you should sensibly submit to the Lord and not let greed blind you."
"That old Oriental can't be seen for tens of thousands of pounds, and it's thousands of years old in gold!"
"Isn't this great? With the endless treasure guarded by Yermengarde and the pirate's dead hidden deep beneath the waters, it is like the true legend of Nooton. The great whaler deserves such a home, Yinger. Arnason deserves such a homecoming." Lorraine smiled faintly, "By the way, what about that ancient crossbow?"
"Divine!"
Lorraine raised an eyebrow in interest, "You sound like it actually works?"
"More than works!" Keren waved his arms excitedly, "You know what? It should be made of some kind of whale's ribcage, with fine threads carved on it, and the material properties changed through a special process of impregnation and penetration of molten metal, which is a top-notch alchemy skill!"
"Alchemy?"
"It's the lost art of alchemy!" Keren gasped raggedly, "The technique makes crossbows immortal for millennia and uncommonly hard and tough. I've heard of it being knocked off its feet by a great serpent and smashing into a four-pounder, but there's no sign of a collision to be found at all. I've tested the pull of the crossbow arm, and with the right string installed, it can shoot steadily out to three hundred meters, a staggering distance!"
"Immortality, Toughness ... and Alchemy ..."
Lorraine frowned in comprehension for half a day, and decided to think of this ancient weapon as some sort of memorized metal formed by chance, and that the vector it shot was still the same anyway, with a similar general meaning.
He nodded and asked, "What's its name?"
"I found its inscription on the crossbow arm, [Hermes. Trismegistus, the narwhal]."
"The narwhal." Lorraine thought she liked the name, "Can you place it in the bow like Scott's crossbow?"
"Not now, but back in Southampton I can build a brand new launch platform for the narwhal, exactly like the old Scott crossbow, if not better!"
"I'll leave this in your hands, my great smith."
Lorraine stretched excitedly, "Accelerate the repair of the ship. Nasbolt's journal mentions that the Reef Belt has a twisting but wide safe route northwest of the island, and that's how he made it through the fog zone twice."
"Really?" Everyone perked up.
"Really." Lorraine confirmed with a smile, "In the next two days, Acharin and I will find it and mark it. We'll enter the fog zone from the northeast, and even if the Reindeer is still waiting for us in the waters outside the fog, we won't be able to estimate that we'll come out from the northwest."
"Through the foggy area, straight north, we'll take the high latitude route back to England, and no one will find us in the middle of the ocean."
"Be proud, gentlemen and ladies." He looked at his seamen and proclaimed like a proud judge standing on a longboat, "Establish a course, land on the island, traverse the jungle, explore the unknown. We have conquered the island of Herbasi, utterly ... conquered it!"
"Hooray!"
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