After distributing food and fresh water to the survivors on the island, Zhang Heng also turned his attention to gold salvage.
There is not much time left for them. The navy agreed to rejoin at Parrot Island in two weeks. Now more than half of the time has passed, and there are still about five days left, but in fact the navy is impossible to pinch So accurate, usually come back a day or two in advance.
Therefore, the actual time left for the Jackdaw to move the gold is only about three or four days, and the problem of leaving after moving the gold must be taken into account, and it should be staggered as far as possible from the returning navy, which also takes time. Speaking of tonight, Zhang Heng and the others actually only have about two days to salvage safely.
But there is also good news. The Kent, which had nothing to do outside the port before, was also thinking about salvaging gold. The carpenter on board also specially made a set of salvage tools.
The structure is actually very simple, that is, the claw hook has been improved, and two more hooks have been added, tied to the front end with a short rope, forming a triangle shape with the previous hook, which increases the stability, so that the box can be hooked from the bottom of the sea Of course, even with this tool, people still need to go into the sea to hook the hook on the gold box.
Walden originally planned to capture the remaining pirates on the island and force them into the water to do this job, but Zhang certainly couldn't do it, so he asked the carpenter Guy on the boat, "How is it, is it difficult? "
"As far as imitation is concerned, it is actually not difficult. They have already measured the size, and they can just follow suit. There are also many hooks on the ship. I can deliver ten more sets before sunset."
"I've selected the ones to salvage." Di Frena said on the other side, "They are all the best water-resistant people on the Jackdaw, but even the most powerful people among them can't stay underwater for too long. People under it can't even swim to the box at all."
"That's because they wasted too much energy and oxygen on the way." Zhang Heng said, "Everyone should hold a stone when diving, so that they can sink directly to the bottom of the sea without much effort. Also tie the cable, set a time, and catch the man up when the time comes, so that the time saved can be used to install the grapple."
As for the problem of pressure, Zhang Heng has no good solution. He can only let the divers overcome it by themselves. Fortunately, the depth of 20 meters is not too serious for the body. There will definitely be adverse reactions, but it should still be It will not be fatal, of course, the group of people responsible for salvage must have corresponding rewards to stimulate their enthusiasm.
However, these details were left to Billy and Dufresne to discuss. The quartermaster nodded when he heard the words. He sent someone to do a test first. With the success of the first box of gold, it also confirmed the effectiveness of this method. Feasibility, after that is the work of perfection and repetition. By the second night, the Jackdaw had successfully scooped up more than half of the gold.
However, the salvage work also fell into trouble afterwards. The Spanish treasure ship was quite strong and was sunk after many rounds of shelling. However, it was inevitable that the warehouse was also severely shelled. Boxes of gold It has been almost moved, but the rest are gold bars scattered everywhere.
This part of gold is very troublesome to collect, and the tools I made before are useless, so I can only pick it up with my own hands. This will naturally reduce the efficiency, and the time I can stay underwater in a day is also limited, and the number of times is too many. People who dive will also be a little overwhelmed.
Fortunately, the surviving pirates on the island recovered a lot on the second day. In order to repay the Jackdaw for saving them, they not only gave up the ownership of the gold, but also offered to help the Jackdaw salvage it for free. In this way, on the third night, all the people worked together and only scooped up about 3,000 pounds and 200 pounds of gold.
There are 1,800 pounds of gold left, either scattered too far, or crushed under the wreckage of the sunken ship. It is not impossible to salvage it at all, but it will take a lot of time.
And Zhang Heng no longer intends to wait any longer. The battles that the Jackdaw has experienced these days are a bit too intensive. After escaping from Parrot Island, everyone was holding back a sigh of relief, but after sinking the Kent, the same breath was also released. It was almost the same time, and the crew on the ship began to feel tired. At the same time, although they also received part of the gunpowder supplement from the Kent, it was not enough to support the next battle.
Therefore, Zhang Heng didn't plan to stay any longer, and picked up Brooke and others and set off back to Nassau.
Compared with the time when they came, they spent nearly twice as long on the way back. In addition to avoiding the other five ships, it was also because there were many more people and cargo on the Jackdaw, but fortunately, there were no surprises along the way. It was not until they saw Nassau's stone walls and fortress again that everyone's suspenseful hearts were completely relieved.
However, everyone's mood is different the moment they see the land. For the crew of the Jackdaw, although the process of going to sea this time was twists and turns, the final result was another big victory for the Jackdaw. In the end, Zhang Heng, the captain, once again continued his legend. In the almost desperate situation at that time, the Jackdaw was the only pirate ship that successfully escaped from the encirclement of the navy. Turning against the wind, they killed the Miranda and the Kent one after another, regained most of the gold, and at the same time saved the surviving pirates on Parrot Island.
However, on the other side are the survivors of the other five pirate ships. They lost completely when they went to sea this time. Not only did they get nothing, but their own ships were also sunk by the navy. Compared with their companions, they are lucky, at least they can survive and return to Nassau.
After docking, Brooke and the other captain hurried off the ship. They had a lot of aftermath to deal with, and they had to re-recruit the crew and find a new ship. Afterwards, Eric also bid farewell to Zhang Heng.
Zhang Heng first sent people to take them ashore in a ferry boat, and then began to direct the people on the Jackdaw to unload the gold on board, although there are still more than 1,800 pounds of gold sleeping on the bottom of the sea (should fall into the navy and pirates later) hunters), but their harvest this time is still amazing, especially considering that the other five pirate ships have given up their ownership.
The harvest this time alone was enough to make the pirates on the ship quit. Most people would never see so much gold in their lifetime. Especially when the Jackdaw was unloading, the whole of Nassau was once again a sensation.