King of Mercenaries

Chapter 129: The Karak sailboat arrives

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When Marin took Angela back to Den Burg, it was already June. The departure time of Da Gama is around July 8th, and the time is already very tight.

After Columbus arrived in Texel with the essence of his family, Marin, Marin arranged for Columbus's wife and two sons in Tenburg, and arranged for craftsmen to help the Columbus family build a big house.

Seeing that Vasco da Gama was about to leave, Columbus also needed to leave immediately. Columbus had no problem with this. The skill of great navigation has been deeply rooted in his soul. Moreover, he is very down and out now, and only by sailing for Marin can he earn enough money to support his family.

Marin allocated two Frisian warships with a displacement of about 130 tons to Columbus to lead them. However, more than half of the sailors who put them on have been replaced.

Among them, the replaced sailors mainly came from fishermen under Marin. And the bald Aben is the leader of these sailors who were born as young Frisian fishermen.

What made Marin happy was that shortly after he returned to Texel, the carrack sailboats ordered in Spain and Portugal also arrived.

The two Karak sailboats are about the same size, with a displacement of about 180 tons, a length of 27 meters, and a width of 8.5 meters. The draft is 2.3 meters, and the sail area is about 372 square meters.

Of course, this sail area refers to the square sail area. In addition to square sails, all boats are also equipped with a set of jib sails. The square sail is used when the wind is down, and it can make the most of the tail wind. The spinnaker is mainly used in the headwind area. Because the spinnaker is easy to do "Z" type maneuvering, suitable for traveling against the wind. When Columbus first explored America, he was equipped with two sets of sails.

As for the artillery to wear, Draka also purchased a batch of Fran cannons from Portugal. These Fran cannons are 10-pound, 8-pound, and 6-pound, a total of 30, all of which are equipped on the two newly purchased Karak sailing ships.

After the new ship was in place, Marin immediately arranged for Columbus to familiarize himself with the ship. Then, the sailor also made adjustments. Native Frisian sailors led by Aben boarded two new ships. As for the two 130-ton warships captured by the Republic of Frisia, half of them used the previously captured Frisian sailors, and the other half used sailors selected and trained from newly recruited fishermen.

In order to prevent these sailors from rebelling, Marin not only selected honest sailors, but their families also stayed on Texel Island as hostages. Marin specially sent Kohler to clearly tell the sailors that if they died on duty, their families would receive preferential treatment. If they betray, all their family members will be hanged, even children...

In fact, the newly recruited Frisian sailors, the young men selected from the 80 fishermen led by Aben, were not well trained. However, these people are better than being honest and obedient. Unlike the other half of the sailors captured by the Frisian Republic, Marin was not at ease with them. Fortunately, the family members of these people have also been taken to the island, so they are not afraid of playing tricks. As for those family members who failed to come to the island, they were excluded from this voyage.

Moreover, the remaining 80 Frisian sailors can not only operate sailboats, but also fire guns-this is the biggest reason why Marin chose them...

In this era, sailing at sea is full of dangers. Although there are no powerful pirate groups such as the English islands and Barbary pirates, there are still many scattered pirates.

Four warships with a total of 50 cannons can be used as long as there are enough gunners. They can definitely crush all kinds of pirates. After all, great voyages have not yet emerged, and the scale of pirates is also very small. Even if there were, they were all jumping ship gangsters who hacked people with knives, and they were vulnerable to artillery.

The only thing to watch out for is whether the Portuguese will turn around and attack them. After all, Marin has touched the interests of the Portuguese this time. Even if Marin has the Pope's permission, if the Portuguese ignore Marin's fleet and kill Marin's fleet at sea, Marin has nothing to say. As long as the four ships were sunk and the Portuguese had wiped out the haste, no one could say anything.

Therefore, the 50 cannons equipped on the ship are designed to prevent the Portuguese from turning their faces...

In addition, Marin sent Kohler's most important assistant, Draka, on board and asked him to preside over the trade with the Indians. Under Kohler's hands-on teaching, Draka is not bad at calculations, and has dealt with many people, so he has rich business experience.

Then, Marin arranged to hire two translators who understand Arabic in Portugal. The two have been hanging out on the coast of Africa all year round and know how to speak Arabic. Moreover, the two also understand Spanish. Coincidentally, Columbus also knew Spanish, and he happened to direct them to negotiate with the chiefs of Malindi.

During this era, there were many Arab colonies on the east coast of Africa. For example, Mombasa and Malindi are colonies under the control of Arabs, and the chiefs are also Arabs and speak Arabic. For example, Majid, who originally guided Da Gama in history, was an Arab born in Oman.

There are two translators who understand Arabic, which is also convenient for negotiating with Arabs. Arabic is widely spoken, and is the official language of all nations from Persia to the Atlantic coast of North Africa. Because Spain and Portugal faced North Africa directly, they fought more with the Arabs. Therefore, there are quite a few people who understand Arabic in the two countries. Just like Spain, the Granada Sultanate established by the Arabs (on the southern coast of Spain) was not destroyed by Spain until 1492...

Columbus took the sailors and steered the two new ships out to sea for a circle, and found that the quality was not bad. The sailors and gunners also conducted naval combat drills.

In order to meet the needs of naval warfare, Marin had to send people to Antwerp to purchase a large amount of gunpowder and iron ball shells to meet the needs of naval artillery battles.

In addition, Marin ordered that all the stained glass artworks worth 10,000 gold coins brought back from Venice be moved to the ship and exchanged for spices with the Indians.

Stained glass is a specialty of Venice. Although Indians have seen glass, stained glass is rare. Because it wasn't too long before the Venetians made stained glass. In addition, because Ottoman Turkey blocked trade routes, the price of stained glass handicrafts in India is still quite expensive.

And Draka, as the person in charge of this trade, Marin gave him another 20,000 gold coins so that he could purchase spices. After all, it takes time to sell out stained glass art, and it takes time to buy spices.

It would be a waste of time to wait for the finished products to sell out before purchasing spices. Then, the initial start-up capital is also necessary and necessary. With the start-up funds, the sale of stained glass and the purchase of spices can be carried out at the same time to improve work efficiency...