The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 16 Course
Catherine was soaking wet, her white linen shirt clinging to her body, revealing glimpses of her flesh.

The curves of her entire upper body were faintly visible, and what was most amazing was that there were no other clothes underneath, making it impossible not to want to explore the important parts.

The scene was extremely erotic, with rough ropes tightly binding her waist.

"Damn pirates, let me go!" Catherine shouted when she saw Lin Qian arrive.

Lin Qian remained silent, simply staring at her.

Catherine glanced at herself and panicked, yelling, "Bastards, look away! Don't look! I'll have Father hang you and gouge out your eyes to feed the seagulls!"

Lin Qian stepped forward, standing only a fist's distance away from her, their breaths mingling.

Catherine felt her face burning. She avoided his gaze and cursed, "You damned bastards, murderers, you'll all be hanged!"

"Have you forgotten what I told you when we boarded the ship?" Lin Qian whispered in her ear, reaching out her hand as she spoke.

Catherine was both ashamed and shocked, and quickly said, "No! No... I was wrong, please forgive me..."

Lin Qian's movements did not stop at all.

Catherine closed her eyes resignedly, tears streaming down her face, and pleaded softly, "Please, spare me, sir..."

As Lin Qian drew closer, Catherine felt her heart pounding even harder, as if it were about to leap out of her chest.

But after waiting for a long time, she felt the ropes binding her loosen, and she went limp and collapsed to the ground.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Lin Qian looking at her coldly.

"This is east of Manila, surrounded by the ocean. Jumping off the ship would be tantamount to suicide, so I advise you not to even think about it. If you behave well, I will let you go once your father pays the ransom. But if you try to be clever, you will suffer a terrible fate."

Catherine curled up, covering her chest with her arms, and whispered, "I understand."

Lin Qian turned to leave after speaking, but Catherine called out to him, "You... please give me a piece of clothing, I still want to go to the small room..."

"Small room?" Lin Qian had never heard of this word before, but judging from Catherine's expression, she could roughly guess that it meant toilet.

"Come with me." Lin Qian walked towards the stern, and Catherine followed, clutching her chest.

Lin Qian led her into the cabin and selected a black silk robe for her from the wardrobe. This was the robe of the previous captain. The sleeves were wide, making it difficult to move around on the ship, so Lin Qian only wore it occasionally when she went ashore.

Lin Qian had long since thrown away the clothes that belonged to the captain's mistress. Since there were no women's clothes on the ship, Catherine had no choice but to wear these.

"The toilet is right there," Lin Qian said, pointing to a spittoon. "Let me make this clear beforehand: when you need to use it, find a secluded spot and don't make a mess of my room."

Catherine felt ashamed and indignant, but dared not refute him. She could only clench her robe with both hands and remain silent, which was considered an admission of guilt.

Lin Qian had no interest in what she thought, and after speaking, she took the sextant and left the room.

Yesterday, the flight path first headed south, then east, then south again, and then encountered a storm.

After emerging from the storm, all around was a vast expanse of water, making it impossible to discern one's location. One could only roughly guess that one was east of Luzon Island.

This sea area is close to the central Pacific Ocean, with few islands, making it a forbidden area for Ming Dynasty ships, which had never set foot in it before.

To date, probably only Spanish navigators have visited this place.

The most urgent task now is to determine the latitude.

Today is March 26th.

He just measured the solar declination angle yesterday, which is 18.9 degrees. If we use that data directly for calculation, the difference should not be significant.

Lin Qian picked up a small stick and placed it on the boat, waiting for the shadow to be the shortest, which would be noon local time.

At this time, using a sextant, the solar altitude angle was calculated to be 85 degrees.

Substituting the values ​​into the latitude calculation formula, we can find that the latitude of this location is either 23.9 degrees North or 13.9 degrees North.

Lin Qian's latitude when she set sail was 15 degrees north, and after sailing south for a night, it's impossible that she is currently at 23.9 degrees north latitude.

At noon here, the sun is in the northern sky, further indicating that this location is south of the sun's direct rays. Therefore, the final calculated latitude is 13.9 degrees north.

Based on the Fujian ship's speed of around 4 knots, this result is basically reasonable.

Lin Qian now has two choices.

One option is to sail southwest, which would take at most one or two days to reach the southern islands of the Luzon Islands, such as Samar and Mindanao.

This route is technically the safest, but it is too close to Luzon Island, which is still within the Spanish sphere of influence.

Based on their voyage yesterday, the Spanish governor would guess that Lin Qian would sail west and would definitely send warships to patrol around Luzon Island.

Another option is to sail southeast, which will take about seven or eight days to reach the Caroline Islands.

This archipelago lies between 1 and 10 degrees north latitude, southeast of the Luzon Islands, and remains largely unknown even in later generations.

Based on the nautical charts and logs previously acquired from the Spanish, it appears that they did not know much about the archipelago.

Taking this route can effectively avoid the Spanish, but the voyage is very difficult.

After all, Lin Qian's current technical level can only determine latitude. Once she sails too far east, it will be difficult to find land again.

After some thought, Lin Qian decided to go to the Caroline Islands.

Using a right-angled route, it first sailed south to 10 degrees north latitude, and then sailed east.

This route could take more than ten days, but it is the safest option.

For this voyage, Lin Qian prepared a large amount of water and food on board, enough to sustain them for forty days. Even if they couldn't find the Caroline Islands, they would have sufficient supplies to return to the Luzon Islands.

"What kind of instrument is that?"

As Lin Qian was pondering, a female voice came from inside.

Lin Qian looked in the direction of the sound and saw Catherine standing on the stern deck, looking at him curiously.

The black silk robe she wore looked like a black silk nightgown, not at all loose, especially the tightly tied belt which made her waist look so slender that it could be encircled by one hand, and her long, shapely legs were faintly visible, with alluring curves.

"This is a sextant," Lin Qian said casually as she put the sextant back into the box.

As far as he knew, the Spanish might not have invented the sextant yet, and such an important instrument naturally could not be known to Catherine.

“Star-gazing board?” Catherine repeated. Lin Qian spoke in Chinese, which Catherine didn’t understand.

Based on Lin Qian's posture while observing the sun, she could roughly guess the purpose of this thing.

However, compared to the astrolabe commonly used by the Spanish, this so-called "star chart" instrument from the Ming Dynasty was obviously more refined, and perhaps its angle calculations were more accurate.

She only caught a glimpse of it and couldn't figure out how the device worked, but she felt that Lin Qian was even more mysterious.

“I’m hungry,” Catherine changed the subject.

After she said that, Lin Qian realized that his stomach was also very empty. He and everyone on the ship had not eaten or drunk anything since yesterday afternoon.

"White Wave Boy," Lin Qian called out.

"Sixth Brother," Bai Langzai responded from the deck.

"Tell the cook to serve dinner."

"Okay," Bai Langzai replied.

Lin Qian carried the box containing the sextant back to the cabin. As soon as she entered, she saw two wet garments on the floor, which were Catherine's shirt and breeches.

During this period, there were no underwear or similar garments; Spanish women typically wore corsets and petticoats.

Catherine, dressed in men's clothing, would naturally not wear these.

Does that mean she's only wearing a black silk robe right now?
(End of this chapter)