Chapter 138 Three-oared Warship
"Don't touch anything! Don't touch! Do you understand?" Xiao Peng waved his hands at the two of them and said, "Don't touch anything!"
The two girls sat there looking at Xiao Peng with a confused look on their faces.
The black girl was about the same height as Xiao Peng, and her tracksuit fit her perfectly, but Xiao Peng had no idea what to do with the younger girl. Xiao Peng's clothes looked like a dress on her, so he had to make do with it for now.
"Hehe, just watch carefully, haha!" Xiao Peng said, pointing inside the house.
'Heng Ha Er Jiang' is the 'code name' Xiao Peng gave to the two girls.
He had to do this, he asked the two girls their names, the black girl mumbled a long string of names, at least thirty pronunciations...
Xiao Peng initially thought the girl didn't understand what he meant. Later, he realized that was indeed her name. Damn, it's such a long name, and you're amazing you can remember it! And the little girl's name was also a long string. Alas, aren't all uncles' names this long?
Even though Xiao Peng was smart, he was completely at a loss when he heard the two girls' names. He just called one "Hengheng" and the other "Haha" to save trouble.
The reason he gave these two instructions was because he was preparing to go to sea.
This time he went to sea with advance preparations: he prepared a long thin rope so that he would know if anyone touched his boat after going to sea. But now someone was watching the boat for him, and he was worried that the two people would accidentally damage the boat.
The water heaters of these two looked new, and it was hard to guarantee that they would not cause trouble, so he repeatedly warned them.
From their expressions, Xiao Peng could tell that they knew what he meant, but they probably couldn't understand why Xiao Peng wanted to go into the sea in such a cold day.
But now the two of them regard Xiao Peng as a god.
They were just staying peacefully in the cabin when suddenly they heard a sound of something hitting the hull. The two girls were startled. After leaving the cabin, they found that it was a huge shark.
Even though the black girl had been rescued from the sea by Nightingale, Nightingale was only three meters long, while the sixgill shark was over seven meters long! Seeing the shark made their scalps tingle.
The ocean is so dangerous!
Xiao Peng was not afraid of the shark, but rather delighted. He took a large Humboldt squid from the freezer and fed it to the sixgill shark before putting on his diving gear. However, the equipment was just for show; once in the sea, Xiao Peng would still hang it on the bottom of the boat and only wear flippers.
He tried to give the sixgill shark an order to search for a sunken ship on the seabed and inform him if it found one. The sixgill shark dived directly into the seabed. Xiao Peng didn't know if it understood his order, but judging by its behavior, it seemed to have discovered something!
After settling the two women, Xiao Peng jumped into the sea, held the sixgill shark's dorsal fin and dived directly into the deep sea.
They were at the edge of the ocean basin, and the water wasn't very deep, only about 400 to 500 meters. However, due to its proximity to the Strait of Tunisia, the currents were strong. The strong west-to-east current made it difficult for the sixgill sharks to dive.
There are various ocean currents on the seabed. Although the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are connected by the Strait of Gibraltar, the density of the water in the two regions is different. Surface water flows from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea, while bottom water flows from the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean. After entering the Strait of Gibraltar, the current flows from east to west along the North African coastline, then northeastward to the Middle East and then westward in a circular motion.
During World War II, German submarines exploited this trait to enter and exit the Mediterranean. At the time, the Strait of Gibraltar was controlled by the British. Upon reaching the Strait, German submarines would shut down their engines, enter the shallow waters, and follow the currents into the Mediterranean. Upon exiting the Mediterranean, they would enter the deep seas and follow the currents into the Atlantic. The classic World War II film "Das Boot" ends with a scene depicting German submarines using this method to cross the Strait of Gibraltar.
This also shows the power of ocean currents: if a submarine can be pushed forward, what about a human being?
Fortunately, the sixgill shark had long been accustomed to this kind of ocean current, and it took Xiao Peng about a minute to reach the bottom of the sea.
Although sixgill sharks live in the deep sea and usually move slowly due to food scarcity, this does not mean they can only move slowly. The speed at which the sixgill shark took Xiao Peng down this time was astonishing.
At human swimming speed, even the fastest freestyle swimmer would set the world record for 400 meters at three minutes and forty seconds. If Xiao Peng were to reach that depth on his own, it's hard to say how long it would take! Yet, it only took Xiao Peng about a minute to reach the depth. Facts prove how crucial a sixgill shark is to deep-sea salvage!
The sixgill shark took Xiao Peng to an underwater canyon.
Just one look at it confirmed Xiao Peng's presence as a submarine volcano. The rock walls were dotted with round, teardrop-shaped formations, basalt formed by the cooling of erupted magma. This type of submarine topography is very common in the deep sea. It's likely that this formation was formed by an underwater volcanic eruption thousands or tens of thousands of years ago.
The sixgill shark took Xiao Peng around in the underwater canyon for several circles and then stopped.
Xiao Peng looked at the sixgill shark and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The sixgill shark understood Xiao Peng's order and knew to help him search for a sunken ship. It actually found a sunken ship.
But. . . . . .
What kind of shipwreck is this?
God knows whether this is an ancient Roman warship or a Carthaginian warship! Although the shipwreck was in tatters and covered with barnacles and other sea creatures, Xiao Peng still recognized it as a "three-row warship" at a glance.
The waters off Sicily were the primary battlefield for the three Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. Fierce naval engagements were fought in these waters, using triremes, often called "ancient aircraft carriers."
This three-oared warship can be thought of as a larger version of the Chinese dragon boat, also shaped like a willow leaf, thin and long. This type of vessel is not suitable for seagoing vessels, but more like a lake craft. If such a vessel were dropped into the Pacific Ocean, it would be overturned by the waves! However, the Mediterranean is mostly calm, so this high-speed vessel is useful. After the Carthaginians invented this type of warship, the ancient Greeks and Romans also began to use it.
Why is this ship called the 'ancient aircraft carrier'?
This is because there were no structures on the ship's decks. The rowers were divided into three levels: upper, middle, and lower. The rowers on the upper level sat on either side of the deck, while the rowers on the lower level sat below, rowing together according to the commander's commands. Soldiers rested in the middle of the deck, ready to board other ships and attack them at any time.
At that time, it was the most powerful warship in the Mediterranean.
But what valuables could be on a warship without even a rest cabin? Just think about it, this trip would most likely be a wasted one!
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