Chapter 637: Two Poles
No matter how big a ship is, it is just a small boat on the vast ocean.
Bifang tightened his clothes and exhaled a breath of hot air. The mist was almost invisible. He took out a thermometer.
Sure enough, the temperature had dropped to minus nineteen degrees Celsius.
Once the temperature drops below 20 degrees, the mist exhaled by people will instantly turn into ice crystals.
This is an almost impossible temperature to reach in Svalbard, where tens of millions of tons of the North Atlantic Current rush through the ocean, bringing with it an incredible amount of heat.
The westerly drift is the strongest warm current in the entire northern Atlantic Ocean and is also the continuation of the Gulf Stream.
But after half a day's sailing, Bifang had gradually moved away from the influence of the warm current and arrived at the Fram Strait, where he could clearly feel the loss of body heat.
"The strait is located between Greenland and Svalbard, is 450 kilometers wide, and is the passage from the Greenland Sea and the Norwegian , between Greenland and the Spitsbergen archipelago."
"It was named after the Norwegian ship Fram, a Danish-built expedition ship that allowed Norwegians to become the first people to reach the South Pole."
"The ship, which could accommodate a six-man expedition team, once sank but was salvaged in 1936 and is now preserved intact in the museum."
Bifang held a map in his hand and gave simple science education to the audience in the live broadcast room.
Around him, there were some other tourists and sailors, who gathered around Bifang like students, watching him talk about the Arctic Ocean.
And compared to the previous few hours, the number of people gathered around Bifang has decreased by more than half.
Most of them went back to their rooms to rest. On the one hand, it was too cold outside, and on the other hand, they were seasick.
This is a cruise ship converted from an ocean-going fishing vessel.
At first, all the tourists were very excited. Everything started with friendly greetings. The topics mainly included three topics: "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" "What did you do before?"
Occasionally you hear someone bragging about the romantic affair they had the night before departure.
Then, just a few hours later, the atmosphere on the ship changed and almost everyone collapsed.
As soon as we entered the ocean, someone vomited yellow bile. The plastic bags around them had long been empty, and there was nothing left in their stomachs to vomit.
Unlike a roller coaster where the climax lasts for 10 seconds and ends in a few minutes, an ocean-going ship is like a 24-hour roller coaster.
The left-right swaying is fine, but I'm afraid of the pitch and swing, as if you were asked to play bungee jumping or bungee jumping non-stop.
The most uncomfortable thing was the completely irregular shaking. The people on the boat seemed to have become dice in a casino, put in a jar and shaken randomly up and down and left and right.
The tables and chairs in the room slide from one corner to another and then slide back in. Add to that the 24-hour roar of the engine, and you'll never have peace and quiet.
Only experienced captains will tell novices through their own actions that perseverance is the only cure for seasickness.
Eat. If you vomit, eat again.
When the ship is rocked by big waves, the hull will sway by nearly 30 degrees, and it is very difficult to walk on the deck.
The people who gather around Bifang have changed one after another.
The Arctic Ocean is full of icebergs floating on the sea. In order to flexibly avoid these ice sheets, the ship is only about 70 meters long. If there is a slight wind or wave on the sea, the ship will shake violently , and walking on the ship is like walking on a tightrope.
At least a few people remained calm. Apart from the sailors, the only one who showed no abnormality was probably Bifang himself.
His excellent core strength and balance allowed him to walk on flat ground, even better than many sailors, as if the waves had no effect on him at all.
"What a strange relationship, the Dane built it and the Norwegian was the captain?" a sailor nearby asked.
"Yes." Bifang nodded with a smile, "For thousands of years, humans have been trying to extend their footprints of exploration and discovery to every corner of the earth. Among them, the most fascinating and desirable exploration destinations are the mysterious ice and snow of the North and South Poles."
"In the late 15th century, European explorers wanted to find a route to Asia by sailing northwest or northeast. At that time, people knew that there was no ice in northern Norway, so explorers began their Arctic expedition to find the Northwest Passage, and they continued to fight for this for several centuries."
"In 1845, the Central Government decided to set up two huge prizes: 20,000 pounds for the first person to open the Northwest Passage, and 5,000 pounds for the first ship to reach 89 degrees north latitude."
"This is a very large sum of money, and we have even Mr. Newton to thank for this."
A little girl nearby raised her hand and asked, "Newton? What does this have to do with Newton?"
"Because it was this physicist who established the gold standard for the Central Bank while working at the Mint. In 1717, Newton set the price of gold at £3 17s 10d per troy ounce."
"In 1717 the pound was fixed in relation to gold and this continued until 1931, with two interruptions but not in 1845."
"To put it simply: In the 19th century, 1 pound contained 7.32238 grams of pure gold. Today, the gold price in Chinese currency is about 330 yuan per gram, which means that 1 pound is equivalent to more than 2,400 Chinese currency. At that time, gold mines were not developed as much as they are now, and the value would be even higher."
"In Around the World in 80 Days, the protagonist and his friends bet 20,000 pounds, and the cost of traveling around the world is also about 20,000. According to the protagonists' spending methods, 20 million Chinese yuan may not be enough."
The Chinese Yuan is now one of the world's universal currencies, and with Bifang's conversion, everyone present can roughly understand its value.
"Such a huge amount of wealth naturally attracted people's attention, and explorers from almost all of Europe were mobilized, including Norway and Denmark."
[Fuck, more than 10 million? ]
[More than that, too many to count]
[A lot of small money]
"You are truly a polymath. You are an all-rounder in history, geography, and climate."
One man took off his hat in salute. He had been listening here for several hours, watching the young man talk confidently and with great interest.
"You're welcome." Bifang smiled politely, then changed the subject, "But it was this huge prize that led to the greatest tragedy in the history of Arctic exploration."
"At that time, the Central State expedition ships 'Terror' and 'Ethereum' were equipped with the most advanced steam engine propeller propulsion and a heating system to withstand the severe cold in the polar regions."
"The expedition was led by the famous polar explorer John Franklin. However, in July of that year, two expedition ships mysteriously disappeared in the Arctic Ocean under the leadership of Sir Franklin. The 129 elite crew members, including Franklin himself, have never been heard from since."
There were low cries from several listeners nearby.
More than a hundred crew members disappeared, which is not a small number.
At this time, the crew members looked at the icy sea around them and even felt a little scared.
They had been here dozens of times before, but they suddenly felt a chill on their backs, as if an invisible ghost was watching them.
"It wasn't until 1903 that Captain Amundsen emerged and landed in Antarctica on the Fram, becoming the first explorer to set foot on the Antarctic continent." Bifang brought the topic back.
With the lessons learned from the past, Amundsen's actions became even more valuable, and the onlookers on the side exclaimed in admiration.
But Bifang's tone didn't stay high for long before it became low again.
"In fact, there was another captain who was as famous as Amundsen at the time, and that was Scott. He also reached the South Pole more than a month after Amundsen landed, that is, on January 18, 1912."
"Unfortunately, due to their physical exhaustion and the early arrival of a snowstorm, Scott and his expedition members fell down one after another on their way back."
"Six months later, rescuers found their bodies and a diary left by Scott. They knew the details of Scott's last expedition because his diary was recorded until the last day. The rescuers buried them on the spot, and now they are deep under the Antarctic ice."
"Amundsen and Scott's battle for the South Pole became a swan song in the history of world exploration."
Scott and his team stayed in that cabin forever, and Amundsen became the first person in human history to reach the South Pole.
“And the end of this hero is inseparable from the Arctic before us.”
Bifang pointed at the sea in front of him, causing a wave of curiosity to rise again in the gloomy atmosphere.
