Chapter 772 Direction
At night, the stars hang low over the plain.
There were spots of light flickering on the sea and the sound of water rippling.
Bifang lifted the wooden board, turned over the palm leaves , and opened the canvas bag. He placed the shark patties in it. He picked up a piece and it gave off a strong smoky smell, with a hint of fishy smell.
It is minced meat, marinated with salt and spices, exposed to the sun, and finally smoked or even fried. After such a complicated process, ordinary people may not be able to smell the unique pungent smell of shark meat, but to Bifang's nose, it still exists, but it has been basically covered by the smoke.
It no longer has the texture and taste of shark meat, but is more of a salty and smoky flavor. It's not that bad, and is similar to an ordinary meat patty.
However, in order to remove toxins and urine smell, such a complicated production process naturally lost a lot of nutrients. Bifang mixed it with the fish caught today and ate it, and it tasted pretty good.
"That's all for today's live broadcast. Even though it's nothing serious, the really difficult times are ahead and I need to stay spirited."
After dinner, they chatted for a while on the live broadcast. Then Bifang turned off the live broadcast and lay in the Viking, looking up at the stars.
The boat heaved and rolled.
The Viking's hull is very deep, so deep that when you lie inside and look out, you can only see the starry sky. Although it is narrow, it can give people enough sense of security.
Bifang rested his head on his arms and fell asleep with a little tiredness.
the next day.
The fishing line was stretched straight. Bifang stood on the bow and wrestled with the big fish in the sea. Sweat flowed down his forehead, leaving streaks of white frost.
The entire boat was dragged along by the fish, and the shadows cast by the sunlight made it unclear what kind of fish it was.
Half an hour later, the fishing line could no longer hold on and broke with a snap, and the big fish disappeared without a trace.
Bifang collapsed on the boat, gasping for breath, opened the lid of the carbon water collection device, picked up the wooden water cup and drank it all, then let out a long sigh.
He stretched out his hands, which were covered with cracked skin and felt a little numb and painful. He almost had bloody marks from being rubbed by the big fish.
[Fuck, I feel like it’s just a little bit off! ]
[What a pity]
[I bet it's at least a bluefin tuna! ]
[Fang Shen, what kind of fish is that? Tell me quickly]
Bifang shook his head: "I don't know either. We were underwater the whole time, and the weather was so good today that there were spots of light on the water surface. I couldn't see clearly what kind of fish it was. Maybe it was a bluefin tuna, haha."
After sailing for a whole day, it was rare to encounter such a big fish. However, Bifang did not feel sorry because he was not fishing for food.
It’s best to have it, but you won’t starve to death without it.
“There are fewer and fewer birds in the sky.”
Bifang sat up and looked up at the sky. Yesterday during the day, he could often see flying birds over the sea, but now no birds can be seen at all.
This showed that the canoe was heading in the right direction and they were moving away from the island and the land.
"Another interesting thing about flying birds is how the Polynesians found islands in the vast Pacific Ocean."
"It's not enough to have a ship for ocean voyages . The Polynesians also needed to solve the problem of navigation. Although they also didn't have a compass or a marine clock, they had learned to use the stars. Even if it didn't work during the day, they could calibrate the course at night. But they couldn't predict the future. They didn't know where the islands or land were."
[By the way, if Fang Shen hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have realized this problem]
[So it was confirmed through the bird? ]
[What do you mean by context? Hahaha]
"Yes, their method of finding islands is more innovative, that is - follow the birds!"
"The Polynesians discovered that most seabirds need to build nests on islands, and even when they go out to forage, they will not stray too far from the islands."
“In the evening, the birds always fly in one direction, and it’s easy to find the island by following them.”
[I really kneel down to the wisdom of these ancients! ]
[So clever]
[Speaking of which, if we use the stars to determine the direction at night, what about during the day? If we go the wrong way, is that all we can do? ]
"Not really." Bifang pointed at the sun in the sky. "If you are sensitive enough to the height of the sun, you can actually roughly determine the direction directly, or you can put up a shadow and see how long it is, but this requires a lot of personal skills."
"Although it changes with the seasons, the pattern of the sun's altitude change is constant. All you need to do is record the month and clearly understand the expected altitude change of the sun in that month."
[Is this something a human can do?]
The audience was somewhat surprised.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, reaching its highest point at twelve o'clock. There is no doubt about this. So by comparing it with yesterday, we can naturally get the approximate time now.
But such a comparison is too much to ask.
But this is not the case for Bifang. The Memory Forest allows him to compare the photo of the sun's highest point yesterday with today's photo, and the error can even be reduced to within half an hour.
"With time, it is easy to determine the direction. For example, you can draw a watch and mark the time. This is the simplest way to determine the direction. Look at the difference between the hour hand and 12 o'clock. Half of the difference should be the position of the sun."
"Once you have mastered this, for example, at 8 o'clock in the morning, look up at your watch and point the 10 o'clock direction towards the sun, then the 12 o'clock direction is roughly south. I have actually said this more than once."
"In addition, there is wind direction. The sea sometimes has winds depending on the season. I have also mentioned this. There are also ocean currents. The direction of ocean currents is regular, generally flowing from high-pressure zones to low-pressure zones. If you can roughly determine your location, you can roughly determine your direction based on the direction of the ocean currents."
"But whether it's wind direction or ocean currents, you need to be proficient in geographical knowledge, which is a bit difficult. It's not recommended as the first choice. Moreover, ocean currents don't work well in the South Pacific. Remember what I said before, this is a large circulation, and it's dead silent inside this ocean current vortex."
"The wind direction is easy to judge. The surface wind field in the South Pacific is very stable. I won't say much. The low-altitude winds in April are basically southeast trade winds."
"If you don't know any of the above, then look around for thin wires and prepare a pot of water. This is the simplest method, but because it's on the sea, the shaking amplitude is relatively high, so the success rate and accuracy are more dependent on timing."
Bifang searched on the Viking for a long time and finally found a paper clip.
Before setting off, Bifang specially collected some "garbage" on Easter Island that might be useful but seemed to be useless, just for this moment.
