Chapter 322

Church's diary III

The snow finally stopped and the sea ushered in sunshine. Although it's winter in the southern hemisphere, if you keep drying on the deck, you may still damage your skin. But Anderson went fishing there again. He did it all year round and didn't see his skin allergies.

We left Port Fitzroy and sailed north by East. Mr. Robbins asked me if I knew about Maria Theresa reef and Ernest leguwe reef. I've heard of those two places, the legendary Ghost Island. Verne wrote about Maria Theresa reef in several novels. Oh, in his works, it seems to be called Tabor, which is a beautiful island. In fact, it is only a small coral reef, which was first discovered by a whaling ship. It is said that earlier European navigators also discovered these islands and recorded their coordinates.

However, in the past 50 years, the navies of New Zealand and the United States have searched this sea area on a large scale and found nothing. There is a large sea basin with an average water depth of 4000 meters, a maximum depth of more than 5000 meters and an area sufficient to hold the whole of Australia.

However, the legend about ghost island has been constant, but like the water monster in Loch Ness, the UFO over Mexico and the lizard man in the mineral swamp, many people claim to find them again every year, but no one takes their words seriously.

In my navigation career, I have passed the sea twice, but I have never seen any ghost island. If the people who see the miracle are the darling of God, then I must not be the one favored by God. Therefore, I am not optimistic about the results of this trip, but I will not say it in public. As a captain, I must do my job well and maintain an optimistic attitude.

I said to Mr. Robbins, sir, I feel that we are more like exploring than scientific research. I have never seen a scientific research ship loaded with advanced instruments just to go to an uncertain place.

Robbins said you're right. We're going to explore, and not just Ghost Island. We're going to more mysterious places and do more interesting things.

I don't know what interesting things can happen at sea. Have these scientists got the treasure map? Is there a huge sunken ship there? But in the ocean basin, even if there is a sunken ship, it is impossible to salvage it!

At this time, Anderson came over with his fishing rod and heard our conversation. He interrupted, interesting thing? In the vast sea, what is more interesting than fishing?

Robbins laughed, nodded and said, yes, Anderson, you're right. Fishing is the most interesting thing.

His laughter infected us, and Anderson and I laughed.

Stephen Robbins is the captain of the scientific research mission. The crew respect him very much, including the scientists on board. Even Mrs. Larry, who has always been cold, is polite to him. But he never puts on airs. He is not only easy to deal with, but also easy to talk. He is a perfect gentleman. He makes people feel good when they meet. He always speaks politely and walks slowly.

Every time he came to the deck, he always said, ladies and gentlemen, what a beautiful day! When he met a lady in the passage, he always stood aside, put his hand on his chest, bowed slightly and said, beautiful lady, Hello! Although there are only two women on board, Mrs. Larry and her assistant Miss Alice.

Mr. Robbins can get along well with the team members and sailors. Just like today, he and Anderson discussed sea fishing for most of the day.

I admire his versatility. He is not only a scientist, but also familiar with everything on the sea. Sometimes I think he's better suited to be a captain than I am. But he was very modest. He said that what he knew was learned from books. The real ocean voyage still depends on people like us.

I asked him about cold flowing snow. Snow is a common phenomenon. Why does he feel unusual.

Robbins said that the North Island of New Zealand, especially Auckland port, is already in the northernmost corner. It doesn't snow much, and it's not the coldest time yet. Moreover, cold flowing clouds usually have signs and do not appear suddenly. Only when the strong cold air passes through the warm sea area, the difference between the temperature and the water temperature reaches more than 10 ℃, the warm and humid air mass on the ocean surface is forced to rise, and the low-level atmosphere is unstable due to the warming and humidification of the lower atmosphere.

Moreover, as a common meteorological phenomenon, meteorological satellites can predict accurately through cloud images. However, neither the New Zealand meteorological service nor the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has been maintaining communication with the scientific research ship, issued a warning before we set sail. The key is that the snow is a little heavy and should not appear in this position in the southern hemisphere at this time. The Pacific Ocean in Eastern New Zealand is too vast. Due to the large specific heat capacity of the sea water, the cold wind from Antarctica turned into a warm breeze long before it arrived here.

Mr. Robbins looked a little heavy at this time. He said that you are the captain and should know something, so I can tell you what I know. During our stay in Fitzroy port, I contacted the experts of the Meteorological Bureau. They told me that the cold snow cloud we encountered first appeared about 1500 nautical miles in Eastern New Zealand, which was not far from our destination. After that, the cloud disappeared from the satellite cloud map, Then it suddenly appeared in the sea near New Zealand's North Island.

I said please forgive me, sir. I don't understand very well. You mean to say that the snow should have fallen in the sea area we were going to, but it suddenly fell at the place where we stopped yesterday?

Robbins nodded and said, you're right. It's a very strange phenomenon. This cloud is like a ghost. It was formed in a warm spring place with a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius in the Pacific Ocean. When it drifted westward, it seemed to pass through a wormhole, bringing a heavy snow to the North Island of New Zealand, which has cooled but is still very warm. As you said, the snow should have fallen on the sea 1500 nautical miles away, or it came from somewhere else, because such clouds should not have appeared there.

I was stunned. Although I am not a scientist, I have been sailing scientific research ships all year round and dealing with all kinds of scientific workers. I dare say that I am one of the ocean captains who know science best in the world. But Mr. Robbins's account was clearly beyond my comprehension.

I asked him what that meant?

Stephen Robbins looked at the sea level in the distance and said, "I'm worried that some great changes are taking place in the place where we're going, and the result of our trip will become unpredictable.".