Chapter 71: Building A Lighthouse

Chapter 71: Building A Lighthouse

Standing at a vantage point by the coast of t Horntjes fishing village, looking at the busy Marsdiep at the South, Marin suddenly felt that building a trading port at t Horntje would be a good choice.

Lord Baron, the Marsdiep south of us is the main water channel the Amsterdam merchant ships travel through introduced Auxiliary Bishop Darian of Texel, who had accompanied him on his surveying.

The Amsterdam merchant ships mainly travel through here into sea? Ive seen the maps, I remember the space between Western Frisian islands to be much bigger than the space between Texel and Den Helder. Wouldnt a wider channel be more suited for going out to sea? Marin asked with puzzlement.

Lord Baron, theres something you dont know. Although the distance between islands is wider than Marsdiep. But by passing through those channels, they must first go through a very shallow sea territory the Wadden Sea is very shallow, and there are many beaches near the sea. If they dont navigate with a specific route, large vessels with a deeper draft would get stranded easily on Wadden Seas shoreline. If they went through Marsdiep, then they wont get beached so easily, as the depth of the waters here are deeper than most of the area in Wadden Sea.

So thats how it is, in that case, Marsdiep is still the main route for Amsterdam merchant ships to enter the sea?

More precisely, its the only way for large Amsterdam merchant ships to enter the sea. For smaller trading vessels that have a shallow draft, like the small-sized fishing boats, they can still navigate through the Wadden Sea easily.

How are the boat sizes assessed?

If the boat is bigger than the Columbus of Italys flagship The Santa Maria from Western Spain, theyre considered a big-sized boat, I guess Coadjutor Bishop Dorian spoke with uncertainty.

The Middle Ages did not have wordings such as tonnage, so they could only seek out references. Dorian had once visited an old friend in the religious circles of Western Spain, and coincidentally saw the flagship when Columbus was departing. Meanwhile, Columbus feat of discovering India make him famous, thats why Dorian used that as a comparison.

The Santa Maria? Thats something with a hundred and several dozens of tonnage Marin had actually not heard any of Columbus specific deeds in this lifetime.

That costs only two thousand gold coins? Thats quite cheap Marin curled his lips, indicating that this was no pressure.

Uh Auxiliary Bishop Dorian also stopped speaking, what else could he say in front of a tycoon

Marin surveyed the area for a while, and realized that t Horntje was certainly an optimal shelter from wind and rain, the water had sufficient depth, and it faced the Southeast, so it doesnt get threated by the Northwestern Winds so easily.

Thats why, Marin had decided the plan to construct a lighthouse and port on the spot. The lighthouse shall be constructed to the south of t Horntje, on the tip of the hills which extended into the ocean. Under the guidance of the lighthouse, the ships would be able to safely enter t Horntje port even at night. At the same time, the lighthouse could also serve as a directional indicator for ships navigating through Marsdiep.

However, his Financial Administrator Kohler was currently busy searching for the families of the 400 soldiers, so he was currently unavailable for the task. As for Schwartz, that guy is a true-to-standard Officer, and knows nothing about Civil Administration. As for Marin himself, he did not have the spare time to personally oversee the construction of the lighthouse and port

Marin suddenly had a feeling that it was about time for him to go recruit more talents

The original government officials who were on the island, had basically left after Marin had taken control of the land. Because, those people, especially the educated ones, were vassals of other nobles, so it was impossible for them to work for Marin. As for the remaining local government officials, theyll be fine acting as village heads, but for specific tasks, an educated person was needed. First of all, the so-called local officials, were all illiterate. In reality, they were just accompanying subordinates of the officials who were sent from inland, and were only in charge of running errands.

In The Middle Ages, only the children of Nobles, Clergymen and the Affluent had the opportunity of receiving education. The attendant of nobles, solely because of their job requirements, also had the opportunity of being educated. As for the commonfolk, the majority of families were in terrible financial shape, even figuring out their next meal was a problem, how would they get the option of sending their children to school?

Thats why, even if one was searching for candidates, they can only be chosen between sons of nobility or sons of the wealthy. As for clergymen, they are subordinates of the Pope, and they cannot secularize, so it was impossible for them to offer their services to a secular Lord.

Forced by the circumstances, Marin was starting to ponder whether or not he should promote compulsory education on the island? However, amongst those under his command, only Schwartz had received any education, Kohler could also recognize a few wrods. But if he really wanted to find someone suited for teaching, there really was none. While he himself could become a teacher, that would be too much of a waste for his talents. Besides, he still had wars to fight and territories to develop in the future, there were plenty of things to do, so he did not have much time for teaching