Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 794 - 790: Arriving at Nemo Point

The Milky Way was resplendent, and even the howling winds couldn't veil the brilliance of the stars that twinkled in the pitch-black night, guiding all who had lost their way.

Following the direction of Bi Fang's finger, the crowd was filled with longing.

Someone in the Northern Hemisphere once captured a time-lapse photo of the starry sky where, due to Earth's rotation, the stars traced concentric circles in the sky.

Only the center star remained constant in the view because it was in line with the Earth's axis of rotation.

This star is known as Polaris, and it's an old friend to many.

For observers in the Northern Hemisphere, Polaris always remains still, while other stars revolve around it.

Wait a minute...

Observers in the Northern Hemisphere?

Some audience members smacked their lips, sensing that something was amiss.

After a while, someone finally realized, wasn't Master Fang in the Southern Hemisphere?

[Can you see Polaris from the Southern Hemisphere?]

[I slowly type out a question mark]

[Holy crap, I just got it, Old Fang is in the freaking Southern Hemisphere, how could he possibly see Polaris?]

"When did I ever say this was Polaris?" Bi Fang chuckled, "I've never said this was Polaris."

"I was just using Polaris as an example, because the underlying logic is the same. Polaris is familiar to everyone, so I thought it would be easier for you to understand."

[I'm an idiot]

[Feint]

[biubiubiu]

[Sorry, I wouldn't understand whichever star you used.]

[So what star is this?]

[So for the Southern Hemisphere, is it the South Star?]

"There's no such thing as a South Star; this star is actually the central point of the Southern Cross Constellation,"

"Polaris is located on the extension of Earth's axis, at a distance so vast that Earth's radius is negligible in comparison."

"Thus, when looking at Polaris from a point on Earth, this line of sight is parallel to the Earth's axis. Consequently, the angle between this line of sight and the horizon, which is the elevation of Polaris in the field of view, equals the latitude of that location."

"That is to say, if you find Polaris in your field of view and it's directly overhead at an elevation of 90 degrees, that means you are at a latitude of 90 degrees, standing on the North Pole."

"If you find Polaris in the field of view at the horizon, an elevation of 0, it means you're at a latitude of 0 degrees, sailing on the equator. If the elevation is 30 degrees, it means you are at 30 degrees North latitude."

[We've talked about this last time, I remember you can use a sextant]

[Master Fang, you have the sextant ready, right?]

[Was that thing a sextant just now?]

The audience recalled the strange contraption made of several thin sticks that Bi Fang had taken out before beginning his calculations and immediately understood its purpose.

Bi Fang did not deny it.

These simple tools had not been lost in the previous adventures, which was a stroke of good luck amidst misfortune.

"This is the process for determining latitude, and although there is no corresponding South Star in the Southern Hemisphere, we found that the central point of the Southern Cross Constellation can approximately serve the same purpose as Polaris."

"Such observations may not be very precise, but they are sufficient for navigation at sea."

Bi Fang pointed to the lights in the night sky, and after close observation, the crowd noticed that this star indeed differed from Polaris; although it was bright, there were many other bright stars around it

Thanks to Polaris and the Southern Cross Constellation, experienced navigators could easily determine their latitude with the help of proper measuring instruments, but measuring longitude was much more difficult.

"Latitude consists of a series of parallel lines, while longitude is a series of lines that intersect at the poles."

"The Earth rotates from west to east, and there are no Eastern or Western poles, so there is no such thing as an Eastern Star or Western Star."

"However, navigators discovered a pattern that has nothing to do with the stars but everything to do with time."

"We clearly understand the concept of time zones. For example, if it's 2 AM in Huaxia, it's 1 PM in Eastern Standard Time. If I know that it's 2 AM Huaxia time, and the local time is 1 PM, then, can I deduce that my current time zone is Eastern Standard Time?"

"Consequently, I can know that my longitude is the same as that of the East Coast of Ugly Country. So, the problem of measuring longitude has been transformed into a problem of measuring the time of a known location and the local time of the current location."

[My head hurts too much.]

[Master Fang, please stop talking, stop talking.]

[Feels like high school geography class again.]

[I've become totally confused.]

Bi Fang continued with a series of analyses, his charcoal pencil never stopping, as if he was commentating and sorting out his own thoughts at the same time.

"Earth completes a rotation in 24 hours, which means it rotates 360 degrees in 24 hours, 15 degrees per hour, 1 degree every 4 minutes."

"If we take the port of departure as a reference point, for example, departing from London and using Greenwich Mean Time as the standard time, and the meridian where Greenwich is located as the prime meridian."

"Later in the journey, if it's 1 AM Greenwich time and 9 AM local time at a particular location, an 8-hour difference, which means the location differs from Greenwich by 8 times 15 equals 120 degrees, or that the current location is 120 degrees East longitude."

"The critical issue here is, in the vast sea, how do you determine Greenwich time and local time?"

[Sundial, perhaps?]

[Clock?]

"It's the sundial."

Sailors would use a sundial on the deck, determining time by the direction of the sun's shadow.

The rise and fall of the ship had a significant impact on the length of the shadow, but not much on the angle of its tilt.

The determination of Greenwich time relied on clocks. Before departing from London, they would set the clock to Greenwich time and then never adjust it again.

[It sounds a bit simpler than the calculations Old Fang made last time?]

[Not sure, I can't do either, so I'm just listening. That's it.]

[I picked up a pen in class, and since then, I've never understood Master Fang's approach to solving problems.]

Bi Fang shook his head again.

"It sounds simple, but in reality, it's quite difficult to implement, because this method heavily relies on an accurate and reliable clock. Without that, the results would be greatly compromised. Although the Ancient Greeks had invented the theory of longitude, due to the limitations of clockmaking technology, it wasn't until the 18th century that navigators were able to precisely determine their longitude."

"Before that, there was even a law at sea stating that any soldier who casually questioned the captain about the course could be immediately executed.

Because at that time, they couldn't determine their own course; they solely relied on the captain's experience and intuition. They only knew their latitude but not their longitude, until later on when reliable clocks were invented."

[Sigh, it was all just guesswork, wasn't it?]

[Actually, navigation doesn't necessarily require precise knowledge of one's latitude and longitude. Old Fang has special needs. Back then, people just needed to head in the right direction, keep pushing forward, and they had landmarks like islands along the way.]

[Indeed, there are no landmarks at Nemo Point. That's what really plays with your psyche.]

"Therefore, for some time, the common method used was the lunar distance method, which involved calculating the Greenwich time by measuring the angle between the moon and a star. In addition, there were instruments like the Davis quadrant, star-leading board, and sextant—all methods used to solve one's location at the time."

"That's also why today many luxury watches have nautical editions. Because longitude measurement was inconvenient, navigators came up with an approximate method: distance measurement, also known as nautical miles..."

"Many people may wonder why nautical distances aren't measured in kilometers or miles, the usual units, but instead in nautical miles, as if to intentionally complicate matters. Navigation speed also has to be measured in knots. In fact, all of this is to facilitate location determination because the arc length of 1 nautical mile corresponds to 1 minute of the Earth's central angle."

[Hiss, is that so?]

[I always felt that nautical miles were very counterintuitive when doing similar math problems. Why do they have to create a special unit for distance and speed in navigation? So that's the reason.]

[Learnt something new.]

"In the north-south direction, sailing 1 nautical mile means a change of 1 minute in latitude; on the equator, sailing 1 nautical mile east-west means a change of 1 minute in longitude; if you are sailing east-west off the equator, you need to multiply by the reciprocal of the cosine of the latitude as a correction coefficient."

"The speed unit 'knot' also originates from this, with 1 knot equaling 1 nautical mile per hour."

"So, as long as we know the distance we've sailed..."

Bi Fang explained carefully, without stopping the movements of his hands. The black charcoal pencil scratched on the wooden board, leaving behind dark soot.

The torch at the bow flickered in the wind, and shadows danced.

The distance calculated could never be accurate; in fact, during the age of sail, a positioning accuracy of a few dozen to a hundred kilometers was sufficient.

Combining and cross-referencing various methods, although not as good as GPS, they were enough for Bi Fang to accurately reach his destination.

Although Nemo Point was indeed a point, it did not mean that Bi Fang had to pass exactly over this point to be considered successful in crossing.

Just being nearby, this mission would already be deemed a great accomplishment.

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What happened next didn't matter—whether to go back or to continue forward to the next island.

Through various calculations and steps, the wooden board looked as if a large math problem had been solved, with even small sequence numbers marked.

Each sequence number represented Bi Fang using a different method to calculate his position.

After three sets of coordinates appeared, Bi Fang listed them out. Then, cross-verifying them, he finally took a long breath.

In front of everyone, he shook the wooden board in his hand, circled a set of coordinates forcefully, then put down the charcoal pencil and lay down in the Viking, looking up at the night sky with a wistful tone.

"Finally had some good luck for once."

"Nemo Point is right below our feet."

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Nemo Point...right underfoot!?

The audience was astonished.

Is that it? Have we arrived?

Everyone had thought there was still some distance to go and never imagined the mission would be completed just like that?

Bi Fang cushioned his head with his arm, feeling an indescribable sense of relaxation, in that instant, the world seemed vast and wide.

And at the moment the coordinates were confirmed, the blue luminescent panel of the system finally changed, displaying a semi-complete status above Nemo Point.

It was precisely when he was completely relaxed that Bi Fang's eyelids suddenly became incredibly heavy, and for a while, he could barely keep his eyes open.

The audience in the live stream, beyond a doubt, fell into cheers once again, with the barrage flying across the screen so fast that the actual picture was overshadowed, but soon, some viewers heard other sounds amidst the howling wind.

When the fervor died down a bit, and the screen became clear again, countless people were dumbstruck.

Bi Fang had actually fallen asleep.

...

Setting aside the online excitement, which was all typical for Bi Fang, when he woke up the next day, he felt an unprecedented vitality. Even the soreness in his muscles seemed to have eased a lot.

It was now the seventeenth day since Bi Fang had departed from Easter Island, and his speed could be described as incredibly fast.

But Bi Fang did not let his guard down, even though the most critical part of the mission was completed, there was still a typhoon chasing from behind, and now was not the time to stop.

In the meantime, Typhoon Harold, as predicted, made a strong landfall in Vanuatu, causing extremely severe disasters.

Although a few strong storms typically emerge in the South Pacific during the active season of tropical cyclones every summer, it's still relatively rare for such a powerful storm to strike a country with full force as it did this year. This might indicate that the climate pattern in the Pacific is in an unusual state.

Therefore, for safety, Bi Fang chose not to return the same way, as that would possibly bring him too close to the typhoon and be too dangerous; thus, he decided to keep moving forward.

Of the three closest islands to Nemo Point, Ducie Island and Easter Island are quite close to each other, while Maewo Island is too close to Antarctica.

Heading to Antarctica, although escaping the typhoon, would mean a continuous drop in temperature, and Bi Fang had not brought enough cold-weather clothing.

After careful consideration, Bi Fang chose to head towards the farther but more convenient South America.

Not much happened along the way, and on the thirty-first day, the fish in the ocean finally began to appear in some quantities, relieving Bi Fang's food crisis at that time.

And on the thirty-fourth day, the first island appeared before Bi Fang's eyes, signifying the perfect conclusion of this crossing.

Gazing at the island close at hand, Bi Fang let go of everything, no longer paddling, no longer controlling the sails, his heart swelling with pride.

Bi Fang truly became the first of his kind!

The opening speech was no longer just rhetoric but everything he had experienced!

"Generation after generation of humans, just like this, set off on canoes, with fishing hooks and lines, with bananas, cassava, coconuts, and other fruits, with their domesticated chickens, pigs, and dogs, with tools made of obsidian, bidding farewell to their homeland and resolutely sailing into the vast sea."

"Whenever they discovered a new island, they would temporarily stop to develop it, and when the time was ripe, they would use it as a base to embark on a new journey."

"We don't know how many were swallowed by the roaring waves, how many couldn't reach the other shore after exhausting their last food and water, how many were attacked and killed by ferocious sharks... but what is certain is that humans never succumbed, never halted their steps."

"This is our story—the story of humans. No matter when or where, we should not forget that although we are fragile and small, we are also resilient and magnificent."

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