The Fisherman Who Never Catches Fish-Chapter 400 - 237: The Time to Truly Showcase Skills (Subscription Requested)

At that time, the fleet that sailed westward was composed of ships of various models and sizes.

Dozens upon dozens of ships.

The largest of these ships was 148 meters long, 60 meters wide, and had a displacement exceeding 10,000 tons. It was the largest wooden sailing ship in the world at the time. The ship had four decks, nine masts that could hold twelve sails, and anchors weighing several thousand kilograms; it required 200 to 300 people to set sail.

Such a massive fleet was absolutely unique in the world at that time.

It is said that its scale was a hundred times that of Columbus’s fleet!

Moreover, Columbus’s voyage took place nearly 80 to 90 years later than Zheng He’s.

At that time, our shipbuilding craftsmanship and technological level were absolutely top tier in the world.

From this, one can see just how powerful the manufacturing capabilities were at that time, truly astonishing to the world.

The construction and design of these ships also had very high craft standards, and they were not just ordinary in structure. The design was avant-garde, owning more than a dozen compartments, hence the ships were not easily sunk.

To prevent safety issues due to leakage, the treasure ship was designed to have its bottom divided into compartments by compartment boards. Similar compartments totaled to well over a dozen. Furthermore, to enhance the ship’s impact resistance, the treasure ship’s compartment boards were connected to the hull plates with flat iron and hooks, while parts of the hull were made up of three layers of thin panels, making them very sturdy. Since the compartments were rigidly separated by compartment boards, even if one or two compartments were damaged and took on water during an ocean voyage, the water would not flow to other compartments.

During Zheng He’s maritime expeditions, the entire fleet carried many items, transported many treasures, including gifts bestowed by Emperor Yongle to various nations in the West and goods for trade.

If it were the return journey, the ship would contain even more tributes and exotic items contributed to the emperor by countries from the West, along with goods obtained through trade exchanges.

Thus, the great Ming fleet at that time, was also known as the treasure ship.

The implication was very clear, it was a ship that carried treasures.

As for why there was a sunken treasure ship from the Ming dynasty here, that remains unknown for now, as it is unclear what had happened at that time.

At the bottom of the ocean, tens of meters deep.

Fang Hao looked at the sunken ship and carefully examined it.

The sunken ship was still well preserved; its wooden structure had endured for hundreds of years without decaying.

The wood was still firm and durable.

This surprised Fang Hao a bit.

However, there was also this saying, "Lasts a thousand years when dry, ten thousand years when wet, but only half a year if neither."

The wood of the sunken ship, always immersed in seawater, was in a watery environment, resulting in its long preservation.

Due to time constraints, Fang Hao did not venture inside the sunken ship, as he was still examining its exterior.

The size of the sunken ship should be around one thousand tons of displacement.

It belonged to one of the ships in the fleet.

As the fleet was classified according to purpose, there were treasure ships, grain ships, water ships, horse ships, and sitting ships among others types of warships.

This ship now, was a treasure ship.

A treasure ship meant that it contained quite a lot of items.

Items like silk, porcelain, and so forth.

These were all items that Zheng He took with him during his maritime expeditions.

If expectations were correct, the items inside this sunken ship should be porcelain and silk.

After finishing the examination of the exterior of the ship, Fang Hao also prepared to return.

His breath holding time was limited, after all, and he could not stay underwater indefinitely.

Possessing the Breath Holding Skill, his current longest breath-holding duration was just under one hour. Currently, being dozens of meters deep, the breath-holding time would be even shorter, perhaps just over half an hour.

Seeing that time was nearly up, Fang Hao prepared to ascend.

…

"It’s done... It’s been so long, and we don’t know how Hao is doing."

This is without any diving equipment and so much time has passed, it definitely indicates trouble.

A normal person can hold their breath underwater for three to five minutes, and that’s already impressive.

Even though Fang Hao is exceptional, capable of holding his breath for ten minutes, too much time has passed.

It’s probably been over twenty minutes already.

As so much time has passed without any signs of activity, clearly... The likelihood of an accident is very high.

"It’s likely... more bad than good," said the captain with a rather grave expression.

From his experience, it seemed highly likely that Fang Hao had met with an accident.

He had never seen anyone able to spend so long underwater.

And to dive without any equipment at all, no one would think he could come back safely.

"Streamer, there was definitely an accident..."

"I did some timing, from when the streamer jumped into sea to now it’s been twenty-eight minutes and forty-three seconds. With so much time passed, probably... the streamer’s done for."

Some viewers even specifically timed Fang Hao’s jump into the sea.

It’s been almost half an hour by now.

Half an hour underwater without any oxygen equipment... Can a normal person achieve such a duration of breath holding?

It seems unlikely.

"That’s it, no more streams with the streamer in the future."

"I hope it wasn’t a shark that ate the streamer."

"Everyone remember today’s date."

"Wu wu, streamer... Don’t joke around, stop messing around."