Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 60 Morgan

Chapter 60: Chapter 60 Morgan

With Perfikot’s permission, the captain quickly changed course and headed toward the location of the distressed ship.

However, despite hurrying to the rescue, the atmosphere aboard the White Gem was not tense.

The captain was still communicating with the other ship via radio, even though at that time the radio could only send and receive telegrams, it was sufficient for simple contact and information exchange.

The other ship was continuously sending out telegrams, repeatedly broadcasting their location and situation, which greatly assisted the White Gem in providing help and rescue.

Before dusk, the White Gem successfully arrived at the sea area where the other ship was located.

Frozen in place was a cruise ship similar in style to the White Gem, but noticeably larger in size.

At the moment, this giant ship was surrounded by a ring of ice floes, stark white all around, making it look as if the ship had been frozen on the ice surface.

However, Perfikot stopped the captain from rushing directly to help rescue people, instead instructing the crew to signal the other ship with lights, informing them of the White Gem’s arrival and inquiring about their current situation.

The ship on the other side quickly responded with their own light signals, sending new information through Morse code.

After decoding, Perfikot learned that the ship was called the Morgan and belonged to a different shipping company than the White Gem.

Although the two were competitors, since they did not operate on the same route, there was usually no animosity.

Especially when meeting at sea, the captains would exchange greetings, and if one party encountered a maritime disaster or predicament, the other would help if they could.

Mainly because at sea, if you save someone today, they may save you when you’re in danger tomorrow.

As for those who only consider their own interests and let others perish without helping, generally speaking, no one would help them either.

For those who frequently sail at sea, when encountering such situations, they would provide rescue and assistance as long as it’s within their ability.

Perfikot did not act rashly but instead asked a nearby survey team member measuring the surrounding seawater temperature: "What are the currents’ direction and speed here? What is the current water temperature?"

"Madam, there is a southwesterly cold current here, and the water temperature is close to freezing. If we are not careful, we might get frozen by this cold current." A survey team member handed over a rope that had already frozen, with the measuring bottle at its end also frozen, fixed with a thermometer inside, in front of Perfikot.

Seeing this situation, Perfikot nodded affirmatively, then said to the captain: "There is a cold current around us. If we are not careful, we might freeze in place like the Morgan, so the rescue operation must proceed cautiously. Additionally, inform the accompanying frigate to ready their naval guns, as I may need them to break the surrounding ice floe if necessary."

The accompanying frigate was Perfikot’s confidence in agreeing to come to the rescue, as she wasn’t someone who acted blindly or irrationally; she wouldn’t engage in actions that were bound to fail.

The captain nodded after hearing Perfikot’s orders. Observing the current situation, he understood that acting rashly would only get his ship stuck as well.

Thus, the captain signaled the Morgan with lights, informing them of their current situation, while gathering the senior sailors and some key members of the survey team on board to collectively discuss rescue methods.

Simply sailing over was definitely unacceptable; in fact, the sea water around them was already starting to freeze. Although it wasn’t severe, scattered ice floes had already begun to appear around them.

So after careful consideration, the captain decided to have the White Gem back up a bit to avoid being frozen.

On the other hand, the rescue of the Morgan had to proceed, but opinions among the group remained divided.

During the discussions, O’Connor, who served as a guard for the survey team, proposed a rather risky plan: to send a small boat from the White Gem to the Morgan, place explosives around the Morgan to blow open the ice, allowing the Morgan to break free.

The feasibility of this plan was not low, as the ice layer formed by the cold current here wasn’t very thick, and explosives could indeed break it open.

After blowing open the ice, the Morgan should be able to break free on its own using its power.

However, if this plan were to be adopted, someone would obviously have to set the explosives and detonate them.

In this era, explosives were mainly detonated by fuses, which might malfunction in such icy and snowy conditions.

It was precisely because of this that setting explosives and lighting the fuse became extremely dangerous work, with the risk of being blown up or sucked into the fractured ice.

Another plan proposed by the White Gem’s first mate was relatively conservative. Although it also involved dispatching small boats, it suggested sending all the small boats from the White Gem over to transfer the Morgan’s passengers to them and then returning them to the White Gem.

This method required abandoning the Morgan but maximized passenger safety.

For the shipping company, ensuring passenger survival is their most important task; they can always build another ship. Since this is a sea disaster, as long as the passengers return safely, there isn’t a big issue for the shipping company.

However, if there are passenger casualties, it becomes a major problem. After all, shipping companies rely on reputation; if someone took your ship and ended up losing their life, how could anyone dare to sail with your company again?

But they were not from the Morgan’s shipping company and couldn’t make that decision for the Morgan’s captain.

The choice between the two plans left the White Gem’s captain in a dilemma.

At this time, O’Connor suddenly stood up and said, "Since I proposed blowing the ice layer, let me go myself. Captain, you just need to send a few sailors to help row the boat, as I’m not very good with water."

Hearing O’Connor volunteer, everyone had a better impression of him. At the very least, he wasn’t someone who would just order others to their deaths.

However, Perfikot spoke up, "There’s no need to risk this much; just use my Alchemy Puppets, they’re more reliable than any of you."

Then, an automaton maid stepped out from behind Perfikot and curtsied to everyone.