Chapter 828 - 371: Pirate and Taino Cave Maze

Chapter 828: Chapter 371: Pirate and Taino Cave Maze

Riven and Mike fell into silence, while Lin Yu’an remained as calm as a Hunter.

He did not look at the large sea map but instead picked up the magnifying glass once more, focusing entirely on the miniature map itself and the string of mysterious coordinates.

"No," he slowly began, his voice low but instantly capturing the attention of the two, "I think it’s not that the coordinates are wrong, but rather... we’re using the wrong ruler."

"Ruler?" Mike and Riven looked at him, confused.

Lin Yu’an pointed at the coin, "The latitude and longitude coordinate system we are using now is based on the Prime Meridian of the Greenwich Observatory in the United Kingdom as the 0-degree meridian."

"This standard was not widely accepted internationally until the end of the 19th century. But this coin and the map might have originated in the early 18th century."

He looked at the suddenly enlightened pair and continued, "In that Age of Exploration, there was no unified longitude standard at all!"

"Every powerful seafaring nation was using its own ruler. The French used the Paris Meridian, and the Spaniards sometimes used Madrid."

"And for a long time after Columbus, an unofficial standard widely used by European navigators was the meridian of El Hierro Island at the westernmost point of the Canary Islands."

"Many ancient nautical charts were drawn with that as the 0-degree meridian."

In Lin Yu’an’s eyes shone the light of wisdom, "If we assume that the mysterious treasure seeker used what was the most popular ’El Hierro Island Meridian’ of the time as the reference..."

"Then we need to translate this set of coordinates!"

He took out his laptop and opened the GIS (Geographic Information System) software.

"The longitude of El Hierro Island is approximately 17°40’ west. This means its 0-degree line is shifted 17 degrees 40 minutes west from our current 0-degree line."

He explained while entering complicated conversion formulas into the software.

"We now need to take the 51°30’ west longitude on the coin and add this offset to get its true position in the modern Greenwich coordinate system..."

On the computer screen, the data scrolled quickly. Eventually, a new set of coordinates appeared on the screen.

21°05 N, 69°10 W

"This is..." Riven immediately input the new coordinates into her iPad’s nautical chart.

The next moment, her breath caught suddenly!

The chart auto-zoomed and panned, and a red cross mark finally landed on a large green area on the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, Samana Bay!

"Los Haitises National Park!" she and Mike exclaimed almost simultaneously!

"Oh my God..." Mike looked at the location, his eyes filled with shock and awe, "It’s actually there... in the ’Pirate and Taino Cave Maze’!"

"That’s right... that’s right! It must be there!" He seemed to be convincing himself while also searching for evidence for this astonishing conclusion, and began to analyze profusely.

"Look! Los Haitises is the most spectacular karst landscape area in the Caribbean, dotted with hundreds of sea caves and inland caves, many of which are hidden under mangroves and cliffs!"

"For us modern ships with GPS and satellite charts, finding a specific cave entrance is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"But three hundred years ago, for pirates who could only rely on sextants and compasses, this was the perfect natural hiding spot!"

"Historically, this was a haven for pirates and smugglers to evade naval pursuit! Numerous Spanish treasure ships would pass through this area when crossing the Mona Passage, a high shipwreck area in itself!"

He heavily pointed at the red cross mark, delivering his core analysis.

"So, for a pirate operating after the 1715 Fleet, is there a more perfect place to bury treasure than here?"

Mike’s eyes lit up, "He might not need to bury the treasure at all! He just needs to find a deep enough, hidden, hard-to-find entrance cave to stash the goods to be safer than any fortress!"

"This maze-like coastline and cluster of caves in itself is the most perfect natural defense!"

This brilliant analysis instantly made the seemingly random answer of "Los Haitises" incredibly reasonable and filled with a sense of destiny.

"Kids, we might have really hit the jackpot this time," Captain Mike became more excited than ever, "but we’ve also gotten ourselves into big trouble!"

Lin Yu’an keenly caught the twist in his words.

"Los Haitises is a national park and marine reserve of the Dominican Republic." Mike’s expression turned extremely serious.

"This means, not to mention treasure hunting, even anchoring in non-open areas, or driving a dinghy into the mangroves is illegal!"

"So," he lowered his voice, eyes glimmering with the light of an old fox, "our plan must be a high-risk secret operation."

"Officially, our sailing plan is to head to Samana Bay in Dominica for an ecological documentary filming on karst landscapes and Taino rock carvings."

"This reason is sound, allowing us to operate legally in that sea area."

"But privately, we need to sneak like Netherworld Ghosts into the marked forbidden zone on the map, find the cave treasure, and disappear without a trace."

This conclusion left Lin Yu’an and Riven feeling unprecedentedly shocked and excited.