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舌尖上的航海丨第31集 “船长酒馆”的“镇馆之宝”

中国航海学会
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弘扬航海文化,尊重知识、尊重人才;团结和组织航海科技工作者。
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這是一椿航海探险者与葡萄酒产生的故事。

远洋船员家属院对面小巷里,有家独具特色的《船兴酒馆》。

《船长酒馆》门面不大,里面的陈设也极其简单,有几张桌子和几把椅子。但是光顾酒店的人流却源源不断,生意十分红火。可谓“酒香不怕巷子深”!

开酒店的是位退休的船长,名叫秦琼,绰号”秦三壶”。

年青时,秦船长喜欢喝闷酒,腰问常挂着把锡制的小酒壶。闲暇时望着大海抿上几口,逢年过节总要喝上三小壶,在航海界是有名的”秦三壶”。

“船长酒馆“是秦船长退休后在住处旁开设的。除了接待航海界的老朋友,还接待了许多青少年航海爰好者。

人们说酒馆里有“三宝”,这“三宝“是秦船长随身携带的锡酒壶,一坛野生葡萄酿造的葡萄酒和一盘老式录音带,特别那坛被誉为“镇馆之宝”的那坛葡萄酒。据说与航海有关。

潘遥遥是个即将高中毕业准备升大学的学生,父亲也是位远洋船长,与家人聚少离多,父子见上一面可谓”遥不可及”。“遥遥”成了盼见兒子的”口头禅“。

”难道自已也要成为家庭的《遥不可及》吗?”当遥遥考虑选择航海院校时,这个问题一直在困扰着他。

遥遥的爸爸却是个“海杆“海员,虽然航海十分辛苦,还是希望“子继父业”做一名远洋海员。

一天,遥遥父亲特将遥遥带到”船长酒家”。

来酒馆前,遥遥听爸爸介绍:秦船长是位有名的航海家,航程加起来可绕地球十几圈。酒馆里还有与航海有关的“宝贝”,特别那坛“镇馆之宝”葡萄酒。

见到秦琼船长后,这位知名航海家的形象,完全出乎遥遥的想象:干巴瘦的小老头,脸上的皺纹宛如大海的波涛,说话还有些结结巴巴。”难道这就是大名鼎鼎的航海家吗?”听完泰琼船长的介绍,遥遥的疑问顿时“云消雾散“。俗话说,人不可貌相,海水不可斗量嘛!秦船长是位名符其实,阅历十分丰富的航海家!

应遥遥的要求,秦琼船长讲述了酒馆的“镇馆之宝”的来历。

那是秦船长当上船长不久,駕船来到北欧挪威的奥斯陆港。

由于秦船长克服了航程中重重困难,提前将货主急需的物资运到了目的港,货主十分感谢,特地在港口附近一家别緻的酒店招待秦船长。

这是一家以挪威历史上著名的航海探险家的名字命名的酒店一红发埃里克酒店。

酒店里除挂有埃里克巨幅画像外,一种用野生葡萄酿造的葡萄酒十分诱人。

闻到甘甜迷人的酒味,秦船长破例倒掉了壶中的“自备酒,抖满葡萄酒,连饮三壶,大呼:“好酒!”。

于是,货主讲起了埃里克航海探险的故事和葡萄酒的来历。

公元10世纪前后,整个挪威大陆和海域,几手笼罩在北欧海盗的影子里。

海盗除了抢劫外,还充当啇人和移民。海盗驾驶着着狹长的快帆战船,游荡在英国,爰尔三,法国等地的海域。与此同时,许多人还在这些土地上居住下来。开垦土地,种植庄稼。闻名的波罗的海通往俄罗斯内河的航线,就是那个时候开辟的。

在这些移民活动中,最突出的成就,就是穿越波涛滚滚的大西洋发现了今天的格陵兰岛。这个发现远在哥伦布发视美洲新大陆之前。

完成这次壮举的正是挪威的红头髫航海探险家埃里克。

时间大约在公元982年,由于躲避饥荒,埃里克带领一批船员,从家乡挪威向西部海域駛去。打算寻找新的居住地。

这次航行危机四起,没有地图,没有向导,海面除了大雾就是狂风恶浪。

埃里克率领大伙没有退缩。

终干,他们发现了一片陆地:“这里没有人烟,草原肥沃,驯鹿奔跑,鸟儿飞翔…”。

埃里克把这块土地命名为格陵兰(Green|and)。

三年后,埃里克回到家乡,招募了新移民,乘坐23艘大船重返格陵兰。最后只有14艘抵达目的地,其余9艘永远消失在茫茫大海里。

埃里克和船员在这里定居下來。成了格陵兰历史上第一批移民。但是,挪威人的探险话动並没有结来。一个叫比加尼商人,企图沿着垁里克的航线,从冰岛驶向格陵兰。

不过,途中遭遇大雾,迷夫了方向,漂流几天后才登上一块陆地。这里却不是他要去的格陵兰。

這快陌生的土地引起人们的好奇和关注。

多年以后,埃里克的大儿子萊夫,埃里克带领船队,沿着比加尼的航线,找到了这块多石的陆地。

人们在这里安顿下来。

一天,一名船员突然像唱醉了酒,东倒西歪,语无伦次。原来這名船员贪吃了这里生长的野生葡萄。

这里气候温和,草木茂盛,野生葡萄成了最佳的酿酒原料。

人们把新发现的这块土地叫做文兰(意为酒的土地)。

冬去春来,莱夫,埃里克率领船员满装野生葡萄回到了格陵兰,开始酿造葡萄酒。

“这是自非洲埃及人酿造葡萄后,首位酿造葡萄酒的北欧人,比哥伦布发现美洲新大陆早许多年!“说到这里,货主显得十分兴奋和自豪,提高嗓门说:“为了纪念这对航海家父子,挪威和冰岛建立了纪念碑。还有以他们父子名字命名的酒店。”

秦琼船长问起饮用的葡萄酒时,货主介绍说:“萊夫,埃里克从文兰带回的野生葡萄在挪威生根发芽,成了欧洲有名的葡萄酒原料,很快传遍了欧洲。人们称它为《萊夫葡萄酒》,是对航海探家的尊重和纪念。”

听着货主的讲述,秦船长十分感动,用随身携带的录音机记下了这叚故事。

临别前,货主特意送了一坛”萊夫,野生葡萄酒”,做为纪念。

这坛葡萄酒成了《船长酒馆》的“镇馆之宝“。

遥遥从《船长酒馆》归来后不久,在填报高考志願时,郑重地填写了“航海学校”。

张涛系中国航海学会科普专家、中国远洋海运作家协会副主席、中国知名海员作家、“一带一路”应用型海事 人才研究院特聘研究员。作为远洋船长,其在工作之余,笔耕不辍,为宣传航海文化做出了较大贡献,被誉 为“当代弘扬航海文化有突出贡献的航海人”。先后在人《民日报》《中国建设》《海事大观》《航海》《中国海 员》等报纸杂志上发表了大量文章,并出版了《我们都是无产者》《船长与黄金》《路娃航海记》《船长风云 录》《海上天方夜谭》《舌尖上的航海》等十余部近百万余字反映航海经历的文艺作品。其中《我们都是无产 者》和《海上天方夜谭》获国家优秀作品奖;《路娃航海记》获中国航海学会特别贡献奖;《舌尖上的航海》曾 在国内多家网站和报纸杂志上发表及刊登,受到广大读者,特别是航海爱好者的热烈欢迎和好评;同时被译 成英文,受到外国青少年和航海爱好者的喜爱。 2021年3月,江苏航运职业技术学院设立了“张涛海员作家”工作室。希望此工作室能够创作出更多更好的作 品来弘扬和发展海洋文化!

Hidden in the alleys of a Chinese village, stood a restaurant named The Captain’s Tavern.

The Captain’s Tavern wasn’t particularly sizable and featured fairly simplistic

decorations, complete with only a few sets of tables and chairs. Nevertheless, the tavern often

hosted an entire room full of visitors, and was incredibly popular.

The tavern’s owner was a retired captain named Qin. He opened the tavern right outside

his home after he put a life of seafaring behind. When he was younger, Qin loved to drink

alcohol whenever he had the chance to. He often hung a flask around his waist, taking a few

sips as he stood on the deck of his ship and looked over the ocean. Every time there was

something to celebrate, Qin always drank at least three bottles of alcohol, gaining himself the

Chinese nickname of “Sanhu”, which means three bottles.

Other than hosting his old sailing buddies at his tavern, Qin’s experiences and stories

also attracted a fair number of younger nautical enthusiasts. As word of the tavern spread,

people began speaking of the legendary “three treasures” that every guest needed to see at

Qin’s restaurant. These three valuable artifacts were none other than the hip flask that Qin

used and loved, a peculiar bottle of wine, and an old tape recorder. Apparently, they each had

some relation to Qin’s experiences at sea.

Pan was a high school student who had been preparing for his college entrance exams.

Because his father was a sailor, Pan was never able to spend much quality time with his dad

and ceaselessly longed for his company.

But Pan’s dad was a traditional man, and wanted Pan to continue his legacy of becoming

a seafarer. Even though life on the ocean was challenging, he believed the value in traveling

the world and the resilience that the sea trained its sailors to equip.

Pan pondered the life ahead of him as he thought about applying to nautical school.

“Why should I sign up for the torture of not being able to see my own family?” He wondered,

paralyzed by his indecision.

As Pan took his time making up his mind, his father returned from sea during a short

vacation. In order to help his son decide on his future, Pan’s father took Pan to the Captain’s Tavern and told him about Captain Qin, the famous seafarer who had circled the globe

multiple times. He specifically mentioned the treasures hidden in Captain Qin’s tavern, and

placed particular emphasis on the bottle of wine.

When they arrived, Pan was surprised by the way Captain Qin looked and acted. The

famous seafarer that his father spoke so highly about was a frail old man, whose wrinkles

stretched across his forehead like the trembling waves of the sea. Captain Qin spoke slowly

and had a slight yet noticeable stutter, but was calm and even soothing.

Could this be the famed sailor that my father looked up to? He shook his head. You can’t

judge a book by the cover, nor a person by their looks, nor the ocean by its beauty. Pan

became even more interested in Captain Qin’s past, and begged him to tell him the story of

his special bottle of wine.

Captain Qin held onto his walking stick, slowly made his way to a table, sat down, and

with his shaking voice, recalled the tale behind his treasured bottle of liquor.

Not long after he became captain, Qin explained, he sailed to Oslo, Norway with his

crew.

The waters on the way to Northern Europe were relentless and unforgiving. But Captain

Qin never gave in to the trials of his ocean, and instead charged on and delivered his cargo to

Norway early. The receiving clients were extremely grateful, and invited Captain Qin and his

crew to dinner at a renowned restaurant near the port.

The restaurant was none other than the Erik the Red Pub, named after a famous Norse

explorer. Besides drawings and storybooks about Erik the Red, the pub also had a collection

of wine, distilled from grapes that Erik the Red discovered himself.

Enchanted by the sweet smell of the wine, Captain Qin poured himself a glass, tasted it,

paused for a moment, and exclaimed, “This is delicious!”

Before long, Captain Qin had finished three bottles of wine all by himself. The

Norwegian pub owner laughed at Captain Qin’s love for the delicious liquor, and told him

about the story of Erik the Red.

During the tenth century AD, the entirety of Norway and the ocean off its shores lived in

the shadow of the Nordic pirates that haunted the seas. Other than robbing civilians, the

pirates also blended into the crowds as salesmen and traders. They roamed the seas of

England, France, and Ireland in narrow, rapid tall ships, yet at the same time they settled into

these countries as immigrants, became farmers and ordinary townspeople, and made new

lives for themselves. The trading routes on the Baltic Sea that connected to the Russian

Inland Sea were opened at that time, partially because of the activity of those Nordic pirates.

The most significant contribution of the pirates, however, was the discovery of the

country that we now know as Greenland. The Nordic pirates made their detection of new land

far before Columbus ever stepped foot on the Americas.

This feat was accomplished by the fascinating red headed Nordic explorer, Erik the Red.

Around 982 AD, in order to escape from famine, Erik led a crew of sailors away from

their home country of Norway and sailed to the west to find new horizons. The voyage was

full of danger, with no maps, guides, or directions to guide the group of pirates. Amongst the

mist and wind, Erik sailed towards the distance without a single moment of hesitation.

Finally, they found a piece of land. Uninhabited, its fields were fertile, animals ran free

in its valleys, and birds flew across its skies…

Erik the Red named this newfound area Greenland.

Three years later, Erik returned to Norway, recruited new settlers, and sailed back to

Greenland with 23 large ships. Only 14 of these ships surpassed the challenges of the sea,

while the remaining nine were lost forever in the vast ocean.

After Erik the Red and his crew became the first settlers of Greenland. But the

Norwegians’ exploration of Greenland did not end there. Later on, crews of merchants also

attempted to find Greenland by following Erik’s route from Iceland to Greenland. They

encountered large amounts of fog on their journey, became clouded and lost, and floated on

the sea until they came across yet another unfamiliar piece of land.

This, however, was not the Greenland that they had been searching for.

Now, there were two areas of interest for the settlers from Norway. Years later, Erik the

Red’s eldest son, Left Erikson, led a fleet of ships away from Greenland and followed the

path of the merchants, attempting to find the same land that they once came across.

The terrain of this newfound space was rocky and harsh. Despite its differences with

Greenland, Leif and his people settled there.

One day, Leif found that one of his crew members became mysteriously intoxicated after

eating the wild grapes growing from the rocky terrain. It turned out that the warm weather

and lush greenery yielded the perfect wild grapes for winemaking.

Leif and the settlers named this new land “Vinland”.

As winter passed and spring began, Leif returned to Greenland with the settlers with

loads of wild grapes, and started to distill them into wine.

“Ever since the Egyptians refined the first kinds of wine, Leif and the settlers were

among the first Europeans to ever distill wine from wild grapes. Erik the Red discovered

Greenland far before Columbus ever set foot on the lands of America!” Captain Qin’s clients

told him, “In order to commemorate Erik the Red and his son, there are pubs and restaurants

in both Norway and Iceland that are named after the great explorers. The wild grapes that

Leif brought back from Vinland also grew in vineyards in Norway, and became a famous

wine ingredient that soon spread all over Europe. Nowadays, people still drink the delicious

wine in order to celebrate Erik and Leif!”

Captain Qin was blown away by this slice of history, and used his tape recorder to

chronicle his client’s story. Before Captain Qin left Norway, his client gave him a bottle of

wine as a souvenir.

This bottle of wine became one of Captain Qin’s most treasured possessions, and now

sits on the shelves of the Captain’s Tavern.

Soon after he returned from Captain Qin’s restaurant, Pan looked through his college

application papers, and added Nautical School as one of his final choices

Zhang Tao is an expert in the fields of navigation, maritime history, and nautical science. He is involved in the Chinese Institute of Navigation, and is the vice president of the Chinese Association of Maritime Authors, a well-known Chinese author of subjects related to seafaring, as well as a distinguished researcher for the nautical analysis of the “One Belt One Road” Initiative. Aside from leading sailing crews as an esteemed captain of many Chinese ships, he works tirelessly in his spare time and has made important contributions to nautical culture and history. He has been described as “a navigator with momentous involvement in the promotion of seafaring culture in modern times”. He has published articles in People’s Daily, China’s Construction, Maritime Spectacle, Sailing, and Chinese Sailors and more magazines and newspapers. His authorial works include We Are All Proletarians, The Captain and Gold, Lu Wa’s Sailing Journal, The Captain of Wind and Clouds, Fairy Tales from the Sea, and The Taste of Seafaring, all of which reflect and promote the experience and culture of seafaring to millions of readers. Among his works, We Are All Proletarians and Fairy Tales from the Sea have won the National Outstanding Novel Award; Luwa’s Sailing Journal won the Outstanding Contribution Award from the Chinese Institute of Navigation; and The Taste of Seafaring has been published on multiple Chinese websites and magazines, attracting new waves of readers and audiences and acclaim from those with particular interest in sailing. The Taste of Seafaring has now been translated into English and is beloved by youths and nautical enthusiasts worldwide. In March of 2021, the Jiangsu Shipping College established the Zhang Tao Sailing Author’s Workshop. Hopefully, more wonderful stories and writings will come to fruition with the help of the workshop, and inspire people from all across the globe to learn about maritime culture!