舌尖上的航海丨第31集 “船長酒館”的“鎮(zhèn)館之寶”

這是一椿航海探險者與葡萄酒產(chǎn)生的故事。

遠洋船員家屬院對面小巷里，有家獨具特色的《船興酒館》。

《船長酒館》門面不大，里面的陳設(shè)也極其簡單，有幾張桌子和幾把椅子。但是光顧酒店的人流卻源源不斷，生意十分紅火?？芍^“酒香不怕巷子深”！

開酒店的是位退休的船長，名叫秦瓊，綽號”秦三壺”。

年青時，秦船長喜歡喝悶酒，腰問常掛著把錫制的小酒壺。閑暇時望著大海抿上幾口，逢年過節(jié)總要喝上三小壺，在航海界是有名的”秦三壺”。

“船長酒館“是秦船長退休后在住處旁開設(shè)的。除了接待航海界的老朋友，還接待了許多青少年航海爰好者。

人們說酒館里有“三寶”，這“三寶“是秦船長隨身攜帶的錫酒壺，一壇野生葡萄釀造的葡萄酒和一盤老式錄音帶，特別那壇被譽為“鎮(zhèn)館之寶”的那壇葡萄酒。據(jù)說與航海有關(guān)。

潘遙遙是個即將高中畢業(yè)準備升大學的學生，父親也是位遠洋船長，與家人聚少離多，父子見上一面可謂”遙不可及”。“遙遙”成了盼見兒子的”口頭禪“。

”難道自已也要成為家庭的《遙不可及》嗎？”當遙遙考慮選擇航海院校時，這個問題一直在困擾著他。

遙遙的爸爸卻是個“海桿“海員，雖然航海十分辛苦，還是希望“子繼父業(yè)”做一名遠洋海員。

一天，遙遙父親特將遙遙帶到”船長酒家”。

來酒館前，遙遙聽爸爸介紹：秦船長是位有名的航海家，航程加起來可繞地球十幾圈。酒館里還有與航海有關(guān)的“寶貝”，特別那壇“鎮(zhèn)館之寶”葡萄酒。

見到秦瓊船長后，這位知名航海家的形象，完全出乎遙遙的想象：干巴瘦的小老頭，臉上的皺紋宛如大海的波濤，說話還有些結(jié)結(jié)巴巴。”難道這就是大名鼎鼎的航海家嗎？”聽完泰瓊船長的介紹，遙遙的疑問頓時“云消霧散“。俗話說，人不可貌相，海水不可斗量嘛！秦船長是位名符其實，閱歷十分豐富的航海家！

應(yīng)遙遙的要求，秦瓊船長講述了酒館的“鎮(zhèn)館之寶”的來歷。

那是秦船長當上船長不久，駕船來到北歐挪威的奧斯陸港。

由于秦船長克服了航程中重重困難，提前將貨主急需的物資運到了目的港，貨主十分感謝，特地在港口附近一家別緻的酒店招待秦船長。

這是一家以挪威歷史上著名的航海探險家的名字命名的酒店一紅發(fā)埃里克酒店。

酒店里除掛有埃里克巨幅畫像外，一種用野生葡萄釀造的葡萄酒十分誘人。

聞到甘甜迷人的酒味，秦船長破例倒掉了壺中的“自備酒，抖滿葡萄酒，連飲三壺，大呼：“好酒！”。

于是，貨主講起了埃里克航海探險的故事和葡萄酒的來歷。

公元10世紀前后，整個挪威大陸和海域，幾手籠罩在北歐海盜的影子里。

海盜除了搶劫外，還充當啇人和移民。海盜駕駛著著狹長的快帆戰(zhàn)船，游蕩在英國，爰爾三，法國等地的海域。與此同時，許多人還在這些土地上居住下來。開墾土地，種植莊稼。聞名的波羅的海通往俄羅斯內(nèi)河的航線，就是那個時候開辟的。

在這些移民活動中，最突出的成就，就是穿越波濤滾滾的大西洋發(fā)現(xiàn)了今天的格陵蘭島。這個發(fā)現(xiàn)遠在哥倫布發(fā)視美洲新大陸之前。

完成這次壯舉的正是挪威的紅頭髫航海探險家埃里克。

時間大約在公元982年，由于躲避饑荒，埃里克帶領(lǐng)一批船員，從家鄉(xiāng)挪威向西部海域駛?cè)ァ４蛩銓ふ倚碌木幼〉亍?/p>

這次航行危機四起，沒有地圖，沒有向?qū)?，海面除了大霧就是狂風惡浪。

埃里克率領(lǐng)大伙沒有退縮。

終干，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一片陸地：“這里沒有人煙，草原肥沃，馴鹿奔跑，鳥兒飛翔…”。

埃里克把這塊土地命名為格陵蘭（Green|and）。

三年后，埃里克回到家鄉(xiāng)，招募了新移民，乘坐23艘大船重返格陵蘭。最后只有14艘抵達目的地，其余9艘永遠消失在茫茫大海里。

埃里克和船員在這里定居下來。成了格陵蘭歷史上第一批移民。但是，挪威人的探險話動並沒有結(jié)來。一個叫比加尼商人，企圖沿著垁里克的航線，從冰島駛向格陵蘭。

不過，途中遭遇大霧，迷夫了方向，漂流幾天后才登上一塊陸地。這里卻不是他要去的格陵蘭。

這快陌生的土地引起人們的好奇和關(guān)注。

多年以后，埃里克的大兒子萊夫，埃里克帶領(lǐng)船隊，沿著比加尼的航線，找到了這塊多石的陸地。

人們在這里安頓下來。

一天，一名船員突然像唱醉了酒，東倒西歪，語無倫次。原來這名船員貪吃了這里生長的野生葡萄。

這里氣候溫和，草木茂盛，野生葡萄成了最佳的釀酒原料。

人們把新發(fā)現(xiàn)的這塊土地叫做文蘭（意為酒的土地）。

冬去春來，萊夫，埃里克率領(lǐng)船員滿裝野生葡萄回到了格陵蘭，開始釀造葡萄酒。

“這是自非洲埃及人釀造葡萄后，首位釀造葡萄酒的北歐人，比哥倫布發(fā)現(xiàn)美洲新大陸早許多年！“說到這里，貨主顯得十分興奮和自豪，提高嗓門說：“為了紀念這對航海家父子，挪威和冰島建立了紀念碑。還有以他們父子名字命名的酒店?！?/p>

秦瓊船長問起飲用的葡萄酒時，貨主介紹說：“萊夫，埃里克從文蘭帶回的野生葡萄在挪威生根發(fā)芽，成了歐洲有名的葡萄酒原料，很快傳遍了歐洲。人們稱它為《萊夫葡萄酒》，是對航海探家的尊重和紀念?！?/p>

聽著貨主的講述，秦船長十分感動，用隨身攜帶的錄音機記下了這叚故事。

臨別前，貨主特意送了一壇”萊夫，野生葡萄酒”，做為紀念。

這壇葡萄酒成了《船長酒館》的“鎮(zhèn)館之寶“。

遙遙從《船長酒館》歸來后不久，在填報高考志願時，鄭重地填寫了“航海學?！薄?/p>

張濤系中國航海學會科普專家、中國遠洋海運作家協(xié)會副主席、中國知名海員作家、“一帶一路”應(yīng)用型海事 人才研究院特聘研究員。作為遠洋船長，其在工作之余，筆耕不輟，為宣傳航海文化做出了較大貢獻，被譽 為“當代弘揚航海文化有突出貢獻的航海人”。先后在人《民日報》《中國建設(shè)》《海事大觀》《航海》《中國海 員》等報紙雜志上發(fā)表了大量文章，并出版了《我們都是無產(chǎn)者》《船長與黃金》《路娃航海記》《船長風云 錄》《海上天方夜譚》《舌尖上的航海》等十余部近百萬余字反映航海經(jīng)歷的文藝作品。其中《我們都是無產(chǎn) 者》和《海上天方夜譚》獲國家優(yōu)秀作品獎；《路娃航海記》獲中國航海學會特別貢獻獎；《舌尖上的航海》曾 在國內(nèi)多家網(wǎng)站和報紙雜志上發(fā)表及刊登，受到廣大讀者，特別是航海愛好者的熱烈歡迎和好評；同時被譯 成英文，受到外國青少年和航海愛好者的喜愛。 2021年3月，江蘇航運職業(yè)技術(shù)學院設(shè)立了“張濤海員作家”工作室。希望此工作室能夠創(chuàng)作出更多更好的作 品來弘揚和發(fā)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!