African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1328: Chapter 337: Handover

May 27, 1918.

A fleet composed of two destroyers, an escort ship, and a supply ship plowed through the turquoise waves of the Indian Ocean under a deep blue sky, racing toward the heart of the ocean.

”Report, Captain, an island has been sighted ahead. It should be the Chagos Islands.”

A sailor came up to the captain of the East African destroyer Kagela, Haimo, and made his report.

Haimo picked up his binoculars and carefully observed the waters ahead for a while; sure enough, a large patch of land appeared in his field of vision.

From what he could see through the binoculars, the islands were quite small in scale, stretching north-south and forming a chain of reefs, particularly desolate. Along the shore, apart from the dull yellow beach, dense tropical trees covered the land.

In addition, further south of this green-covered island, other islands could be seen, and between the two there was another tiny islet, almost invisible to the naked eye, blurred by the distance.

But based on the markings on the nautical charts, Haimo identified it as a reef island—though of course that was only what they could observe for now.

On the charts, this reef actually belonged to the Egmont Islands on the western side, and the Egmont Islands were an important part of the Chagos Islands.

Haimo said cheerfully, ”What’s ahead should be the Chagos Islands. The fleet will continue on a course thirty degrees south of southeast.”

The reason Haimo could determine that this group of islands was the Chagos Islands, apart from its match with the chart’s features, also had to do with the time of arrival: the Chagos Islands are nearly three thousand kilometers from the eastern coast of East Africa.

And they lie deep in the heart of the Indian Ocean, with no other large archipelagos nearby, so it could be confirmed that this was indeed the fleet’s destination.

Of course, although they had reached the Chagos Islands, the real destination of the East African fleet was Diego Garcia, the main island of the Chagos group.

Diego Garcia lies to the southeast within the Chagos Islands, which is why Haimo ordered the fleet to steer southeast.

The name Diego Garcia comes from the Portuguese navigator who discovered it. Later the island was occupied by the French, and in the last century, after Napoleon’s defeat, it came under British control.

Soon the East African fleet passed a series of reefs on the western side of the Chagos Islands. By then it was clear that these reefs were all small in scale, many even submerged by the sea, obviously unable to provide decent living conditions.

And after sailing southeast for who knows how long, Diego Garcia finally appeared before the fleet.

The reason they could identify Diego Garcia at a glance was simple: this was the only area in the Chagos Islands with a concentrated population.

Haimo and the others could even make out the barracks, warehouses, watchtowers, lighthouse, and other facilities built on the island by the British.

But the population on Diego Garcia was clearly not large. Judging by Haimo’s estimate, there were likely only several dozen to at most a hundred British troops stationed there.

Which was easy enough to understand—Diego Garcia has an area of just over twenty square kilometers, and that already makes it the largest island in the Chagos group.

At the same time the East African fleet sighted Diego Garcia, the British Army on the island also noticed this fleet flying East Africa’s flag.

Very soon, all the British on the island gathered at the harbor’s pier, watching the East African fleet enter Diego Garcia’s rudimentary port. No conflict occurred; on the contrary, as the East Africans came ashore, the British garrison let out a cheer.

Haimo had barely stepped onto land when a British commander hurried up to greet him, exclaiming joyfully, ”God, you’ve finally come. We’ve been waiting for you here for more than half a month—it’s been sheer torment.”

Haimo stared in astonishment at this crowd of cheering, elated British, utterly unable to grasp the reason for their excitement.

Suppressing the odd feeling in his heart, Haimo said, ”It seems you’ve already received notice from the British Government. That saves us a lot of explanation and spares everyone quite a bit of trouble.”

The British officer replied happily, ”Naturally. We’ve long been yearning to leave this godforsaken place. Staying here, my mind’s about to give out.”

”On this island, besides the thirty-one of us, there’s absolutely nothing. Being stuck here day after day, you feel as if you’re growing mold all over.”

”Every once in a while, when a ship passes and someone lands, we can stay excited for the whole day. If it weren’t that I had no connections, I’d have tried to get out of this cursed place ages ago.”

From this British officer’s words, Haimo finally understood why, after the island’s British learned that East Africa would be taking over the island, they were so thrilled.

It was simply that conditions on Diego Garcia were too harsh. As mentioned, the Chagos Islands lie in the central heart of the Indian Ocean, which essentially means this is a place where even birds can’t be bothered to shit.

On the island there was not only no entertainment, there weren’t even any inhabitants, and the British had assigned just thirty-one men to guard the place.

One need only think about it to imagine how oppressive and lonely it must be to stay here, which explains why the British on the island were so jubilant once they knew they could leave.

Even the fact that the British Government was handing the island over to East Africa couldn’t dampen their excitement. You could say that staying here was worse than doing time in prison.

The British officer said enthusiastically, ”We’ve had enough of this isolated place. Fortunately, thanks to you, we’re finally being transferred away from this sea ’prison.’”

”If it weren’t for you, I have no doubt we’d soon be forgotten by the British Government entirely. Now that our transfer orders have come down, we can finally leave this wretched place.”

After being stuck here for so long, the British officer’s urge to pour his heart out erupted once he saw outsiders, leaving Haimo distinctly embarrassed.

The British officer continued in high spirits, ”We haven’t touched anything on the island. Once we leave, you can make full use of these facilities.”

”There’s nothing of real value here. Aside from this harbor, two storehouses for supplies, a lighthouse, and a single barracks building, you won’t find any other structures.”

”Staying here, you see nothing but seabirds day after day. But now it’s all right—we can finally leave. Believe me, this environment will drive you mad...”

Under the gaze of Haimo and the others, this group of British boarded the vessel that would take them away and headed north across the Indian Ocean. According to the British officer, they were being transferred to India.

As they departed, the British warmly waved farewell to the East African officers and men, as if this place were something truly terrible.

Which, in fact, it was. From the location of Diego Garcia, it was almost impossible to have any meaningful contact with the outside world. There were no entertainment facilities on the island, and the entire Chagos group was barren land.

Seychelles, Mauritius, or the Maldives and other islands in the Indian Ocean at least have a decent number of permanent residents. From this you can see why the British were willing to hand over this island to East Africa.

In Ernst’s previous life the United Kingdom had actually valued the Chagos Islands greatly, especially after its Indian Ocean colonies began to gain independence. Over the Chagos Islands, the British Government and Mauritius were constantly in court, and only under American pressure did Britain eventually have to give them up. But in this Era, the British clearly had no such sense of crisis yet—after all, the British Empire was still at the height of its prosperity.

Compared with the Chagos Islands, India, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Aden... the British had plenty of options in the Indian Ocean.

The East African Government, however, was quite pleased with the environment of the Chagos Islands. Ernst was especially fond of islands without any ”natives,” and what’s more, the Chagos Islands had significant strategic value for East Africa in opening the Sunda Strait route. At the same time, they could serve as a transit point for East Africa’s projection of influence into Nanyang and Australia, providing a foothold for the East African Army.

In Ernst’s previous life, the Americans chose this very place to build their military base. Aircraft taking off from here can strike the entire Indian Ocean Coast, and if missiles were deployed, it would be even more convenient.