Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 308 The maiden voyage of the "Broken Wave" ([-])

After the fleet sailed out of the outlet of Duck Lake, which was lined with forts, it began to turn south by west, sailing southward along the ocean current and crosswind.Beginning on July 7, the fleet crossed the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, the San Matias Bay, and headed south along the long Patagonian coastline, and finally arrived on the day of August 29. Baleen Whale Harbor in Falklands under heavy snowfall.

The South Atlantic Ocean in winter is violent, especially in Baleen Whale Harbor, where the weather is extremely bad all year round. The sea here has a westerly wind blowing above level [-] all the year round, and there are huge swells in the channel entering the port all the year round. It is possible to hit a rock or run aground, which will test the captain's driving skills.

Led by the flagship "Red Trout" frigate, the ships lowered most of their sails one after another, while carefully controlling the direction, they sailed towards the harbor with difficulty along the current.And when everyone was nervously controlling the course of the ship, the multi-purpose ship "Breaking Waves" had already lowered its sails early, and then started the main engine. Amidst the sound of water and the billowing black smoke from the chimney, the sea slowly passed through this section of sea water flowing to the changeable sea area at a low speed of just over 2.5 knots, and entered the relatively calm berth of the Baleen Whale Port.

After the "Broken Wave" turned off the main engine and lowered the bow and stern anchors, Zhang Xiao walked out of the engine room in satisfaction.Along the way, the "Broken Wave" turned off the main engine most of the time, and only relied on the sails to move forward along the current, maintaining a "low speed" of 4-6 knots throughout the journey.That is, when he was not far from Baleen Whale Port, after obtaining the permission of Lieutenant Li Yi, the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Zhang Xiao turned on the steam engine, slowly pressurized the boiler, and finally passed the difficult section safely by relying on pure steam power. Lots of swell waterways.

Facts have proved that steam-powered ships have better maneuverability and safety in bad weather or sea conditions.And in areas where the current is changeable and the swell is relatively rapid, such as the waterway entering the port of Baleen Whale Harbor, such as the Strait of Magellan, the superiority of steam-powered ships is even more incomparable.It’s just that it would be great if the paddle wheel that drives the ship forward can be replaced with a propeller. The efficiency of the paddle wheel is sufficient at low speeds, but it is still a little slower when sailing in the ocean.It is a pity that the shipyard has never solved the problem of underwater sealing of the propeller main shaft, so it can only be dealt with by paddle steamers first, and after the technical difficulties are solved, it will be uniformly refitted to propeller drive.

The "Breaking Wave" has a load of about 730 tons. At this time, in addition to the materials brought in, about 300 tons of clean coal are also installed in the cabin.If steam power is used (assuming there is no failure in the middle), based on 160 kg of coal per hour and a speed of 3 knots, then theoretically it can sail more than 5600 nautical miles.

What is the concept of more than 5600 nautical miles?Starting from Dongfang Port, cross the South Atlantic Ocean in a straight line, and then arrive at the South African River Port. The distance between them is only three to four thousand nautical miles. Take a short cut and reach the South African colony.Of course, the coal is only enough for one-way use. If you want to go back and forth smoothly, you need to set up a large coal storage base in Hezhong Port to refuel the passing steamships.

However, the actual situation is not so complicated. From Dongfang Port to Hezhong Port, the wind direction is not always wrong along the way. In many cases, sails can still be used to provide some power for sailing.Therefore, it doesn’t take much time to “break the waves” across the Atlantic Ocean between the mainland and South Africa. On average, the whole journey can actually reach a speed of 4-5 knots. In this way, the time spent from Dongfang Port to South Africa is actually only one month. In his early days, it was more than ten days shorter than taking the southern route.In this way, the coal is basically barely enough. If the local government improves the efficiency of steam engines, loads more coal in the cabin, or replaces it with thermal coal with a higher calorific value of combustion, it will be safer.

With this understanding, Zhang Xiao was very happy. If the "Breaking Wave" really successfully sailed across the sea, it could really be regarded as a milestone in the industrial history of the East Coast Republic of China.Well, do you want to try hybrid sailing on the way to Hezhong Harbor next time?If it is successful, then there will be no big problem in applying to the Ministry of Communications for the construction of the same-level ship "Chopper" equipped with paddle wheels on both sides.

When Hyundai Special Shipyard reported its plans, it submitted two ships of the same class in one go.One of them is the "Broken Wave", and the other is the "Chop Wave".The two ships are exactly the same in shape, displacement, sail surface and other data. The only difference is that the "Breaking Wave" only has a paddle paddle installed at the tail, while the "Chop Wave" has a paddle paddle installed on both sides of the waist. paddle.Wei Hua, the director of Hyundai Special Shipyard, plans to build both types of ships, and then test to see which one is more powerful.

It's just that at that time the "son" of Transportation Commissioner Xiao Bailang's "son" General Railway Administration was vigorously launching the Malaysian Railway, which consumed a lot of hardwood resources brought back from New China; in addition, the hungry navy began to stop insisting on using all Brazilian mahogany to build warships, and instead The frigate gunboats were made of hardwood from the New China region, so the timber resources became tense all of a sudden.Not surprisingly, Xiao Bailang shot down the plan of the "Chopper" multi-purpose ship, and only granted the modern special shipyard a license to build a ship.It's just that the situation is different now. As long as Zhang Xiao can prove that the "Broken Wave" is indeed excellent in performance, can undertake various tasks, and most importantly, can effectively shorten the time of crossing the ocean, then the Ministry of Communications will definitely not stop him Build new ships of this steam power.

Moreover, the reason why this kind of ship is called a multi-purpose ship is really because it undertakes multiple functions.For example, a special chain for measuring water depth is installed on the ship, a large fishing trawl controlled by a steam winch is installed on the ship, a small desalination device for boiling sea water is specially installed on the ship, etc. A small surgical theater was also opened up.In addition, a total of 18 artillery pieces were placed on the deck of the ship, including two powerful 24-pound naval guns.

Some steel plates were added to the important parts of the ship, which greatly enhanced the ship's protection, and also made the ship's own weight reach more than 300 tons.From here, we can easily find that this multi-purpose ship "Breaking Waves" is actually tailor-made for exploring unfamiliar routes.All of her functions are set up for sea exploration. In other words, the survivability of this ship at sea is much stronger than that of ordinary ships.

No, when the fleet passed through the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, Zhang Xiao ordered the sailors to use large trawl nets to catch a net of fish.The fish are all fresh and delicious sage cod, and the catch is processed on the spot in a special cabin.After leaving enough food for the entire crew for two days, the remaining fish were cleaned and packed with salt as reserve food.

And the crew of the small seawater desalination device also tried to start it. The seawater was boiled in the device, and the water vapor generated was condensed and collected in the pipeline, and then it could be used as drinking water.The only disadvantage of this device may be that it consumes too much coal to be used for a long time, and it can only be used for emergency.In addition, the water vapor discharged from the steam engine boiler during decompression is also collected through special pipes for reuse next time.After all, it is sailing on the sea, so it is a little bit to save a little fresh water.

This ship is currently shared by the South China Sea Transportation Company and the Ministry of the Navy, but it is estimated that she will be transferred to the Navy soon.Because opening up and exploring the Far East route is not what the "Broken Wave" is best at?

After several hours of tossing, the other four ships finally anchored safely in the baleen whale port.The berths in the port are empty, and not many people are willing to come to this place of no shit at this time of year. Occasionally, the ships that come to the port to take shelter from the wind are all ships of unscrupulous merchants.

The mayor of Baleen Whale Harbor and former army sergeant Mathias personally came to the pier to welcome the fleet from the mainland.Because he heard that the mainland will send him a group of immigrants this time. You must know that the population of Baleen Whale Harbor has increased to more than 400 after so many years.With such a small population, it is inconvenient to do anything, so the local residents have opened up some fields near the port to grow vegetables, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and also raise some large white pigs and beef cattle, so that when there is a national fleet passing by, they can Get plenty of supplies.

Some llamas and sheep brought back from Tierra del Fuego and Chile are now breeding well on the island, and most of the small amount of wool produced is consumed locally on the island.In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture has also set up a small military horse farm on the island, raising more than 200 horses.

The only industry on the island that can be called an industry is that the township government organizes residents to voluntarily hunt some seals and sea lions for their fur and refine lubricating oil.However, the number of these animals hunted each year is strictly limited to ensure that the population does not decrease rapidly and become endangered.

The newly arrived [-] immigrants (French and Guaraní accounted for half each) were quickly arranged by the township government.Next, they will use the building materials transported by the fleet to build houses for themselves, and then settle and live here.In view of the extremely important geographical location of Baleen Whale Port, the East Coast Republic of China has continuously strengthened the docks, forts, and city defense facilities here over the years, so that it has a certain ability to protect itself.

After unloading supplies and population at Baleen Whale Harbor, the five ships replenished with some fresh water, vegetables and meat, and at the same time placed some patients here for recuperation. Then they set sail again on August 8th and left Baleen Whale Harbor. .

(End of this chapter)