1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 140 Arrive at Thanh Hoa
Perhaps because of the smooth sailing, the Tuozhi fleet maintained a high speed after departure, passed through the outer sea area south of Yazhou at noon that day, and arrived at Yinggezui smoothly in the evening.Fleet Commander Wang Tom discussed with the shipping department personnel on "Shangyun 01" through the radio, and decided to still travel overnight and continue sailing westward, but the speed must be slowed down by at least half.If the fleet is separated when sailing at night, it is also a very troublesome thing, and the speed of the ship is also reduced so that the ships can keep the same course in the dark.

As for how to identify the correct course when sailing at night, with a group of old crew members on the "Flying Speed", this problem is difficult for the crossing people, and other ships just need to follow the "Flying Speed".In order to make it easier for the ships in the fleet to identify the pilot ship at night, a huge circular LED lamp is specially installed on the top of the mast of the "Speed". This lamp is powered by solar panels and is turned on after nightfall. Under normal circumstances, it is clearly visible at a distance of two nautical miles.Strings of lanterns were also hung on the masts and sterns of other Chinese-style sailboats to keep other ships in the surrounding area at a reasonable distance from each other and avoid collisions during nighttime sailing.There are crossing people with walkie-talkies on each ship, and they have been communicating through wireless communication to keep the fleet's night marching formation from being too loose.

When Chinese ships in this era went to sea, the captain and crew mainly relied on tools such as "needle books" that recorded various routes and relatively primitive compasses to identify the route. The "needle book" is equivalent to a text version of the navigation guide. In addition to recording the routes, headings and sailing times between various ports, it also has the time of seawater tide rise and fall in various ports, and hidden reefs that need to be avoided on the route, etc. and other hydrological data.

However, the routes recorded in this "needle book" are often limited to a few places well known to the creators, and different "needle book" makers may have quite different descriptions of the same route, and there is no relative relatively objective standards.This was also limited by the nautical technology and social environment at that time. People who depended on the sea to eat were often passed on from generation to generation, and their fathers inherited their careers. No one would share their food with others.In this way, even if someone discovers a new overseas route, it will not spread quickly among the people, and it will also reduce the enthusiasm of the people to explore unknown seas.

The advantage of passing through the public is that they have more detailed nautical charts and various hydrological data, and have various advanced navigation instruments made by later generations, which can accurately calculate the route of the ship, and do not need to record it in the "needle book" The "stargazing and fighting method" is used to identify the direction of navigation at night.

That night, the fleet maintained an average speed of about three knots and continued to sail west by north.After reducing the speed, the crew members were divided into two shifts to take turns to rest, but they could only sleep on the deck in case of emergency.With the shining pilot boat in front, the captains of the various ships were much more relaxed because of this. They didn't need to waste energy to identify the course in the dark, they only needed to command the boat to follow the pilot boat in front.

The next morning, the pilot ship used a sextant to measure the latitude and longitude, and concluded that the distance traveled last night was only about a quarter of the distance between Yinggezui and Qinghua.The fleet had to temporarily stop once after dawn, and several severely seasick people were transferred from various ships to the "Flying Speed".Compared with contemporary sea-going ships, the double-hulled "Flying Speed" is indeed much more stable at sea, and this is done to make these unlucky people a little easier in the coming time.

In the following day, the fleet advanced at full speed, but it only ran less than [-] nautical miles before dark. Considering that it was about [-] to [-] nautical miles away from the east coast of Vietnam, the fleet decided to Continue to stay up one more night, so that you can arrive at the east coast of Vietnam the next morning for rest.

The crew had to cheer up and continue to advance overnight. "Flying speed" is very easy, one person is responsible for driving the direction, two people are responsible for raising and lowering the sails, only three people can easily control this 30-meter-long sailboat.The six members of the North American Gang were just divided into two groups, and they were responsible for driving in shifts.However, those who are not on duty do not mean that they can be idle. They need to continue to make nautical charts in the cabin in order to calculate the voyage.

Shi Diwen yawned a lot, dropped the pencil in his hand and said, "This trip was much more difficult than the last time. As far as I can remember, I haven't been on a boat for more than 48 hours in a row."

"It's mainly because the ship is slow." Tom Wang also felt quite helpless that his ship had to slow down to wait for other ships: "Other ships can't even reach half of our speed. It's not difficult to imagine What will happen to them without the pilot boat in the future, we think it will take them an extra day to complete the voyage from Thanh Hoa to Yingge Tsui."

"It would be great if the speed of these ships can be increased a little, even if it is only about ten knots, so that the distance can be covered in one day and one night, and the crew will not be so tired." Roger also joined in in their discussion.

"The ship that the shipyard is currently building is said to have a design speed of more than ten knots." Wang Tom said: "If this route is transported by ships of more than ten knots, the entire voyage can be shortened by at least one day. "

"I went to see the ship in the shipyard. It is a Chinese-style sailboat, just like the few ships in our fleet. Can the average speed of the Chinese-style sailboat run above ten knots?" Roger said to Wang Tom's statement was questioned.

"That's right, they are indeed building Chinese-style sailboats, but I heard that the Ministry of Shipping has redesigned the sails and rigging, and will probably use the advantages of some Western-style sails to create a work that combines Chinese and Western styles. " Tom Wang speculated.

"God, I hope they don't create a weird freak." Shi Diwen sighed.

Although Wang Tom still doesn't know the details of the construction plan of the Ministry of Shipping, but considering that the Ministry of Shipping had discussed internally for more than half a month before the ship was built, it is certainly impossible to completely copy the old design of the Chinese sailing ship.In terms of hull structure, the use of V-shaped hulls and watertight compartments has made Chinese sailboats far ahead of this era. There is no need for major improvements at present. At most, it is just to increase the aspect ratio of the hull. Possible changes are in the design of the mast and sails.

It is well known that western-style sailboats sail faster at sea, which has a great relationship with the sails used by western-style sailboats. By increasing the height of the mast and increasing the number of masts, the wind-receiving area of ​​the sail is increased, thereby increasing the speed.However, Chinese-style hard sailing ships cannot easily increase the mast. If the length of the mast exceeds the length of the hull, it is better to wait for the ship to capsize. Therefore, compared with competitors, the sail area of ​​​​Chinese-style sailing ships is generally limited, which is also disguised. This limits the maximum speed the ship can reach.

Of course, the disadvantages of western-style sailboats are also very obvious. Due to the heightening of the mast, a large number of stays must be used to hold the mast, which will greatly limit the turning angle of the western-style square sail, so that the ship cannot effectively use the crosswind and headwind. So that the so-called fast sailing boats can only have a relatively fast speed when the wind is down.At the same time, due to the complexity of sailing and rigging, the number of operators required on the deck has also greatly increased, which actually reduces the endurance of the ship in disguise.Although the sail area of ​​a Chinese-style sailboat is relatively small, it is more convenient to operate. It can be controlled by a small number of crew members, and it can take advantage of the wind from almost all directions.But as for how to combine the two kinds of sails and learn from each other, Wang Tom, a navigation expert, has no good ideas. After all, this kind of professional knowledge involving ship design and hydrodynamics is not his field of expertise.

After spending the second sleepless night at sea, the leading "Speed" finally saw the horizon of the east coast of Vietnam through the telescope in the early morning of the third day.After the news was communicated to other ships through the walkie-talkie, the exhausted crew members cheered.

After deliberation, a group of people from the colonization team headquarters decided to go to the estuary of the Tsinghua River, where the expedition team stopped last time, to see how the current situation of the refugees was, and then to rest on the shore for a day before moving on.

The place where the fleet arrived at the coast was a small fishing village called Censhan, about ten miles south of the mouth of the Tsinghua River. The "Flying Speed" put down the rubber assault boat and landed first to visit the fishing village, but the result surprised everyone.The fishing village here is already empty, and judging from the clean houses, the residents here have all moved with their families—perhaps it should be said that fleeing is more accurate.

"It seems that the situation here is deteriorating faster than we imagined." Wang Tom also felt a little unbelievable in the face of such a situation.When I came here last time, there were still a large number of refugees gathering nearby, but in just over 20 days, even the residents here have all left their homes and become war refugees.

"The Tsinghua River is not so easy to cross. If we continue to go north, we should encounter a large number of refugees." Roger suggested.

So the fleet gave up their plan to dock here and continued to sail north.After arriving at the estuary of the Tsinghua River, the fleet turned into the river, and not far upstream, Shi Diwen, who was in charge of the lookout, shouted from the bow: "Look, what Roger said is right! so many people!"

There are more people waiting to cross the river here than when the expedition team arrived last time, at least two to three thousand people.When Gu Kai heard Shi Diwen's cry, he also got out of the cabin and came to the deck. Seeing this situation, his eyes lit up: "It seems that the labor force we need must be available!"

(End of this chapter)