industrial lord

Chapter 664 Visit
"Woo~~~"

The melodious sound of whistles and the first snow of 1037 arrived in Le Havre.

Recently, many ships have seen the two new ships without sails of the Principality of Wessen at sea. The sailors in Le Havre often talk about it, and with Frederick's commendation order, people are very curious about the new ships.

A while ago, the new ship carried out a mission to deliver emergency supplies to the Grouse Forest Iron Mine. The one-way trip was 2,000 kilometers, and it was completed before the seaside dock froze. This delayed the team a lot of time, but it also trained the team and deepened their running-in.

After the mission was completed, the new ship was inspected at the port of Hamma City, and then part of the cargo hold was converted into a passenger cabin using prepared spare parts, and the ship set sail after carrying crew members and supplies.

When the two ships docked at the pier, the area was filled with captains, merchants and citizens who came to watch the fun.

The new ship is about 60 meters long, not much different from the current sailboats. It has two masts, one in front and one in the back, with a lookout tower on top, and sails can be hoisted when necessary.

What is new to people is that the tower is not at the stern but in the middle, and the deck is divided into two parts, front and back.

Many captains and ship owners heard that the two ships took a whole day to sail from Amstel to Le Havre, and there was a headwind at the time, so the speed was incredible.

Grand Duke Wesson's guards were standing guard nearby, all wearing gas masks to show off, and no one dared to go over to find out what was going on.

But there are always lucky people in the world. A captain had once given Grand Duke Wesson a ride, so he was able to take a trip on the ship.

When Tom walked to the side of the boat, he pointed to the dark red paint on the lower part of the hull and asked Frederick, "Sir, this is the kind of boat paint that won't grow oysters, right?"

This paint is somewhat transparent, and if you look closely you can see a layer of fine-meshed linen mesh inside.

Frederick replied: "Yes, the oyster eggs attached to it will be poisoned and will not survive."

"Don't be cheap when you paint. Recently, some people are using furniture paint to impersonate this kind of anti-adhesion paint, but that can only prevent water leaks."

Tom immediately said, "I heard about this. It is said that the price is only 30% of the real thing, and many people have been cheated."

The two boarded the ship, and Tom asked curiously, "Sir, why is the ship's tower in the middle? It requires two passages to load and unload goods, which is very inconvenient."

In the past, ships only needed to load and unload cargo in the middle, but now they have to be divided into the front and back, so they have to run back and forth, which is a bit inconvenient.

Frederick pretended to be helpless and said, "There is no other way. In order to keep the center of gravity of the ship balanced, we can only trim it forward and backward."

Tom believed it. If the center of gravity of a boat was deviated, it would easily lean to one side. Now that boats are equipped with engines, the center of gravity is different from that of sailboats, so it is natural to reconsider.

Frederick naturally would not tell him that this ship and the warship had the same design, and weapons would be installed at the stern, so the position would be reserved for the time being.

Tom was curious about everything on the ship. He pointed to the "卩"-shaped steel pipe sticking out from under the deck and asked, "What is this pipe used for?"

There is one such pipe at each of the four corners of the tower, which was not found on previous paddle steamers.

Frederick replied: "This is the ventilation pipe. The temperature in the engine room is too high, the humidity is high, and it is very stuffy. We need to let in fresh air and expel the dirty air."

"The humidity at sea is high, so the incoming wind is dehumidified first, which can keep the inside of the ship dry and the cargo is not easy to mold."

Tom thought it made sense. He had seen a tractor, and it was extremely hot and blew out steam. If it was put in the cabin, it would heat everyone on board to death.

There are even more cases of goods getting moldy, especially in the summer, when mold can grow overnight.

As they were talking, they came to the ventilation pipe behind the deck. Tom reached over and felt that warm air was really coming out from inside.

"The wind is so strong!" He felt that the wind was quite strong.

Frederick said: "Yes, there is a special machine to draw air out." The ship's ventilation system is equipped with a special magic external combustion engine. Although it is a bit inefficient, it is simple and easy to repair, and it is an independent power source. It can still be used in case the propulsion power fails.

Tom immediately praised the cabin after entering it: "It's really... so luxurious!"

In the past, except for the captain's room and the cabins for distinguished guests, the cabins where other sailors lived were dirty, smelly, and people would frown when rats came.

The living cabins on this ship include single rooms, double rooms and quadruple rooms with bunk beds. Each room has air supply and exhaust ducts and a small air conditioner and is clean and tidy.

The hygiene problem is mainly a management issue. There is a cleaning schedule posted behind the door, which lists neatly which days to sweep the floor, wipe the table, do the laundry, and wash the bedding.

In addition, there are regular hygiene inspections. Any problems found will be deducted points, and a black rat flag will be hung in front of the door of the worst room.

Tom asked Frederick, "Sir, may I copy it down?"

He was disgusted by the sanitary conditions on his ship. With the development of the theory of germ disease, many people realized that the dirtier the place, the easier it was to get sick, and getting sick at sea was no different from a death sentence.

Frederick said, "I'll have one sent to you later."

The two walked to the end of the living cabin, and Tom saw something he didn't expect.

"Is this a washing machine?" He was a little surprised. "I didn't expect there was one on a ship."

In the past, there was little fresh water on the ship, so it was impossible to wash clothes. The most we could do was go outside in the rain with our clothes on.

Frederick said: "This washing machine has washing, dehydration and sterilization functions. Wearing clean clothes can make people feel happy and reduce mental fatigue."

Tom didn't say anything about it. He was tired and everything, and after two glasses of wine, it was all over.

The cargo hold at the stern was converted into a living cabin for the accompanying personnel on this voyage, and there is also an entertainment room and library at the end.

Frederick said to Tom, "We are worried that something might go wrong during this long-distance trial, so we have a lot of engineers accompanying us."

He would never tell others that he was going to look for gold, so he used the excuse of a trial voyage and used Tom to publicize it, which was the main purpose of this visit.

And there are indeed engineers on board, who will help repair tractors in the city over the next two days.

Tom thought it made sense and believed it.

The two walked to the end. In front was the bathroom and toilet. It was a room protruding outward from the stern, directly discharge into the sea, and was even equipped with air conditioning.

Tom couldn't help but sigh: "There is so much fresh water on the boat."

In the past, even when sailing on a fixed route of several hundred kilometers, we had to worry about factors such as wind direction and wind strength causing the voyage time to be longer, so the fresh water on the ship was used sparingly, and almost no one thought about washing clothes or taking a bath.

Frederick asked in confusion, "I remember that the Dawn Chamber of Commerce has seawater desalination machines for sale, right?"

The desalination machine he mentioned is an alternative use for the vegetable dehydration machine, which is equivalent to only needing water but not vegetables. Lilu also suggested using it to make salt in Lukang.

This machine is standard equipment on ships built by the Principality of Wessen. The Dawn Chamber of Commerce has been selling it for several years. Tom should know about it.

Tom said helplessly, "That machine is too expensive and troublesome, so I won't use it unless it's a life-and-death situation."

(End of this chapter)