Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 247 The Expedition Team Departs

After Li Chiqi left, Wen Desi hurriedly convened a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Executive Committee. Everyone looked at each other for the concerns raised by Li Chiqi—this matter is really hard to say.No one has the guts to guarantee that such a thing will not happen.

"How about it, let's discuss it?" Wen Desi said, "Should we postpone the trip for a few weeks and refit the ship in the dock? Or just leave like this."

"It will take at least another month!" Wang Luobin has also done a ship model, and he is very clear about the performance of the ship. The installation of power, whether it is a propeller or a paddle wheel, involves structural changes, and there are still a series of processes to be explored. Grasp, say a month is still optimistic.

"I don't know much about ships." Ma Qianju first came to recruit "Push Hands" before continuing to express his opinion. "It's safer. Naturally, the engine has been modified to go out. At least it is safe for personal safety. After all, the traverser is our number one ship." Wealth. Otherwise, increase the firepower on board, 56 and a half for each person, and install a few more cannons."

Wen Desi thought that Ma Qianzhu's proposal could be regarded as a simple solution.More than a dozen 56 and a half guns fired together, and the firepower density was comparable to that of a machine gun.

"Semi-automatic rifles are pretty good, but there are only about 56 people on the Zhenhai ship. Unless everyone is a sharpshooter, they will still die if they are surrounded by seven or eight boats." When shooting outside the range of the artillery, the 400 and a half and the SKS have to fire from [-] meters away. To fire at this distance, you need to have considerable training. Most of the people who went this time were technical personnel. I was more worried. .”

"Rockets!" Li Yunxing proposed his own solution, "The rockets we tested have initially succeeded, with an effective range of more than 600 meters, and only a simple launcher—"

"It's meaningless," Chen Haiyang disagreed. "The rockets are just as good for bombarding surface-shaped targets on the shore, but hitting point-shaped targets at sea is basically setting off fireworks."

After discussions and discussions, no one has come up with a safe solution on how to increase the firepower of the Zhenhai without fail.

"We are all stupid!" Lin Chuanqing, the captain of Zhenhai, patted his head and shouted, "What power does the boat on Dengyingzhou rely on?"

"Diesel engine!" Wang Luobin remembered.The so-called paddle engine is an outboard engine, which is standard equipment on motor sailboats.This is a modification that does not require too many hands and feet, and the two diesel oar engines can be installed directly at the stern.Delivering 50 horsepower is a breeze.And there is no need to go into the dock again, the modification work is done directly on the waterline.

"It's going to consume diesel." Ma Qianju was more distressed by the industrial blood.

"Should I change it to a gas machine?"

"Forget it, don't bother with the big fart on the ship. You all gave me carbon monoxide poisoning before the enemy came. There is no hyperbaric oxygen chamber here." Ma Qianzhu snorted, this is also a choice that has no choice up.

"In fact, I don't need much diesel." Lin Chuanqing said, "It's just a hybrid. I usually use sails, and I use diesel engines when I want to fight and escape. If I'm lucky, I may not be able to use it."

On the second day, some of the supplies on board were unloaded again, and the members of the mechanical department climbed onto the ship to install two 17KW diesel engine.During the installation process, they discovered a new problem: Zhenhai has a displacement of 170 tons, and its waterline is much higher than that of the 70-ton Dengyingzhou, and the propellers cannot enter the water.

Fortunately, this problem will not trouble the crazy people who learn mechanics. Since the length is not enough, we will lengthen it for you.However, it was soon discovered that the result of simply lengthening the transmission rod is that the vibration is greatly improved, and the strength is not enough.

"How about opening two portholes at the rear stern below the deck to install the oar hanger, so that the length will be appropriate." Someone suggested.

"Yes, it is possible, but the hull needs to be moved." Wen Desi looked at it for a long time, "We have to avoid the ship's ribs, so we can only make holes in the shell."

After the portholes were opened, the two paddle machines were installed on a special iron fixing frame, and the frame was firmly fixed on the bottom deck of the ship. Because the portholes were too close to the waterline, it was easy to splash water when driving at high speed, and the machines were used for a long time. It is also easy to be damaged when exposed to the seawater environment, so the propeller hanger adopts a retractable propeller, which is put down when in use, and put away to close the porthole when not in use.

After testing, when driving with the propeller, the speed can easily reach 8 knots in a windless environment.However, when the portholes are opened and the water is splashed when driving in moderate sea conditions, the water must be continuously pumped by a water pump.For this reason, the machinery factory temporarily produced a set of sealed window guards for driving, trying to block the gaps around the machine when the portholes are open.The phenomenon of water ingress still exists in the second test, but it is within the acceptable range.

The entire modification and testing was completed within two days, and the unloaded cargo and supplies were reloaded on the ship. This time, hundreds of liters of diesel oil was added, which was enough for escape if necessary.Some additional modern guns were distributed to the crossing members of the expedition team.

The fleet departed from Bopu, and their route was to go westward and circle the entire Hainan Island for a week, so as to get a general understanding of the coastal terrain and products of the entire island.

It is the first time for most of the time travelers to try to go to sea in such a small boat.No matter how Wen Desi implements the principle of comfort, he cannot compare with the modern ships of the original time and space.It didn't take long for the Zhenhai to go to sea when people became seasick. Half a day later, almost all the travelers got seasick, and the bulwark was crowded with travelers rushing to hand over rations to the sea.In the end, they couldn't vomit anything. They were exhausted from vomiting and were helped back to their berths by sailors and soldiers, sighing.Only people from the Special Investigation Team and the Navy have already adapted due to long-term training.

"The one who vomited on the side! Yes, it's you! Pull the rope, it's hopeless to fall!" Lin Chuanqing yelled at a guy who was vomiting, and he personally steered the ship on the poop.The Zhenhai ship uses a western-style rudder operation, which is driven by gears and wire ropes. The rudder is very light and sensitive to operate.For the sake of safety, Zhenhai uses a dual backup system. In addition to the main steering wheel on the poop platform, there is also a spare rudder inside the poop to prevent the ship from being unable to operate if one fails.

Seeing here, Mond is actually leaning against the railing of the poop with a dismal face, with a look of hopelessness on his face.Still clutching a sextant in his hand.

"Fuck, you're also a sailor?" Lin Chuanqing said dismissively.

"During our internship, we were on a thousand-ton ship—" Mond retorted, "How did I know that one day I would come to sit on such a small ship."

Lin Chuanqing said: "Hehehe, you just lack sea training. Look at other girls are better than you."

"It's hard to compare—" Mond just wanted to continue, but ran to vomit again.

This level of sea conditions is of course nothing to Li Huamei.On board the Zhenhai, she had expected to see new gadgets that surprised her—just like the feeling she had when she boarded the "holy ship" that day.But when I got on the ship, I saw that except for the arrangement of the front and rear gun positions, the whole ship was no different from the European-style brig she had seen, except that it was more comfortable to live in.As for the two delicate cannons, in her opinion, it would be better not to use them. The largest number of shells fired is 6 pounds, and the number is small.At any rate, the Hangzhou has 14 guns, large and small.

She didn't know why the Australians let the fleet sail around Hainan Island.Hainan Island is quite familiar to sea merchants and pirates, especially the harbors along the coast.Almost all can be parked temporarily to take shelter from the wind and repair, and to replenish fresh water.But that's all there is to this island.The island's resources are basically uninterested-neither silk nor porcelain is produced, and there are none of the goods that the sea merchants are interested in.It's too poor, too few people, and there's nothing to sell.Australians are so interested in it, what is it for?

She looked up at the man who was steering the wheel, with a square face and gray hair.He was wearing a tight-fitting little gown with blue and white stripes horizontally—this kind of little gown is often worn by people here on weekdays. It is almost completely close-fitting, has no collar, and has very short sleeves.He stood firmly on the poop, with a nonchalant expression on his face, a real SEA DOG.

"What is this?" She found the fan-like instrument in Mond's hand.

"Sextant." Mond's eyes were blurred by seasickness.

"Sextant?" Li Huamei knew intuitively that it was an astronomical measuring instrument.But she has never seen it in the past.

Mond was too dizzy to speak.He simply stuffed the instrument into her hand and vomited on his own.

Lin Chuanqing held the tiller steady and said, "This is an instrument for measuring latitude."

"Really?" Li Huamei looked at it curiously, "Like a quadrant?"

"Hehe, I don't know what a quadrant is." Lin Chuanqing smiled, "I've never played it before. The thing you're talking about is probably the ancestor of the sextant?"

Li Huamei was puzzled: "Ancestor?"

Only then did Lin Chuanqing realize his slip of the tongue, and said vaguely, "This is definitely better than your quadrant."

It is the early 17th century, and navigators like Li Huamei routinely use the quadrant used by British navigator John Davis at the end of the 16th century to measure the latitude of the earth when navigating.Quadrants or "rod projectors" are now rarely seen, but were the greatest nautical invention of the 16th and 17th centuries.How it works is simple.Instead of trying to see the sun as required when using an astrolabe or a simple quadrant, the navigator used the shadow cast by the stick on the scale, the position of the end of which indicated the altitude of the sun, from which latitude could be calculated.Voyagers get the best results when using the Davis Quadrant on calm seas and when the deck is stable.Because its calculation is simple and accurate, the calculation of latitude has changed from only staying in degrees to being accurate to minutes.It soon replaced the past instruments such as astrolabe and star board.

(End of this chapter)