Daming pirates

A novel-style ship began to float slowly from the dock under the buoyancy of the sea water, and quickly stabilized.

Both sides of the dock were already crowded with Sea Wolf tribe members at this time. However, those who could come here to watch the ceremony at this time were basically the prominent figures among the Sea Wolf tribe. At the very least, they had to be at least a first mate.

Just fine.

Of course, there are also some craftsmen in the dock, who are still busy on both sides of the dock, arranging ropes, fixing the new ship in the dock, and adjusting and trimming the ship.

The weather has begun to cool down at this time. It is no longer as scorching as in previous months, which made people dizzy. The fresh sea breeze blows on the faces of everyone on the shore, and everyone's faces are filled with happiness and joy.

Excited expression.

This day is of special significance to Xiaotian, because the first sloop he "designed" and built by himself was finally completed on this day and can be launched into the water.

This was ten days longer than his original plan of three months to complete the project, but even so, Yu Xiaotian did not blame Guo Fu and other shipwrights in the boathouse.

After all, building this kind of ship is a brand new challenge for them. They have never been exposed to such a ship type. Although Yu Xiaotian provided them with a very exquisite ship model, they started to expand it in proportion.

During the construction, we still encountered many problems.

First of all, shipwrights have never used such densely packed ribs on a ship. The ribs have different curvatures depending on where they are used. When making ship ribs, whole wood must be used and must be baked and heated.

Clamps bend it into the desired shape and are secured to prevent the wood from opening and destroying the structure of the hull after it is built.

This item left the shipwrights scratching their heads. They thought of many ways to solve this problem. For this purpose, they had to make many fixtures for shaping, and also built a drying room to bake the ship ribs. This alone

One piece of work consumes a lot of time.

In order to meet the time required by Yu Xiaotian, Guo Fu and other shipwrights basically worked day and night. Yu Xiaotian also saw this when he inspected the shiphouse every day and knew that they

I didn't deliberately delay or be lazy.

In addition, since it was the first time to build such a ship, the shipwrights were not familiar with many structural parts of this type of ship, and the construction sequence was also different from that of their previous common Chinese ships. During the construction period, there were also some poor plans.

This resulted in a chaotic construction sequence and had to be dismantled and reworked, which also delayed a lot of time.

In addition, they also encountered a lot of trouble with the sails used on this ship. In the past, the Chinese-style ships they built used Chinese rigid sails, and the main material was bamboo strips. However,

On this new type of ship, Yu Xiaotian made it very clear that soft sails should be used.

The craftsmen in charge of sailing in the boathouse were scratching their heads in the past. They didn't know what kind of fabric would be better to use to make this kind of sail.

Of course Yu Xiaotian knows about sails, so it is best to use canvas. Moreover, the sails of this kind of sloop are very stressed, so the requirements for canvas are higher. But where can he get canvas now? China

So far, there is no demand for canvas, so no one will produce canvas.

Moreover, the textile method of canvas also has requirements. It cannot just be plain weave, and the materials cannot be all cotton. Try to use cotton and linen blends to make it stronger and more durable.

As for the canvas used for this kind of sails, he could only find a way to get it from Westerners so far, so just for these canvases, he had to send people to Macau and Manila to find such canvases.

The hard work paid off, and after a lot of trouble, they got a batch of thick canvas from India from the Spaniards, which solved the sailing problem.

In short, when building this new ship, the craftsmen in the boat house encountered a lot of troubles. However, although the Chinese craftsmen are illiterate and have little culture, their intelligence and talents must not be ignored.

Once these craftsmen encountered a problem, they did not just stick to the old rules. In fact, they were also very good at using their brains. With everyone's brainstorming, they finally came up with various solutions to each technical problem - one by one.

solve.

Based on this alone, Yu Xiaotian has nothing to complain about them. He just tries to take time every day to visit the boat house and understand the troubles and problems they encounter. If he has enough time, he will stay and help think about it.

Trying to find a way, I just watched this boat, in the hands of the shipwrights in the boathouse, like ants moving, turning pieces of wood into parts bit by bit, and then slowly being assembled together.

Twenty days ago, the main body of the ship was basically completed. Yu Xiaotian was very excited at the time and wanted to drive the ship out to sea immediately to try out the capabilities of the ship.

However, the completion of the hull does not mean that the ship can be launched into the water, because after the main body of the ship is completed, a lot of correction work needs to be done. In addition, the joints on the upper and lower parts of the ship must be sealed, which is the caulking process.

For things like caulking, it’s hard for the shipwrights in the boat house. China has a long history of shipbuilding and has long solved the problem of hull sealing. It only uses very simple raw materials, such as plant ash, grease, hemp rope ends, and lime.

etc., you can seal the seams on the hull firmly.

After the caulking of the hull was completed, it was basically ready for launching. However, considering that the ship had to be soaked in seawater and the hull had to undergo anti-corrosion treatment, the Council purchased a large amount of paint from land to paint the ship.

It was painted once and it was all shiny.

This is the first sloop built by Sea Wolf. It is now completely completed and has the ability to be delivered for trial sailing.

Yu Xiaotian specially selected a day as an auspicious day for the launch of the boat, and held a quite grand launching ceremony for the boat.

The boat was also decorated in red and decorated by the shipwrights today, and a lot of firecrackers were prepared. When the dock door was opened, the firecrackers went off in unison, which was really lively.

But while Yu Xiaotian was excited, he also felt a little uneasy. After all, he was just a ship model enthusiast, and he was still far from a real shipbuilder. In theory, he could copy some ship models from later generations and make ship models.

Question, but he really didn't know whether it would be possible to build a real ship based on the ship model he made.

However, since he is the "chief designer" of Sea Wolf, even though he is unsure, he still has to put on airs and pretend to be confident. While accepting the compliments of his subordinates, he secretly carefully observes the launch of the ship.

What happens next.

When the dock was filled with seawater, the ship began to float. Overall, the shipwrights did a pretty good job in preparation before launching the ship. The overall balance of the ship was adjusted better. After entering the water, the ship was very

Quickly, it floated on the water smoothly without leaning forward, backward or sideways. The balance obviously met the requirements for launching into the water.

After the ship floated, a dozen specially selected sailors began to board the ship, arrange the sails and rigging on the ship, and conduct an overall inspection of the ship, especially the bottom tank, focusing on checking for leaks.

Condition.

People stood near the dock and watched these people busy on the ship. After a while, the leader who led the team to board the ship ran to the side of the ship and shouted loudly to Xiaotian's position: "Please tell me, the master! The hull has been

The inspection is over! No water leakage was found! Other inspections are also normal. Can it be moved out of the dock?"

Yu Xiaotian felt relieved a little, nodded to silence the noisy people around him, and strode from a springboard onto the deck of the ship.

After boarding the ship, Yu Xiaotian could feel the sturdiness of the ship. At the beginning of the construction, Yu Xiaotian told the shipwrights that this ship was a war ship, and the materials must be sufficient and must be made of high quality.

It must be strong enough to withstand the harsh weather and strong winds and waves at sea, and at the same time, it must be strong enough to survive a collision with an enemy ship.

Therefore, the shipwrights did not cut corners when cutting materials. Not only were the materials used sufficient, but they also did not use softer pine wood. Instead, they used precious teak wood to build the boat and the hull without hesitation.

The wood thickness of the side panels and ship deck is more than twice that of the materials used on ordinary commercial ships, and in addition to the mortise and tenon structure for assembly, a large number of large iron nails are also used for reinforcement.

In the load-bearing parts of the structure, more materials are used, and a lot of materials are placed, leaving a sufficient amount, so when you step on this boat, you can feel the solidity of the boat under your feet, and the sound of your feet is dull, indicating that

The deck is very thick.

As a result, although the overall unladen weight of this ship has increased a lot, its sturdiness cannot be underestimated. It can even be called the strongest ship of Sea Wolf so far.

The length of this boat is about twenty meters, the width of the boat is about four meters, the height of the boat is only four meters, and the hull line is elegant and slender.

Yu Xiaotian personally walked around the boat and checked the situation everywhere. Because the boat was newly built, it looked very clean overall, and it had not been loaded with other things. In addition, the upper part of the hull was flat, with almost no superstructure, only the ship.

There is a small stern tower at the stern, which is used as the helmsman's rudder position to facilitate the helmsman to observe the sailing situation in front of the ship.

This ship still uses the rudder lever operation method. It turns out that Yu Xiaotian wanted to design a steering wheel operation mechanism for this ship to replace this backward vertical rudder lever operation method.

In this era, no matter whether it was a Chinese or Western-style ship, the steering wheel operating mechanism that was common in later generations had not yet been invented, and the invention of the steering wheel operating mechanism was not invented until as late as the 18th century.

Before that, whether it was a Chinese or Western-style ship, the rudder was basically controlled by a rudder stock or a tiller. However, this had major shortcomings. First, the controllable angle of the rudder stock was relatively small.

It is small and does not meet the flexibility of the ship's maneuvering at sea. Moreover, the helmsman's view is blocked by the poop when operating, and he cannot see the situation in front. He can only adjust the rudder under the instructions of other people on the ship.

.

Once encountering strong waves or sharp turns, it is difficult for a helmsman to control it. Sometimes it even takes three or four people to control the rudder stock and operate it.

Of course Yu Xiaotian knows how to solve it. As long as he "invents" a steering wheel steering mechanism, this problem can be easily solved, making steering the boat simpler and more effective, and at the same time improving the maneuverability of the ship.

(It’s the end of the month soon. Brothers, please remember to save the monthly tickets you have at the beginning of the month for me! Thank you very much!)