King of German Mercenaries

On this day, Marin is signing and stamping various documents sent by Jeffrey (the West is not popular with stamps, only signatures are popular. But Marin was used to stamping in his previous life, so the document review is all signature + stamping) . Suddenly, a document aroused his great interest...

The document states that two new ships were launched at the shipyard in Thornche, Texel Island...

"The shipyard on Texel Island..." Marin fell into memory...

Speaking of which, the shipyard has been established for more than two years. Construction began at the end of 1496, and the factory was officially established at the beginning of 1497. At the beginning, the shipyard was composed of several master shipbuilders hired by Portugal and hundreds of serfs who were familiar with carpentry.

In 1497, the shipyard hardly produced a single sea-going ship. Under the command of the Portuguese shipbuilders, those serfs who had never built boats built small boats and small fishing boats there every day, familiar with the structure and craftsmanship of ships...

Later, Marin bought 200 boat builders from the Venetians. Since 1498, the shipyard has officially started to manufacture sea ships...

However, Marin asked them to build a Galen of the late 16th century British. The Portuguese are only familiar with the Carrack and Caravel. Venetian craftsmen are even more tragic, they can only make galleys suitable for the Mediterranean... As for those serf apprentice craftsmen, not to mention, they can't do anything...

In the end, under the joint efforts of the three parties, two "monsters" were created...

Well done two 200-ton boats that combine the characteristics of the Karak, Caravel and Venetian galley. It sounds like it's comprehensive, but in fact it's just four different things...

Then, because of the unreasonable design and poor craftsmanship (mainly hundreds of novices participated), the ship jumped and jumped when it was sailing at sea. Of course, this is not the kind of clipper boat that jumps and jumps at sea because the speed is too fast, but it is purely because of the unreasonable structure, and it is easy to shake and jump when the speed is slow - this is clearly the asymmetry of the structure on both sides, and the processing The craftsmanship is not enough, and the design is unreasonable...

Throughout 1498, the new shipyard wasted time on these two "jumping ships". As a result, when Marin wanted two merchant ships for the Teutonic Order, he had to order two Kirk sailing ships at the shipyard in Lübeck.

However, the shipyard is not helpless. After these two "jumping boats" were successfully built, the hundreds of novice shipbuilders finally had the experience of building large ships.

As for the "jumping boats" that were obviously not suitable for big sailing, Marin finally gave them to the fishermen at a low price and used them to fish in the North Sea.

The "jumping boat" is not stable when sailing, and it is easy to cause seasickness, but for fishermen, it is not a big deal. Because, when their boat encounters wind and waves, it is more bumpy than "jumping the boat". At least, the jumping boat is very large and stable, and it is not easy to be overturned by the wind and waves in the North Sea. Also, the larger the boat, the larger the trawling net and the more fish it can hold.

At the end of 1498, the two ships that Marin sent to the Teutonic countries to do business not only brought back a lot of money, but also brought back a lot of oak that is suitable for shipbuilding from Eastern Europe (the drying time is long enough). So, the second batch of two ships laid the keel at the shipyard again...

By June 1499, two new ships were finally launched...

According to the reported documents, the two new ships, according to the new weights and measures issued by Marin, have a displacement of 250 tons...

"Two 250s..." Marin was a little speechless about this tonnage. You can get 240 tons or 260 tons, why use 250...

However, after the new boat was launched, it completely overcame the problem of the two boats jumping and jumping last year, and the sailing was very stable. So, the shipyard sent someone to announce the good news...

Marin is very interested,

He hurriedly issued an order to let those two ships sail to the port of Emden and let him see with his own eyes...

A few days later, Marin was in the port of Emden and saw these two new "250" boats...

After seeing the boat, Marin wasn't excited, and of course, wasn't disappointed...

Marin repeatedly insisted that they make English-style Galen boats. He even gave them the data of the later "Constitution" sailing battleship as a reference.

In this era, the Carrack, Caravel and Kirk sailboats generally have a length-to-width ratio of about 3 to 1. For example, the flagship "Santa Maria" of Columbus' discovery of the Americas was 23.66 meters long and 7.84 meters wide, with an aspect ratio very close to 3:1. Da Gama's flagship "San Gabriel" is 27 meters long and 8.5 meters wide, with an aspect ratio of nearly 3:1.

The "Constitution" in Marin's memory is 62.2 meters long and 13.6 meters wide, with an aspect ratio of 4.57 to 1, which is much thinner than the sailing ships of this era. Of course, it's also much faster. You know, the speed of the "Constitution" can reach 13 knots. In this era, the sailboats are generally around seven or eight knots, and the clippers do not exceed 9 knots.

Of course, the "Constitution" appeared relatively late, at the end of the 18th century. At that time, the boat design philosophy was also biased towards being thinner and faster. By the middle of the 19th century, the clipper boats that "drag-raced" at sea were directly produced. The length-to-width ratio directly reached more than 6:1, and it was "thin" like a hemp pole. However, because it is too "thin", the clipper cannot even be installed with artillery. Because, for such a "thin" ship, if there are shore fire cannons on the broadside, the reaction force of the artillery salvo can almost overturn the clipper boat...

Marin obviously didn't want to fly the clipper early, because the clipper had no protection and was easily robbed by pirates. The reason why the clippers in the middle and late 19th century were all right was because the warships of the British Empire were all over the sea at that time, chasing and killing pirate ships everywhere, which greatly improved the safety of the route. If pirates were rampant in the 17th and 18th centuries, would you try to transport them by clippers? What Captain Drake, Captain Kidd, Captain Morgan... send fleets in minutes to stop you on some important routes, and then put all the sailors in sacks and throw them into the sea. As for property, grab it all...

Therefore, even if the clipper ship is made, it is mainly used for sending messages and cannot be used for transporting too valuable property. Unless, there are enough warships cruising on this route. Otherwise, once the boat is stopped by someone, it is no different from a lamb to be slaughtered.

Of course, it depends on where. For example, in a pass-like waterway like the Strait of Malacca, clippers can easily be stopped. In places like the English Channel or the Strait of Gibraltar, as long as there are enough ships, clippers can be stopped. But if it is in the Pacific Ocean, and you want to intercept the clipper, it will be a dream...

The two ships that appeared in front of Marin's eyes were not the English Galen ships he wanted, but the Spanish Galen ships...

The length-to-width ratio of this ship is about 3.5 to 1. It seems that the designers still did not listen to Marin's words, and regarded Marin as a lay leader who "doesn't understand random command"...

However, the forecastle on its bow was removed according to Marin's suggestion. However, the poop at the stern remains...

Marin asked the designer who came with the ship, but the old Portuguese designer was plausible - it was necessary for naval battles, and the captain also needed to board the poop to observe the sea situation...

"Nima..." Marin was so angry that he wanted to scold people—it was still necessary for naval battles, which was clearly still stuck on the old idea of ​​​​fighting...

As for the captain's observation, just build a high platform like a watchtower on the top of the stern building. There is no need to build such a wide three-story building. What a strong wind resistance...

Moreover, to observe the sea situation, you can also send a few hard-working sailors to climb on the mast to observe. Of course, this is slightly dangerous.

Even in his previous life, Marin had seen such an observation method—a thick flagpole was made on the roof of the stern and stern, and a wooden box similar to an elevator car was hung on the flag rope. The captain or the first mate needs to climb up to observe, and directly get into this wooden box like an elevator. Then, a few sailors raise the wooden box to a high place like raising a flag, and let the captain or the first mate go up and observe with a telescope. After the observation is over, a few sailors will lower the flag by lowering the flag...

The design of the high poop is obviously the idea of ​​​​the Spanish... No, this is the idea of ​​​​the Portuguese. The Spanish only built this kind of ship more than the Portuguese, and later generations called this kind of ship the Spanish galleon... …

Sure enough, he is a designer from Portugal. Marin has provided specific data. He even came up with a type of ship like the "Spanish Galleon"...

But in any case, the design of these two ships has surpassed other ships of this era. According to estimates, the speed of the two ships also reached 9 knots, which is only one knot worse than the 10 knots of the British Galen.

Marin boarded the boat and sailed with the boat for a long time, and found that it was much more stable than the jumping boat last time, and it was almost as stable as the Kirk sailboat built by Lübeck.

However, in the arrangement of the artillery positions, the old Portuguese designer was stubborn again. The gun positions he designed turned out to be mostly the stern, and most of them were distributed on the poop at the stern. Then, four gun emplacements were also placed on the bow. As for the broadside in the middle section, there are basically no gun positions, and there is no lower artillery deck with windows extending out of the gun muzzle...

What makes Marin speechless the most is that, according to tradition, the toilet on the ship is actually set up under the bow...

Once the sailboat is sailing, it must be windy. However, the smell wafting from the toilet at the bow came directly from the headwind... That smell was more "sour and refreshing" than Lao Ganma...

According to what Marin knew, the bow part of the later clippers was specially made hollow, which was convenient for the bow to float up, and was suitable for "jumping" during the sailing process to reduce the resistance of the sea water.

Looking at the stubborn Portuguese old man with the expression "I am a professional, you are an amateur" in front of him, Marin made up his mind - next time, if the old man dares not to listen to his own opinion, the shipyard director will Change to be obedient. Next time, make sure to build an English Galen...