Chapter 140 Arrival in Thanh Hoa
Perhaps due to favorable winds and rivers, the colonial fleet maintained a relatively high speed after setting off. It passed the offshore area south of Yazhou at noon that day, and successfully arrived at Yinggezui in the evening. After discussing with the shipping department personnel on the "Business Transport 01" via the radio, the fleet commander Wang Tom decided to still drive through the night and continue sailing westward, but the speed would have to be slowed down by at least half. If the fleet becomes separated when sailing at night, it will also be an extremely troublesome matter. The speed is reduced so that each ship can maintain the same course in the dark.
As for how to identify the correct course when sailing at night, with a group of veteran crew members on the "Speed", this problem is not difficult for Chuanchuang. Other ships only need to follow the "Speed". In order to allow the ships in the fleet to easily identify the pilot ship at night, a large ring-shaped LED light was specially installed on the top of the mast of the "Speed". This light is powered by a solar panel and is turned on after dark. When the weather is fine, Under such conditions, it is clearly visible within a distance of two nautical miles. Strings of lanterns were also hung on the masts and sterns of other Chinese sailing ships to keep other ships in the vicinity at a reasonable sailing distance and avoid collisions during night sailing. Each ship has a crew with a walkie-talkie on board, and they are constantly communicating through wireless communications to keep the fleet's night marching formation from being too loose.
When Chinese ships went to sea in this era, captains and crews mainly relied on tools such as "needle books" that recorded various routes and relatively primitive compasses to identify routes. The "needle book" is equivalent to a written version of the navigation guide. In addition to recording routes, headings and sailing times between ports, it also records the ebb and flow times of seawater in each port, and the dangerous reefs and shoals that need to be avoided on the route. and other hydrological data.
However, the routes recorded in such "needle books" are often limited to a few places known to the maker, and different "needle book" makers may have greatly different descriptions of the same route, and there is no one relative A relatively objective standard. This was also limited by the navigation technology and social environment at the time. People who relied on the sea to make a living often passed on their work from generation to generation, and no one would take out their own food and share it with others. In this way, even if someone discovers an emerging overseas route, it will not spread among the people quickly, which will also indirectly reduce the enthusiasm of the people to explore unknown waters.
The advantage of Chuan Chuanzhong is that he has more detailed nautical charts and various hydrological data, and has various advanced navigation instruments produced by later generations. He can accurately calculate the route of the ship, and there is no need to record it in a "needle book" Use the "stargazing method" to identify the navigation direction at night.
That night the fleet maintained an average speed of about three knots and continued to move west-north. After reducing the speed, the crew was divided into two shifts to take turns to rest, but their sleeping place could only be on the deck in case of emergency. With the shining pilot boat in front of them, the captains on each ship felt a lot more relaxed. They did not need to spend energy identifying the course in the dark, and they only needed to direct the ships to follow the pilot boat in front.
The next morning, the pilot ship used a sextant to measure the longitude and latitude, and concluded that the distance traveled yesterday night was only about a quarter of the distance between Yinggetsui and Thanh Hoa. The fleet had to make a temporary stop after dawn, and several people with severe seasickness were transferred from various ships to the "Speed". Compared with the sea-going ships of the same era, the catamaran-structured "Speed" is indeed much more stable when sailing at sea. This is also done to make these unlucky people feel a little more relaxed in the coming time.
In the next day, the fleet moved at full speed, but it only covered less than a hundred nautical miles before dark. Considering that it was still about 40 to 50 nautical miles away from the east coast of Vietnam, the fleet decided to Stay up one more night so you can arrive on the east coast of Vietnam to rest up the next morning.
The crew had to brace themselves up and continue moving through the night. The "Speed" is very relaxed. One person is responsible for driving the direction, and two people are responsible for raising and lowering the sail. Only three people can control this thirty-meter-long sailing ship very conveniently. The six members of the North American team were divided into two groups and 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 navigation charts in the cabin in order to calculate the voyage.
Shi Diwen yawned greatly, dropped the pencil in his hand and said: "This trip is much more pleasant than the last time I came here. In my memory, it has been a long time since I have sailed for more than forty-eight hours continuously."
< br>
"The main reason is that the ship is slow." Wang Tom also felt quite helpless that his ship had to slow down and wait for other ships: "Other ships can't even reach half of our speed. It's not difficult to imagine What will happen if they don’t have a pilot ship in the future? We think it will take them an extra day to complete the voyage from Qinghua to Yinggetsui.”
"It would be great if the speed of these ships could be increased a little, even to about ten knots, so that they could cover this distance in one day and one night, and the crew would not be so tired." Roger also joined in. in their discussion.
"The ship currently being built by the shipyard is said to have a design speed of more than ten knots." Wang Tom said: "If this route uses ships of more than ten knots for transportation, the entire voyage can be shortened by at least one day. ”
"I went to see the ship at the shipyard. It was a Chinese sailing ship, just like the ships in our fleet. Can the average speed of a Chinese sailing ship reach more than ten knots?" Roger asked Wang Tom's statement expressed doubts.
"Yes, they are indeed building a Chinese-style sailboat, but I heard that the Shipping Department has redesigned the sails and rigging. They 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 weirdo who doesn't look like anything else." Shi Diwen sighed.
Although Wang Tom is not yet clear about the details of the Maritime Department's construction plan, considering that the Maritime Department had internal discussions for more than half a month before the ship was built, it is certainly impossible to completely copy the old design of the Chinese sailboat. 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 the moment. At most, it is just to increase the length-to-width ratio of the hull, so in the end The possible changes are in the design of the mast and sails.
It is well known that Western-style sailboats can sail faster on the sea. This has a lot to do with the sails used by Western-style sailboats. By heightening the mast and increasing the number of masts, the wind-receiving area of the sails is increased, thereby increasing the speed. However, it is not easy to heighten the mast of a Chinese-style sailboat. If the length of the mast exceeds the length of the hull, it will capsize. Therefore, compared with its competitors, the sail area of a Chinese-style sailboat is generally limited, which is a disguised problem. This limits the maximum speed the ship can reach.
Of course, the shortcomings of Western-style sailboats are also very obvious. Since the mast is raised, a large number of stay ropes must be used to pull the mast. This will greatly limit the rotation angle of the Western-style sail, making it impossible for the ship to effectively utilize crosswinds and headwinds. So much so that so-called fast sailing boats can only achieve relatively fast speeds when there is a tailwind. At the same time, due to the complexity of sail 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 sailboat is relatively small, it is advantageous in that it is easy to operate. It only requires a small number of crew members to control it, and it can take advantage of winds coming from almost all directions. But as for how to combine the two types of sails and learn from each other's strengths, Wang Tom, a navigation expert, didn't have any good ideas. After all, this kind of professional knowledge involving ship design and fluid mechanics was not his area of expertise.
After spending the second sleepless night at sea, the pilot "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 relayed to other ships via walkie-talkies, the exhausted crew members cheered.
After discussion, a group of people from the colonization team headquarters decided to go to the estuary of the Qinghua River where the last expedition stopped to see how the current refugee situation was there, and then dock for a day to rest before moving on.
The place where the fleet arrived at the coast was about ten miles south of the mouth of the Qinghua River, a small fishing village called Censhan. The "Speed" put down its rubber assault boat and landed first to visit the fishing village, but the result surprised everyone. The fishing village here is already deserted. Judging from the clean houses, the residents here have all moved away with their families - perhaps it is more accurate to say that they have fled.
"It seems that the situation here is deteriorating faster than we thought." Wang Tom also felt a little incredible when faced with such a situation. The last time I came here, there were a large number of refugees gathering nearby. In just over twenty days, even the residents here had left their homes and became war refugees.
"It's not easy to cross the Qinghua River. If we continue to go north, we should encounter a large number of refugees." Roger suggested.
So the fleet gave up its plan to dock here and continued sailing north. After arriving at the mouth of the Qinghua River, the fleet turned into the river and went upstream for a short distance. Shi Diwen, who was in charge of the lookout, shouted from the bow: "Look, Roger is right! There are things on the shore. So many people!”
There were more people waiting to cross the river here than when the expedition team arrived last time. It was so dark that there were 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 suddenly lit up: "It seems that the labor force we need must be available!"
(End of chapter)