Naval Discussion 3

Paul Greiman had been studying the ship compendium he'd "borrowed" from the shipyard supervisor whenever he had free time lately.

He discovered that even the ships popular in the South were galleys, similar to the galleys of the Mediterranean on Earth. This was a narrow, long, low, and flexible type of ship that relied on oars as its primary means of propulsion. Although it also had sails, they were only used to allow the oarsmen to conserve their energy during long voyages.

Each side had only one row of long oars. Large oars could be over ten meters long and weigh up to 300 kilograms. Therefore, each oar was generally operated by three to eight people, and some large ships were often equipped with hundreds of oarsmen.

Most of the southern countries used criminals and slaves as oarsmen, and large numbers of oarsmen were crammed into small spaces like sardines in a can.

When the ship sailed, the oarsmen, under the threat of whips, desperately cranked their "muscle engines" to the rhythm of the drums.

There was a saying to describe the life of an oarsman on a ship: "If there is a hell in this world, then hell is in a galley, where one never knows what rest is."

The oarsmen spent their days with the rowing benches, drifting at sea, listening to the whistle's commands, either emboldened by alcohol or enduring whippings when tense.

"What an inhumane era! The evil old society."

Paul sighed, grateful that his background after transmigrating wasn't too bad.

This type of galley existed as early as the Gabella Empire. The reason it had endured for so long was mainly because the Horn Bay area was calm, and the super-strong power and flexibility generated by human-powered rowing in a short period of time had great advantages in that marine environment. This was very important for the southern countries' naval battles and merchants evading pirates.

Other countries' maritime trade was not developed, and they had no motivation to innovate shipbuilding technology, so they generally imitated the ships of the Horn Bay area, resulting in almost all the ships used worldwide being Horn Bay galleys or their variants, such as the type Paul saw in the shipyard a few days ago.

Galleys were mostly flat-bottomed and did not have a deep draft, which was an advantage in shallow seas, but not in deep seas, because there were many crew members, including oarsmen, and supplies were also a big problem.

Paul needed a full-sail-powered ship that could cross the ocean. According to his calculations, if he wanted to transport goods to the South by sea, it would take more than 2,000 nautical miles to travel from Northwest Bay to Horn Bay.

If he didn't go through southern merchants as intermediaries and went to the East to sell goods himself, the distance he would have to travel would be even longer. It was unimaginable to him to row that distance with oarsmen.

What's more, he had a "small" wish: to recruit explorers to carry out a circumnavigation like Magellan. "The world is so big, I also want to understand it."

The theory of a spherical Earth was already widely circulated in most countries, but there was still a lack of direct and effective evidence. If the expedition he supported proved that the earth under his feet was round, it would inevitably leave a strong mark on the history of this world.

However, as it stood, there were no conditions for this wish to be realized. He found a carpenter and made two models of full-sail ships according to his memories of his previous life.

One was based on the Swedish New Gothenburg, with a narrow top and wide bottom U-shaped hull, and three decks—the lower deck, the upper deck, and the open deck.

There were three masts, each with square sails. The main mast and foremast were equipped with a topgallant sail, a topsail, and a mainsail, and the mizzenmast had a mizzen topsail and a large triangular mizzen sail.

At the bow was a bowsprit with a jib boom, and hanging below it were two more square corner sails: the spritsail and the spritsail topsail.

Equipping triangular sails was to better utilize the Bernoulli effect, allowing the ship to sail in headwinds, while the U-shaped hull would make the ship's cargo capacity larger, its draft deeper, and its sailing more stable, but it also meant increasing the risk of running aground.

In Paul's vision, if this type of ship could be built, it would become the main equipment of the navy in the early stage, and after being equipped with cannons, it would be able to run rampant on the oceans of this world.

The other was a model of a clipper ship. This type of ship had small freeboards and fewer superstructures, which not only improved the ship's stability but also allowed the sails to be fully utilized.

The ship sailed almost close to the water surface, and its underwater shape was designed as a minimum resistance body to increase speed, but it maintained a certain lateral resistance profile, resulting in a particularly beautiful waterline. The waterline at the bow had a concavity, and the long and pointed curved clipper bow presented a posture suitable for racing, which could split waves and reduce wave resistance at sea, hence the name clipper.

Compared to the Gothenburg, the clipper ship's bowsprit extended the length of the hull, and a jib boom extending along the bowsprit could hang more staysails at the bow, which was conducive to expanding the capacity of the sails.

The hollow bow made it easier for the ship to lift its bow in the waves, improving its course stability in the waves. The gradually thinning stern with a sloping waterline transitioned very harmoniously to the narrow round stern, harmoniously blending with the beautiful bow shape.

However, the clipper ship sacrificed load capacity for speed and was not suitable for equipping a large number of cannons. Paul planned to use this type of ship to transport small quantities of high-value goods after it was built, or equip it to the future coast guard for combating pirates and smuggling.

When the shipyard supervisor Rubin saw these two models, his eyes almost popped out.

Indeed, regardless of whether these two types of ships were reasonably designed in the eyes of the native aborigines of another world, in terms of aesthetics alone, they far exceeded the current galleys. The novel and beautiful shapes made the shipyard supervisor's heart itch.

"Works of art!"

Rubin shamelessly begged Earl Paul to leave the models in his shipyard, which was exactly what Paul wanted. He couldn't wait for this shipbuilding expert to think about it more.

He originally wanted to make a model of the sailing era's holy ship, the Victory, for Rubin to refer to, but when he thought about the simple conditions in his shipyard, it was a bit whimsical to build such a behemoth, so he had to settle for making this small ship.

He asked expectantly, "Can you build two real ships according to these two models?"

However, even this wish was going to be in vain. The shipyard supervisor examined the models carefully for a long time, and finally admitted hesitantly that with the current technical strength and experience of the shipyard's craftsmen, even if the raw materials and other issues were not considered, it would probably take a "very, very long" time to build them.

Paul understood what he meant. This "very, very long" was probably the year of the monkey.

"You might as well just say you can't build them."

The disappointment in Earl Paul's words was very obvious. Rubin was a little anxious. He had finally gained Earl Paul's attention, and even sacrificed the ship compendium he had painstakingly compiled.

He had a flash of inspiration and gave Paul an idea: "Lord, don't worry. Haven't you recently saved some big shot from the Horn Bay Alliance? If you can dig up a batch of craftsmen from the South through him, it should be helpful. I heard that the shipbuilders in the South have built all kinds of strange ships."

Earl Paul looked at him with a playful smile and said, "Aren't you afraid that there will be capable people among the new craftsmen who will steal your position?"

"Ah? This... this..." Rubin was a little flustered. He hadn't thought of this just now. He was too rash.

"Haha!" Seeing Rubin's unease, Paul stopped teasing him, patted him on the shoulder, and comforted him, "Don't worry, as long as you old-timers study hard, delve into your work, and keep improving, I will definitely not forget you. Blood is thicker than water, we're all from the same hometown!"

"Yes, sir! I will definitely study the technology diligently and live up to your expectations." Rubin breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest to assure him.

Paul looked out at the sea, thinking silently in his heart, "It's time to talk to that young master Foster."

Thanks to "Purple Maze Kui," "Ink Silence Like Water," and "Hutu Gui" for their rewards.

Thanks to "seed198903" for the continued recommendations.