"A ship that can sail underwater?!" Lando narrowed his eyes. This was the second meeting with Mr. De Fernando in the tavern. The news that the shipyard was building a submarine was really a bit confusing.
Surprised. Although Mr. Weiss Lando has never been a student who loves to learn, he still remembered the Turtle from the Revolutionary War that he had seen in a popular history textbook when he was a middle school student. Although he was not interested in it, he still remembered it.
This thing is capable of diving and sailing, and once attempted to destroy a British Navy battleship.
"This is so ridiculous. How can a boat float after it sinks? You must have drunk too much local wine."
"Swear to God, I didn't." Captain Fernando was afraid that the gold coins in his pocket would fly away again, and he described in detail the secret of this mysterious submarine that had been built and had already undergone a trial voyage.
According to Captain Fernando's description, this small submarine "resembles a shark" and has eight crew members. Its design is very simple, without facilities such as pressurized water tanks. Naturally, there is no need for water supply and drainage. The submarine uses
The crane is hoisted directly into the sea water. Through careful calculation of buoyancy and gravity, four external iron ballasts and four "oil-filled" leather bags are used to make the submarine suspended underwater in a fully loaded state.
Fat - at a depth of about 0.8 meters. At this depth, the observation tower on the bow of the boat is roughly slightly higher than the water surface and can observe the sea surface conditions. The crew of the submarine propels the submarine forward by hand-cranking the propeller and uses the rudder to control the direction. When it is necessary to float up
At that time, simply discarding the ballast tank can make the submarine float. Of course, at this time, the submarine no longer has the ability to dive. It must return to the port to re-equip the ballast.
"A submersible ship is great, but how are you going to operate it in combat? Obviously you can't fire cannons underwater."
"Yes." Captain Fernando agreed, "This involves another new weapon invented by the mysterious Mr. Gao Shan."
This thing did not exceed Lando's expectations - it was indeed a rod mine. He had seen the rod mine boats built by the Senate in Bopu and other places - since there was really no target worth dispatching, these rod mine boats were currently serving as security guards.
Port work.
In his opinion, this kind of useless weapon is very dangerous to operate - almost fatal - which means that it makes sense for a navy like the Senate to equip it with steam power and armor manufacturing capabilities.
"This weapon is very cleverly designed and can easily pierce the shell of an enemy ship. After attaching the mine body, the submarine can leave quietly - it will explode after thirty minutes, very punctual." Fernando
The captain spoke enthusiastically, seemingly not considering the dangers involved.
It’s crazy! Mr. Lando thought, using this kind of human power to propel a submarine without a periscope to conduct a rod mine attack is like a kamikaze attack team in the 17th century! This Captain Fernando probably doesn’t understand at all.
The great danger he faces.
"Any chance you can arrange for me to see the boat?"
"I'm afraid it's difficult. There are sentries around the dock all the time."
The man in black tapped the gold coins in his hand. Captain Fernando swallowed and said, "I'll find a way."
Captain De Fernando provided almost all the details of the submarine in several subsequent meetings, so that Mr. Lando, who had no drawing experience, was able to draw a picture based on his description that even he himself could read.
However, the matter of entering the shipyard to inspect the submarine on site has never been implemented. Mr. Lando decided not to wait any longer. Anyway, he already knew the general structure of the submarine. He didn’t know much about this ancient weapon.
Even if I see it, I can't analyze anything.
At this moment, Mr. Genolino's head is getting bigger and bigger: Seeing that the deadline stipulated in the new patrol boat contract is getting closer and closer, the recently established arms factory is sucking away all the skilled Chinese craftsmen like a water pump. Genolino
Nuo found that he didn't even have enough blacksmiths to make ship nails. The most terrible thing was that there was even a shortage of iron materials. If it hadn't been for that Paul? Gaoshan sent someone to generously send him some bent scrap iron materials, he really wouldn't have known
How to continue this work?
Although these iron materials seemed to have been corroded by soaking in sea water, after removing the rust spots and heating them, the blacksmiths at the shipyard praised these iron materials - they were all high-quality malleable wrought iron.
Genolino Panio had enough reason to curse this damn job. Just a few days ago, Count Fananova, a popular social star in Manila, sailed on the Esmeralda, which was as beautiful as a white swan.
Visit the shipyard. What a noble and generous man he was. Genolino could have repaired the yacht for him and easily took out a lot of gold coins from his pocket. But this noble man walked around the shipyard.
Shaking his head at the crowded slipway dock, he returned to the yacht and unmoored. Genolino's dream of making money came to nothing. At present, he could only try desperately to complete the patrol boat order before the deadline. He did not want to be dismissed by the Governor.
He was sent back to Havana in anger, and returned miserably to his never-ending career as a shipwright.
To make matters worse, the governor also ordered him to complete the renovation project of the Nautilus as soon as possible. For this purpose, Genolino was forced to allocate some of his precious manpower. Paul Alpine's masterpiece enjoyed special treatment and occupied the only available space in the shipyard.
The dry dock on the roof. The Governor generously allocated a lot of iron parts made in the munitions factory, as well as thin copper plates used to wrap the diving hull, and well-made copper nails. They were all rolled by a hydraulic mill, and the copper was shiny.
Genolino recognized that they were all fine tin and brass. However, he did not get the most urgently needed craftsmen. Instead, the governor sent a few soldiers to the shipyard to guard the dock where the Nautilus was parked day and night, guarding against "all suspicious people."
”.
The person in charge of the shipyard had to recruit manpower by himself. The local indigenous people were weak and lazy, and they could only do menial labor such as carrying wood. Fortunately, two new Chinese people came to the shipyard the morning before yesterday to seek employment.
, they are actually wearing shoes, it seems that they are not poor Chinese coolies, so they were not dragged into the munitions factory as soon as they got off the boat. The two Chinese are wearing short coats and hats, and their carpentry and painting skills are so-so. Hot
Nolino particularly noticed their strong arms, which could effortlessly carry lumber that only two or three Tagalogs could carry. Looking at the shipwrights and coolies working hard, the person in charge of the shipyard seemed to feel that his headache was relieved.
Some. He stepped outside the office, looked at the already darkened sky, and ordered dinner. Mr. Genolino Panio's dinner was not that delicious, and it was worth the taro soup and not too much water.
Tuba wine, those rough pagans must do a lot of work.
The night was getting darker. Just like usual in tropical areas, clear mist filled the night sky, covering the moon, forming a soft and complete halo of color around it. The Spaniards had never established a strict night production system, so when
After Mr. Genolino returned to his cool and comfortable residence, the overseers also slipped back into their cabins to sleep. Most of the local coolies were drunk, stretching out under the slipway and snoring.
Faint lights can still be seen in a few places in the shipyard, which are fires lit with waste wood chips and old ship cables to facilitate night work. Two Chinese men are still working in an orderly manner, and the thick saw blades pulled by them are
With his hands creaking rhythmically, Mr. Genolino ordered them to prepare enough wood for tomorrow. A group of fires lit up from time to time next to the covered dock in the distance. It was the soldiers sent by the governor to lift the wood.
Patrolling with torches.
However, at midnight, all the hustle and bustle in the shipyard gradually stopped. The work speed of the two strong Chinese men also slowed down. It seemed that they also felt tired and needed a rest. The Chinese finally dropped the saw blade and walked towards the shipyard.
In the dark covered dock, no one saw their actions; even if they did, they just thought that the two were looking for a quieter place to sleep.
Two colonial soldiers sat smoking behind the dock. The torches were burned out, but the patrol around the dock continued until after sunrise before someone came to take over. It was tedious and tiring. The strange olive-shaped ship under the roof was still there at first.
It can arouse their curiosity, but patrolling such a ship all day long is really boring.
There were soft footsteps in front. A soldier raised his head alertly and grabbed a matchlock gun leaning against the dock wall with one hand. He quickly let go of his hand. It turned out that two soldiers were walking towards this side.
The Chinese craftsmen who were working all wore hats, and the moonlight shone on their "chiluo" upper bodies that were shiny with sweat. They also wore shabby short jackets on their shoulders.
The two colonial soldiers were both Pampanga people recruited from Macabebe and could not understand Chinese, but they were used to the pitiful flattery that the Chinese in the Philippines involuntarily showed when facing the colonial soldiers. They walked up to them.
The Chinese hunched over, holding their clothes in their hands, pointing at the soldier's cheroot, and made a few fire-lighting gestures. The Pampanga mercenary determined that the two Chinese were here to borrow fire, and he took it from his arms.
He took out his fire sickle and tinder bag, waved them in front of the Chinese, then put them back in his pocket, waiting for the Chinese to show disappointment and pain after being fooled. Compared with being slapped with a bamboo whip by a sergeant on the training ground, this trick was worse.
It's much more interesting.
The Chinese people's actions suddenly became very strange. The Pampanga soldier felt in panic that his arms were violently restrained. Out of instinct, he wanted to open his mouth and shout, but the tattered clothes held in his hands had already blocked him.
From his mouth, only a few shouts that were blocked in his chest came out. The cold blade pierced the throat, and the life of the colonial soldier was ended, and he fell to the cold ground with his companions.