Wen Desi followed Zhang Ji to see the ships. He had built many models of Western ships, and he also dabbled in Chinese maritime ships out of interest. What made Wen Desi dissatisfied was that there was far less research on this aspect in China than abroad.
It is not as professional as foreign countries. Even the models of ancient Chinese ships are mostly collected abroad. There is very little information available.
There is no dry dock in the shipyard, it is placed directly on the ship frame. Wen Desi knew that the history of dry dock can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty. This method was used to repair dragon boats during the Xining period, but it seems that not many people used it later.
An isolated case. If it weren’t for Shen Kuo’s records, I’m afraid most people wouldn’t know that this happened.”
"How to launch this ship?" Wen Desi was very interested in how to launch this ship in ancient times when there were no slipways and docks.
"Just cover the beach with mud and pull it with a rope."
It's really simple. Wen Desi nodded, saying that the wisdom of the people is infinite is not an empty talk.
The ship is almost 70% complete. The hull has been formed, but the deck has not been installed. With his limited knowledge of ancient ships, Mr. Wen can tell that this is a so-called "Guangzhou ship". It was in ancient China
It is a large ship among sea-going ships. The hull is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, and has a slight stern. The biggest feature is that there is a plug-in plate at the center line that is deeper than the keel. This plug-in plate plays a role in slowing down the swing and drift. It is
One of the major features of Guangzhou Shipbuilding is that it is about a 400-ton ship in size, which is the largest ship allowed by the Ming government to be built privately. Although Chinese shipbuilders are undoubtedly capable of building large ships of 1,000 tons, the ships are too large to operate.
It's very difficult and has no practical significance.
Wen Desi visually inspected the length and found that the length was about 27 meters long and more than 5 meters wide. He roughly estimated the displacement to be 70 tons. This is almost the same as other 400 material ships they have in hand. It can be seen that the 400 material ships already have a certain standard.
Wen Desi asked Zhang Ji whether he used ship books for shipbuilding. Zhang Ji looked embarrassed and said with a red face: "There is no ship book."
Wen Desi knew that he had to keep his technical secrets secret, and he thought that he would not impress you because he was afraid that there would be a lot of verbosity in hiding in the future. He cleared his throat and reported a series of numbers in Cantonese:
"The 400-material battleship is 8 feet, 6 feet, 9 inches long, 1 feet 7 feet wide, and requires 2,487 workers..."
Before he finished speaking, Zhang Jiji knelt down on the ground with an ordinary sound, his face full of fear: "Big... big... man..."
Wen Desi said: "Get up, what are you afraid of?!"
"It turns out that adults all know——"
"When you get to Bopu and see our large and small iron ships, you will realize the depth of ingenuity in the world. What does a ship book mean?" Wen Desi thought to himself that this is just the most basic information for ancient ship enthusiasts.
Things from "The Story of the Southern Ship".
"Yes, yes." Zhang Jiji knew that this gentleman was an expert, and he also heard that there were completely different iron ships to see. He couldn't help himself for a long time, and it became much more enjoyable to introduce the ships.
The ship that was about to be completed was a two-masted ship, and the hull was made of fir. This was different from the information in Wen Desi's memory. He remembered that the book said that the characteristic of the Guangzhou ship was "ironwood". The Fubo they captured
The ship was also a Guangzhou ship. Although it did not use ironwood, it also used lychee wood, which is also a hardwood.
Faced with Wen Desi's inquiry, Zhang Jiji said that this was entirely a matter of cost. The price of ironwood was high, fir wood was plentiful and cheap, and its strength was decent. According to him, it was ordered by a maritime merchant in Guangdong.
Every time I go to Nanyang for trade, I buy a new ship. I don’t care about the quality of the ship, as long as it can arrive safely. When I get there, I sell all the ship and cargo, and then take another ship back. So the ship is almost disposable and the materials are used.
Save if you can, as long as it's cheap.
"How much silver does a ship like this cost?"
"The going price is eight hundred taels. If we use good wood, we can add another two hundred taels."
So the price of a ship is only one thousand taels. It seems that the navy has been a big spender of money since ancient times. It is better to introduce private capital into shipbuilding.
From a structural point of view, the ship is divided into 13 cabins by 12 bulkheads. The bulkhead boards are made of large camphor boards with a thickness of more than 10 centimeters. This is the world's leading level of ancient Chinese sailing ships.
The structure: watertight cabin. There are beam-supporting ribs at the junction of the watertight bulkhead and the hull shell and are fixed with iron nails. There are two drainage holes in the bulkhead and the beam-supporting ribs near the bottom of the ship, which makes Wen Desi a little bit
Surprised - with the weeping hole open, how can this watertight cabin be waterproof?
Zhang Jiji explained that these water holes are to facilitate the drainage of accumulated water in the cabin, and they can be blocked with special wooden plugs during navigation.
The ship's planks are all made of fir. The bottom plank is more than 20 cm thick, the side planks are 15 cm, and the plank width is 8 to 20 cm. The middle part of the ship is the widest and gradually narrows at the head and stern. The transverse connection of the ship planks is flat, and the longitudinal connection is flat.
Connect the same ports, and fill the gaps between the boards with twisted material. This is made of hemp silk, tung oil and oyster shell ash. The component of tung oil is glyceryl tung oil, which is prone to oxidation and polymerization. The paint film formed is tough and water-resistant.
The calcium carbonate content of oyster shell ash is more than 90%. Lime fired at high temperature is most suitable for blending tung oil. Lime itself has strong adhesiveness. Mixing lime and tung oil can promote the polymerization and drying of tung oil to form calcium tung oil, which is waterproof
The durability is excellent. Iron nails are used to connect these ship plates, and the nail holes are covered with putty twisting material.
Third, there is a bowmast and a mainmast seat in front of the seventh bulkhead. The mast seat is a large piece of camphor wood fixed on the bulkhead and hull. There are two square holes on it. The mast clamping post is inserted into the square hole and then passed through.
The mast clamp can be used to fix the mast. A characteristic of Chinese sailboats is that the mast can be folded down and disassembled. A rotating shaft is set on the mast base and a square hole is left on the bulkhead for the mast to rest.
The ballast is pebbles that can be seen everywhere on the beach. Zhang Jiji said that it is mainly placed under the third and fourth cabins. There are beams on both sides to lay the bottom deck, where cargo and personnel live.
The rudder is made of hardwood. Although it is a one-time ship, the key parts are still unambiguous. The rudder is a primitive balanced rudder that can be lifted and lowered, and there are many holes in the rudder plate. According to Zhang Ji, this is
It allows the rudder to be operated with less effort, which is also a unique design on Guangzhou ships.
What interested Wen Desi the most was the many shipbuilding raw materials accumulated in the work shed, especially iron parts. Chinese ships began to use iron nails to connect ship plates since the Warring States Period, and it was fully mature by the Tang and Song Dynasties. Now I can see these things with my own eyes. Wouldn't it make him excited? There are six or seven types of iron nails here: shovel nails, square nails, jujube nails, climbing nails, flat head nails, all in different forms and with different uses. There is also a strange one The ruler-shaped iron component is about 50 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 0.6 cm thick. One section is folded into a right angle, and there are four small holes on the ruler. Zhang Jiji said that these are curium nails used to connect ship plates. Their function It is to connect the outer plate to the bulkhead. The method is to pre-cut the curly groove on the bulkhead, open the holes and seams in the outer plate, drive the curly nails from the outside inward and seat them in the curly groove on the bulkhead. Then use Nails secure the rivets to the bulkhead.
Wen Desi walked around the boat, looking at this real open boat, and wondering if he could turn this boat into a sailing cruiser. But after thinking about it carefully, he felt that this boat was still too small, a 400-ton ship. The deadweight tonnage is only 30 to 40 tons, and the maximum number of warships is 6 to 8 cannons. Its transportation capacity is too pitiful for the massive amounts of raw materials required for industrialization. The speed of making an exploration ship is too slow, so it seems that we still need to do it. The schooner he knew and loved best.
"Old Zhang," Wen Desi said, "what do you think of the red-haired boat?"
"The ships are tall, have cannons, and are not afraid of wind and waves and pirates."
"anything else?"
"The sails and cables are exquisite," Zhang Jiji said honestly, "It's fast. I watched it for a long time on a red-haired ship. It's probably because the mast is high, there's a lot of canvas, and it's exposed to strong winds. But I still can't see the real mystery. "
"Well, I know all this."
Zhang Jiji looked at Wen Desi, his eyes shining brightly. But he knew that craftsmanship was the cost of food. How could this master tell him so easily? He couldn't help but dim again.
Wen Desi smiled: "Let me tell you, in Australia where we came, shipbuilding is taught in exclusive schools. The shipbuilding skills you and I know are just superficial. If you are interested, someone will teach you in the future. you."
Zhang Jiji hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed a few times: "If Master Meng taught me the secret technique, Zhang Jiji would be extremely grateful and will be driven by this master all his life."
"Well, get up." Wen Desi found a big rock to sit down on, and opened the book in his hand. Inside was a line drawing of a sailboat.
"Can you build this boat?"
Zhang Jiji studied it for a long time. This picture was completely different from the pictures he saw in the ship's book: the proportions were strict, and the lines were clear and accurate. It was not just a simple outline. The special three-dimensional view gave people a more intuitive feeling. He He secretly smacked his tongue - if he only learned the art of cartography, he would be able to eat and drink for the rest of his life. These people are indeed not ordinary people.
He asked a few questions about proportions and roughly estimated that the ship would cost about a thousand materials. Such a large ship had never been built by machinery.
"I've never made one this big before." Zhang Ji said carefully, "I'm willing to give it a try."
The ship Wen Desi chose was a two-masted schooner. This fast schooner is flexible and fast. It can operate with less than 10 people without considering the armament. In addition to carrying cargo, it can also carry 30 official passengers.
. Very suitable for ocean adventures and maritime patrol operations. The famous America is a two-masted schooner. It won the regatta in 1851 with only 9 sailors and captains. Later, it served as a member of the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
The smuggling ship has a displacement of 170 tons, a total length of 30 meters, a width of 7 meters, and a draft of 3 meters. It is equipped with two 24-pound short guns (broadside guns) and a 12-pound long gun (central rotary gun position). If equipped with a lighter
The 6-pounder cannon can be installed with 6 to 8 pieces.