Although forty-three ships are not too many, they are not too few for historical Southeast Asian trade. According to Dutch records, the Chinese merchant ships that went to Batavia every year in the 17th century were no more than five years old.
Sixty ships, sometimes only one or twenty ships. At that time, the long-distance trade volume between China and Southeast Asia was only this small.
The arrival of the Senate has somewhat changed this historical situation. The Senate's large-scale import and export trade, especially the huge demand for bulk commodities, has greatly increased the number of ships traveling between them. In addition, in the future, several resource colonies in Southeast Asia will
The demand for shipping capacity will only increase further. Increasing shipping tonnage should start now.
The Planning Academy gave him a gift, which were the two Manila Galen ships captured from the Spanish during Operation Hunger. The tonnage of these two ships was not only in the Southeast Asia Company's fleet, but also in the entire East Asia.
, are the largest large ships in Southeast Asia. The St. Louis has a load capacity of 800 tons and a displacement of 1,450 tons, and the San Raymundo has a load capacity of 650 tons and a displacement of 1,200 tons.
After being captured in 1632, these two ships underwent a year-long repair and transformation. In 1633, they were incorporated into the transport fleet directly under the joint logistics and performed various "strategic" transport tasks for a long time.
Jeju, Sanya, Kaohsiung and other places. After the mainland invasion began, emergency transportation missions to Guangzhou were carried out many times.
However, although the San Luis San Reymundo has a large carrying capacity and a sturdy and durable hull, it is limited by the Galen ship's hull shape and sailing defects. Its speed is too slow. Under wind conditions, the maximum speed is only 7 knots. The average speed
No more than 4 knots. The loading and unloading capacity is also far inferior to the T800, which is optimized for cargo. The key is that it requires an absurdly large number of crew members. During long voyages, each ship requires at least 200 people to operate normally. The joint logistics fleet has sufficient transport capacity.
After that, Minister Hong "liked the new and disliked the old", Nanyang Company opened, and these two ships were eliminated from the joint logistics and were transferred to the surrounding hands.
To be honest, the people around them didn't look down on these two stupid big ships - although the ships were magnificent, they were much clumsier than the later large sailing battleships such as "Kingdom" and "Victory", and they couldn't install too many
Artillery - Galen is essentially a merchant ship.
But something is better than nothing. Not to mention, there is no larger ship than these two in the entire Southeast Asia Company's fleet. The largest Chinese-style sailing ships have a fully loaded displacement of no more than 800 tons. Now these two
The ship has been docked in Hong Kong for maintenance work. It is expected to be officially put into use next year.
"If you modify it, it will still be a Galen," the people around shook their heads with regret and put down the ship inventory. In his heart, what he wanted was a clipper ship. In his opinion, this kind of British design was used to transport tea.
The fast merchant ship was the one that best suited his needs.
In his mind, the future Nanyang Company would not only control maritime trade throughout Southeast Asia, but also imitate the British East India Company in the past and seize the Indian subcontinent as a jewel in the future crown of the Senate.
Ordinary sailing boats are considered qualified for traveling between Southeast Asia and China, but they are beyond the capabilities of sailing to India or even the further Red Sea routes. The speed of six or seven knots can only satisfy the "internal waters" of the South China Sea at best.
Maritime trade, going to India and the Red Sea coast, and even further to East Africa, required faster ships suitable for ocean voyages.
The people around were in a trance, and someone came in to announce: Wang Kai is here.
"What is he doing here?" There are some strange things around. This man has served as a trade commissioner in the ministry for a long time - he often travels between ports to coordinate trade and shipping plans, and is rarely in the office. In the Ministry of Colonial Trade, he can only be regarded as a nod.
However, he knew that Wang Kai was very fanatical about navigation. Except for the 1st generation, he knew all the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation very well. He had beaten him countless times. But he didn’t have much interaction with the people around him, let alone friendship.
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Perhaps he was preparing to come to Nanyang Company to develop his ambitions? It is not impossible to say that it is not impossible. After all, this person's obsession with sailing is obvious to all. When the shipyard of Bobu was still a beach shipyard, he would go to the shipyard all day long.
, he also participated in the founding of the "Grand Sailing Club". The hasty launch and unfinished completion of the Lichun were closely related to the advocacy of this club.
Since someone came to join the company just after he established his own business, it was also a good sign. People around him immediately said: "Invite him in."
A few minutes later, a fat, slightly bald man with glasses appeared in a nearby office, carrying a fake branded briefcase in his hand.
The two of them exchanged brief greetings and then took their seats. Wang Kai looked around and sighed: "I didn't expect Southeast Asia companies to be so shabby!"
"That's not bad. We were working in a container back then. At any rate, it was a decent house." He said as he took out a box of "Golden South China Sea" from the drawer, "Would you like one?"
"No, no," Wang Kai shook his head quickly, "It's okay to drink, but forget about smoking." He said and put down the briefcase carefully, as if it contained something valuable.
He took one nearby, lit it, and took a puff. In fact, he had no interest in tobacco products and could not experience the pleasure of nicotine. However, since the Senate came out with cigars, holding them in hand is quite ritual.
Sensitive things won his favor. After all, when discussing issues, holding one in your hand, taking a sip from time to time, and then blowing out the curls of smoke will not only make you appear calm and calm in terms of momentum, but also make you feel calm before speaking.
Give yourself enough time to think.
"What year was that in the container?" Wang Kai said, "Southeast Asia Company is an important enterprise of the Senate that radiates to Southeast Asia. To be treated like this, some people don't take Dahai seriously!"
If the Southbound faction can't say more than three sentences, it will inevitably involve topics such as "short-sightedness of the Executive Committee" and "unprofessionalism of the Government Affairs Council". As soon as these words are spoken, you will know that they are one of their own. The next step must be
Turn to the topic of demonstrating that "going south is an important opportunity for the development of the Senate."
However, Wang Kai did not follow this routine. He went straight to the point: "Now that you have opened a new store, I want to come to your place."
Everyone around nodded, which was expected. Speaking of which, his so-called Nanyang Company is now his one-person company, and it does need a few veterans to join in to discuss the big plan. Wang Kai has been engaged in maritime trade for many years, and his business is indeed
The people you need.
"Welcome!" Everyone nodded, "I'm in need of someone right here, that is, in the ministry..."
"It doesn't matter to Lao Si, I just say it." Wang Kai said carelessly, "I asked for transfer, can he still let me go?"
"What you said is correct. But the work in your hands..."
"I'll just seize the time to hand over the job these days." Wang Kai said, "One week is enough."
"That's good." People said, "Now is the time for me to build a team. Do you have any work intentions after coming?"
"As for me, my job in the Colonial and Trade Department is to engage in trade, and I can do this at the Nanyang Company. But I prefer to engage in exploration and other work, just like the Portuguese sailed along the coast of Africa and landed in a certain place.
, do some business with the indigenous people, and explore for any resources worth developing..."
"Then let's call it the Exploration Department," the people around said and frowned again, "We are a company, we can't use such an official name, why not call it the 'Development Department'. You can be the manager of the Development Department."
"It doesn't matter to me," Wang Kai waved his hand, "You can call me whatever you want, as long as you let me do this." As he said that, he opened his briefcase, took out some documents and handed them around.
"Look at the memo I wrote. These are some of my thoughts on the company's ships."
The surrounding people thought that this was unusual. They had just been considering the equipment of the company's ships, and the first thing Wang Kai did when he came was to talk about ships! Let's see what specific ideas he had.
When the document was in hand, there was as usual a lengthy analysis of the trade and navigation conditions in Southeast Asia - this was also the usual habit of people like them who had been tortured and bald by papers, so they skipped this part and went straight to the main text about ships.
It turns out that Wang Kai mentioned two types of ships that he "designed" or rather "improved" in his memorandum.
The first one he named "Surprise". Its prototype was the old-time "SS RJ Hackett" wooden-hulled steam-powered bulk freighter, which was used for bulk cargo transportation in the Great Lakes region of North America.
The "SS RJ Hackett" is 63.84 meters long, 9.88 meters wide, and has a cabin depth of 3.81 meters. The ship has a square shape and a large space. The registered gross tonnage is close to 1,500 (4,245 cubic meters) and can carry 1,100 tons of cargo. According to the plan, "Surprise"
The ship will be equipped with a 500-horsepower steam engine produced by Lingao, which is heavier than the steam engine of the prototype ship and can also reach a speed of 10 knots.
The biggest advantage of a bulk ship is that it can be loaded and unloaded quickly. Of course, the corresponding cargo is also ore that can withstand rough handling. The ship's wide and thick hull can well cope with the rapids in the lake area, and it has good seaworthiness even at sea.
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Bulk cargo is the main source of goods for the Senate's current foreign trade, including coal, rice, timber and various ores that will be purchased and transported in the future. However, there are currently few ships owned by the Senate that are suitable for these bulk cargoes. Loading and unloading time
Needless to say, a lot of additional packaging is often required. Bulk cargoes such as coal are still mainly transported by the Great Whale, a coastal barge brought from the old time and space. This "surprise" ship only exists on paper
"The "No. 1" is obviously very suitable for Nanyang Company's needs.
It's a pity that this ship needs a steam engine. Everyone knows that based on the production capacity of the industrial sector, high-power steam engines have to be queued up by the planning institute. The most optimistic estimate is that it will take a year to get the goods.