Chen Zuwang carefully controlled the steering wheel. Although he had learned theoretical knowledge, this was his first time to actually get started.
The control of the steering wheel is much more flexible than the steering gear lever.
It didn't take long for him to completely like this feeling.
Now that we have just left the coastline, there are still a lot of ice floes around, and we cannot let go of maneuver yet. Chen Zuwang carefully drove the world's first clipper ship towards the open sea.
The driving station of a sailboat is at the stern because the steering wheel is installed at the stern for easy maneuvering. Generally, the stern is made into the highest point on the whole ship to obtain a good view.
This clipper ship has an arc stern, that is to say, the stern is arc-shaped. This stern is the best layout position of the whole ship. This position is generally arranged with three floors as the living area for the officers and captain. , ordinary sailors are strictly prohibited from entering the stern.
The bottom of the three floors at the rear is the officer's room. It is close to the sea and the noise is relatively high. The waves sometimes hit the floor-to-ceiling windows at the back. Generally, windows cannot be opened.
The middle room is usually the residence of senior officers. It has a full floor-to-ceiling door and a balcony corridor at the end. This corridor is generally known as the Admiral's Corridor.
This corridor is used by senior officers to take a walk and enjoy the sea view and so on.
The top room is the captain's. The top of this room is the bridge, which is mainly for the convenience of the captain getting on and off the bridge.
In order to reduce windward resistance, clipper ships are basically flat-deck ships, with only the bridge one level above the deck.
Although this clipper ship of the Star is not big, it is a sailing vessel with mixed sails. The so-called mixed sail rig is a sailboat with both horizontal sail and fore-and-aft sail.
A square sail is the trapezoidal sail we often see on the mast. It is generally hung horizontally on the beam of the mast. Generally, each mast has three trapezoidal soft sails, upper, middle and lower.
The fore-and-aft sail is a triangular sail, usually hung lengthwise on the mast. A mast carries a fore-and-aft sail. It is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom and is triangular in shape, with the beam at the bottom of the sail. That is, the vertical direction of the mast and the horizontal direction of the bottom beam are used to fix the sail.
The advantage of a square sail is that it is most efficient when the wind is downwind. The efficiency is very low when there is a headwind.
On the contrary, the longitudinal sail is more efficient than the square sail when going upwind, but it is not as efficient as the square sail when going downwind.
There is currently no captain, and the helmsman can only serve as the captain. After all, Ming Yan does not understand navigation, and Chen Liang is only a shipbuilding engineer. Instead, he and Chen Zuwang come to learn navigation knowledge for use in future shipbuilding.
Chen Zuwang looked at the wind direction and anemometer next to him. This thing is a simple windmill structure. It is very primitive, but it can determine the current wind direction and speed based on the rotation speed and direction.
Because it is very simple, it will fail if the wind exceeds Level 6. Without instruments, the human eye cannot judge the speed of rapid rotation.
"Everyone is paying attention. Get ready to speed up. Hold on to things around you. Don't fall." As Chen Zuwang's assistant, Chen San shouted loudly with a tin trumpet.
At present, his level can only be used as a shout-out, but the old uncle has promised to teach him to steer, because Chen Zuwang has been appointed as the first captain of the Star. In this way, the helmsman must train another person.
Chen San was so excited that he didn't sleep all night, and the couple cried at each other. Although he was not as good as his uncle and could not get such a high salary, he still had five taels of silver a month.
Sixty taels a year was a high salary that the couple could not even imagine. Once they settled down in Vladivostok and my wife found something to do, the family's life became prosperous.
Chen Zuwang said: "Horizontal sail, half sail raised"
Chen San immediately conveyed the order.
The sailors quickly climbed up the mast and pulled up the sail ropes with a groan. The sails on the top, bottom and middle of the three masts were raised.
Chen Zuwang turned the steering wheel violently to the right, and the entire ship turned flexibly, instantly matching the direction of the northwest wind, and all the sails bulged.
The ship shook violently, then suddenly accelerated.
The milky white hull broke through the waves like an arrow leaving the string.
Although Li Gouzi is only twenty-three years old, he has been running a boat for ten years. When he was thirteen years old, his uncle took him on the boat as an apprentice and a small laborer, and this is how he came all the way.
At this time, he was running to the bow of the ship, throwing down a piece of wood with a cable attached to it, and then looked at his pocket watch. Then he quickly followed the wood to the stern of the ship, and then looked at his pocket watch. Lift the block out of the water, run to the bow of the boat again, and continue repeating this action.
He was testing his speed.
Because the length of the ship is clearly known, as long as the time it takes for the block of wood to travel from bow to stern is known, the ship's sailing speed at this time can be calculated.
At this time, the unit for calculating speed has been using modern standards at Yang Fan's request. Yang Fan mainly did it for his own convenience, otherwise the conversion would make his brain explode.
Fuzhou can reach 4.7 knots at full speed. This is the speed under the most ideal conditions, which is usually only three to four knots.
"Four knots!" Li Gouzi shouted after running to the stern of the boat. Then he pulled up the wooden block, turned around, ran to the bow of the ship, and continued to measure the speed.
He has an oilcloth in his hand, and on it is a table with the speed corresponding to the time. Just take a look at it.
Although it is primitive to use human power to report the speed, it is better than nothing. The four people on the bridge heard the speed and continued driving.
"Full sail" Chen Zuwang felt that the wind had become stronger, and the wind speed and direction meter next to him began to rotate at a high speed, and the arrow rotated and finally pointed to the southeast.
The wind is Category 5 and the wind direction is stable from the southeast.
As the sailors pulled the sail ropes, the upper sail was also raised. Viewed from behind, the outline of the entire sailboat seemed to become larger.
There was a loud bang, and as the jib of the forward mast was raised, the entire sailboat's sails were completely inflated, and the ship's speed suddenly surged. The whole ship shook again, the bow lifted up, the scissor-like bow cut through the waves, and rushed forward at high speed.
The wind got stronger and the waves got bigger.
The ship began to bump violently, and everyone grabbed hold of objects around them.
"It's seven knots!" Li Gouzi shouted excitedly from under the bridge. This was the first time he measured this speed. Fuchuan was too exhausted to drive at this speed.
Ming Yan and Chen Liang glanced at each other and became excited. It was indeed a high-speed ship. This speed was already twice the normal speed of the Fuzhou ship. Even at this speed, the range can be reduced by half.
But the ship was still accelerating, the bow of the ship directly broke the waves, and large amounts of water mist rose. Since the bow is hollow in design, it is lighter in weight, which is an advantage at this time.
When a ship sails at high speed, it is afraid of waves. When the waves surge onto the bow of the ship, it will push the bow down, directly increasing the resistance, affecting safety and easily causing accidents.
The sturdiness of the keel is also a test. If the keel is not strong enough, the bow will pick up a lot of waves, and under huge pressure, the ship may break into two pieces.
However, the Star with its hollow bow kept its bow raised high and never hit the waves. The ship continued to speed up.
"It's ten festivals," Li Gouzi shouted.
Suddenly the whole ship became excited. This speed is almost three times that of Fuzhou.
