1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 73 Steamship

Four steamships with a displacement of more than a thousand tons stand tall in the port of San Francisco, and all the small boats are overshadowed by their mighty majesty.

The three large steamships that have completed the handover have their new names, namely the California, the Oregon, and the Nevada.

As civilian ships, the large steamships of more than 1850 tons in [-] were out-and-out behemoths, representing the most advanced shipbuilding technology of this era.

There are not many shipyards in the United States that can produce large-scale steamships. With these three large-scale steamships, Global Shipping Company has stepped into the threshold of large-scale shipping companies in the United States.

In 1850, although steamships had already emerged, it often took a long process for new things to replace old things, just like the dispute between fuel vehicles and electric vehicles in later generations.

At this time, most of the ships on the sea were sailboats, and sail-steam hybrid ships with steam boilers installed.

Due to the immature technology of steamships in the early days, incidents of boiler explosions occurred frequently, and people still remained skeptical about the safety and reliability of steamships.

Even the U.S. Navy at the same time was still dominated by sail warships. There were only 16 steamships of various types, 9 of which were miniature steamships with a displacement of less than [-] tons. To make it sound nice, the U.S. Navy called it It is an advanced small destroyer.

To put it bluntly, it is just an offshore patrol boat. Like the American Army at the same time, the US Navy at this time is not considered powerful when looking at the world.

But whether it is strong or not depends on who it is compared with. Compared with Yingfa, it is indeed the younger brother, but if it is compared with those small sampans of the Japanese shogunate, it is the father among the fathers.

"This boat is so big and stable!"

Thinking of the painful experience of taking the Cape Town, this is the most intuitive feeling that the California brought to Deng Wenyu.

"In the future, our San Francisco shipyard will build more advanced and bigger steamships than this!"

Liang Yao caressed the railing of the California, and the ships in the berthing area of ​​the port, like his subjects, crawled under the California.

The displacement of the California is as high as 1400 tons, which is about 200 to 300 tons higher than that of the Oregon and Nevada.

"The California, with a deck length of 71 meters, has two huge walking beam engines, the stroke of which is a full 3 meters, and a total of 4 huge boilers, each with a diameter of 3 meters.

This is currently the most advanced steam engine in the United States!This ship was designed by Mr. Vanderbilt himself. For designing such an advanced and avant-garde pure steam-powered ship, Vanderbilt deserves to be a Commodore. "

Sven was very excited. He changed his slovenly image, specially shaved his beard, and put on a brand new captain.

"Whether it is the California or the James Day, these ships are nothing more than Mr. Vanderbilt's hands-on work. Mr. Vanderbilt's proud work is the Polaris still lying in the dock."

Liang Yao stood with his hands behind his back, letting the salty sea breeze blow over his face.

"If all three ships are used to carry passengers, how many people can they carry?"

This is what Liang Yao is most concerned about.

"Excluding crew, the California can carry 420 passengers, the Oregon can carry 380 passengers, and the Nevada can carry 360 passengers."

Although it hasn't been long since he took over the ship, Sven already knows the data of the three ships like the back of his hand.

"Such a big ship can only carry so few people?"

Liang Yao frowned and said that he was not satisfied with the result. According to the passenger capacity, he would have to go back and forth twice to transport the [-] laborers needed by Vanderbilt.

And his original intention of buying these ships was not to transport labor for Vanderbilt.

"If you don't consider the comfort of the boat, it's no problem to double the passenger capacity. This is a purely steam-powered ship!" Sven said.

"Is there a danger of overturning when overloaded?" Liang Yao asked.

"As long as you don't load too much cargo, it's absolutely fine!" Sven assured, patting his chest.

Liang Yao nodded with satisfaction: "After arriving in Guangzhou, recruit some Chinese sailors on the spot. We will have many such steamships in the future."

Sven didn't have much resistance to Liang Yao's request. When he was in the Danish Asian Company, the Danish boss preferred to use Danish sailors. Later, when he came to the British Steamboat Company, the British boss also preferred to use British sailors.

Liang Yao is Chinese, so it is reasonable to hire some Chinese sailors, and it is not an excessive request.

"Understood, boss." Sven nodded, and then eagerly asked, "When will the fleet leave for Guangzhou?"

Looking at the vast Pacific Ocean, Sven is gearing up to conquer the ocean in front of him. This is the largest ocean in the world, and it is also the most dangerous ocean. Only the bravest fleet and captains have the courage to cross the Pacific Ocean.

"Is there enough fuel on board?" Liang Yao asked.

"Fuel enough!" Sven replied.

"Prepare enough supplies and go."

"It's just that this is illegal immigration after all. If the Qing government interferes, what should we do?" Sven said what he was most worried about.

When carrying dozens of Chinese gold prospectors, the Cape Town used small boats to send people up secretly.

What he is transporting now is more than [-] Chinese illegal immigrants at a time. With such a big momentum, he must not be able to hide it from the local magistrate.

"I will send someone to bribe the local magistrate, and I will also select a few people who are proficient in English and Chinese from the immigrant hostel to assist you."

Liang Yao said that if you don't have money, you need to emigrate secretly. As long as you have enough money, those officials in the Qing Dynasty have no bottom line at all.

The next day, Vanderbilt was gone, but not quite.

Vanderbilt left his right-hand man, Nigel, in California to be in charge of the California Shipping Company and to prepare for the establishment of the Western Mining Company, which is the mining company led by Vanderbilt. The main shareholders are those in the Vanderbilt circle Old boy.

Before arriving in California, Vanderbilt's idea was to put Kony in charge of California Shipping, hoping that Kony would get some exercise from it.

It's just that Kony's performance really disappointed Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes again.So he changed his mind.

No matter how rich the Vanderbilt family is, it is not so wasteful. After careful consideration, Vanderbilt still decided not to let Coney get involved in the affairs of the California Shipping Company.Instead, let Kony learn something from Liang Yao honestly.

The second son of the dignified Vanderbilt family beat him up, and Kony naturally refused to do it, but in the end Kony succumbed to Vanderbilt's fist.

(End of this chapter)