Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 40 "Eagle of the East Coast"

January 1633, 2, Spring Festival.

The accidental firefight with the Spaniards near Lake Rocha a while ago was like a breeze, and it seemed that nothing was left on the surface, but from the recent increasingly dense militia military Judging from the training, things are probably still secretly fermenting.

The Spring Festival is also a statutory holiday of the Executive Committee. The festive atmosphere in the Tatan Port City is relatively strong under the organization of the Executive Committee. These European immigrants may not understand the meaning of the Spring Festival, but they only need to know that today there are free drinks and Food will do, holiday cheer can be so simple.

The atmosphere at the Navy Yard at the mouth of the Great Fish River is particularly lively, as the first large ship built here will undergo sea trials today.Wang Qinian, a naval commissioner who could only command coastal defense artillery before, finally ended his bare career. He owned his first warship—the 250-ton "Eagle of the East Coast".

The "Eagle of the East Coast" was built by more than 60 European shipbuilders and more than 200 apprentices in the Naval Shipyard for a year. During this period, they also received the assistance and guidance of many European instructors from the Nautical School.This Galen sailing ship with a round stern has three masts, the foremast, the main mast and the mizzen, 27 meters long, 7 meters wide, 3.1 meters draft, and a displacement of 250 tons.Among them, the mainmast and the foremast are equipped with liftable upper sails and top sails, the mizzen is equipped with jib sails, and the bow foremast is equipped with upper sails.A mast tower is also installed between the lower and upper sails of each mast.

The crew of the "Eagle of the East Coast" is 30 people. In addition, more than 80 gunners are needed.Wang Qinian transferred 32 students from the 60nd class of the Nautical School to practice on the ship. Of course, they all worked under the guidance of instructors and a group of European sailors.In addition, 80 coastal defense artillerymen were also seconded to the ship to serve as gunners temporarily.After everything was arranged properly, the "Eagle of the East Coast" raised its mainsail and slowly left the port for sea trials.

"Wind direction: north by east! Turn the sail and control the edge of the sail..." Julien d'Eblol yelled at the top of his voice. He has been a teacher in a sailing school for a year, and he is now unshaven, just like the one a year ago. The spirited handsome guy is completely two people, but he seems to have matured a lot.

"Understood! Turn the rigging!" Ji Wen, a student of the 32nd class of the sailing school, responded loudly, and led his friends to quickly untie the sails and horns fixed on the bowsprit, and then shouted the horn They worked hard together, and the main mast yard was slowly turned under their control. After turning it in place, Ji Wen fixed the sail horns on the bowsprit.

"The wind speed is too high! Remove the auxiliary mainsail..." Julien continued to order.

"Understood! Remove the auxiliary main sail!" The intern students quickly removed the two detachable auxiliary sails under the main sail.

There were two bow guns on the bow, and the gunners were doing nothing at this time. Seeing the quick movements of these little guys, they immediately cheered.The little guys seemed a little shy, and dispersed after laughing.

Wang Qinian led Lu Ming, John Ston and other members of the navigation school to watch their operations with great interest.These students learn sailing knowledge every morning and go to the shipyard to practice in the afternoon. They participated in the construction process of the "Eagle of the East Coast" almost from the beginning to the end, and they know the ship well.

The lower part of the forecastle is the storage room, the upper part is the sailor's lounge, and the top floor is a gun deck, which is equipped with bow guns-two 2-pound steel guns, as well as bunkers for soldiers to shoot.

Leaving the bow, stepping on the wooden grid-shaped cover under the midship deck and above the cabin, a group of people came to the stern of the ship.There is a low poop at the stern, which is integrated into the entire hull. The poop is divided into three floors: the lowest floor is the officer’s lounge, the middle floor is the captain’s room, and the upper floor is the bridge. There is also a gun deck on the poop. Two 12-pound steel guns can also accommodate a certain number of army soldiers to shoot at the same time.

Each floor of the stern building is connected by stairs, and Wang Qinian went down to the low and dark officer's lounge at the bottom.This is the living place of middle and low-ranking officers on the "Eagle of the East Coast". Wang Qinian looked around with the dim oil lamp hanging above his head, and saw a long table near the stairs, surrounded by some Bench, which is a place for officers to rest and entertain (playing cards, drinking tea, etc.).Facing the long table and opposite to the bulkhead, there are hammocks for the officers to sleep in, and each person's luggage is placed under the hammock.

The second floor of the stern building is the captain's room and the residences of senior crew and officers.Compared with the ships of other countries in this era, the decoration of the captain’s interior is still very simple: desks, chairs, item cabinets, charts, etc., and the floor is covered with imported Turkish wool carpets, which are probably the most luxurious items here. .There is also an open-air gallery behind the captain’s cabin. A part of the gallery is covered. This is the toilet for the captain and senior officers; The stern rudder is operated by a long lever made of traditional Chinese leather. At the same time, a skylight is opened on the deck, which is specially set up for the convenience of the helmsman to observe the condition of the sail.

The third floor is the bridge.Officers observe the enemy's situation, issue orders or direct operations here, generally speaking, it is the core part of the entire ship.

Wang Qinian carefully observed the ship. The sailing ship in the 17th century has so much knowledge and so much attention, which made him, a naval officer in the 21st century, quite moved.

At this time, the "Eagle of the East Coast" has left the port and is currently sailing in the open sea.Julien looked at the streamer on the mast tower, and ordered loudly: "The wind is 15 degrees north by east, against the wind; turn the rudder to the left, and the course is 30 degrees north by east!"

"Understood! Turn the rudder to the left and head 30 degrees east of north!" Mittning, the 32nd navigator, poked his head out of the skylight on the deck and repeated the order loudly.

"Raise the mizzen-mast and set the jib!"

"Understood, hoist the mizzen mast and set the jib."

……

The "Eastern Eagle" headed north against the wind.In fact, sailing against the wind is really a very technical job. At this time, European sailors explored the skills of sailing against the wind in practice. They called it "sailing against the wind", but the specific principles may not be until the 18th century. No one can explain it exactly.

Although there are not many science and engineering talents in crossing the crowd, they can easily answer this kind of force analysis problem at the middle school physics level.At that time, the nautical school invited a former middle school physics teacher to give a lecture. After carefully analyzing the force analysis of the ship under the joint action of wind and current, he pointed out to everyone that if there is an inconsistency between the ship and the direction of the wind when sailing against the wind, If the included angle is large, the ship can sail forward in a "zigzag" shape at a large angle under the joint action of the wind force and the water flow reaction force produced by the active keel of the ship.Of course, this method greatly increases the voyage, but it is still very practical when sailing against the wind in complex and changeable sea areas, and it is one of the basic skills of sailing.

The 250-ton "Eagle of the East Coast" moved forward slowly at a speed of 3 knots. At this time, the gunners also began to get busy. Next, they will conduct shelling training between ships.At this time, the sea is quite stormy and the ship is bumping violently. In this case, the artillery shooting naturally has no accuracy at all (of course, the accuracy is also very poor when the wind and waves are not strong).However, Wang Qinian just wanted to let everyone get acquainted with the feeling of naval warfare. As for the shooting skills at sea, it still requires everyone to sum up their experience after a lot of live ammunition shooting.

“东岸之鹰”号除了艏艉各安装了两门12磅炮以外，在舯部甲板下两侧各安装了8门火炮。其中：24磅火炮2门、18磅火炮2门、12磅火炮4门，全船共20门大小火炮。以“东岸之鹰”号250吨的排水量来说，安装20门火炮、尤其是口径还不小的20门火炮本来是一个很大的负担，一个搞不好很容易就会像1628年瑞典的“瓦萨”号一样因重心不稳而沉没。

But all this is completely different with the portable steel naval gun.The Swedes must be regretting it now. If they finish the battleship that cost more than 6 pounds a few years later, they may be embarrassed because they can buy light steel naval guns from the crossing crowd. The Sa" survived.

The "Eagle of the East Coast" equipped with 20 cannons is still sailing steadily on the bumpy South Atlantic Ocean. With the order of the acting captain Lu Ming who was an artilleryman, the two 12-pound steel cannons on the bow It started first, and the effect... er... the effect was not ideal.Wang Qinian held up the binoculars and looked around the intended impact point for a long time, but he didn't wait for the shell to fall.

Lu Ming remained unmoved, walked behind each cannon one by one, and loudly ordered "fire".The remaining 18 guns were fired in sequence, with mixed results.After firing, the artillery group began to reset the artillery. When the gun deck was built, some inclinations were deliberately reserved, so that the gunners could reset the artillery more quickly after the artillery was fired.

"Don't be too anxious." Wang Qinian looked at Lu Ming and said with a smile, "Our gunners are used to firing on unbumped forts. It's not bad that the first shelling training at sea has been done like this. I understand our situation. Give them some time to train, lads, and once they get used to it, the accuracy will come up very quickly."

"I wasn't too worried at first." Lu Ming also said with a smile: "In this era, warships exchanged fire from side to side, firing and fighting each other, and occasionally some gangs fought to seize the ship. It is because the shooting range and hit rate are so pitiful that we have to do this. We must practice again, but now we only have more than 100 gunners at full capacity, and sailors are just like sailing schools, right? more?"

Wang Qinian didn't answer Lu Ming's tentative question immediately.The things involved are more complicated, and even involve the sea and land disputes. He can't answer for a while, so he can only cover it up with a haha.

(End of this chapter)