diymy Chapter 65 Changes in Just Two Years
Chapter 65 Changes in Just Two Years
Chapter 65 Changes in Just Two Years
Because some members of the delegation were eager to get to the Great Han as soon as possible to check on the situation of the captured merchants and find a way to rescue them.
This is also because the veteran sailors know that the closer it gets to summer, the more frequent the storms become.
The British, French, and American fleets only stayed in Singapore for five days before resupplying and immediately setting sail north again.
This time, the fleet did not transit through Bao'an, but sailed directly along the coastline to Shanghai Port.
On the vast ocean, a ship is like a tiny speck of dust, and it should be difficult to encounter other ships, but the traditional routes are basically the same.
Unless they are explorers, most ships sail on relatively fixed, established routes.
In addition, the Han Dynasty was continuously migrating to Southeast Asia, so the closer the Three Kingdoms fleet got to the Han Dynasty's mainland, the more ships from the Han Dynasty's mainland they encountered on the way.
Upon entering the Taiwan Strait, the narrowness of the sea and the turbulent currents make the stable shipping lanes even narrower, and the number of ships at sea becomes even denser.
The British fleet encountered the steam-powered ships of the Han Dynasty here.
At this time, various steam-powered sailing ships could occasionally be seen on the coastal waters and inland rivers of Europe and North America.
Therefore, the ordinary members of the group did not have any special reaction.
However, Palmerston and Staunton of the British mission still remembered that when they last visited the Great Han, just two years ago, they did not see a single steam-powered ship.
Although the Han Dynasty at that time was powerful and fierce, it had not yet begun to use steam power.
But now they have clearly put it to use; they have gained access to the power of the machine.
Palmer and others realized the changes that had taken place in the Great Han over the past two years.
The fleet carrying the missions of the United States, France, and Great Britain sailed north and, upon reaching the mouth of the Yangtze River, did not apply for permission to dock at any of Shanghai's foreign ports.
Instead, they simultaneously sent representatives ashore to contact officials of the Great Han Maritime Trade Office and present official documents from their respective governments.
The British representative explained that their trip was in response to the invitation from the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, while the other two delegations hoped to receive similar treatment as Britain.
Officials at the Shanghai Maritime Trade Office were prepared for this and immediately requested the East China Sea Fleet to dispatch a pilot ship to lead the fleet of the three delegations north to Leting Port.
After receiving the official reply from the Maritime Trade Office, Palmerston immediately discovered that the final port of call had changed; it was no longer Tianjin Port, which he had called at the previous year.
Tianjin is a port where seagoing vessels and canal ships meet, and it is an important maritime gateway next to the capital of the Han Dynasty. It is also well-known in Europe and America today.
Many merchants hoped that the Han Dynasty would directly open up Tianjin, allowing them to operate as they did in Shanghai and Bao'an.
As for this Leting, they had never heard of it before.
On the 17th day of the fourth month of the second year of the Han Dynasty (May 31, 1836 in the Gregorian calendar), at 8:00 AM.
The lead ship of the East China Sea Fleet signaled that the convoy was about to arrive at its final destination port, and was expected to officially dock at around 2 p.m. that day.
The three lead ships acted separately, directing the three nations' envoy fleet to maintain formation, control direction and speed, and keep a sufficient distance from other ships in the vicinity.
Passengers in the fleet received the news and gradually came to the deck to observe the surrounding scenery, other passing ships, and wait to observe the situation at the target dock.
The closer the fleet of the three kingdoms got to the port of Leting, the more steam-powered sailing ships passed by.
Engineers from the steam engine and steamship industries, as well as military officers in the delegation, all used binoculars to observe the condition of the Han dynasty's steam-powered sailing ships.
Observe the size and number of these steamships, and more importantly, their speed.
Although there were no comparable landmarks, many people vaguely felt that the Han Dynasty's steamships seemed to be slightly faster.
However, without a direct comparison, there is no way to confirm.
By noon that day, everyone could vaguely see the situation at the dock.
At the same time, many people spotted a completely black ship leaving the port at a very high speed.
It was significantly faster than other steam-powered sailboats traveling in the same direction.
It quickly left behind the other steamships that were leaving port at the same time, and then overtook the steamship that was originally ahead of it.
It had no sails installed at all, and although it was emitting smoke, it had no paddle wheels.
Upon seeing the ship, the members of the three kingdoms instinctively began to discuss it amongst themselves, wanting to know what was going on with it.
"So fast!"
"That speed could reach ten knots!" (18.52 kilometers per hour).
"How did you do that?"
"Without sails or oars, how did he sail?"
"It's a propeller! It must be a propeller!"
Suddenly, a man in the British delegation shouted loudly.
The crowd looked in the direction of the voice and found a farmer who loved machinery, Francis Petit Smith.
Smith has been researching propellers for the past two years and officially applied for a patent for the invention of the propeller last year.
Smith built a small wooden boat and displayed it on a small lake on his farm, even inviting members of the British Navy to see it.
Then he started seeking sponsorship to build a real ship, a steamship powered by a propeller.
Smith had originally wanted to try and see if he could get sponsorship from the big city to achieve his goal.
Now, seeing steamships without paddle wheels, they quickly realized that the Han people had the same idea, and that their own creativity had already been realized by others in the Han Dynasty.
Smith was initially a little disappointed, but he quickly cheered up.
The appearance of this ship signifies that his creativity has been recognized by people in the East.
Smith shouted his judgment about the propeller, attracting the attention of those around him, and immediately continued: "A ship that has neither sails nor paddle wheels, but has a steam engine and can travel fast, must have a propeller that works underwater!"
"This proves that my hypothesis was correct! The engineers at Dahan have accepted my judgment! Or you could say that I accepted the judgment of the engineers at Dahan."
"Although we are located at opposite ends of the Old World, we share a common vision."
"The propeller drives the ship underwater, avoiding the disadvantages of paddle wheels being easily destroyed by artillery and also avoiding the disadvantages of paddle wheels hindering the deployment of artillery. It is a superior propulsion design."
As Smith spoke eloquently to the crowd, the strange black ship suddenly began to slow down.
Judging from the degree of deceleration, it seems to have come to a complete stop.
Another engineer sighed softly, then made a praying gesture: "There must be a malfunction. This was a failed demonstration. Hopefully, this engineer won't go bankrupt because of it."
Upon hearing the sound, Smith turned to look at its source and immediately frowned deeply.
John Erickson filed his patent application six weeks later, also for a propeller.
This guy has had a lot of bad luck these past few years.
A few years ago, he designed a steam locomotive to participate in the Liverpool to Manchester locomotive race. During the demonstration, it repeatedly broke down and he eventually lost to the Stephensons.
Then they designed an Arctic expedition ship, but it was abandoned because of a malfunction during the voyage.
They are now heavily in debt.
Like myself recently, I've been looking for sponsors everywhere to build a propeller-driven steamship.
In fact, for Erickson, it was quite unfortunate that he applied for the same patent only a month and a half later than others, when the two parties were not familiar with each other.
Moreover, Erickson's misfortunes were far from over. He was supposed to travel to the United States two years later to persuade the American Navy to build its first propeller-driven warship.
The construction and launching of the warships went smoothly, and it could even be said that they were a great success.
However, a year later, when the warship was on a cruise and display carrying high-ranking US officials, the captain fired the largest cannon to entertain the guests and invited the passengers to watch. As a result, the cannon exploded.
The incident resulted in the immediate deaths of six prominent figures, including the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Navy.
The president at the time was also on the ship, but he did not watch the artillery test firing, otherwise he would have died along with the ship.
This incident resulted in the worst high-level casualties in the history of the United States.
Erickson, who was already used to bad luck, felt that the black clipper in front of him was doing a demonstration, but it had malfunctioned.
The other engineers and crew members around him generally agreed with Erickson's judgment.
"It must be a machine malfunction."
"I don't know if it's a propeller or a steam engine."
"The other steamships are fine; it must be the propeller."
"It seems this propeller is indeed unstable."
Smith, who had just been speaking eloquently, looked increasingly grim.
Then he glanced at Erikson again, thinking that maybe this guy's bad luck was affecting him.
If he hadn't been so unlucky as to apply for the same patent as me, I might have already secured sponsorship.
The propeller test of the Great Han also failed. How can we convince the navy to use it?
"What an unlucky day!"
Officials and naval officers from the United States, France, and Great Britain gradually pieced together the "facts" from the surrounding discussions.
A ship without paddle wheels is most likely propelled by a propeller.
Smith and Erickson are currently seeking investment to build this type of ship.
They, like those around them, indeed felt that there was something wrong with the propeller drive.
"We should thank the big man for spending money to verify this for us —"
"That was a really big ship, probably six or seven hundred tons. It must have cost a lot of money."
The black ship, which was being tested at sea at this time, did indeed experience mechanical failure.
However, it wasn't a propeller malfunction, but rather that the steam turbine had become unstable again; this thing could break down at any time.
European engineers hadn't even considered building steam turbines yet; they couldn't imagine that the Han Dynasty was working on such a thing, especially with a comparison right next to them.
All the other steam paddlewheel sailing ships were working perfectly fine, but this steamship without a paddlewheel was having problems.
That must be a problem with the propeller, not the steam engine.
Liu Yulong did not intentionally mislead Europeans, but the overly advanced experimental ship had a misleading effect.
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