"That's what it is...... Our new flagship? ”

The next day, the seafarers, led by Lorraine, boarded the refurbished Butterfly Flower.

At yesterday's dinner, Lorraine officially announced the planned arrangement of the first phase of the Chamber of Commerce, while at the same time carrying out a fleet-style reorganization of the existing ships.

The flagship was officially transferred to the Butterfly Flower.

As a standard firepower brig, the Brigentin-type brig medue, the Butterfly Flower is 30 meters long and 8 meters wide, and has two masts.

The foremast is 20 meters and is equipped with a crosssail, the mainmast is 22 meters and is equipped with a longitudinal sail, and there are four sides of the triangular bow oblique sail and two sides of the mast to catch the sail.

The large, well-rounded sail and slender pointed hull make it a high-speed ship, twelve knots downwind and four or five knots upwind.

She has five decks, two on the inner deck, one on the main deck and two on the upper deck.

The ground floor is a watertight cabin, most of which is below the draft line, and is often used as a material and cargo hold.

The middle gun deck is equipped with 10 nine-pounder long-range guns, 5 on each side.

The upper main deck, equipped with 8 six-pounder long-range guns, is stored in the bow compartment in peacetime, and only pushed onto the deck in wartime.

The bow compartment is a double-decker structure.

The upper deck was used as a gun bay, and Lorraine moved the Scott ballista on the upper deck, after all, this antique weapon has become the symbol of Lorraine, and Lorraine is not very accustomed to not seeing it for a day.

The lower level was built on the gun deck and was used as a chicken coop and sheepfold. Offshore shipping doesn't require much of a live poultry, but Lorraine doesn't stay offshore all the time, and Henna loves small animals.

The aft compartment has three floors.

The lowest level, also on the gun deck, is the stern gun room, equipped with two six-pounder short-range guns. The cabins of Clen and Ramos, as well as the boatman's workshop, are also housed on this level.

The middle floor has a dining cabin, a kitchen cabin, Pierce and Noah's bedrooms, and two empty cabins, which are temporarily used as food storage and divination rooms.

Noya's tarot divination was very popular among sailors, and when the priest was reluctant to board Lorraine's ship, it took the place of the confessional and became the center of the sailors' spiritual comfort.

The upper deck is undoubtedly Lorraine and Henna's cabin. This is the power of the whole ship, and the steering wheel is placed on the upper deck above their heads.

There have also been minor changes to the duties of seafarers.

The captain is naturally Lorraine, Henna is the first mate and helmsman, Karen is the third mate and shipwright and sailmaster, and Noah is still only a soothsayer.

As Pierce grew up a little and gradually showed a talent for good eyes, he now added the label of lookout to his duties as second officer and chef.

Ramos boarded the ship for the first time as a seafarer.

He was a gunner on HMS HMS before retiring, and he came on board because the Butterfly needed a professional gunner to control the guns and help Lorraine share the pressure.

Lorraine divided the ships of the Chamber of Commerce into two fleets equally.

The First Fleet, the flagship Butterfly Flower, consisted of the Artis Beauty and the Beverly Merchant, and was mainly engaged in the route from the British Isle to the Iberian Peninsula, with Admiral Lorraine as his own commander and the post of deputy admiral given to Ramos.

The Second Fleet, the flagship Clover, with the Cavill Drunkard and the Knight Northrend, is mainly engaged in the relatively comfortable route from the British Isles to Scandinavia, Admiral Eddie.

The two fleets will continue to rely on the three black ports, and gradually shift their center of gravity to the four major ports of Edinburgh, Southampton, Stavanger, and Bilbao on the premise of stabilizing profits.

May 1, 1778, Elgin Harbour, Scotland.

The newly renovated Drake Chamber of Commerce deliberately chose to sail on the head of the month, because in the far east, this day is different from every day of the month, symbolizing new beginnings.

It was a cloudy day, but the wind and waves were calm, and the Butterfly Flower put away its anchors on both sides, and was pushed by the shore waves, slowly retreating into the wide sea.

Noah knelt in the bow of the ship, spreading her silver tarot behind Lorraine.

"Pick one, my captain."

"Today is May 1st, and I chose to take the fifth card from left to right."

Noah gently drew the card, turned it over, and laid it flat on the deck.

"Number I, the magician in the right position. Mercury's eyes and confident smile symbolize new beginnings and change forms. You have great strength and skillful technology, they will help you, and you will achieve your ambitions. ”

Lorraine smiled: "What a blatant blessing, my lady soothsayer." ”

"Everything is a choice of fate, Captain."

"Thank you."

Pierce ripped off his turban from the lookout: "The wind is southwest and southwest, the wind is four knots, stroke!" ”

Clen laughed and shouted to the sailors: "Half sails, gentlemen! Run on deck! ”

The sails of the Butterfly Flower slowly rose, and Henna flicked the handwheel, and the slender hull turned the bow in an arc, and posed with the Artis Beauty and the Beverly Merchant.

Lorraine's boots stepped onto the guardrail of the bow, and he drew his long knife with a bang: "Raise the flag of the Chamber of Commerce!" Target Bermeo, the Drake Chamber of Commerce's First Fleet, set sail! ”

……

In a flash, more than three months.

Westdock is the largest port in Southampton, and Hebertwalker Street is the main street in the Westdock port area.

79 Hebertwalker Street is a small three-storey building with red brick walls, facing the street and no courtyard.

It is the new headquarters of the Drake Chamber of Commerce, which has been functionally separated from the trading office of the port area, and is mainly used to handle the administrative affairs of the Chamber, as well as to provide a respite for Lorraine and his seafarers.

The development of the Chamber of Commerce was smooth, and after the assembly of the powerful Brigentine, the First and Second Fleets were never attacked by pirates again.

Fully equipped and the sailors' gunnership is becoming more and more proficient, the Butterfly Flower is undoubtedly formidable in the offshore waters.

Although the Clover is two or three notches lower, it will not be an easy target for pirates to provoke on the Northern Sea Route, which is far more comfortable than the Cantabrian Sea.

An Wen is the best friend of the Chamber of Commerce.

In three months, the Drake Chamber of Commerce developed rapidly, successively taking the trade licenses of Spain, Wales and Denmark, extending its tentacles into the Baltic Sea, and officially shifting the focus of the Chamber of Commerce from the original three black ports to the bustling big port.

Stavanger Norway, Copenhagen Denmark, Edinburgh Scotland, Cardiff Wales, Southampton England, Basque Country Bilbao and Gijón Spain.

Together, the seven major ports form an upgraded version of the Northwest European Triangle trade chain, with rising profits every month, and Southampton at the heart of it.

That's why Lorraine set up the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce in Mingang, the most business-like city in southern England.

This time the voyage was scheduled to take turns in Lorraine and Noah.

The carefree Noya arranged an early excursion to Arminsk, ready to take advantage of the holidays to exchange her dividends for a comfortable hand-woven carpet to decorate the new divination room.

Lorraine didn't have that kind of good life, except that he was a seafarer, he was also the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and he couldn't sit idle until the Chamber of Commerce was really on the right track.

Taking a sip of fragrant Colombian coffee, Lorraine rubbed her brow and spread out the Chamber of Commerce's accounts.

The development is very gratifying.

The markets of Denmark, Wales, England and Spain do not need to share profits with partners, and the regular big ports have much lower tax rates than the black ports, and many benefits are in one place, and profits are growing very quickly.

Throughout July, after all expenses and profits, the profit of the Chamber of Commerce officially reached the mark of 2,000 pounds, with Lorraine accounting for 60 per cent and 1,200 pounds alone, Pierce 200 pounds, and the four seafarers sharing 600 pounds, and this month alone, the income of each of them was 150 pounds.

Now he had £4,270 in cash, and nearly £6,000 worth of goods in the warehouse and ship, and by November, he would be in a hurry to fully equip the Clover.

But is there a need for this?

For the current Drake Chamber of Commerce, the form of the North Sea is relatively stable.

They had good friendships with the powerful Vikings, and the all-six-pounder Clover was there enough of a deterrent to seem to be in a hurry to escalate their firepower.

The money could be used for better purposes, such as adding two low-cost Cage brigs to serve as coastal transshipment vessels on the British Isles, and increasing the efficiency of the two fleets.

Or take it up one level, instead of Cage, and use the Mixed-Sail Skuna with a larger cargo capacity and much faster speed?

Since there was little need for artillery along the coastline of the British Isles, the cost of two mixed sail skunas was only £2,400.

Forming a transshipment fleet, recruiting a down-to-earth and steady admiral, and opening up the Irish market, after all, Dublin has always been a coveted port......

The more I think about it, the more I think this is a good way to go......

Lorraine hesitated to go to Plymouth immediately to settle the matter, and Miss Zhenna, who had been promoted to secretary of the general association, suddenly knocked on the door and entered.

Lorraine frowned: "Miss Zhenna, is there something wrong?" ”

"Bilbao's urgent letter, I will grow up." Zhenna blushed and placed a fire-lacquered letter on Lorraine's table, and took a breath and said, "Miss Xavier said that I hope you will read the letter as soon as possible and make a decision as soon as possible. ”