On July 12, 1861, the weather was clear. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The Atlantic Ocean is calm and calm, and the sea will be as calm as a mirror. So much so that it is difficult to feel the waves of the sea.

Due to the fine weather, the field of view can reach the limit. Standing on the deck and looking around, I saw the water and sky all around. Although the "Great Eastern", the largest steel ship ever built, although it is as large as a hill on the dock, it still looks extremely small and even a little lonely on this vast ocean.

It is accompanied only by the blue sky and blue sea, the occasional floating clouds and the swimming fish in the water, the sea water is blue-gray, revealing the solemnity of the sea, and the sea water is also flowing, reminding it of the liveliness of life. The sea is not as abrupt and tortuous as the mountains, and it makes human beings feel their own insignificance with the power of overwhelming power, it is vast and free, but it is by no means as tranquil as it seems, and everyone knows this.

The sea is like this, the changes of the sea are often instantaneous, and it always presents a variety of sides in front of people. Sometimes when the sea is quiet, he is quiet like a virgin, just like now, but it may become furious at any time, just like the quiet and virgin silence in front of him, which will be broken at any time, and then the monstrous waves will continue to rush and roar, and even the earth will tremble for it, and the heavens and the earth will be conquered by it.

It is also because of this that from ancient times to the present, the bloom of the sea has always been frightening and terrifying, so the sea has always been the area of the brave, only the truly brave dare to enter the sea, at least the weak, they can only look at the sea from afar.

For thousands of years, human beings have wanted to conquer the sea again and again, want to be its companion, imagine conquering this vastness, but the sea has never been conquered, in the past few thousand years, the reality of ships sinking to the bottom of the sea reminds people that even today, the sea is still the domain of the brave, the sea will make all cowards choose to avoid, choose to retreat, here will only accept the bravest......

And today, now, thanks to technological advances, the sea is being conquered by man, by the industrial civilization of man, at least for man, it is a kind of progress, in his eyes, the sea has been conquered by man!

As a steel giant ship, the "Great Eastern" may be small compared to the entire sea, but it is like a steel floating city floating on the sea, sailing steadily on the sea, symbolizing the conquest of the sea by mankind. It symbolizes the first time in thousands of years that people have truly conquered the sea in the face of the elimination of their fear of the sea, and of course these are the words of the British newspapers. The French newspapers, on the other hand, would say in a sour tone that the sea could not be conquered. But everyone knows that that's just jealousy!

Now the steel giant ship that amazed the whole World Cup is sailing on the sea, and after it passes through the English Channel, the "Great Eastern" sails along the 50th parallel route to North America, which is the route that tens of thousands of brave ocean pioneers have opened up with their lives in the past few hundred years, and it is thanks to this route that tens of millions of immigrants have been able to enter the New World and create their new lives there.

The "Great Eastern" is the star of this route, although it is a star, but it is not very popular, because its ticket price is still more expensive than other ships, he originally planned to put into the British to Australia immigration route, which is why its ship is called "Great Eastern", but over the years, the lag of Australian immigrants, so that it has to be put into the North American route, and the shorter route does not show its capacity advantage, which makes its ticket price relatively high, It is therefore unpopular with penniless immigrants.

But all this, for the people on the "Great Eastern", they obviously do not think about this, especially for the captain, and even more so, the "Great Eastern" is a symbol of honor, a symbol of glory!

On the bridge, Hanks, the captain of the "Great Eastern", was silently looking ahead. He has been a captain for 26 years, and as the captain of the Great Eastern he enjoys a great honor, and it is another honor that he commanded its maiden voyage. Last year, the Great Eastern made its maiden voyage to New York, and when she arrived in New York Harbor, she was greeted with a fourteen-gun salute, an honor never before seen on a merchant ship. Although commercially, the "Great Eastern" may have been a failure. But it is undeniable that as the captain of the "Great Eastern", he enjoys a high honor.

For Hanks, he knew that being the captain of the Great Eastern would be the most proud thing in his life as a captain. And now, this will be his last voyage, and on this voyage he will retire at the pinnacle of his career, and what a glory it is!

God has given him such an opportunity, and he should deserve it. It should be made a little more perfect, so that you can bring your sailing career to a successful end.

"Firi, speed up! Make it a little faster. ”

Although this is not an economical choice, the most economical option is to sail with sails, and not to speed up with coal, but as the captain of the ship, Hanks, apparently did not think so much at this time, and he gave instructions to the first mate, he wanted the world to see how capable this ship that was too large in their eyes. Let the world see the astonishing speed of the "Great Eastern......

"Yes! Captain"

He immediately repeated the captain's order.

"Full speed ahead!"

The chief engineer immediately pushes the ship speed of the engine clock to the "full speed" position.

Instructions were quickly passed into the computer room and continued to be transmitted to every department......

As a result, the Great Eastern's huge engine room was running at full speed.

The engine room of the "Great Eastern" is not so much a ship as a huge factory, several stories high, making it more like a spacious hall, and there is also the huge piston crankshaft of the steam engine moving up and down, the stoker constantly adds high-quality Welsh anthracite coal to the furnace, and the already burning red furnace fire spits tongues of fire, reflecting the whole engine room. The temperature here has reached an astonishing 40 degrees, making people here sweat profusely.

At this moment, the roar of the huge steam drowned out all sounds, and those sweating like rain were busy in an orderly manner. The number on the vapor pressure gauge rises in a straight line, and the pressure pushes the piston crankshaft to move faster......

"Fill the furnace with coal, full speed ahead!"

The captain's orders were carried out accurately, the coal flickering in the boiler chambers, and the shipwrights covered in coal were shoveling and filling the ground......

All the crankshafts are moving up and down, like the inside of a giant clock, and every component is busy according to the same instructions......

The operator opens the intake valve, and the sweltering boiler room is filled with a variety of gauges running and the pressure gauge pointer rises from 50 to 100 and then to 150......

As the boiler pressure rises, driven by steam, several powerful steam engines roar and operate, and the power of machinery is displayed here......

The huge steel paddle wheel on the side and the underwater propeller were running at the same time, stirring up white waves on the calm sea. On the calm sea, the bow of the ship cut through the water and advanced at high speed......

On the deck, several young men excitedly ran up to the foredeck until they reached the very front of the bow. And there they stood, with the white spray of the sea at their feet, and they stood there, roaring loudly, venting their inner joy.

The swift bow cut a white wave through the water, like a pair of scissors, cutting a huge hole in the blue curtain, leaving a huge long white "scar" in the stern.

The endless sea water, you can't see its edge, you can't see its end, the water and the sky are connected at the end of the sky and the sea into an indistinguishable one, they seem to be one together, as for this ship, it is a little abrupt.

At this time, they didn't notice that in the unified sky, there seemed to be a not very clear trail of smoke rising......

Captain Hanks stood on the bridge, perhaps because it was his last voyage, so that he stood there enjoying the feeling of the sea breeze blowing in his face, and a trace of inexplicable emotion came to his mind at this time, and he even thought of his first voyage, when he was only 12 years old, as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, serving in the Royal Navy, and he even participated in the naval battle against the French......

"14 nautical miles!"

This is the maximum speed of the "Great Eastern", and the old captain, who is caught in the reminiscence of the past, does not continue to speak, he just quietly thinks about the past, thinking about the past.

At his feet, the bow of the Great Eastern continued to break the waves......

The passengers on deck were now completely captivated by the beauty of the sea and were all intoxicated by the infinite charm of nature......

For thousands of years, the ocean has always become a place of fantasy because of its mystery, because everything is small and worthless compared to the sea, and because of this, these passengers at this time even have a feeling of being in a dream.

"Look!"

Suddenly, a passenger pointed to the sea and shouted excitedly.

People looked down in the direction he was pointing and saw something swimming in the water, but because of the speed of the boat, they didn't see what was in the sea for a while.

"See! Did you see that? ”

Again, the man screamed. This time, everyone saw it.

It's a dolphin!

The dolphin walked through the bow of the ship like a fairy in a novel.

"God, there's another, look!"

More than one, two, three...... It's a pod of dolphins, chasing, playing, and swimming in the bow of the ship, as recorded in the diaries of sailors, the spirits of the sea always lead the ship on the sea.

The dolphin suddenly jumped out of the water, which made the passengers on deck immediately start talking happily.

"Look, how high they jump!"

The little girl shouted excitedly, and she looked at the elves of the sea excitedly, and her expression was full of indescribable surprise. The appearance of the dolphins makes this boring voyage a little interesting, makes people find some fun, makes this dull voyage less dull, and also makes people find some joy, and that joy washes away people's sadness about leaving.

Hanks didn't see this scene, and even if he did, he wouldn't have any interest, he was long past that age, his eyes scanned the people on deck, just looked at them quietly, after this voyage, he was no longer the captain, and the captain was only a glorious title for him,

Jules on this giant ship thought in his heart in a tone of exclamation, in his opinion, the giant ship built by Brunel is like Noah's Ark, which just proves the idea - "God and mortals do not seem to be far away!" Mortals can do what only God can do! Thinking so in his heart, he picked up his pen and wrote on the paper.

"This steamliner is a masterpiece in the history of shipbuilding. It is not only a giant ship, but also a floating city, a county town separated from the British mainland, which will be connected to the American continent after sailing across the sea. I can imagine the scene of this behemoth marching in the waves, it has to fight against the wind, dare to compete with the sea, the sea is dwarfed, there is nothing to do with it, no matter how fierce the tide is, the "Great Eastern" is unmoved, standing firmly in the endless ocean. ”

Just as he was writing down his feelings, his gaze cast into the distance, and unintentionally, he saw that there seemed to be a trail of smoke on the line between the sea and the sky, perhaps it was another ship that symbolized the power of industry!

Just as this voice sounded in his heart, the excited voice of the lookout on the mast came.

"Spotting a Chinese warship!"

Chinese warships!

This sound made everyone on the deck stunned, and Jules also looked into the distance in surprise, now what he saw was not a few smoke trails, but a warship, the warship lowered its sails, and was heading towards the "Great Eastern" at the fastest speed, although the distance was still very far, but he felt that he could see that the warship's guns had been aimed at the "Great Eastern".

"My God, we ...... We are involved in the war,"

In astonishment, Jules kept rowing the cross, as if praying to God to bless himself and the people on board, because he knew that China and Britain were now at war......

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