Located in the Swan River Inner Bend, a ship repair plant that once crossed together, from the original multi-purpose wharf, has been gradually replaced by the newly built coastal officially named Bund Port.

In a practical sense, it has become a private dock for shipyards, and it is no longer used for training or fishing boats.

The steam engine restoration plan, which has been established for nearly four months, has been carried out in a tense and tense manner, during which various data tests and steel thickness experiments have been carried out dozens of times before and after, and finally the feasibility data has been obtained.

Because the steel smelting in the base is completely in the most primitive crucible method, the output is low-cost, and in addition to the restrictions of various machinery and equipment, many parts are basically made by hand with a hammer and a chisel.

The same is true for the various parts used in the steam engine, because the handmade can not fully guarantee that the thickness of each part and even each plane of the steel plate is consistent, there will always be a small deviation in the value, and most of the technical personnel who cross the crowd are born with overweight modern equipment, and there is no experience in hand-made at all, so it takes a lot of effort to produce various parts before and after.

In addition to the restoration of the power plant of the Sea Blue, the restoration of the steam engine was also extremely important to the city's official march towards industrialization, the basic criterion of which was the replacement of human production by machines, and 80% of all production in Manchester City was now carried out by manpower.

The docks of the Manchester City shipyard were now full of people, and several members of the Executive Committee and the heads of various departments had gathered in a makeshift awning on the docks, and a hundred meters away from them was the captive Dutch sailboat, now named the Mermaid.

In the past month, the mermaid, with a total tonnage of about 500 tons, has been completely transformed into a steam sail hybrid power ship, according to You Nanzhe's ideal estimate, the speed of sailing with a 20-horsepower steam engine power plant can reach about 16 knots at a downwind speed.

Of course, this is only his ideal estimate, and everything can be unpredictable before the full sea trial, maybe in about ten knots.

However, You Nanzhe still put a lot of effort into the transformation of the mermaid, in order to make the mermaid equipped with a steam-powered device sail faster, he chose to install a propeller on the bottom of the ship, instead of a paddle wheel, which seems to be a big difference between the two, but the difficulty of the transformation is quite large.

If you only use a steam power unit to drive the paddle wheel, the transformation of the ship's bilge is basically limited to the installation of the machine, and will not involve the transformation of the bottom sealing cabin, if you want to install the propeller, you must disassemble the sealing cabin and then connect it to the power unit, because of the lack of shipbuilding mechanics, so the difficulty in this is needless to say.

"Xiaoyou, you can start, the time has come, it's exactly eight o'clock." Zhou Aiguo raised his hand and looked at his watch, and whispered to You Nanzhe, the head of the mermaid trial standing next to him.

After getting Zhou Aiguo's order, You Nanzhe walked out of the awning and waved the small flag in his hand towards the mermaid not far away as a signal, which was a signal that was said in the pre-rehearsal link, and there was a complete set of flags at the beginning of the suspension.

At this time, Wang Hammer was responsible for directing the trial voyage on the Mermaid, and he had a basic grasp and understanding of the control and operation of the sailboat, according to Adams's evaluation of Wang Hammer, he was a very talented captain, and it only took him more than 20 years of experience in just one month.

As the person concerned, Wang Tiehammer knows how many catties and taels he has, and he can pat his chest and say that he is basically familiar with every link, but he doesn't dare to say big things if he has the experience of sea navigation like Adams.

"Captain Adams, tell the power room to get ready, adjust the equipment to optimal condition, and get ready to set sail." Although Hammer King is the person in charge of the Mermaid, Adams' actual identity is the captain of the ship, so Hammer only needs to give orders to him.

A few minutes later, Adams, who had returned from the bottom of the cabin, returned to King Hammer and reported, "Captain King, everything is ready to sail." ”

As Adams finished speaking, the mermaid's newly installed whistle, "Woo, woo, woo", sounded a few times, and the small body began to slowly move.

"It's moving, it's moving, look, the people who cross the port are excitedly pointing to the mermaid and shouting." The success of the experimental steamship Mermaid will be of great significance to the history of the whole of Australia.

"Boost the horsepower, this time the king hammer and Adams went down to the bottom of the cabin together," ordered the man who operated the power plant.

"Yes, Captain," the guy who operated the power plant, an ordinary crew member of the Qianhai Blue, was sent to the Mermaid for sea trials and internships because of his good performance, and is likely to become a new captain of a naval warship in the future.

As the horsepower increases, so does the speed of the ship, from 10 knots to 12 knots to 18 knots. Looking at the values on the pressure test table, Wang Tiezhu's brows furrowed, obviously a little dissatisfied with this speed.

Adams, who was standing on the side, understood his temperament because he came up with an older idea, and he could guess a rough idea of his Zou Mei's actions, although his ship had been transformed into an old Australian sail sail at a speed that had doubled before, but compared with the speed of the big iron ship, the difference was still very large, which Adams, who had personally sat on the Sea Blue, had a deep understanding.

"Captain Wang, I think this speed is perfect for the Mermaid, and you shouldn't compare it to your big iron ship."

"Oh, yes, Adams!" I really shouldn't compare it to the Aquamarine, because it's just an experimental wooden sailboat. Wang Tiehammer suddenly felt a little relieved, because what Adams said was right, if he kept comparing himself to the Sea Blue, then I am afraid that it would be difficult to see a ship that he was satisfied with in his life.

You Nanzhe, who had been standing at the pier, stared at the mermaid in the distance with a telescope, and looked at his watch from time to time, and when the mermaid turned around and returned to the dock, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "It looks good, without the assistance of sails, it is already perfect to sail eighteen knots." ”