How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony-Chapter 53: Building the Clipper (1)

July 1593. Wow, it's already July. These days, time seems to be passing insanely fast.

'Or... I've just lost my sense of time.'

Unlike the precisely scheduled life of a 21st-century grape farmer, the life of a 16th-century angel is, how should I put it?

Extremely relaxed.

Sow seeds around this time. Harvest grapes around this time. The new settlers are causing a commotion wanting to see the angel, so... let's set a time around this period.

It's really like 'around this time' in this way. Without utility bills or rent to pay by specific dates, life spreads out without a sense of time.

What gives me a sense of time is the rapidly growing Virginia and...

"This way! Just about three more steps this way!"

"Bring more hammers and nails over here!"

This settlement.

The shipyard, which took months to lay the foundation, erect pillars, and make many people suffer, is now on the verge of completion.

The sawmill built next to it is also smoothly starting to produce lumber without me having to use any special future knowledge.

The only place I paid special attention to was the timber drying facility located between them.

"Here, please design the ceiling so heat spreads evenly."

"Understood."

"Also, we'll place stoves here and there, so please pay special attention to prevent the wood from cracking or catching fire."

"I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Nemo."

This was worth my knowledge and assets getting involved.

Whether it's timber or fruits and vegetables, they all grow mold if you make even one mistake.

First, the sawn timber undergoes a simple but special process, then is moved to the drying facility.

Then we install stoves to maintain a high temperature in the drying facility, and move several sulfur fumigators from the farm to manage various pests and diseases such as mold and insects to prevent damage to the timber.

We prepared plenty of dried timber like that, and prepared the shipyard facilities.

"Mr. Nemo! Walter Raleigh has returned! With as many as 210 cannons! This is enough to properly arm several large ships!"

And we waited until Raleigh returned.

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"Perfect timing. I've prepared timber for the ships here, please take a look."

"It's just right! Excellent! May I check it?"

"Of course."

"Ah! You said that's the timber drying facility over there? I should go there, right?"

"Let's go see together."

"Well then, let's..."

"What's wrong?"

"..."

Raleigh's face stiffens slightly as he sees the timber stacked in the warehouse next to the drying facility.

"This... the wood is different from what I expected? It's strangely... fresh? And it has a greenish tint?"

That's because I gave it special treatment.

I soaked it in agricultural copper hydroxide. The outer coating has been treated with preservatives, so it will last much longer than most timber from this era.

Plus I fumigated it with sulfur vapor, so there's no worry about insects or rot after months of storage.

"Oh... oh my..."

"What do you think? When can we start building the 'clipper'?"

"..."

Raleigh absentmindedly strokes the timber, then looks at me and says.

"Once the design is done... immediately."

Done. Success.

"Looking closely, its internal structure is clearly different from other ships on earth. Hmm... this frame like this? It's not just the arrangement of the sails that's unusual?"

After that, we devoted ourselves to reverse engineering.

"Is that so? I wouldn't know."

"You said you were ignorant about ships, Mr. Nemo. But as someone who has designed ships myself, I can assure you. This ship is an innovation."

Of course it's an innovation. It's a 19th-century ship.

I took screenshots of the ship construction scenes from the loading screen of 'Anno 1800', along with the ship's form and manufacturing process visible in every corner, and presented them to Raleigh.

The rest is up to Raleigh.

...It feels like asking someone to build an Iron Man suit after only watching the Iron Man movies, but this is our best option. I've done my best too, I mean.

And the conclusion.

"I can't build this according to the original design."

"...What did you say?"

Has he finally gone mad from overwork? How much were the facilities we built for this, and how much time did we invest?

"If you look closely... um... here, this frame part?"

"Yes. I can see it too. You're talking about the slightly darker part, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Nemo. That part appears to be steel.

Should we modify the design? I don't think we can procure this much steel, though."

Raleigh cautiously asked me, and for now, he was right.

A steel frame? We're not a blacksmith shop, and we can't make something like that with 21st-century farm technology.

Even if we melt and reuse steel from our house, it would ultimately be done in a primitive 16th-century forge.

But thinking a bit more, I could find the answer.

"Then how about modifying this part like this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't we have another material that's stronger than steel and available in large quantities?"

Lexan (PC) panels.

The frame of our clipper ship is now Lexan panels + steel square tubes.

==

One day, I turned on a game with an excited heart... and unexpectedly fell into the 16th century, separated from family and relatives. I was even stabbed twice.

In that situation, I'm not grateful that Fansuku Software gave me a cheat... but I'll thoroughly use the benefits I've received.

I won't waste even a single part of this farm.

Lexan panels.

They're already stronger than steel and lighter too. I'll make a truss structure with steel square tubes and insert Lexan panels into the faces. That's how we'll make the ship's keel.

Of course, the normal lifespan of Lexan panels is 10 years under sunlight, but that's the same for iron and wood. Lexan panels need to see sunlight to corrode... but since we'll use them for the internal frame, there's no problem.

When we combine the transparent panels and steel square tubes we've been accumulating, the estimate roughly works out. It's definitely possible.

Just to be sure, I had the craftsmen experiment, and it didn't fall short in terms of strength or elasticity. The result was 'definitely possible'.

Yes.

I'm going to build a sailing ship with Lexan panels in the 16th century.

...

...

...

...I mean, it seems crazy to put engineering plastic into a 19th-century warship, but if that's the case, we shouldn't have built a 19th-century warship in the 16th century in the first place.

So once we 'really' did it, the construction of the clipper was back on track.

The ships will become fast transport vessels carrying the colony's goods while simultaneously becoming warships loaded with numerous cannons to protect our colony from the Spanish navy.