Chapter 13

“No, for it is difficult to identify them from orbit, other than saying they are four-footed herbivores. Neither your people nor we have names for them, as far as we know. It is up to you humans to look into that matter.”

“Thank you. I will pass on that information to the Governor’s people.”

So it was that Reg phoned the Governor’s number again. This time he got one of the women in the household. Reg explained, “There is a long-term problem coming along, as local herbivores expand their numbers due to lack of predators.”

The woman wanted more clarity.

“Please tell me what you know about this.”

“I asked The Personalia about the odd contrast between the oceans that have monstrous predators, and the land where there seems to be none. They told me that it appears that the previous owners of the planet had completely destroyed the land predators prior to anticipated colonization by their people.

That makes sense, if the previous race were a very cautious people, easily scared by threats. The Personalia said they have noticed many large bones scattered across the landscape, which is why they came to that conclusion. This imbalance between predators and prey must inevitably lead to a surge in numbers of the prey species, mostly grass eaters, so the Governor needs to be aware of this impending surge in numbers and either prepare to cull the species when they get too numerous, allow hunting of them, or start making them farming stock for meat, if their meat is edible for humans.”

“I see. I am a meteorologist, but your basis for the ecological science is sound; there is a problem for the future, which we have to solve. Thank you, Mr.”

“Robertson, Reginald Robertson.”

“Thank you, Mr Robertson. I have recorded our conversation, and will make sure the Governor gets to hear it.”

Having done what he could, Reg went through to ascertain what his girls had uncovered through their computers and the Internet. Each had chosen an area of research, but had yet to pull all their data together. Frances was the organiser as usual, and reported to Reg on progress.

“Your Chinese admiral apparently made seven voyages with his fleet. The fleet was a very large collection of ships of various sizes and designs, with the largest described as ëtreasure ships’, meaning that they were designated to carry home all the valuable things collected on the voyage. This included exotic animals as well as precious stones and other important objects. We are not finding very much detail on the actual ships or their construction. Most of the information was written down as a description by a commentator a couple of hundred years after the event, with one passage saying the largest ships were 450 feet in length. Two centuries on, most technical detail will have been lost.

Later comments by experts suggest this length was exaggeration or mistranslation, and that a length of 250 feet was much more likely, while still very large for the period. These large vessels were described as having up to twelve masts, but the illustrations that have survived show only about half that number of masts, so we can only say that the descriptions and illustrations are probably guesses at the dimensions rather than the unknown reality.”

“Good hunting, Frances. We can assume that they were very large for their time. Such a length doesn’t seem to match the size of any cargo ships until the 20th century, apart from the passenger liners Great Eastern and Great Western, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in his usual extravagant style. Did anyone check him out?”

“Yes. He first built the Great Western, as a ship to extend the Great Western Railway’s operations and their reputation across the Atlantic. It was more of a conventional wooden paddle steamer, but he followed that up with the Great Britain, which was the first very large iron ship, with the extra innovation of a screw propeller at the rear. The screw propeller was invented by a Swede, John Ericsson, in 1835. Brunel’s tour de force was the Great Eastern, an immense passenger ship that was so large and unwieldy it was a problem to get it launched, for at first it would not move! They had to try three times to achieve that, for Brunel had died before the launch, but they eventually got it into the water. The Great Eastern was never a financial success, probably because of its immense size or 12,000 tons; you needed a huge number of passengers to cover the operational costs on long voyages across the ocean. It proved to be better as a cable ship for laying the transatlantic cable. It was the only ship large enough to be capable of carrying the tremendously heavy and bulky reels of cable that were needed.

The Great Britain had a similar problem of financial viability, which was why that ship ended up being abandoned in the Falkland Isles for a century before being carried back to England on a barge, to be restored and become a museum in itself.”

“So, we should avoid the examples of passenger ships and concentrate on cargo ships?”

“Probably, but don’t ignore all naval vessels. One of the girls found that there was a wooden ship called the St. Michael, built for the Scottish navy in 1511. According to her research, it had side walls ten feet thick.”

“Good God! Ten feet? How did that perform in war?”

“They never found out, for it didn’t see a battle that we know of, despite the French asking for naval help in their war with the English, and a few years later it was instead sold to the French king Louis. We found nothing about its later life in the French fleet.”

“Any details about its construction?” Reginald asked.

“Nothing remarkable except for its dimensions and the thickness of its hull. The vessel was 240 feet long, with a beam of 36 feet. If the two sides were truly ten feet thick that only leaves 16 feet of space from side in the middle, so difficult to man it with such reduced space. Of course, most naval ships for centuries after wards had limited height between decks. The St Michael was claimed to have 120 gunners, so the guns would have had to be either mounted within the side walls, or on top; either layout is a peculiar arrangement but topside is more logical. The king ñ James IV - told someone the ship had 16 big guns on either side, so roughly four gunners per gun. That is all we could find.”

“Pity. We may have to fill in some missing pieces through extrapolation,” said Reginald.

Frances queried, “Couldn’t we ask The Personalia for help?”

“You think so, about shipbuilding?”

“I suppose not, but it can’t do any harm to ask.”

“Okay, I’ll try them.” He got his phone out and pressed the call button for them. It was answered immediately.

“How can we help you, Reginald Robertson?”

“This may sound a bit funny, but can you advise on shipbuilding, to help us work out a design for the oceans of Rehome, where any ship is liable to be attacked by large sea monsters?”

“An interesting conjecture, Reginald Robertson. The proposition assumes that an attack is inevitable, but the reality may not be the same as the assumption. We have no indication of sea creatures attacking ships, but with the lack of ships other than coastal craft in shallow waters, that is not surprising. However, what you seem to desire is a means of protecting the hull against damage. Is that not so?”

“Correct. That is the nub of it. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Our response must inevitably relate to our own construction, but remember that this is for spacecraft only. You would have to adapt our design to suit sea-going craft. Our outer hull is made from stainless steel for rigidity and strength, but inside that are several layers of other materials, each one for a specific requirement. Some layers, like polyester resin, are intended to absorb impact and dissipate the stresses sideways, so that there is less chance of a puncture into fragile systems. Within several layers of this absorbent material is a strong multilayer matrix of many fibreglass threads which provide data links throughout the ship. The fibreglass layer’s composition provides considerable redundancy in the case of potential damage. Damage on one side of the Person can have the data redirected via the opposite side. The absorbent layers help to protect that layer as well as absorb impact through the steel. Finally, on the inside is another steel layer, coated on the shipboard side with a nano-thick surface of gold, to protect against rust or other corrosion. You might wish to use that layered technique for your ships.”

“Good God! You are well-designed, Personalia.”

“That was our intention, after the experience suffered by our initial fleet. We adopted protection as an important subsequent principle in our construction. Your ship design should reflect that idea.”

Reginald closed down the call, while thinking to himself about layers.

Frances asked him, “What came out of that call, dear?”

He mentally shook himself before answering.

“Layers, Frances; layers.”

“Layers?” she repeated uncomprehendingly.

“Building a hull in layers, darling. It seems that is what The Personalia do with their own hulls, only it is layers reflecting the problems of space. Our ships have to reflect the problems of the oceans.”

“Oh, I get you; build resilience into the ship.”

“That’s it in one. The Personalia were thinking of impact damage, but we also have to consider water ingress over the top of the hull. We need to have a deck that resists water sloshing over it. In the old wooden ships, they simply had gaps in the railings, allowing excess water to drain off the deck and back into the sea. I expect we could do the same, but also have reinforced decks in case of vertical impacts. That reminds me of the case of HMS Hood in the first world war. It had reinforced hull plates to withstand shellfire from the enemy, but the ship designers neglected to do the same to the deck. A shell from a German ship, fired from a considerable distance, came down almost vertically and went through the deck, hitting a magazine and causing the Hood to blow up.”

“Good God! That must have been disastrous for the crew!”

“It was; few survived. However, it was an example of lack of forward thinking. We should not make that mistake. We should ensure a tough deck structure as well as a solidly-built hull.”

“So you anticipate a hull built of solid layers of wood, with steel on the outside?”

Reginald grimaced.

“Yes and no, Frances. We should apply the standard set by The Personalia, and allow for resilience. What I would envisage is the outer layer of stainless steel, then a layer of a resilient wood, one that acts like rubber, accepting a blow and rebounding almost at once, and end up with a second layer of steel on the inside. We need to research the available woods that grow here on Rehome, to find one that will do that job. The next layer in should be a very dense timber that will absorb any impact into itself without shattering. That requires more research for the best choice of wood. Finally, after the second layer of steel there needs to be a fairly flexible inside surface that has a decorative finish, perhaps like coromandel, a wood from south-east Asia that is now effectively extinct on Earth through over-exploitation.”

Fiona came back from wherever she had been, to ask, “What length do you think a ship will have to be if it is to withstand attacks from sea monsters as well as hurricanes?”

Reginald offered, “Pretty big, I should think; perhaps four or five hundred feet; say a hundred and fifty metres.”

“Good grief! That’s a hellova long vessel. How is it to be powered, or have you not thought of that?”

“You are right; I haven’t thought about it, but with modern technology, a sailing ship should be possible. That requires a lot less machinery and fuel than a fossil fuel engine, and a battery power supply would have to be supplemented by solar charging to have a chance of success when the wind fails to blow. My guess would be a sailing ship, with the sails operated by computer-controlled electric winches, and the helmsman merely choosing the steering direction.”

“Does Rehome have that technology available?” Fiona wanted to know.

Reg shrugged.

“Either The Personalia can import all the parts from Earth, or they can manufacture the stuff by themselves, once they have a template to work from. Let’s assume one of these will work. What else do we need for the ship’s design?”

“A rudder, presumably,” said Frances with a laugh. “Can’t steer without one!”

Fiona was being more serious: “Watertight compartments; and ballast to give the vessel stability.”

Reg was nodding, but added, “With such a length, the design should incorporate longitudinal beams, to stop it snapping in half between two very large waves. That has happened to some ocean-going tankers on Earth, though usually because of human error of some kind, like leaving a hatch cover open and allowing seas to slosh into the ship and add to the stresses on the hull.”

Fiona pointed out, “For bulkheads to separate the watertight compartments, do we use wood or steel?”

“Steel, as that will improve the beam strength at the same time,” Reg concluded. “And with such a long ship, the more strength we can build into it, the better.”

Frances asked, “What sort of cargo is intended for this ship, or rather these ships, as I presume there will be more than one?”

“Uh, yes, cargo; mostly what gets found on another continent, I expect. What will go will be mostly long-life food supplies to keep the crew and passengers in meals for the entire voyage, both directions, in case they don’t find eatables on arrival. Presumably some weapons will be needed for protection from animals and sea monsters, and surveying equipment for mapping the places they arrive at. The Personalia should be able to provide images taken from orbit, but discovering things at ground level is also important; finding all the small things that are not easy to discern from orbit.”

Frances told Reginald, “All the rest of the data we have found merely confirms most of what we have already mentioned. Large ships were few in ancient times, right up until iron hulls were introduced. Wooden hulls apparently needed caulking, a process to seal the gaps between planks, but modern glues can do the job better, and if the wood is power sawn it will have practically no need for caulking at all. All the technical details about masts and sails were mostly technical details about loading stresses on the wood and canvas used for them. We should be able to import enough canvas sails if our naval architect specifies the dimensions.”

“Ah, yes: specifications. What I think we should offer the Governor is not a design, but a specification. The naval architect employed can take the specifications and convert them into a ship design of his own devising. The hull shape is a matter for him, based on thousands of previous hulls on Earth. The hull shape he chooses should scale up to the size of vessel we envisage. The one thing we cannot know for certain is the variation in wave heights and speeds on this planet. Is it the same as on Earth, or are their variations caused by slightly different gravity, continental shapes and the water depths, if there is little in the way of continental shelves?”

Fiona pointed out, “The physics of waves should produce similar results, Reg, even with minor variations in gravity, for we don’t find any problems with the gravity of Rehome, despite it being a little less than that of Earth. The wave heights here might be a fraction taller, but the relative impact of waves should be much as on Earth. Scanning of the ocean surface should suggest the wave heights. Earth has the peculiar habit of producing massive waves at times, at no particular moment. It may be a conjunction of waves.

The Rehome Encyclopedia suggests that seas and oceans here are not too dissimilar to those on Earth, the girls tell me, though perhaps the slightly lower gravity will lead to higher wave heights.”

“Oh, are you the data coordinator, Fiona?”

“No, Frances is, but I am her assistant. We work together for the most part.”

“Do you think we need more research before pulling together a specification?”

“Not really. We are aiming to provide guidance, not a detailed design. We don’t have to state where the ship’s engine should be placed, or where the propeller should be, or whether there should be one shaft or twin propellers: that is the naval architect’s job.”

“I agree. Right then; can I leave you ladies to draw up the specification, stating general dimensions of length and beam, the outer hull, the layers inside the steel frame, the need for strong bulkheads and watertight compartments throughout the ship, and so on?”

“Will you report it to the Governor?”

“No, Fiona. Get Frances to phone him and send him your report on behalf of our company, or rather our Research Group, as the Governor prefers to call us. You girls did most of the work, so you can send your report, with my compliments if you want to add that.”

The next morning, Reginald was given orders that he was to be accompanied by Jessica and Prudence as his escorts on his expedition over the ridge and out of sight of the farm. He acknowledged the protective security detail and made his own preparations: binoculars, picnic basket with water bottles, nut-based snack bars, and a small selection of tools for investigations. There was also a small belt-slung machete for defence or cutting through undergrowth. Both women wore small pistols in holsters, which surprised him.