Chapter 588: Strategic Materials
"The Indomitable" was slowly towed to the dock, and everyone remained silent.
Joseph boarded the vessel with Borda, Sané, and others for inspection. They found the steam engine's connecting rod snapped from overload, lying there like a monstrous, twisted beast.
The aft compartment was littered with scattered wood fragments, undoubtedly from the main shaft that had shattered due to severe vibration.
After taking detailed measurements and notes, he left the ship to return to the design office. Just then, Murdoch came rushing over, gasping, "Your—Your Highness, it's been five hours!"
"Five hours of what?"
Murdoch turned and pointed towards the hull testing laboratory in the distance. "The new propeller has been running continuously for five hours without a single fault!"
Joseph was instantly overjoyed and quickly got into a carriage with the others to go see.
Inside a laboratory the size of a basketball court stood a glass "giant fish tank," taller than a man and filled with water.
The LJ52 Steam Engine on the side roared, driving a cylindrical wooden shaft into the "fish tank" via a gear system. The propeller at the shaft's end churned out a mass of bubbles, yet it only vibrated slightly, like a beast firmly held down by a hunter.
Sandel glanced at the clock. "Five hours and thirty-six minutes. Everything's normal."
A cheer erupted from the onlookers as designers and technicians high-fived each other in celebration. "Thank God! We finally succeeded!"
"I knew the Crown Prince's design would work."
"This thing will put our warships at least a decade ahead!"
Joseph's face was beaming with delight. He turned to Murdoch and asked, "Did Mr. Garman use some new technique?"
Indeed, after the propeller's persistent vibrations, he had invited Mr. Garman, his father's mentor and France's top watchmaker.
Having Garman use the precision techniques of watch bearing manufacturing for the propeller was the highest level of machining accuracy achievable in that era.
Murdoch nodded. "Yes, Your Highness, Mr. Garman said he improved the polishing method and changed the wood used for the main shaft."
"Oh?" Joseph was a little surprised that Garman also understood material science. "What kind of wood did he switch to?"
"That, I didn't ask him."
Joseph said to Eman, "Please be so kind as to invite Mr. Garman here."
Half an hour later.
The master watchmaker gazed at the propeller, which had been running smoothly for over six hours, and excitedly made the sign of the cross. "Thank God! You must have guided Miss Berenice to me!"
Joseph blinked. "'Miss Berenice'?"
Borda quickly interjected, "Your Highness, she seems to be the maid assigned to Mr. Garman by the shipyard."
Joseph looked at Garman. "Mr. Garman, did the maid assist you in your work?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Garman nodded emphatically. "You mentioned before that the main shaft should be made from wood with uniform grain and the greatest possible hardness.
Last week, I was unconsciously mumbling about this after dinner, and Miss Berenice overheard me. She then told me about an extremely hard type of wood—lignum vitae."
"Lignum vitae?" Joseph felt as though he had heard that name somewhere before.
"She said it was the hardest wood she had ever seen, used by the natives of Jamaica to make bushings for their oar shafts. And her family happened to have a piece of it."
Garman said, looking towards the still-spinning propeller, "That's the one. I didn't pay much attention at first, but when I saw the wood, I immediately realized it was absolutely the best material for a main shaft!
Not only is it hard and resistant to deformation, but it also exudes oil naturally. Using it for a main shaft means you don't even need extra lubrication.
So I machined it into a main shaft, and I couldn't believe it actually worked!"
A thought suddenly struck Joseph. Self-lubricating and incredibly hard—this sounded like the 'destroyer's lifeline shaft' he had read about in future news.
He recalled the news reporting that a certain nation's imported destroyer, due to a design flaw, suffered from rapid wear on its main shaft, and imported parts were unavailable. Ultimately, an old craftsman solved the problem by crafting a replacement main shaft from a self-lubricating wood.
He had forgotten the wood's name, but it was very likely this lignum vitae.
If this material could serve as the main shaft for future warships of three to four thousand tons, it would certainly be more than sufficient for the frigates of this era, weighing less than four hundred tons.
Joseph mused, 'It seems the previous vibration issue wasn't just due to insufficient propeller machining precision; it was very likely accompanied by slight deformation of the main shaft under rotation, leading to asymmetrical stress on both sides.'
Chief Designer Sané added, "It's also possible that the main shaft's extreme hardness, resistance to deformation, and self-lubricating properties compensated for the propeller's machining precision issues."
Joseph immediately realized that this lignum vitae would become a strategic-level raw material.
He quickly had Eman summon Miss Berenice and asked, "Where did you get that piece of lignum vitae?"
The maid seemed very nervous. After she stammered for a while, Joseph finally understood that her father had once been a sailor in the Caribbean Sea. He had saved a Jamaican merchant, who then gifted him a large piece of "spice," which was that very lignum vitae.
Upon returning home, her father learned that it was very valuable and had kept it as a decorative piece until Garman purchased it.
Joseph immediately awarded her a bonus of one thousand Francs and instructed the Intelligence Bureau to inform her and her family about the secrecy protocols.
Subsequently, Joseph sought out a botanist and inquired about the origin of lignum vitae.
"Your Highness, to my knowledge, this material originates from Jamaica," the botanist replied. "It's occasionally brought to Europe for sale by spice or medicinal merchants."
"Jamaica?" Joseph frowned instantly.
That was a British colony. It seemed he would need to acquire a stockpile quickly, before the British realized its full potential.
A week later, the shipyard procured several more pieces of lignum vitae from the medicinal market. Garman machined them into full-sized main shafts and installed them on "The Indomitable."
The midday sun shone upon the calm waters of Brest Bay as "The Indomitable," equipped with its new power system, appeared before everyone.
This time, it took only 25 minutes to cleanly overtake the paddle-and-sail ship used for comparative testing. It then sailed continuously for four hours before finally stopping due to an engine malfunction.
By then, the paddle-and-sail ship had been left more than 20 kilometers behind.
Joseph turned to Murdoch, a slight smile on his face. "Well then, the rest is up to you. You'll need to ensure it can operate stably for at least a full day without failure."
He didn't blame Murdoch; after all, high-pressure steam engine technology had only been developed for just over a year, and this was an ultra-high-pressure version. Achieving its current stability was already quite remarkable.
Murdoch exchanged glances with Sandel, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Your Highness, this might take about two years. After all, models with such high pressure are rarely used elsewhere."
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