Deciding on the use of an upper edge jirs, Marin immediately set about reworking the boat. Because it had not yet been finalized, Marin targeted the modification of the ship to the Type 250 armed merchant ship with a displacement of 250 tons. Moreover, this kind of ship, Marin also has the most in his hands.

However, in order to achieve the desired effect, Marin personally visited the Emden shipyard to supervise and guide the shipbuilders in renovating the ships. However, for the sake of safety, Marin decided to start with the sails of the rear mast. As for the front mast, it remains as it is for the time being.

The reason for this is that although Marin knows the principle of the upper rim jigger, he has no experience in how to control the upper rim jigger. After all, China is a closed country during the Age of Discovery. When sail warships were popular, it was the Manchu dynasty in the country. And when China overthrew the Manchu Qing Dynasty and began to open its eyes to the world, the era of sails was over.

Therefore, don't look at the long history of China, there are really few people who know Western sailing ships, and there is no tradition of sailing ships. The ships that Marlin saw in later generations were all powered by diesel engines. Or, it's small enough to paddle with an oar. In other words, Marin was only a theorist and had never had practical experience in sailing.

As a result, he can only talk about it. How to control the upper edge of the blith sail has to be figured out by the sailors themselves. In this context, it is riskier to replace all the sails on the ship with upper edge blique truss sails, and the safest thing is to test it with the mast near the stern. Even if there is no problem, it is a big deal to drop the sails......

The manufacture of the upper edge of the girth sail is very simple, with the theoretical guidance of Marin, find a few craftsmen, and create a batch of copper rings connecting the mast and the wind pole, the upper edge of the girth and the sail. The reason why copper rings are used instead of iron rings is naturally because copper is not afraid of water.

After it was built, Marin arranged for the craftsmen to connect the thick brass ring to the wind bar and the upper edge of the girder, and to connect the brass ring to the sail. Then, the thick brass rings that hold the wind pole are lowered from the top of the rear mast, and then a series of thin brass rings attached to the sails are attached. Next, a thick copper ring connecting the upper edge of the diagonal truss is then attached. However, before the upper edge of the truss was attached, the craftsmen also installed a vertically upward guide rail on the wind bar. There are two copper rings connecting the upper edge of the oblique truss, the thick copper ring covers the mast, and the thin copper ring covers the guide rail......

Finally, above the upper edge of the girder, a jib was attached. The part of the jib near the mast also has a string of thin copper rings. The brass ring at the top, on the other hand, is connected by a rope to a pulley at the top of the mast, which makes it easy for sailors to hoist the sails below, just like hoisting the national flag.

……

But it wasn't until the 250 armed merchant ship was fitted with an upper-edge jirst sail on the rear mast and tested at sea that Marin discovered another serious problem - there was no steering wheel like a steering wheel in this era......

In Marin's impression, the sailing ships of the Great Voyage were all directed by the captain with a few sailors, and the steering wheel was pulled there. The captain would often shout commands such as "left rudder, 20", "right full rudder", or "positive rudder". The first mate then supervised several sailors to turn the steering wheel......

Marin had also been on a sailboat before, but he hadn't been to the stern of the ship, so he thought that the steering wheel was also used there. But this time, when discussing with the old sailors how to control the upper edge of the jirs, Marin accidentally came to the stern to control the stern rudder, and really saw how the sailors of this era controlled the rudder......

Marin watched in bewilderment as the captains shouted and instructed the sailors to play with the "crowbar" and control the hull to steer instead of the legendary steering wheel......

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, thinking that he must have seen a fake voyage. However, the picture is still ......

I saw four strong sailors shirtless, under the supervision of the first mate, vigorously pulling a long crowbar that connected vertically to the rudder below. When the trigger is triggered, it also makes a "creaking" sound. And the four strong sailors, also sweating on their heads, shouted trumpets in their mouths, as if they were struggling.

"Is it so hard to turn the rudder?" Marin asked Captain Kidd, who was accompanying him on the inspection, in surprise.

Kidd nodded and said:

"Well, that's how hard it is. That's pretty good. Now the wind and waves in the North Sea are quite average. In the event of a strong wind and waves, the force required to pull the vertical tiller is greater, and the four strong men may not be able to pull it. This kind of 250-class ship is better, and on 500-ton warships, because the rudder is larger, heavier and more difficult to pull, it generally requires 6 to 8 strong men to pull the vertical tiller. ”

"I'll wipe ......," Marin suddenly burst into a foul mouth. However, no one can understand this kind of Chinese foul language.

"It seems that the upper edge of the blith sail is not the main thing. The main thing is to get a steering wheel first. ”

Marin watched the vertical rudder for a while, and it really felt laborious. Seeing the scene of four strong men sweating profusely, Marin felt that it was too much of a waste of manpower. According to the captain, these four strong men were especially on the first shift, and in a few hours they would find four more sailors to change shifts...... In this way, just turning the rudder requires a large number of sailors, which is too wasteful of human resources......

So, after the ship docked, Marin immediately sent guards to find a few mechanical experts. Leonardo da Vinci had been sent to North America some time ago to test the use of steam engines to drive pumps for irrigation, so Marin could only settle for the next best thing and find a few other mechanical experts.

And when it comes to mechanical experts, who can compare with watchmakers in this era? These people can play with small gears, and they are the most proficient in machinery. And, of course, some high-level blacksmiths to build the equipment they need.

When a few of the great watchmakers hired from Italy arrived, Marin gave them the task of building a mechanical system that could turn the rudder with the flip of a wheel. Moreover, it is better to be able to pull it by one person...... Not only that, but Marlin also required the whole system to be as simple as possible, and it needed to be resistant to seawater corrosion. For example, you should not use parts made of iron to avoid corrosion and rust by seawater...... For this reason, the craftsmen unanimously decided to use corrosion-resistant copper to make parts such as gears......

And for this system, Marin attaches great importance to it and offers a high reward of 1,000 gold coins per person. Although the reward was high, Marin thought it was well worth it. Because, this is of great significance to the Great Voyage.

You know, it is very inconvenient for the current vertical rudder to control the rudder. Not only is it strenuous, but the rudder angle is also very small, up to 5 degrees. This, in turn, also caused the hull to turn very slowly. If you encounter a shoal or reef, if you turn slowly, you may still run into it. Therefore, Marin demanded that the new steering wheel must be able to turn the rudder more than 30 degrees......

After making these demands, Marin left first and returned to Aurich. With the efficiency of these watchmakers, Marin estimated that he would not be able to come up with a reliable steering wheel in a short period of time. It's not hard to get them to take out the steering wheel, after all, they are all professionals. However, it is difficult to come up with a reliable and durable steering wheel. Because it is not reliable and durable, it needs to be tested for a long time before it can be finalized.

Therefore, Ben led the fleet to build cities and ports on the Pacific side of Panama this time, and I am afraid that he could not wait for these people to come up with a mature steering wheel, and he had to use the vertical rudder to pull the rudder.

Fortunately, however, the handling of the upper rim jiggers is simple. Although Marin himself did not understand, the old sailors had basically figured out how to handle the upper edge of the jirspron sail. With some details remaining, Arben's fleet can also continue to test it while sailing. Anyway, only the aft mast uses an upper edge diagonal truss sail, which does not affect the overall situation.

In this way, Aben's fleet, a total of 10 250-class armed merchant ships, loaded with men and supplies, embarked on the journey to Panama City.

In addition to the task of building a city and a port in Panama City, they also had the task of building a transit point on the island of Santa Maria, near Concepción, Chile.

After all, the voyage from Grenada to Panama City is too long and requires a transit point to replenish fresh water. In the future, the development of Chilean saltpeter may also need to be used as a springboard.

So, on this voyage, when passing through the island of Santa Maria, Aben would leave a small group of men and horses to build a small bunker on the river side of the island of Santa Maria. Later, the bunker would be expanded into a transit port, which would be responsible for replenishing the freshwater river food for the passing ships......