Chapter 460 - Preparing For A Critical Voyage (1/2)
At the moment, Berengar was within the confines of his study; for the past few days, he had entertained his mother and father. While carefully navigating through the confines of his social obligations. All while balancing his industrialization process. At the moment, things were going so smoothly that there was not much work required on his part.
However, after nearly a week of dealing with intense family drama, the King finally had enough. So much so that he had begun to chart a course for the New World with a single purpose in mind, and that was to escape his chaotic family temporarily. With each passing day, Henrietta had begun to pressure him for more intimacy, and he could only come up with so many excuses to deny her.
Thus he had taken drastic measures. Initially, he had planned to begin exploration and colonization of the new world after defeating the Catholic Church and its stranglehold over Europe. However, with his current predicament, he felt now was a good time to begin exploration, while saving the colonization for years down the line.
Thus he and Honoria avoided the rest of the family while plotting their course and going over the supplies and manpower needed to sail to the new world. Looking upon the map Berengar had made of the so-called new world, his wife began to scoff at him before commenting on the insane voyage.
”You're crazy; you know that? Do you actually believe that Vinland exists? You do know that it is an old legend from Scandinavia, right?”
Despite this, Berengar had an eager smile as he gazed at the map and the trade winds he had established based upon his memory of history from his past life. He expressed his views on the matter to his loving Pirate Queen as he did so.
”Oh, it exists, alright! However, if we are going to travel to Vinland, we are going to need more than an old sloop of war!”
Honoria immediately frowned upon hearing these words and crossed her arms as she scolded her husband.
”Is my ship not good enough for you?”
Upon hearing this, Berengar smiled before sprawling a document across the table; as he did so, he nodded in agreement with Honoria's words.
”Not in the slightest!”
Honoria was about to smack her man across the head for his insults, that is until she laid eyes on the blueprint he had stretched out. It was a plan to completely retrofit her ship ”Honoria's Revenge” into an Iron-Clad Steam-Powered sloop of war. Her mint green irises sparkled as they gazed upon the improvements that Berengar planned to make to her ship.
”You've got to be kidding me?”
Berengar chuckled when he heard his wife's words. After doing so, he began to point and list out the improvements one by one.
”I started by redesigning the interior of the ship, the main guns, the boiler, and the engine will be housed in a teak citadel which will be constructed by 5-inch thick steel plates bolted to 18 inches of teak planks! It will then be mounted on the 1-inch thick plating of the hull itself, behind which lies the timber frame and lining. The bow and stern will be connected to this citadel and be made out of 1-inch thick steel plates!
As for the engine, it will be a single vertical triple expansion engine, with a coal fire maritime boiler for the support! It will also utilize a single screw propeller as the primary source of propulsion for the vessel. With such an advanced engine this baby should be able to exceed 20 knots easily!”
Honoria gazed at this upgrade in shock; her husband was essentially stripping her precious vessel to the bare bones and rebuilding it from the ground up. Could it even be considered the same ship at that point? Despite this, Berengar then placed his finger on the next significant improvement.
”I will be replacing your obsolete muzzle loading guns and outfit the vessel with a specialized Naval variant of the 7.5cm FK 22 guns currently in use by the armed forces. These will fire HE shells on our journey, but for your future privateering operations they can be operated with inert or shrapnel shells instead.”
Honoria gazed at the redesigned vessel with a wide smirk on her face as she expressed her interest in the project.
”When will my ship undergo this massive upgrade?”
In response to his wife's question, Berengar had a smug smile on his face as he proudly declared his actions.
”It is already being retrofitted as we speak!”
Honoria could hardly believe her ears as she heard this. Did this bastard seriously make changes to her ship without her permission? She was going to have to pay him back for this favor later. However, what was done was done; thus, she calmed her nerves before asking the following question on her mind.
”So obviously, we can't bring my girls on this voyage; they can't be trusted with such a high level of security clearance... Who do you have in mind for the journey?”