章 45: Buying a Ship
The next day, Ethan went out with an escort of two of his knights to recruit blacksmiths for his barony as well as buy a ship. Earlier he had considered recruiting architects and stonemasons to improve his castle's defenses for the war, but he now decided that his barony was far enough east that if the war got that far east, Ethan and all of his knights would probably be dead already. What Ethan really needed to do would be improving his troops' offensive abilities, so that they could survive the enemy onslaught to begin with. Therefore, he would hire blacksmiths and make modern weapons and armor in order to slaughter the enemy.
The night before this, Ethan looked at a map and noticed that there was a major river in between the Western Empire and the Vorbei Kingdom called the 'Grenze River'. This meant that at least part of the war would have to take place over the rivers and/or ocean. Because of this, Ethan now was certain that he wanted to buy a ship, but he would not just leave it as a viking style ship that was available in this world. Ethan drew up rough plans on parchment to modify a viking style ship into an ironclad steamship. Ironclad steamships on Earth were generally wooden sailing ships that were modified into powerfully armored war ships by having their masts and sails removed, having a layer of iron or steel attached to their exterior surfaces (so that they had iron over the wood), having a steam engine and propeller added on, and having breech-loaded gun turrets fitted. They were built for naval battles and were infamously difficult to destroy, even after getting hit by cannons for hours. They became popular on Earth in the mid 1800s, seeing their debut in combat by the Mexican Navy in the Battle of Campeche in 1843, but ironclad ships did not really come into their own until the Battle of Hampton Roads in the American Civil War when there was a Union ironclad, the USS Monitor, and a Confederate ironclad, the CSS Virginia that fought one on one against each other. The two ships fired the best weapons available at the time at each other for hours without stopping, and neither ship was able to do significant damage to each other. It was at that time that all of the best navies in the world realized that wooded ships just couldn't compete against ironclads, no matter how numerous they were, and they all switched their ships to ironclad steamships.
It was for this reason that Ethan decided to buy a wooden warship, get enough blacksmiths, iron, and charcoal to transform it into an ironclad steamship with large breech loaded artillery, and then he would dominate the battlefield.
[With this ship that I will build, I can survive this war. No ship of the Western Empire can sink me. The Kastell Barony will instantly become the greatest naval power in this world, practically a global hegemony. I doubt that even combat magic could sink it. I think that I will name the ship the 'Monitor' in honor of that old American Civil War vessel, only instead of being the 'USS Monitor', this ship will be called the 'KBS Monitor', with 'KBS' standing for 'Kastell Barony's Ship'. The only main problem is the timing. I won't get the wooden ship instantly; optimistically, I can get a prebuilt one in two weeks. That only leaves a month and a half at best to modify it to an ironclad steamship, which may not be enough time. With enough people, it might be barley possible. I really wish that we had ready to order steel plates as well as welding equipment, but unfortunately, that won't be possible in this world right now. I guess that its foolish to worry about what I can't change. I should only concern myself with what I can change.] Thought Ethan.
Ethan first went to the Shipbuilders' Guild in order to buy the wooden ship which would be the baseline for building his ironclad. The Shipbuilders' Guild Hall was in a dome shape and made out of wooden planks. Ethan had been told that the Shipbuilders' Guild was much more centralized in its authority than the Mercenaries Guild, with the individual members being like employees of the guild itself rather than private contractors who merely get connected to clients through the guild. Ethan walked inside, and talked to a receptionist.
"Hi. I'm the new Baron of Kastell, and I would like to buy a war ship. Could you please tell me how much that will cost, and when I will receive it by?" Said Ethan.
"Yes sir. Just fill out this order form, and say the size that you want it, between fourteen and eighteen meters, and depending on the length that you want it, it will cost between 21 and 27 gold coins. We can have it built in in three to four months, delivered to Kastell in less than a week after that, as our shipyard is actually only 20 kilometers south from here on the Breit River, which flows into the Strom River." Said the receptionist.
[Three to four months isn't going to work for me. After all, the war starts in two months.] thought Ethan.
"Thank you for explaining that to me. The price is good, the only problem is the time. I fully appreciate that it takes a lot of time to build a ship from scratch, but I would really like a ship sooner, even if I have to pay significantly more money. Price is no object. Is there a way that I could pay extra and receive a ship within the next two weeks?" Asked Ethan.
The receptionist thought for a moment and then said, "Would you mind if I went and talked to my boss for a moment?" Said the receptionist.
"Not at all." Said Ethan.
The receptionist then got up and went to a back room. She returned a couple of minutes later with an older gentleman.
"It is nice to meet you, Baron Von Kastell. My name is Mathias Schiffsbauer, and I am the guildmaster here. My receptionist informs me that you would like to purchase a ship from us, and that you'd be willing to pay extra to have it sooner. Is this correct?" Said the old man.
"Yes, that is correct." Said Ethan.
"We do have a couple of ships already built, mainly intended for guild business, but for the right price we could sell one of them to you." Said Mathias Schiffsbauer.
[The price that the secretary quoted to me earlier was between 21 and 27 gold coins, but that was for ships that will take months before they are ready. This is for an unusual request from me, and one that may cause this guild some inconvenience, plus I want to give them incentive to deliver it quickly. I should offer them significantly more than that 21 and 27 gold coins figure.] Thought Ethan.
"I can offer you 50 gold coins up front today, plus an additional 25 gold coins upon delivery to the Kastell Barony for the largest ship that you have available right now if you can get it there within the next twelve days." Said Ethan as he reached out his hand for a handshake.
"Deal!" Said Mathias enthusiastically as he shook Ethans hand.
Ethan then payed the guildmaster Mathias and they both signed two copies of a written version of the agreement, one for each of them to keep.
Ethan then thanked the guildmaster and the receptionist, left the Shipbuilders' Guild Hall, and went in the direction of the Blacksmiths' Guild.
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