From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 16 Setting Sail
Chiseling mortise holes is a delicate job, not as strenuous as sawing, but it is tedious and time-consuming, and cannot be rushed.

Chen Zhou worked on the deck throughout the afternoon of October 3rd.

The weather was fine, with no clouds until the evening.

Fearing that this rare good weather would be wasted, Chen Zhou hung an oil lamp on the deck and worked overtime in the dim light.

From morning to night, I worked for about ten hours.

The four frames placed horizontally on the deck were finally completed.

The front and rear square tenons of the left and right frames, and the mortises for connecting the square tenons of the front and rear frames have been completed, and two rows of mortises for inserting wooden boards have also been partially chiseled.

Before resting late at night, Chen Zhou measured the waterline again, estimating that the sea level had risen enough.

According to his observations, the tide rises and falls twice a day.

One starts around midnight, rises quickly, and will bring the tide to its peak in about two hours, and then slowly decreases.

Another time, after the sun rises in the morning, the tide rises slowly and reaches its highest point after noon, then gradually ebbs until the sun sets and everything is quiet.

The tide rises too fast at midnight and it is dark, so it is not suitable to move the raft along the tide.

The morning tide is quite useful because it has a long cycle of rise and fall, so there is no need to worry about the raft running aground when transporting supplies to the island, which is quite worry-free.

Drawing a rise and fall curve on the tidal table, Chen Zhou silently calculated how many times cargo could be transported every day.

If you get up early in the morning, load the boxes on the raft, and set off at around eight or nine in the morning, you can reach the island in about ten minutes, unload the supplies, and return directly without stopping.

On the return journey, you must row against the current, which requires more effort. It may take half an hour or even an hour to row the boat. Adding the time for loading and unloading supplies, a round trip will take about three hours.

In this way, excluding the necessary time for eating, sleeping, etc., a maximum of three transportations can be carried out every day in ideal weather without wind or rain.

Based on the total weight of 200 kilograms of materials transported each time, 600 kilograms of materials can be delivered to the island every day. This transportation efficiency is far beyond the reach of Robinson's simple raft.

Thinking of this, Chen Zhou simply did a calculation in his mind.

According to the book, Robinson boarded the ship on October 10, and from that day until the day before the ship was destroyed by the storm, that is, October 1, Robinson never stopped and continued to make disposable rafts to transport supplies to the island at a rate of once a day.

Robinson's raft was made of sawn-off masts tied together and could only carry a few dozen kilograms of cargo at a time. In these 2000 days, he transported at most kilograms of supplies ashore.

For anyone, 2000 kilograms of various supplies is not a small number.

If used sparingly, it will be enough to last for several years.

But Chen Zhou can do much more than that.

Calculated based on the slowest and worst case scenario.

It would take up to eight days from the official start of work on the 2nd to the launching of the raft. He could not officially transport the first batch of supplies until the morning of the 10th. With only 12 days left for safe transportation, he could also transport 36 times, or 7200 kilograms of supplies.

This number is three times the amount of supplies transported by Robinson.

Even if the weather affects the performance and we fail to meet expectations, it will be easy to surpass Robinson.

Just as the guy who drew the raft blueprint on the forum said, if you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. In a 10,000-meter race, even if a car doesn't start as fast as a bicycle, there will be no suspense about who will be the winner in the end.

The calculated results are very reliable.

After giving himself a reassurance, Chen Zhou fell asleep after dinner with anticipation for the future.

The price of sleeping late is getting up late, and when you wake up it’s already bright outside.

October 4th, the fifth day of the challenge begins.

Chen Zhou, who has gradually adapted to the new rhythm of life, follows the familiar route to the first mate's room, kitchen, and deck, and starts a new day's work.

Today's tasks are of varying importance.

In the morning, you are full of energy and need to saw out the lower frame. In the afternoon, you are tired and need to continue chiseling the mortises on the front and rear frames for inserting wooden boards.

If the task can be completed ahead of schedule, the connecting parts for connecting the upper and lower layers of the raft must be made at night.

These little things are small in size and have tenons at both ends. 20 of them are used for the front and rear frames and 30 for the side frames. They mainly play the role of nails and adhesives.

According to Chen Zhou's idea, after building the first few, he would accumulate experience and then he could build them faster and faster.

With a feeling that was not sure whether it was pain or numbness, Chen Zhou heard the continuous sawing sound again.

Sawing wood and drilling mortise and tenon holes were familiar tasks, but making joints was tedious.

Because the wood block is only three fingers thick and the size of a palm, it is very troublesome to fix and chisel it.

In addition, the lighting conditions at night were poor. Chen Zhou felt like he was going blind from trying to identify the marks made by the charcoal sticks and repeatedly compare the symmetry of the tenons and tongues of the wood blocks.

This is not the most disgusting thing. The most disgusting thing is that after making these 50 connecting parts, you still have to chisel out 100 corresponding mortise holes between the upper and lower frames.

Chen Zhou worked hard by lamplight on an empty stomach at night to make two connectors. Finally, he couldn't hold on any longer. He dropped the chisel in his hand and fell on his back on the deck with a bang.

Thinking of the seemingly endless carving, thinking of the forty-eight identical jobs left after making these two connectors, thinking of the more mortise holes that needed to be chiseled after making those forty-eight connectors, he suddenly felt a boundless fatigue and exhaustion welling up in him.

It was like a long full marathon race. As a contestant, the rules did not allow him to run with his feet. He could only use his arms to support his body and crawl forward little by little.

"This isn't a normal job, this is torture!"

Looking at the starry sky, Chen Zhou started to complain.

He could endure the repetitive and boring work in the factory because he could slack off, because he only felt mentally exhausted instead of physically and mentally exhausted, and because he looked forward to entertainment and relaxation after get off work.

But here, the tedious work is extremely long and unsatisfactory.

When Chen Zhou thought about having to repeat the same carving for five or six days, he couldn't help but start to have some evil thoughts.

“Is there any way to reduce or skip the process of making connectors and build the raft directly?
Eh, it seems to be true!
The function of the connector is similar to that of adhesives and nails. Instead of wasting time making such things, it is better to directly nail the long nails, which is simple and crude.

Although nails are not as tight as mortise and tenon joints with fish bladder glue, they can also damage the internal structure of the frame and reduce the service life of the raft.

But this raft was not intended to be used for long. It is obviously worthwhile to reduce its service life in order to speed up progress and suffer less torture, especially in this special period when every second counts.

After making the decision, I stood up, cleaned up the deck, and measured the tide and recorded the data as usual.

After having a late dinner, Chen Zhou ended a tiring day.

On October 5th, the three-day long sunny day was finally ended by dark clouds.

Chen Zhou put on a thick coat in advance and moved his workplace indoors.

To make things easier, he spent the morning tearing down the walls on both sides of the corridor and between Robinson and the gunner's room.

The open space makes it easy to stack and carry materials, making his work more convenient and efficient.

After carving the wooden board for an entire afternoon, Chen Zhou cleaned up the water that had flooded into the cabin in the evening and made himself a simple dumpling soup.

The flour in the 17th century was not as fine as the modern white flour. But it was this slightly rough texture, along with two pieces of cheese and a cup of hot tea, that made Chen Zhou's mouth full of fragrance and extremely satisfied.

The demolition of the wall and drainage caused by the rain delayed most of the day.

Fortunately, Chen Zhou found ways to skip the step of manufacturing connectors, so the overall work process was shortened instead of being extended.

Even if it rains every day thereafter, all components of the raft can be completed by October 10, which is undoubtedly exciting news.

In addition to the rain, there are a few other things worth mentioning.

Ranked first is Chen Zhou’s physical condition.

The average working time is more than twelve hours a day, and most of it is heavy physical work or extremely energy-consuming manual work, with only short rest periods in between.

There was no time to recover from muscle fatigue, abrasions on hands, heel injuries, blisters on soles of feet and dozens of accidental scratches because the work kept going.

In addition, the diet lacks protein, fat, vitamins and trace elements, and relying solely on cheese and candied fruit to provide the necessary nutrients for the body is far from enough.

If this continues, his body will definitely be worn out.

Chen Zhou was also aware of this problem, but he never stopped working, not even giving himself half a day off. He gritted his teeth and persevered, relying on his longing for the day when the raft would be launched, hoping to exchange a short-term injury to his body for a relaxed future.

This was his choice, and he was willing to accept it no matter what the outcome.

Compared to the heaviness of the first thing, the second thing is much more interesting.

On the evening of October 5, Chen Zhou successfully taught Lai Fu a command - sit.

Now, as long as he shouts "sit", Lai Fu will sit down obediently, then look at him with his big brown and black eyes, waiting for reward.

As Chen Zhou got to know Lai Fu day and night, he discovered that this guy was particularly talented in picking up objects. He didn't need to be taught. Just throw a wooden stick or any other small object to him, and Lai Fu would quickly pick it up and deliver it to his hand.

Lai Fu is not only able to skillfully retrieve the items thrown away by Chen Zhou, but he also enjoys this boring game.

Sometimes when Chen Zhou was carving wood, it would come over with a small wooden stick in its mouth and look at him with pitiful eyes, like a child craving candy.

Out of tenderness of heart, Chen Zhou would take time out of his busy schedule to play with Lai Fu a few times.

This little game of throwing and picking up gave Chen Zhou some time to breathe, relieved his stress, and prevented him from suffering a mental breakdown due to the long and repetitive work.

It was still cloudy and rainy in the morning of October 6th.

That day, Chen Zhou completed the four frames of the lower level of the raft and carved most of the mortise and tenon joints and wooden boards, waiting for installation.

On the evening of the 6th, the clouds cleared and the sun rose. Chen Zhou tied a safety rope around his waist and hoisted himself down along the side of the boat.

After measuring and recording the tides for nearly a week, he had a clear understanding of the patterns and heights of the tides.

There are more than two days left before the raft is officially launched, so we can start looking for a suitable location and height and break a gap.

Holding a measuring rope in one hand and a charcoal stick in the other, Chen Zhou measured the height and drew a very long straight line on the side of the boat. Then he took out a long nail hammer from his pocket and hammered a nail into the boat every one meter or so.

Then he climbed onto the deck and went to the cabin, looking for the bulge on the end of the nail on the wall.

After eliminating the positions that threatened the keel, Chen Zhou finally determined the location of the gap and sawed off a piece of wood in advance to mark it, waiting only two days later for the raft to be put into the sea to fully expand the gap.

There were some unexpected events at work between October 7th and 8th.

The front frame of a raft that had been almost completed had a hidden flaw inside, and a huge crack was created when the mortise was drilled, almost splitting the entire frame.

After failing to repair it with fish bladder glue, Chen Zhou had to make a new front frame, which took nearly a day.

However, good things come to those who wait. On the evening of October 8, all the raft components except the sailboat anchor were completed, and the work was finally carried out smoothly to the end.

The sail and anchor are very simple to make.

The sail is a "T"-shaped pole fixed to the surface of the raft with a tripod structure and can rotate 360°.

There is a pin installed at the bottom of the pole, and several holes are dug around it. Through the pin and holes, Chen Zhou can fix the angle of rotation of the sail and thus adjust the sail according to the wind direction.

The canvas is rectangular with a rope connected to the end. When you need to raise the sail, wrap the rope around the bottom of the pole. When you need to lower the sail, just untie the rope.

The anchor was made of a large wooden barrel with a rope strung across it.

In order to prevent the wooden barrel from floating up, Chen Zhou removed the barrel lid and put several thin lead plates into the barrel, increasing the weight of the barrel to more than 50 kilograms.

There is no winch on the raft for anchoring. The anchor is connected to a wooden pile at the tail of the raft. It is very easy to install and quick to drop the anchor. Just throw the wooden barrel into the water.

Of course, it is easy to drop an anchor, but it is difficult to pull it up.

Therefore, this anchor is just a necessary safety device. If it can be avoided, Chen Zhou will try not to use it to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

October 9th.

The long and arduous shipbuilding work was coming to an end. Chen Zhou was so excited that he couldn't sleep well the whole night. He got up early and started the final work.

In the morning, he made the sails and anchor, sawed open the cabin, enlarged the gap, built a platform, and laid the rolling logs.

At noon, I ate a piece of white bread and drank two glasses of cold boiled water to fill my stomach a little.

Chen Zhou moved all the heavy raft components to the platform and began to assemble them.

Lai Fu seemed to realize that his new owner was also going to leave the boat, and couldn't help feeling a little worried. He followed Chen Zhou closely, watching him eagerly smear the mortise and tenon tongue with fish bladder glue and hammer it into the mortise, his brows filled with fear and reluctance.

However, at this moment, Chen Zhou was filled with excitement about landing on the island and did not pay any attention to Lai Fu's reaction.

Like playing with building blocks, he used glue, nails, and a sledgehammer to slowly put together the results of his eight days of hard work.

Bottom layer, top layer, frame, planks, anchor, sail...

This plain and even crudely made raft finally grew its own bones, muscles and skin.

There are no carvings or paint on its body, but there are many flaws, which make it look very ugly.

But no matter what it looked like, it finally took on Chen Zhou's earnest expectations, and with the prying of the crowbar and the spinning of the rolling log, it let out an impatient and rough roar and plunged into the sea.

It was the peak of the tide, and the front end did not splash much water, while the tail stayed steadily on the sea surface.

The sea water rose and fell, and the raft swayed gently.

Everything went so smoothly and so naturally.

All the setbacks; all the efforts; all the expectations; all the hardships and difficulties were finally not in vain and yielded a worthwhile result.

Looking at the small raft drifting in the ocean, Chen Zhou finally couldn't control his emotions and laughed out loud towards the sky.

He laughed so hard, laughed so tiredly, laughed so hard that he bent over, laughed so hard that he was hysterical, laughed so hard that two hot tears flowed from the corners of his eyes...

(End of this chapter)