How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony

'Anno 1800'.

A recent installment in the well-received Anno series. A masterpiece in the city-building and strategy genre.

It's been out for about...

405 years in the future.

Ugh, that feels strange.

Anyway, the game itself is worth playing. I've probably spent over a hundred hours on it since I like the 19th century setting and the graphics are pretty decent.

Anyway.

In this game, where you grow your own city set in the 19th century, you can interact with other cities and factions through 'navigation'.

And the ships used then are exactly from around the 19th to 20th centuries, making it perfect for reference.

Especially since our technological capabilities related to steam engines awkwardly straddle the period from the 18th to early 19th centuries.

Of course, this isn't an educational comic, so there are no particularly detailed blueprints here. It just gives a modest understanding of what kinds of ships existed in this era.

"...You're attaching waterwheels to both sides of the ship?"

"That's right. And the engine in the middle moves those wheel axles."

But that was enough. Sometimes just the overall shape can help one guess the general principles.

The paddle wheeler's operation would be apparent to anyone just by looking at its exterior.

A vessel with waterwheels (paddles) attached to the outside of the hull, gaining propulsion by rotating them to push water away.

Even with my limited knowledge, I could understand why this design became obsolete.

First of all, compared to the small and neat screw of a screw-propelled ship, those paddles are much larger and cumbersome.

Moreover, if waves suddenly surge or weather turns bad with rain, the paddles would be submerged deeply then shallowly, halving their performance.

No matter how I looked at it, the screw-propelled ship seemed far superior and more excellent in structure. If that weren't the case, I would have seen paddle wheelers more often. But I've never seen a paddle wheeler except as toys.

However.

At the same time, I could understand why early steamboats adopted this paddle wheel propulsion method.

First, isn't the structure simple? They've just replaced where rowers would sit with paddle wheels, making the operating principle intuitive.

Also, since the paddle wheel axis needs to be submerged just enough to not be fully submerged, the draft is shallow. In other words, it's good for navigating shallow waters.

If it's difficult to handle in rough seas or unfavorable climate conditions, why not just use it in rivers or coastal areas?

I immediately showed the shipwrights the special vessels from 'Anno 1800', the 'Great Eastern' and the 'Salvage Ship', and said:

"Don't think about the iron-clad structure here... just consider the overall shape of the ship. First, we attach huge paddle wheels on both sides, and on the other hand, we add sails in case the fuel runs out."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What do you think?"

Then.

"Ohh, how interesting. So we attach wheels to both sides?"

This time, the shipwrights' reaction was good. And so we took another step toward building humanity's first steamboat.

"But there's a crane attached to this 'Salvage Ship' below?"

"Ah, yes."

"What purpose should we build it for?"

Well, since we're now building breakwaters, bridges, and roads.

"For building breakwaters and bridges."

It's a specialized vessel for underwater construction.

There's something to move with that crane.

Namely...

"This looks like a sea urchin egg abstracted by Plato."

"What an elegant expression, Harriot. Let's set aside the small talk and proceed with the experiment. Pour water into the breakwater model."

Tetrapods.

==

Tetrapod.

A concrete structure in the shape of a pointed tetrahedron with four branches. It's what you often see at the coast, with spiky objects tangled together forming a breakwater.

Kin Issei only knew the name briefly and had no idea exactly how it worked or how much better it was than previous breakwaters.

If he hadn't thought, 'Since it came out in modern times, it must be superior,' he would have directed them to build embankments in the traditional way instead.

However, the advantages of tetrapods were clear in many ways.

Breakwaters installed by gathering gravel and rocks in the previous method are easily swept away by waves. In other words, they must be maintained and repaired periodically at enormous cost.

In contrast, breakwaters made of tetrapods are firmly intertwined with each other, making them much less likely to scatter or collapse compared to traditional breakwaters.

Their wave-blocking power is also superior. Structurally, a tetrapod breakwater with numerous gaps allows seawater to flow through those gaps, appropriately offsetting the power of waves to maintain its structure.

Of course, fishermen who insist on fishing where they shouldn't sometimes fall through those gaps.

Anyway, specifically, its wave-blocking power is several times superior to existing breakwaters.

Therefore, this type of breakwater was perfect for withstanding and offsetting the nearly lawless waves and rough currents of Pamlico Sound. This was also proven in the experiment Harriot conducted with a small model.

If they poured soil and gravel in the traditional way into the rough Pamlico Sound, it would be swept away instantly.

Moreover, tetrapods are easy to mass transport.

The blacksmiths of Roanoke Island are preparing massive molds, 3-4 meters high. Probably once concrete is poured into those molds and the molds are disassembled, tetrapods will be completed instantly.

Being able to continuously supply materials of uniform size and quality was a big advantage. This was also advantageous compared to digging up random gravel and piling it up.

And there was one more special advantage of tetrapods that would only apply in the Virginia community's situation.

"Is the concrete supply going well? How are you all handling the mixing ratios..."

"Yes, Nameless One. We're slowly adjusting the mixing ratios between materials."

That is, it's made of concrete.

By around the 17th century, the use of concrete begins to increase, but it's still not that common.

So it's natural that the technicians here, including Kin Issei, don't know what materials to mix to make concrete hard or what ratio to mix for longevity.

And tetrapods served as training and experimental subjects for such concrete pouring methods.

Since tetrapods are consumables anyway, ruining one or two wouldn't cause major problems.

Thus, as research on concrete began in earnest, they also started digging to lay roads for the first time in Chesapeake.