How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony-Chapter 242: Labor (1)

Weapons capable of changing the tide of war... have been secured, and soldiers to handle those weapons have been created.

Military provisions are available, and various other logistics supplies are being prepared.

Now a means to transport them is needed.

Obviously, if we’re not planning to build roads through hundreds of kilometers of wilderness from here to Florida, there’s only one option.

We need ships. freёnovelkiss.com

I thought about reaching out to England, but then I realized they’re also in a tight spot, requisitioning ships to use as warships at the slightest provocation.

So we have to procure ships ourselves.

Clippers are difficult.

Clippers are transport ships that sacrifice everything else for speed, making them difficult to use right away. Besides, being large ships from several centuries in the future, they take a long time to build.

Since the goal is to move a not-so-distant distance, what we need now isn’t speed but stability and ample loading capacity.

With the simplest structure possible.

To float as many as possible on water.

We needed lots of cargo ships rather than warships.

As our shipyard has been operating for quite some time, systems have been established, and skilled workers have increased accordingly.

Thanks to this, we could design an independent structure suited to our needs, different from ships popular in contemporary Netherlands or around the world.

First, we widened the deck as much as possible.

This is the opposite of the Netherlands and other places where decks were narrowed for purposes such as tax avoidance. Naturally, given the cargo we need to load, this was an inevitable result.

Since we now have to put a huge piece of metal on the ship, stability is paramount. We widen the deck and maximize the distance between masts.

And in between, we secure one tractor.

Of course, considering our tractors weigh dozens of tons, we can’t just place them on the deck. We design the deck to open and insert them inside.

A new ship focused on transporting tractors and various logistical supplies, abandoning speed and compatibility in favor of safely handling massive cargo volumes.

In reality, that alone wasn’t enough to transport tractors. So we borrowed the help of French merchants.

More precisely, we borrowed their ships.

It’s a situation where a massive volume of essential goods will be needed anyway. In our community, we have furs but no cotton cloth, we have various treasures but lack essential metals like copper.

Accordingly, numerous French-flagged ships crossed the Atlantic into our territory, and we borrowed their ships while they stayed at the market.

And on each of those ships, we loaded tractors disassembled into parts.

Then, we transported those tractors to various parts of Florida.

Along with people and equipment to reassemble and maintain the tractors.

That solved the biggest problem now. We just need to gather the remaining logistics supplies to load onto those ships...

"...You said everything has been gathered?"

"Yes. We proceeded by purchasing from various factories established recently. Most items were quickly filled."

"..."

Strange.

Weren’t all the people in our community reluctant to work? These supplies weren’t imported, so where are they accumulating from?

From where? Why?

==

Even with ships, just hammering iron nails into wood to make a hull doesn’t complete everything. This merely forms the skeletal structure—the foundation upon which a functioning vessel must be built. The hull alone is merely a floating container, incapable of purposeful movement across vast waters.

Ships need sails to catch wind and move. Without these carefully crafted canvas sheets, strategically positioned to harness the power of the wind, ships cannot move beyond the mercy of currents and tides. These sails require precise engineering and placement to transform natural forces into directed motion.

Similarly, ropes are needed to secure and control those sails. No, ropes are necessary everywhere to control the ship’s elements and keep them from shaking. These complex networks of cordage form the sinews of the vessel—connecting masts to sails, hull to rigging, and providing the sailors with the means to adjust and adapt to changing conditions at sea. Without this intricate web of ropes, the ship becomes an uncontrollable mass of wood and canvas.

Only when various implements are in place—from navigation tools to proper sleeping quarters, from food storage to freshwater barrels—can a ship function as a ship and fulfill the role Kin Issei and Virginians desire: transporting logistics supplies to Virginia. A ship is not merely its visible parts but rather a carefully orchestrated system of components working in harmony.

It’s the same.

For an army to function as an army, weapons and soldiers alone are not enough. Simply thinking about it, even if just hundreds of people gather to live together, various supplies are needed.

They need uniforms to wear, tents to use when staying outdoors.

If there are swords, belts are needed to carry them, and oil to maintain the blades.

These make up the majority of the logistics supplies Kin Issei mentioned. Since these things aren’t available in Virginia now, let alone Florida.

These items must be produced as efficiently as possible to meet hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of needs. They were completely different in nature from the luxurious handicrafts primarily made in Virginia before.

That’s why Kin Issei was all the more confused.

People in the Virginia community already enjoy wealth that satisfies basic needs with plenty to spare. Moreover, no labor is required to enjoy such wealth.

The reality is that everyone in the community enjoys a lifestyle that would be typical for nobles of other countries.

In such a situation, labor belongs not to the realm of survival but to hobbies. With most labor power tied up in this way, the community’s productivity couldn’t be good.

Yet logistics supplies were easily prepared. Enough to handle not just what would be used in Virginia but also the quantities needed in Florida.

To understand this curious situation, we need to delve deeper.

Virginia’s first industrial monastic order emerged next to a tractor farm. They deliberately wore rough clothes, ate frugal meals, and enjoyed a difficult lifestyle.

As with the early church in ancient Rome and medieval monastic orders, those living such lives gradually became objects of curiosity.

And those who offer their wealth, time, and passion for something of greater value are always bound to become objects of respect.