African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 121 Mwanza Shipyard

   January 3, 1868.

   Great Lakes District, Mwanza.

  Great Lake (Lake Victoria), with a water area of ​​nearly 70,000 square kilometers and an average water depth of about 40 meters, has good navigation capabilities.

  If you want to develop the Great Lakes, you need advanced ships, not to mention advanced, at least better than the canoes used by the indigenous people.

  And in the Great Lakes, there are more than a thousand islands alone, many of which are suitable for human habitation, and naturally there are also indigenous people.

  These aborigines live by fishing and may live on the island all their lives. This is naturally not allowed by the East African colonial government that pursues "zeroing" as its ultimate goal.

  So out of the consideration of the development and utilization of the Great Lakes and the cleanup of the indigenous people on the island, it is necessary to establish East Africa's own inner lake troops.

   Regardless of whether it is fishermen fishing or establishing an inner lake force, they are inseparable from ships.

Even in the previous life, the main mode of transportation on Lake Victoria was by ferry. Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania all built ports along the coast of Lake Victoria. Relying on the huge waters of the Great Lake, they established many large-scale port cities. Even if these lake ports are compared with some seaports in Africa Not bad at all.

  The Great Lakes also have rich freshwater fishery resources. With the development of the East African colonies and the restrictions on edible wild animals in the East African colonies, it is inevitable to find new alternative sources of meat.

  Currently Ernst has two ideas, one is to develop pastures and engage in animal husbandry. One is to exploit the fishery resources of freshwater lakes in the East African colonies.

Livestock development takes time, and fishery resources are readily available in the lakes of East Africa, the Great Lakes, Lake Soren, Lake Malawi, and even Lake Turkana, any one of which is sufficient to meet the meat needs of the current East African colonies need.

  As for the fishery resources in the ocean, it is true that the fishery resources along the coast of East Africa are very rich, especially in the season when the Somali cold current passes, large-scale fishing grounds will be formed.

  However, the current conditions in the East African colonies cannot afford large shipyards, and if the fishing boats are too small, they will not be safe on the sea.

   This is not as cost-effective as developing fishery resources in inland lakes. After all, inland lakes are not as rough as the ocean.

  Ernst plans to build several small shipyards in the inland lakes. The ships produced can not only satisfy the fishing industry, but also speed up the development and expansion of East Africa.

   After all, these lakes have large areas and wide waters. If you go to the other side, you have to go around a long distance on land. If you have a boat, you can save a lot of time.

  At the same time, the ship has a large cargo capacity, which is convenient for the transportation of goods and personnel, and can effectively reduce losses.

  At present, the most important means of transportation in East Africa are horse-drawn carts and ox carts. In places where a large number of constructions are carried out, there are also many wooden wheelbarrows (mainly driven by human power to transport food and other materials), which are also important means of transportation in East Africa.

  The location of the first shipyard in East Africa was selected in Mwanza on the shore of the Great Lake (Lake Victoria).

  This is the result of comprehensive consideration due to various situations.

The two important cities of the current East African colony are located along the Great Lakes, one is Mwanza (the capital of the Great Lakes region) and the other is Kisumu (the capital of Western Kenya). Connecting the two cities can speed up the development of the Great Lakes, and connecting the two cities Naturally, it depends on the ship.

  At the same time, the indigenous people living on the islands on the Great Lakes also need to be resolved. There is no similar need in Lake Solon and Lake Malawi, so there is no need to rush to build factories.

  In addition, the Northwest Raiders also need to rely on the navigation capabilities of the Great Lakes, and the control of the Northwest can be strengthened in the future.

  Finally, Mwanza itself has excellent natural conditions. Relying on Mwanza Bay, Mwanza itself is a natural and excellent lake port.

Previously, the tribe of the Sukuma tribe (called "Gypsies of Tanzania" in reality, the largest ethnic group in Tanzania, with more than 120 ethnic groups in Tanzania) lived here, and later the East African colony was directly occupied The magpie's nest has taken over here.

  In the follow-up "purge" campaign, the Sukuma tribe in the entire Great Lakes region were expelled. They were driven by the East African colonial government to the tribe with the largest number of people in the eight countries in the northwest.

  The Mwanza Shipyard is located in the southwest of Mwanza City, on the south side of a small peninsula extending westward in Mwanza Bay. The place is calm and the water is deep, so it is very suitable to build a dock on the peninsula.

  …

   Coming to East Africa is definitely a hard job for staying in Europe.

  So Ernst directly assigned people from the Chinese interns in his own shipyard in Europe to go to Africa to guide the construction of the shipyard.

   These Chinese interns are all students of Hechingen Military Academy, so they obey Ernst's orders unconditionally.

  Compared to the days of displacement and starvation in the Far East, although the conditions in East Africa are poor, they are not bad at all for these Chinese youths who used to live in hot water.

  And while they were in school, they were ready to go through fire and water for the principal, but because of their poor spoken English (German), they failed to make it. At least the translator must be able to communicate without barriers.

Therefore, many students who are not good at the language stay in Europe to continue their German studies. However, the school cannot support them all the time, so they can only go to the company under Hexingen for an internship. They can learn German while working, which is faster than school. Most of the colleagues around me are Germans, and the language environment is better.

   And those students with excellent grades (good German) were transferred to East Africa, entered the army and local government, and were responsible for coordinating work.

  Because of the late recruitment of native European students, the Heisingen students who practiced in the early Hechingen factory were all Chinese.

  And Rob Lee was the candidate chosen by Ernst. He knew that he was Chinese before hearing a name like this.

  Rob Lee was an intern with German workers at the Venice Shipyard before, and was later transferred to work in Hamburg.

  As one of the few Chinese students working in the shipyard, he was selected to go to East Africa to guide the construction of the shipyard.

  Although Rob Lee has only more than one year of work experience, the shipyards in Venice and Hamburg are all building ocean-going ships, and Rob Lee also learned the experience of building ocean-going ships.

  So going to East Africa to guide the work of the Mwanza shipyard is considered a sledgehammer.

  Hundreds of workers, under the guidance of Rob Lee and German technicians, leveled the land along the coast, felled trees, and cleared gravel.

  Not only Rob Lee himself, but also a German technician came this time, but this time he is only in charge of the work for the first few months, and he will return to Germany later.

  This German technician was able to come to East Africa for the sake of a large amount of remuneration, and he just took a risk. As an old boatman, his own economic conditions in Germany are not bad, much better than ordinary people.

  So I just plan to make a quick buck and leave. After all, the conditions in East Africa are too poor, and there is not even a place for entertainment. Coupled with his knowledge of Africa (Prussian compulsory education includes geography), he naturally does not plan to live permanently.

   Soon, under the command of the two, workers cleared out a large area of ​​open space on the south side of the peninsula, and the reserved land for buildings and roads was planned around it.

  In order to put the shipyard into production as soon as possible, Rob Lee decided to start construction on land and in the water at the same time. While building the shipyard’s land plant and roads, he relied on the water body to build the dock.

  The Great Lakes Basin has abundant rainfall, relatively dense forests, and inexhaustible wood.

  The Mwanza government organized people to log and provide raw material support for the construction of the shipyard.

  These trees are high-quality materials that have grown for many years, but the indigenous productivity is backward, and they are not able to develop these trees on a large scale, which makes the East African colonies cheaper.

  The design scale of the shipyard is not very large, and the technical requirements are not too high. Most of the materials used are local wood to make the hull.

  Although it is a shipyard in Africa, the production equipment still has to be imported from Europe. Although the production equipment imported from Europe is not easy to transport due to geographical location, the impact is not great.

  In addition to production equipment, there are also some parts, including boat nails, boat paint...all need to be imported.

  Although the Mwanza shipyard is not large enough to be seen in Europe, the Mwanza shipyard will also be recorded in history in the future, that is, it will be the first to use engines and special propellers produced by Berlin Energy Power.

  At present, many technologies of Berlin Energy and Power Company are stored and not applied in Europe, and there is no need to worry about East Africa. This is Ernst's territory, and he is not afraid of leaks.

  This special engine for boats is tested here, and its data and performance are also very good. It can be regarded as opening up a water track for future Berlin Energy Power Company products in advance.

  Currently, these important parts and components are manufactured in a closed factory under the Berlin Energy Power Company, and then transported to East Africa by sea.

  The shipbuilders in East Africa only need to complete the assembly according to the design drawings.

  This kind of boat equipped with an engine is actually a small speedboat. The hull is made of wood and the hull is in the shape of a willow leaf. After the engine is started, it runs extremely fast.

  In the previous life, this kind of extremely crude boat, which can be copied by ordinary people with all the materials, is absolutely nothing.

  But in this era, this kind of ship with a petroleum engine is the most advanced ship of its size.

  The power required for these speedboats is produced by oil, which needs to be imported, but if you are not in a hurry, you can also use the paddles to slide slowly.

  In addition to such boats with engines, Mwanza Shipyard mainly produces small fishing boats without engines.

  Speed ​​boats with engines will be used first to form lake troops (water troops), while traditionally powered boats will be provided to fishermen in Mwanza and Kisumu.

  Although Kisumu is not close to Mwanza, after the ship is built, a speedboat can be used to pull a large number of ordinary small fishing boats to Kisumu with ropes.

  So the Mwanza Shipyard, after its completion, is sufficient to supply the needs of Mwanza and Kisumu for ships (after all, the two cities have a small population, and currently add up to more than 26,000 people).

  In the future, both Mwanza and Kisumu will be positioned as important cities in East Africa. The local environment has a large carrying capacity, sufficient water sources, and rich products. Africa is suitable for population gathering, and the development of fishery resources is an important step in its development.

  (end of this chapter)