"What if something goes wrong?" Dave asked.
"Don't worry, there won't be any problems. We've been using triangular sails for over a hundred years."
Dave nodded in agreement and said, "Alright, let's give it a try. At worst, we'll row back."
Linley nodded too, "Yeah, it's worth a try." Although he wasn't an expert in sea navigation, he knew modern sailboats mostly use triangular or parallelogram sails, each with its own purpose.
Chinese sails are unique. While Western sails are usually soft, Chinese sails are made of bamboo, making them hard. This design lets the boat sail smoothly even against the wind, though Linley couldn't remember exactly why.
Nemo was clearly right about the sails. The East Africans of this era had formidable naval power, both in their navy and merchant fleets. The Queen of Sheba, mentioned in the holy scriptures, was from East Africa and said to be the ruler of Ethiopia.
The Romans weren't really good at seafaring; they were mainly farmers. During their rivalry with Carthage, the Carthaginian navy blockaded them severely. Later, they found a Carthaginian warship, took it apart, and made an exact replica. That's how the Romans got their first warship.
Using their strong national power, the Romans built a powerful fleet, eventually defeating Carthage and turning the Mediterranean into the Roman Empire's inner sea. This shows that while naval tradition is important, the real key factors are national power, technology, and manpower.
The trial voyage didn't need a full crew; only twenty sailors and rowers boarded. The new ship raised its triangular sail and sailed freely on the sea. Square sails can only use tailwinds. If the wind isn't in the right direction, you have to lower the sails and row.
This method is obviously inconvenient, as rowing at sea greatly exhausts the rowers' physical strength. Even strong young men find it difficult to row continuously for more than two hours.
With the use of the triangular sail, the ship's range of activity greatly increased. As long as there was wind on the sea, even if it wasn't a tailwind, the wind could be used to move forward, thus saving the rowers' strength.
When there was wind on the sea but not a tailwind, they previously had to rely on the rowers to row the ship out. Nemo personally hoisted the sail, adjusted the direction, and slowly sailed out of the harbor.
The new ship sailed lightly near the harbor, performing very stably. This ship adopted a V-shaped bottom design, making the sailing very stable. Roman warships usually had flat bottoms; although they were unstable in navigation, they could land on various terrains, including shallow waters and beaches.
Linley had no such need; he did not require landing operations, so he chose the sharp-bottom design of merchant ships. The advantage of this design is that it is stable and fast, but the downside is that it can only dock at ports. However, this was irrelevant to Linley because the facilities at Dionysus Island's dock were complete and the water was deep enough. Even the Thunder, without being dismantled, could dock there.
The new ship sailed just outside the harbor for half a day without any problems. The followers sang praises to the ship and to Linley. Even though Linley couldn't build or sail a ship, he had brought Nemo, so the new ship was undoubtedly seen as Linley's miracle.
Linley waved his hand, and the followers immediately started waving their flags. Seeing this, Nemo quickly adjusted the sails and guided the ship to dock steadily at the pier.
Everyone cheered, including Dave, who kept bombarding Nemo with questions and couldn't wait to try handling the sails. When Nemo saw Linley, he respectfully asked, "Lord, how do you find it?"
Linley nodded, "It's not bad."
Nemo confidently declared, "Roman warships are no match for ours. As long as we're at sea, we're unbeatable."
Linley responded cautiously, "That's a bit of an exaggeration."
Although this ship was superior to Roman warships in many ways, it was far from invincible. If Roman warships desperately rowed, they could still catch up. After all, changes in sea winds are unpredictable; rowing is faster when the wind is light, and strong winds might capsize the ship, requiring sails to be lowered to avoid the wind.
In general, sails are just one of the tools used to conserve energy. Although triangular sails are more advanced than square sails, they have not yet reached an overwhelming advantage. Triangular sails need further improvement until the medieval multi-mast, multi-sail galleons can create a significant gap.
Nemo exclaimed excitedly, "Actually, I have a lot more ideas for improvements that I can start on right away!"
Linley smiled and took out a mermaid pearl, "You've done a great job already. This is your reward."
"This is a reward from Lord Dionysus!" Nemo trembled with excitement, holding the mermaid pearl high.
"Alright, everyone get ready, we're setting sail," Linley announced.
When they officially set sail, among the over a hundred people boarding the ship, most were rowers, along with sail operators, helmsmen, cleaners, and others. As a deity, Linley had his own private room, while everyone else, including Nemo, had to share cramped quarters.
Pandora preferred swimming in the sea over staying on the ship. Compared to a mermaid's speed, the ship was painfully slow, and Pandora looked down on it.
"Human navies are like toys to us," Pandora said.
Linley laughed, "Good thing you haven't blocked human sea routes extensively, or there'd be no maritime trade."
Pandora nodded, "Our population is too small, and Poseidon wouldn't allow us to do that. By the way, what's your ship called?"
"A name?" Linley thought for a moment, "Since this ship was designed by Nemo, let's call it Nemo."
"Thank you, my lord!" Nemo jumped up excitedly.
Linley felt a large amount of faith power from Nemo, comparable to dozens of ordinary followers. This deepening of faith, if spread widely, could result in a batch of ships, each named after a follower, creating a lot of true believers.
But unfortunately, Linley currently did not have enough wood to build ships or enough followers to name new ships. His road ahead was long and uncertain.
"I'll go ahead and scout for you. If I spot any Romans, I'll signal." Pandora pouted, clearly unimpressed.
Linley nodded, "If you discover anyone else, come back and inform us."
Pandora dived into the sea, swimming ahead of the new ship.
Ready to go, the new ship raised its triangular sails and, with the sea breeze, sailed towards the distant island occupied by Holiness.