Quoted By:
"Captain, you've been singularily forthcoming! Can you now tell me, how fast and how far could the Empress go if we really wanted to?"
"We are currently cruising at twenty-three knots. We could go twice as fast, but the steam engine would overheat, and we don't want to spend freshwater to cool it if we don't absolutely have to."
"That's much faster than naval ships, isn't it?"
"Certainly. Why, some military airships are rumoured to achieve eighty knots! The coal use must be dreadful, though. Even at low speeds, airships are generally less coal-efficient than sea-ships, because pushing on water is much more impactful than pushing on air. But who cares about that! Coal is cheap and virtually inexhaustible, and speed is time, and time is money! It's scarcely a wonder that you see so many former sailors move over to airship crews. Look no further than the Empress' own crew, half of it is ex wet-merchant fleet rats."
"As for the range, coal reserve is still the most limiting factor. I would say we could bear anywhere between four and six hundred leagues for a normal cruise, depending on winds and desired cruise speed. The Empress is a luxury yacht, she is not designed with independence in mind. Even so, more than a quarter of our lift-off displacement is coal reserves. We usually make a stop at Carthago Minor to replenish the coal mid-journey when hopping over Hadrian's sea. We won't have to do it this time. Thankfully we have a closed-loop steam engine, otherwise we'd have to stock up on freshwater, too, and our range would be much shorter."
You never realized just how economic airships were. Six hundred leagues is enough to cross the Continent end-to-end.
"But do tell me, you must have seen your share of strange stuff, high above the clouds."
"Oh, certainly, my lady. Spending all day looking at the sky, one's imagination can run wild. Plays of light and colour, especially before dawn. Towards the end of the shift it's particularly bad. A good night's sleep and a hearthy breakfast usually makes it all go away. And there is of course, the Hadrian Kraken."
"The Hadrian WHAT?"
