Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1509 - 1415

Joseph continued along this line: “What ports do we have on the Western Coast in collaboration with Spain?

“Zeebrugge, Ostend, Le Havre, Dunkirk, Rouen…

“Bilbao, Santander, Gijon… together there are at least 12.”

Marquis Leesar immediately added: “Your Highness, there are also Dieppe, Fécamp, Cherbourg, Havia…”

These are all smaller ports, most of which Joseph had never heard of, but as the Minister of the Navy, he was very aware of them.

Joseph nodded: “In that case, we have nearly 30 seaports. Hmm, the Netherlands also has several ports.

“I never realized before that we have so many ports available to us.”

In the past, the seaports of Western Europe were mostly under the threat of the British fleet, so he had only paid attention to large ports like Le Havre and Brest. It was only now he discovered that France actually has such excellent maritime resources.

If all these ports can be utilized, for the British Navy to effectively blockade the sea trade between France and Spain, they would have to chop their fleet into pieces and scatter them across the Atlantic Ocean.

At present, the British Navy openly has around 100 battleships above the third level. After accounting for those fleets used to control America, on average only two and a half warships can be allocated to each French and Spanish seaport.

In fact, after deducting those needed to defend the British mainland and ships under maintenance and repair, each seaport might have only one battleship patrolling outside.

This blockade density is like having a sheep pen with fences 10 meters apart. The “sheep” can come and go freely.

The Navy Minister, upon hearing this, pondered: “Your Highness, utilizing a large number of ports can indeed divert the British Navy’s attention, but we might still face two problems.”

“I greatly need your valuable experience.”

Marquis Leesar bowed slightly: “Your Highness, the first issue is that merchants cannot be assured of their chances of encountering a British warship. You know, if it happens even once, they would instantly go bankrupt.

“It’s possible that in one to two years, the number of merchant ships daring to head to America will not significantly increase.

“Secondly, even though we have many ports available, only seven or eight have considerable trade volume. As for the smaller ports, many can only accommodate single-masted ships. Even if larger ships can dock, since the surrounding towns are not wealthy enough, the goods cannot be sold.”

Joseph nodded: “Your concerns are valid, but these can be completely resolved through ‘technical means’.

“For the first issue, I will issue a series of measures to incentivize voyaging.

“For instance, increasing insurance compensation while reducing premiums.

“Opening the Royal Shipyards to assist merchant ships with repairs and maintenance at cost price.

“Even directly subsidizing merchant ships heading to America, with subsidies ranging from 5 to 20 francs per ton based on the type of goods.

“Of course, propaganda is important too. Often, confidence comes from stories.

“As for the second issue, expanding the ports is essential.

“Meanwhile, we can establish a ‘stopover-transfer’ mechanism.”

The Navy Minister instinctively said: “Stopover, transfer?”

“Exactly.” Joseph said, “For merchant ships, avoiding British warships is the top priority, so they stopover at the nearest port.

“The Navy can dispatch light warships at any time to scout the positions of nearby British warships.

“And the Postal Department will set up numerous Sharp Signal Towers along the coast to inform all ports of the British fleet’s activities.

“Those temporarily anchored merchant ships can take the opportunity to move along the coast to the actual target port when there are no British ships active outside.

“For losses due to stopping over, the Ministry of Trade will provide compensation within 15 days, including docking fees and food consumption.

“Additionally, if merchant ships do not want to delay, they can directly unload cargo at small ports, allowing ‘transfer ships’ to transport the goods to the target port. The Ministry of Trade will also cover half of the shipping cost.

“The transfer will be handled by flat-bottom steam paddle ships, so the shipping cost won’t be too high.”

For ocean-going vessels, to enhance resistance against storms, a deep “U” shaped hull is used, which significantly reduces cargo space.

The ships used for coastal sailing, including those for inland cargo transport, can have flat bottoms, greatly increasing cargo capacity while keeping shipbuilding costs low.

Combined with steam paddle propulsion, the transfer between ports not only costs less but is also faster.

Marquis Leesar furrowed his brow: “Your Highness, whether it’s subsidies or port expansion, it will consume a significant amount of funds…”

Joseph smiled: “Port expansion can be handled by private capital—invest capital, gain a few decades of port operational rights. Or the ports can sell shares to raise funds. The Ministry of Finance does not need to invest too much money.

“As for subsidies for merchant ships, trust me, they are definitely cost-effective.

“As long as the trade volume with America can increase by 30%, the increased tax revenue and port earnings will be sufficient to offset the subsidy costs.”

It should be noted that due to the British trade blockade, sugar produced in places like Santo Domingo and other Caribbean countries could only be sold cheaply to the United States first, and then transported to Europe by American merchant ships.

If French merchant ships conducted the trade directly, the increased annual revenue could easily exceed 10 million francs.

As for goods like tobacco, cotton, and leather, they are also highly welcomed in the French market.

Transporting even dozens of shipments back can greatly stimulate the French economy.

On the other hand, French merchant ships will undoubtedly prioritize purchasing goods from “little brothers” such as the Louisiana Colony and the Saint Domingue Republic, and bring much-needed production tools, steel products, etc., to them, significantly enhancing their development speed.

Marquis Leesar further discussed several detail issues with Joseph, finally confirming that this model of leveraging merchant ships to reshape the Atlantic framework should be feasible.

He was already used to the Crown Prince’s various miraculous operations, so he simply praised Joseph, then prepared to find the Minister of Trade and others to draft a detailed plan.

Joseph stopped him again: “Marquis Leesar, if the Navy can also cooperate, the results should be even better.”

The Navy Minister paused, bowing slightly: “Please instruct, Your Highness.”

Joseph thought for a moment, then said: “You need to personally visit Madrid.

“Let the main Spanish fleet rendezvous with our Atlantic Fleet.”

——————

In the 16th century, with the advancement of navigational instruments, people could more accurately measure their latitude and longitude at sea.

Based on this, someone proposed the idea of using latitude and longitude to define basic distance units on the sea. As early as around the 5th century BC, people began to speculate that the earth might be round. With the improvement in ocean-going navigation, this view gradually gained acceptance.

The theory suggests that if the earth is a perfect sphere, then at any point on its surface, you can draw a great circle passing through the North and South Poles. This great circle is essentially formed by connecting two opposite meridians, hence it can be called a meridian circle.