The Gilded Lion

The History

As we all know, true Interplanetary space travel was first demonstrated by Thomas Edison in 1870, and while it is hardly commonplace even in this enlightened day, it is an accepted part of life in 1889. As embraced by the major governments, most notably under Queen Victoria's Royal Navy, this etheric travel has made possible the establishment of extensive colonial interests on both worlds of Mars and Venus, as well as frequent visits to Mercury, and occasional visits to the barren surface of our own beloved Moon by hearty explorers.

These space voyages are fairly long in duration, with the craft and crew typically taking a month or more between worlds. These voyages are made in interplanetary ether flyers, the finest technologies available to the might of man's mind; they are powered by large solar boilers that generate electricity by the means of a reflecting lens that directs the Sun's rays onto the boiler's water tank to produce steam and power the ship without the need for combustion. It must be thus as while on Earth, the Ironclad is powered by the use of coal, these ethereal craft cannot carry enough oxygen to support the continuous burning of coal over the course of a voyage that lasts several weeks. At this time, and unfortunately, because the Sun's rays are quite weak further out from the Sun, solar boiler-powered ships have so far been unable to explore beyond the asteroid belt.

The Lion Herself

Ship Name: Gilded Lion

Type: Merchantman

Gross Tonnage: 75 tons

Liftwood: £20,000 ((refitted)) Tesla Lift System: £30,000

Control Room 1 ton

Armstrong Ether Propeller Eff: 20 P: 5 –

Whitney-Lloyd Solar boiler £2,500 P: 5 10 tons (625 hp)

Required crew / space required:

Pilot: 1 / 1 ton

Trimsman: 1 / 1 ton

Engineer: 2 / 2 tons

Steward: 1 / 1 ton

Passengers: 5 / 5 tons

Emergency Power L160 PowVal: 4 End: 4 days 16 tons (Batteries) (500hp)

McPheney Air Screw L1600 PowVal: 4 8 tons (Electrically Powered)

Conservatory L200 2 tons

Brig L20 1 ton (4 prisoners)

Cargo: 27 tons

Ether Speed: 1 (1,300,000 miles/day)

Aerial Speed: 15 (95 knots)

Construction The Lion is nearly forty yards long with a beam of about twelve yards and has one and one-half decks, the lower portion of the hull being comprised of hold and the mechanical workings for the vessel, along with the routing conduits for the electric cabling that provides light and heat against the cold of the ether and the large canisters of compressed air, used both for maneuvering in the ethereal void by means of a cunning series of vents and valves, manipulated from the control room of the ship as well as, in an emergency, being a source of life-giving oxygen.

Being initially of liftwood construction, the Lion is boatlike in appearance; a broad beam gives her a stability not found in those flyers given lift by suspending a 'gondola' beneath a large reinforced bag of hydrogen. Her soft underbelly, nestled betwixt six 'landing struts' (four on the primary hull, two on the extended 'fish tail' that houses both the Armstrong Ether Propeller and the McPheney Air Screw) are the hundreds of finely placed, thinly cut liftwood slats that provide lift at altitudes beneath 24,000 feet. These were replaced in 1887 by the electrically operated Tesla Lift System, which has roughly the same characteristics in regards to lift, but have an upper altitude of 30,000 feet, and are composed of a half-dozen thin steel plates.

The most dominant feature of the Lion is the dorsally mounted Whitney-Lloyd Solar Boiler mechanism. Positioned exactly amidships upon a mechanical pivot, it consists of a water-filled boiler system and a large reflecting dish mirror and focusing device mounted at opposing ends of a large girder which itself is attached to the hull at the midpoint (both of the girder and of the hull) by a sturdy mechanical pivot. By means of this pivot, the entire mechanism can thusly be turned and angled while in flight to point the mirrors reflecting/focusing system towards the sun. The mirror itself reflects and concentrates the solar rays upon the boiler system, bringing the water to a boil, which then recirculates the resultant steam to the engine room, where it is used to generate electricity to run the ether propeller, charge the batteries, illuminate the vessel; the water itself circulates throughout the ship through the enclosed system and is forced through a steam-heating system to help heat the interior of the vessel, finally recirculating through the exterior intercoolers before returning in liquid form back to the solar boiler to begin the process again.