There's something interesting about almost all of the Macker Foundation vessels; they all have incredible range. The Scopritore IV can make it around the world without refueling, and I think the Deception could probably do that two or three times. The Argo II has a little shorter range, but I won't have to refuel just to get from Greenland to Antarctica. Also none of our ships are very noisy, and they hardly pollute.
You're probably thinking they must have nuclear power or something. No way! That would be too expensive even for us (I guess) and it's super-complicated. And nuclear reactors are really big; there's no way one would fit in anything smaller than the Deception.
Most of our ships use Stirling engines. These aren't new at all; they were invented almost 200
years ago, and they're really clever. They're also simple; all you need is something that produces heat and something else that stays cold. Stirling engines are just piston engines, where you heat up a gas, and that expands and moves a piston, then you cool off the gas, and it contracts and moves another piston. We use alpha-type engines, which means the pistons are in separate cylinders. This illustration from Wikipedia shows it really well.
On board ship we have something that stays cool all the time: ocean water. There are a bunch of ways to produce heat; solar power, an alcohol flame, and more.
The biggest problem with Stirling engines is the material they're made from; it has to get both hot and cold without changing too much, and has to be able to keep a gas (we use helium) under pressure. The more pressure there is, the more powerful the engine. In one of my older posts I mentioned our submersible, and how it can go deeper than anything? That's because of what it's made of; a material that's stronger than anything else (at least as far as I know). And that's what we make our Stirling engines out of, too. It can get incredibly hot -- you have no idea -- and it doesn't really expand. And it doesn't corrode in sea water, either. It's perfect.
When I first found out about this stuff I asked my Dad why we didn't just make Stirling engines for everybody, since it would solve a lot of problems in the world. He said there just wasn't enough of the stuff and they don't know how to make more. At least not yet. We didn't make what we have; my Mom found it. Ever since, she's been trying to find out who did make it, and if there's more (she has found some more, but not a huge lot). That's why it seems like we're near volcanoes so often; she says she first found the stuff in a volcano (I told you it can get really hot!) and every time she's found some more, it's around a volcano.
I tried to tell her I thought it was probably because whoever made the stuff probably needed to use it around volcanoes because they needed something that wouldn't melt. But I was just a kid at the time and I don't think she thought much about my idea. I still think I was right though!
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