For an era of imagined extreme sexism, it is refreshing to know all ships were known collectively as she. A few ships were called he, the rationale behind this being the ships were so warlike they could not possibly be female. These are extreme cases however, and generally crews could become quite infatuated with their ships, and there was great honour associated with the naming of them. Each nation had a different topic in mind when naming them, pirates naming their ships after things that fired their imagination, the word revenge or fortune being extremely popular. Merchant men had more mundane names, as like racing horses, no two ships should have the same name. All ship names mentioned throughout the game are written in italics as is the accepted method. Not being overly familiar with the sailing ship, I had great difficulty defining ship types apart from each other. What I detail below is pretty jumbled, but it's the best a non technical like me can do.
Pre 1693 communication between vessels was by sailing close together (not too close or the spars would tangle) or sending row boats to ferry messages. Post 1693 a limited form of flag communication was established to pass simple orders prior to battle. Once battle was joined the flags were discarded.
Ships were built with either of two specific purposes in mind. As a fighting platform, or as a cargo vessel. Historically, the evolution of the warship is fairly well defined, but the progression of merchant ships is very sketchy, compounded by the fact that except for certain ship types, English shipyards ceased making them, and therefore there are no English language plans for them. By this time a much higher proportion of ships were actually built in the US where timber was more plentiful. Either purpose had a significant impact on the ships shape below the waterline, and the number of sailors needed to crew the sails to speed her along. Most variations of ship types occured in the smaller vessels, and many type names are actually non English words for small ship. Ship descriptions were often based on either the hull type, or the rigging type, and there is much confusion about the details of this in modern times brought about by the use of ship type names applied to different designs and variations.
Merchant vessels in this time, in this location, were generally of the smaller variety. There were very few docks as we understand them, where a vessel pulls up alongside a wooden deck to offload its cargo. Most unloading of merchant vessels was carried out in either of two ways, depending on the port visited. Ports with poor approaches or stony shores were serviced by transfering cargo into the rowboats and ferrying the goods between the ship and the shore. Ports blessed with better harbours had a nice offshore shelf where boats could sail at hight tide, and as the tide turned, be left partially beeched where carts could be backed into the surf for direct loading from the ship.
Bark or (English Barque) - Until the 18th Century the word refered to any small vessel. It later refered specifically to small vessels with 3 masts, the first 2 square sailed, the after mast being being fore and aft rigged. They also did not have a beak-head. The ships were fast, and favoured by pirates, who sailed them across to Africa. They could hold crews of upto 90 men in cramped quarters. Their bottom was very flat, to allow them to beach and offload cargo in relative ease. Bark sizes: ship rigged 48m long and 10m wide, 12 cannon: snow rigged 35m long 8 cannon, 7.6m wide: brig rigged 23m long, 6m wide, 6 cannon: sloop rigged 16m long, 4.2m wide, 4 cannon
Bomb Vessels - I can't actually find any reference to these being used in the Caribbean, but they were in use in the navies of the time. They were small, stout vessels constructed with a mortar as its armament. The shells were high explosive. They were intended to be used against forts and vessels protected behind harbour walls. The advantages of the bomb vessel was that its armament had a greater range than normal cannon, and could therefore lob shells inside forts without retaliation. They were originally invented by the French in 1683 and spread to other navies not long after. They ranged from 60' to 90', and had 2 masts. On French ships there were 2 mortars mounted side by side before the mainmast. On English vessels, one was before the main mast, the other before the mizzen mast. They could also be armed with upto 8 normal cannon of small size. The mortars were fixed at 45 degree elevation, and mounted on turntables. It is also possible they had swivel guns. Their main intention being to outrange all other opponents, the cannon they used as defence were for fighting small fast vessels. At this point in time the mortars were fixed in position, only being used on turntables later in the century.
Brigantine - Originally a small vessel carrying both sails and 6-16 oars on each side. It received it's name from the French word for the Italian Brigantino, which meant brigands ship, for they were the favourite of the Mediterranean pirates. In these rules it refers to a two masted vessel, typically square rigged on the fore mast and fore and afts sails on the main mast. It was mainly used as a transport ship.
Canoes / Pirague - Early buccaneers used large canoes for their raiding, especially as many of them were simply the small local fishing vessels. The design was based on the native indian vessels. They could also be the victims of small time pirates on the hunt for fish to sell or eat. A pirate vessel of the type could hold upto 20men in together and may have a small sail, or else propelled by paddles or oars. For fishing versions, there may be 6 or so lightly armed crew on board, and found in small feets at times up to 6 in number [my guess] Image
Fire Ships - Small vessels used especially by the Dutch, but by all navies generally. (The Spanish Treasure fleet used them) The ship is lightly crewed by very brave men. I do not have a great deal of background info on fire ships, but they appear mostly to be recycled older ships. However, by small, it should be understood in naval terms. One sketch I have shows an ex 30 gun ship modified as a suicide fire ship. The vessels were usually cut down normal ships, and in times of use had their lower decks stuffed with as much flammable material as practical. The lower gun ports were reverse hung, so that should the covers burn, they would not fall down to block the port and therefore starve the fire inside. A disembarkation door was fitted to the waterline deck so the crew could make a hasty retreat to a waiting row boat. When time was sufficent, they were fitted with grappling irons to the ends of the yards so that once entangled, they were difficult to disentangle.
Flag Ship - The vessel on which your player's captain generally or usually sails
Frigate - From the late 1600's the English word frigate denoted a class of warship down from the 'ships of the line'. The word frigate, like most ship names, has a long and varied meaning through time. Generally to be called a frigate, a ship had to be fast. Frigates had three fully rigged masts and a raised quarter deck and forecastle. They carried 24-36 guns on a single deck, with the crew accomodated on a lower deck. Naval frigates were faster than the bigger ships of the line and acted as scouts and signal ships. They escorted convoys of trade vessels and also acted as pirate hunters. Generally pirates fled from them, but some did succeed in capturing them for their own use. Frigates could be 5th or 6th rate naval vessels. The first real frigates did not begin until after this time period.
Galleon - A descendant of the carrack without th epronounced fore castle, the galleon covered a wide variety of ship sizes in the style. They were comparatively high out of the water, with tall fore and stern castles. No doubt they were hard to board in smaller pirate vessels and proved quite sturdy as fighting platforms. However, they were quite slow and unwieldy, and not suited to sailing into or away from the wind. The English had a variant called race built galleons, which were lower in silhoette without the high Spanish stern castle. Throughout this period Spain still maintained a large fleet of these ageing and outdated ships for their general merchant needs. They ran about 30-50m long, 8m wide, upto 40 cannon and standing upto 15m out of the water, carrying from 600 to 2000 tonnes of cargo. They had 3 main decks and 3 main masts, large galleons having 4 masts.
Galley - In this instance, it refers to a ship crossed between sail and oar. In essence it was not much different to a frigate or brig with ship rigging, though it had ports in its lower deck for the use of oars, upto 16 per side. It was favoured by pirates so they could catch up on becalmed merchants, or escape naval vessels. Length 42m, width 9m at the waterline, armed with upto 34 cannon.
Jolly Boats/Row Boats/ Long Boats
Pinnace - a small fast vessel that could be rowed or sailed. It was often the largest of a warships 'jolly boats' and acted as a small transport vessel. It could be powered by upto 10 oars.
Prize Vessel - For the purpose of my game, a prize vessel is a captured vessel kept as part of the players fleet. It does not refer to the flag ship. For example, the sultry captain Silky Satine, sailing the fine sloop Shampoo, captures and keeps the barque Dour'n'Dandy. It therefore becomes a prize vessel, even though it is larger than the ship she sails and keeps as her flagship. However, should Silky transfer her command from the Shampoo to the Dour'n'Dandy, the Shampoo becomes the prize ship. Prize vessels tend to be kept to carry excess cargo, crews, or for prestige. Keeping a prize ship is fairly common in pirate tales. Naval ships do have prize ships, but only because they have recently captured it and are taking it back to port. They do not get to keep the prize ship for further adventures. Prize vessels are always operated by a low crew number, unless there is an excess of crew within the fleet.
Schooner - A vessel of less than 100 tons with a narrow hull and two masts. The characteristic rig had two large square sails suspended from gaffs reaching from the top of the mast toward the stern. Other sails might be added, including a large headsail attached to the bowsprit. The schooner was extremely fast but large enough to carry a substantial crew. Its shallow draft allowed pirates to navigate shallow waters and hide in remote coves.
Ship Of The Line - Battleship - a vessel big enough to be considered a useful part of a naval force in naval battles. This covered the 4th to 1st rate ships. For the most part they were not terrific sailing ships and clumsy to manouvre in battle. The three deck ships were by far the more clumsy, and in time large two deckers were replacing them as the main ship of the line. The larger ships of the line at this time, two deckers carry 50-60 guns would soon be eclipsed and relegated to escort & hunting duties by the end of the 1700's. Ships of the line were more suited to fighting other ships of the same style. In the Caribbean, ships of the line did not appear in this time period. Naval ships didn't rise above 40 guns, and most of the pirate hunting was done of vessels upto 20 guns, most work being done on war sloops or hired merchant sloops with 10 guns or so.
Sloop - While the movies and popular imagination associates pirates with 3 masted ships likes frigates and brigantines, most of the action involving pirates took place aboard sloops. These ships were generally gaff rigged with a single mast. For additional speed a sail could be added from the mast to the bowsprit, and a topsail. They ranged from 35' to 65' long (11-20m long) and had 3 decks - the surface deck, the hold, and the bilge. They were armed with 6-12 cannon on the surface deck. The ship could also mount 8 swivel guns quite easily, with more being fitted if the need was warranted such as in pirate ships. For a ship so small, they could have crews of upto 150. The Jamaica and Bermuda sloops were renowned for their speed and were prized as pirate vessels. Apart from being fast, they were very seaworthy vessels , and with a shallow draft, were able to out sail pirate hunters by sailing over shallow reefs or river mouths to safety. They could range upto a 100 ton in size.
Sloop of War - An English naval vessel smaller than a 6th rate, captained by a master and a commander. They were commissioned to be built in the early 1700's to combat French commerce raiders in the rivers of England. At this time they were single masted, but this was quickly dispensed with and by 1720 sloops of war were 2 masted vessels.
Treasure Fleet - The Spanish treasure fleet details
Careening
For all vessels operating in the Caribbean, speed was important. For pirates it was critical. As ships were immersed in water continously for the extent of their natural life, their hulls became mini habitats for marine life - barnicles, algae & sea worms mostly. This irregular surface on the timber lines increased drag and slowed the ship down a little, and was serious enough to make captains maintain regular maintenance on the hull below the waterline. Careening also meant the ship was out of commission for the period and hence made pirates particularly vulnerable, and hence was carried out in very secluded well protected bays and inlets. Merchants and naval vessels could at least careen in or near town.
Basically the ship was brought to shore at high tide and pulled over on its side by ropes attached to the masts. The carpenter and mate were in charge of the process, with much of the crew helping to scrape & burn off algae & barnacles, remove rotten planks and fix new ones, caulk the gaps between planks to remain water tight, and look for signs of infestation of sea worms or rot. Careening could take upto 10 days for professional results, and needed to be conducted every 2 months or so, though the pirate histories I have read seem to indicate more likely yearly careening was usual.
Caulking involved beating oakum into every seam, or between planks. Oakum is old rope torn to pieces which is beaten into seams with a caulking iron and a wooden mallet with an iron chisel. It is then well smeared over with hot pitch to make it as watertight as possible.
Graving is used on the underwater sections of the hull, and consists of a mixture of tallow, soap, whale/seal/fish oil, resin & brimstone boiled together and painted over the timber to protect the caulking and make the ships hull smoother under the water line. It is also possible to also sheath the hull, which is to coat the hull with tar & hair, and nail a layer of thin boards over the top.
Breaming is simply washing or burning clean the hull with reeds or a bristled plant.
Parcelling is deck work, involving laying long strips of canvas in seams between planks and sealing them with caulk and hot pitch.
Storms were also a major cause of concern to the hulls of ships. Timber is a natural flexable material, and under the stress of heavy wave pressure, the hull boards & superstructure will shift and cause the seams between hull planks to open and split the caulking, causing small leaks. This is generally not a major concern as seams are always leaking somewhere which is why you have bilge pumps. However, vigilance is important and your carpenter will be kept busy attending the hull after storms. Damage to hulls caused by storms is mentioned under the winds section.
Bilges
As mentioned above, wooden ships leaked habitually. It was a normal fact of sea going life, with some form of pump built into wooden ships which would take the water from the bilges and dump it overboard. Smaller ships had smaller capacity pumps. In desparate times the bucket was also an option. Ballast was also kept in the bilges, which could consist of simply gravel, stones, or spare cannon.
The bilges were seldom visited, and was where all the muck, sweat, slime, debris and pests ended up collecting. It was generally an unhealthy place.
