Zakota

For all those planning on attending, pre-registration is required so that we know how much food to prepare as well as how much space we have! Pre-registration guarantees you a spot and also gives a discount from the regular 'pay-as-you-attend' price! You also get a special discount for coming in historical/nautical garb! All details for registration are on our website here:http://danceweavers.ca/janeausten.html Thanks.

I dare say you might just make a venture of it sir after all, t'would be a shame to miss it when tis so close

Dear shipmates! You are most heartily invited to 'A Weekend in the World of Patrick O'Brian's Beloved Characters, Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin' - taking place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 16th-18th, at Historic Montgomery's Inn. The three-day event is a rendezvous for all enthusiasts of these marvellous novels, to share their love of the canon, whilst immersing themselves in the atmosphere and world of the series, through lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on workshops by several renowned historians, as well as food and drink featured in the novels (prepared over a hearth in the historic kitchen), a performance of music featured in the canon, a costume ball with live music, a reading of the Articles of War, discussion groups, a bad navy poetry reading, an historic merchants' and sutlers' market, and much more. Come be immersed in and learn more about the world of these fantastic novels. Experience the sights, sounds, smells and tastes all so familiar to the Napoleonic sailor with lectures led by distinguished historian Victor Suthren, Hon. Captain RCN, as well as talks by Ship’s Cook Gurth Pretty and Ship’s Purser Glendon Hovey - all in the atmosphere of Toronto's oldest historic inn, our very own 'Grapes' in the Liberties of the Savoy. Full details for the event, including the schedule, menus and registration form, can be found here: http://danceweavers.ca/janeausten.html Facebook event can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/501226880053764/ Pass the word through the fleet, if you'd be so obliged. Fair winds and following seas!

A great book on the subject is Old Ship Figureheads and Sterns. It has a large section devoted to the evolution of paint-schemes from the Medieval era thru post-Napoleonic, as well as devoting the majority of the book to in detail description of ship's carvings and decoration from the era. A preview can be found here: https://books.google.ca/books?id=4tmS5RbvcXsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=old+ship+figureheads+and+stearns&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dcWEVeD3LpCKyATWzoH4BA&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=old%20ship%20figureheads%20and%20stearns&f=false I recommend searching 'paint scheme' to get to the right chapter. Good luck

There may be a bit of confusion here, due to the fact that there were in fact several commissioned vessels named peregrine built around the same time. The first three photos look like the same vessel, but the two latter, with their larger gun-count make me wonder if they're not in fact the Peregrine Galley, built sometime around 1700 and converted to a royal yacht, the Royal Caroline in roughly 1720... I could be wrong however. Regardless they are both lovely ships!!

I'm doing my undergrad in early 18th century maritime culture and I would like to remind everyone that historically, during the 'Golden age of Piracy' the period arguably from 1690-1730, pirates largely DID NOT DO THIS - as in attack each other on sight... some did, but on the whole it was an anathema. I would like to point everyone to a work done by one of the foremost authorities on pirates in the world today, the Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard, which takes a detailed look at the lives and biographies of the most famous pirates of the golden age, how they worked together and who mentored them, truly an eye opener. Now I'm not suggesting we have a pirate nation… all I'm saying is, there WAS more of a solidarity between them, a mentality of 'let's look out for each other because no one else is looking out for us' even if only out of self preservation or for personal gain. It was this cooperation, working together for mutual advantage, that allowed them to grow in force strong enough to occupy for a time the entire crown colony of the Bahama Islands and become so powerful that they were able to practically sever trade between Europe and her New World colonies.

Here are some architectural views of various Caribbean cities taken from draughts made by eyewitnesses who visited the West Indian colonies in the 18th Century, which show, in intricate detail the various architectural styles in use in the colonies of the various nations at the time. French Examples: The inordinately detailed prints from Saint Remy's "Recueil de vues des lieux principaux de la colonie françoise de saint-domingue" show the various port towns of the colony of Saint Domingue (today Haiti), and their prominent architectural styles. Saint Domingue was France's biggest colony by the late 18th century, and a huge hub of trade. http://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/view/search;JSESSIONID=10e832db-c5f4-4d5f-a836-19a09f0861d5?q==%22Recueil%20de%20vues%20des%20lieux%20principaux%20de%20la%20colonie%20françoise%20de%20Saint-Domingue%2C%20gravées%20par%20les%20soins%20de%20M.%20Ponce...%20gravés%20par%20les%20soins%20de%20M.%20Phelipeau%2C%20Ingénieur-Géographe%22%20AND%20=%22le%20tout%20principalement%20destiné%20à%20l'ouvrage%20intitulé%20Loix%20et%20constitutions%20des%20colonies%20françoises%20de%20l'Amérique%20...%20par%20M.%20Moreau%20de%20Saint-Méry%22 This view of Cap François is a perfect example of French colonial architecture of the day, it even shows the church! Cap François was the colony's cultural and mercantile capital, with a population of over 18,000 by the end of the century it was known as 'the Paris of Saint Domingue' and far out-shone the administrative capital of Port-Au-Prince, only founded in 1746, and still of less populace and importance as is evident in this series of prints. http://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCBMAPS~1~1~778~100065:No--2--Vue-du-Cap-François-Isle-St-?qvq=q:%3D%22Recueil%2Bde%2Bvues%2Bdes%2Blieux%2Bprincipaux%2Bde%2Bla%2Bcolonie%2Bfrançoise%2Bde%2BSaint-Domingue%2C%2Bgravées%2Bpar%2Bles%2Bsoins%2Bde%2BM.%2BPonce...%2Bgravés%2Bpar%2Bles%2Bsoins%2Bde%2BM.%2BPhelipeau%2C%2BIngénieur-Géographe%22%2BAND%2B%3D%22le%2Btout%2Bprincipalement%2Bdestiné%2Bà%2Bl'ouvrage%2Bintitulé%2BLoix%2Bet%2Bconstitutions%2Bdes%2Bcolonies%2Bfrançoises%2Bde%2Bl'Amérique%2B...%2Bpar%2BM.%2BMoreau%2Bde%2BSaint-Méry%22;lc:JCB~1~1,JCBBOOKS~1~1,JCBMAPS~1~1,JCBMAPS~2~2,JCBMAPS~3~3&mi=1&trs=31 Martinique in the Late 18th Century, prints by Pierre Ozanne: http://atlas-paysages.pnr-martinique.com/IMG/jpg/84_OZANE_1.jpg http://environnement.ecole.free.fr/images%202bg/dessins%20gravures%20des%20ports%20et%20rades%20france/Le%20Fort-Royal.%20Ile%20de%20la%20Martinique.jpg http://environnement.ecole.free.fr/images%202bg/dessins%20gravures%20des%20ports%20et%20rades%20france/Le%20Fort%20St-Pierre.%20Ile%20de%20la%20Martinique.jpg http://environnement.ecole.free.fr/images%202bg/dessins%20gravures%20ports%20de%20france.htm View of Basse-Terre (with church) in Guadaloupe, again by Ozanne, late 18th century: http://www.pennymead.com/images/WINMP0471.jpg Various views of Martinique, 17th & 18th centuries: http://atlas-paysages.pnr-martinique.com/paysages-peints-xviie-xviiie-xixe.html Spanish Examples: Havana, 1762, Dominic Serres: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Dominic_Serres#/media/File:Dominic_Serres_the_Elder_-_The_Capture_of_Havana,_1762,_Taking_the_Town,_14_August.jpg The Cathedral of Havana, Serres, 1762: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Dominic_Serres#/media/File:Dominic_Serres_the_Elder_-_The_Cathedral_at_Havana,_August-September_1762.jpg Havana's Plaza de Armas, by Serres during the British Occupation 1762: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Dominic_Serres#/media/File:Dominic_Serres_the_Elder_-_The_Piazza_at_Havana.jpg La Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1st half of the 19th century: http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/1x6740224/veracruz-frederick-catherwood-1799-1854-british-newberry-library-chicago.jpg Dutch Examples: A view of Saint Eustatius (Dutch) architecture, 1781 by Jacobsz Verhoeff http://www.inter-antiquariaat.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/St.-Eustatius-Bergmüller-1781.jpg Another view of Saint Eustatius, made 1777 http://www.swaen.com/zoomV2.php?id=20125&referer=antique-map-of.php British Examples: Bridgetown, Barbados in a Highly detailed lithograph by Samuel Copen, 1695: http://luna.wustl.edu:8180/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~1318~1670003:A-Prospect-of-Bridge-Town--in-Barba The other half: http://libcudl.colorado.edu:8180/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~1319~1670004:-A-Prospect-of-Bridge-Town--in-Barb Isaac Sailmaker's rather fanciful view of Barbados painted in the same year as above: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Isaac_Sailmaker_-_The_Island_of_Barbados_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg Bridgetown, early to mid 19th century: http://images.cdn.bridgemanimages.com/api/1.0/image/600wm.CH.5778930.7055475/395596.jpg Painting of Port Royal and Kingston, Jamaica, 1758 by Richard Paton: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13320.html Nassau Town (New Providence) in the mid 18th-Century: http://www.golden-age-of-piracy.com/images/locations/nassau.jpg Saint Kitts, Brimstone Hill, late 18th-cent. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YK1ovs9Q91A/TcYlzFUiZUI/AAAAAAAAB4Q/niWroLy4UqI/s1600/Brimstone%2BHill%2Bin%2B1783.jpg Taking of brimstone hill fortress, late 18th-cent. (sorry for low resolution): http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/150612009-the-taking-of-saint-kitts-and-nevis-islands-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7Qd4mxtxZsU5FZ8WG1aG%2BkQ6h%2FqE79GfamBzi8BwTuDQuQkY%2B9cX0jqUPAx9cee2KTA%3D%3D Extant Architecture: George Washington house, Barbados, restored to c. 1751 appearance: http://www.rosalindcummingsyeates.com/blog/labels/Bridgetown.html A bit out of period, but for good measure, Bridgetown in 1890: http://partleton.co.uk/BridgetownRoebuckStreet1900.jpg Nelson's Dockyard, Antigua: http://www.antiguabarbudamission.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Nelsons-dockyard-8_1106818c.jpg http://www.notallthosewhowanderarelost.com/Pictures/LogPictures/2011/2011%20Antigua/english%202%20nelsons%20dockyard.jpg There are many other wonderful pictures in high detail, do check them out. We seem to be getting a trend here in architectural styles, regardless of nation (perhaps with the exception of Spain) they seem to be all built as sturdy, functional forms of central building, slanted roofs, often with gables, dormers (occasionally) and shutters, with not a whole lot of ornamentation or what we could consider 'decorative', or unnecessary adornments (read not functional - that doesn't include 'shades' or porches) that seems to have come later in the scheme things. Of course this is just what I can deduce from what I've seen.

I'm going to have to differ with your point of conjecture here, respectfully. When Captain Kidd brought his treasure from the Quedagh Merchant into Danish controlled St. Thomas (a free port, or pirate port as one would call it) he was able to sell all of it to the locals because they had a large enough market and a reputation for illicit trade, so that buyers would flock there from as far away as Curaçao, St. Domingue and Honduras, from all corners of the Indies in order to conduct their nefarious business, because the various navigation acts and customs laws of their home nations would prevent them from carrying on such things in their own ports. While the local government was in fact in on this, they received a cut of the deals that went on and were happy to carry it out in public - everyone here looked out for each other, because they understood their survival was dependant on mutual cooperation. In fact, later that year, when a French dominican missionary named Pere Labat, famed for his memoires of life in the Islands among pirates, visited St. Thomas, he purchased as much 'fine Indian silks and chintzes' as he could, from the merchants there reselling them because they were so incredibly cheap - as much as a third to a fifth of the normal asking price. Also, in terms of SOL's 'wiping them off the map' - Rear Admiral John Benbow arrived in late November in St. Thomas, commanding a squadron of SOL's, demanding that the Governor return all of the cargo seized by Kidd in a 'pyratical' manner. The Governor refused him, on the grounds that it couldn't be proven that the goods circulating in his colony were in fact taken by Kidd, illicitly or otherwise, moreover, he refused Benbow monitory compensation, and effectually sent his squadron packing back to Jamaica. Just a little in depth historical perspective that I thought could go toward improving gameplay.

Thank you all for your expeditious and informative replies earlier I've recently been doing some research into French paint-schemes and I thought I'd share my results here With a mind to help aid the Devs' clarity. It seems that the national paint-scheme (if we could call it that) favoured by French vessels for at least the first part of the 18th century was brighted sides (i.e. plain wood, varnished), with smalt blue upper-works (everything above her gunwale or sheer rails), with gilded carved-works (on stern and figurehead) and occasionally blacked lower wail and white undersides (before coppering became the norm). All of this is deduced from its widespread use in the numerous and glorious paintings of French marine painter extraordinaire Claude Joseph Vernet, as well as numerous period descriptions and models. As examples, several of Vernet's paintings: http://www.insecula.com/PhotosNew/00/00/02/91/ME0000029163_3.JPG http://www.allpaintings.org/d/106799-1/Claude-Joseph+Vernet+-+View+of+the+Gulf+of+Bandol_+tuna.jpg http://artandseek.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Vernet_A-Grand-View-of-the-Sea-Shore-Enriched-with-Buildings-Shipping-and-Figures.jpg This seems to have remained popular well into the 1770's, by which time the stately and simplified elegant paintwork of brighted or yellowed topsides with black lower-wales and gundecks that we associate with pre-Napoleonic French naval vessels came into vogue. Examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saint_Kitts#/media/File:Battle_of_Frigate_Bay.jpg https://troisponts.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/commerce-de-marseille-2.jpg After the Revolution, from what I gather, the common paint-scheme we associate with Napoleonic warships comes into vogue: red sides with punctuations of black – albeit there was variation, and it could be large, as exemplified by the description of vessels present at the Battle of the Nile, which has already been posted in this thread.

I wouldn't quite say it's a complete list, for example its grossly missing pirates from the pre-Spanish Succession-Peace of Ryswick interim, i.e. Van Hoven, Kelly, and Elding, Lambert, Kercue, Samson to name a few. Rather, it could be said this ais a completel list of pirate ships and captains featured in Johnson's General History of the Pirates. Overall tho, a very good list that gives a comprehensive idea of what they sailed.

Thank you for your information, and your opinion sir… it will be noted in the log. Now we have another Victory to look forward to floating around, rather than something with original national flare like the Santisima… ahh well, we can't have everything.

Are we to expect to see La Commerce in all her glory of her original paint scheme (at least when initially released to the trials before ship customization)?? https://troisponts.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/commerce-de-marseille-2.jpg If so, it's something to look forward to greatly! She's a stunning looking ship!

Monstrosity is a censorship

Wow, significant difference... Admin should really look into this.

With that in mind, wouldn't the same be true for the Lynx?? Do we have any indication of what she looked like at launch?? Or do her plans again date from the mid 19th-century???

If we were to have her game, we could have her as she was originally rigged, and built to be rigged, as a sloop: http://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=193&mode=small&img_step=1&&pid=15 That would make her a heck of a lot faster

By God she looks so much handsomer and lovely in her true form, launch date or 1812… now this is a vessel that could make me swoon!

They were also being used on frigates in at least the earlier part of the century, the 'Galley frigate' was one of the most versatile designs, one that was utilized, often highly effectively in hunting pirates, some even fell into the hands of pirates themselves who made them their flagships… would be interesting to see what that tactic of combatting them would add to the game dynamic

If the Devs gave us the ability to use the sweeps(oars) on the Rattlesnake for manoeuvring my vote would UNQUESTIONABLY be going with her right now!!

If we were to have the QAR in-game, which I'm all for, although we may not have any plans for here, there are certain things we know for certain about her, from which we can surmise details of her construction. According to the research done by the Queen Anne's Revenge shipwreck conservation group, the Friends of the Archives of North Caroline, she began life as La Concorde, a 300 ton frigate, owned by Rene Montaudouin, a prominent merchant of Nantes. She cruised as a privateer armed with 26 guns during Queen Anne's War (the War of the Spanish Succession) to the West Indies, before undertaking three slave-trading voyages to West Africa and the islands of America, the last of which, her fateful final voyage, she was captured by Edward Thatch, aka Blackbeard and converted to his flagship. Info here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110727180932/http://www.qaronline.org/history/french.htm From these facts we can surmise details of her construction. Since she was built before 1710, according to RC Anderson's "Rigging in the days of the Spritsail Topmast" she would most certainly have had a spritsail topmast and been rigged with a lateen driver on her mizzen. Also, she would have had round-tops, rather than the later enlarged 'fighting-tops' with their squared-off after ends which we're all used to seeing which became universal later in the Age of Sail. Being French she would be rigged with ties and masthead-halliards rather than the English practice of jeers, as was common foreign practice. She would have also have no boat fenders down her sides (unlike La Rennommee) as this was not to come into common foreign practice until some 20 years later. She would have also been built with a square tuck, as was the common practice with foreign shipbuilding, the continental shipwrights wouldn't adopt the decidedly English round tuck for another 30 years or more - it was actually a defining feature one could tell the nationality of a vessel by, if she had a square or round tuck. This aligns perfectly with her descriptions, considering that a later witness of Blackbeard's described the QAR as being a "Dutch-built French Guineaman" - continental shipwrights shared many similar characteristics, to the point where the only thing defining a Dutch vessel from French could be her paintwork. Her being initially armed with 26 guns while serving as a privateer is no indication as to her size, quite the contrary in fact, seeing as it was common practice for early 18th-century privateers to carry far less guns than their English counterparts, placing more value on their marksmen and musketeers, believing "Four muskets worth more than one gun[cannon]". (I'm not sure how much later this practice was carried on). This is also corroborated by later English witness who describe her being built to mount at least 40 guns, "The ship some say has 22 others say she has 26 guns mounted but all agree that she can carry 40." However these would have been rather small caliber guns. According to the shipwreck conservation's website, the largest great-guns recovered from the wreck were 6-pounders, lighter caliber guns, which makes sense with her purported gun-count of above 40, the smaller guns would have taken up less space and thus made this large armament possible, also, they would have caused less strain on her relatively lighter timbers. She could have looked similar to La Mercury posted earlier in this thread, albeit her hull would have had finer lines, she being built for a privateer, and later used as a slave ship would have necessitated her lines being designed for sleekness for the chase and on the Middle-Passage, a factor which likely largely contributed to Blackbeard's choice in keeping her and converting her into his flagship. Most historians agree that she would have looked something very much like this before her conversion to the most famous pirate flagship in history: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6935827n/f10.zoom

Curious as to what the devs think of this idea - Since the 'Q' and 'E' keys have no function aboard yachts and cutters, I think it would be a great feature if we were able to adjust the trim of our headsails (jibs) manually, by using them. This would allow for when I'm caught in irons to sheet in the headsails to windward and drive my head off the wind and onto the other tack, and could offer some great battle manoeuvres like larger ships get with box-hauling & backing astern. I was able to accomplish something similar to this when tacking the Lynx by backing the driver on the foremast, which it completed very quickly and paid me off onto the other tack to deliver a raking broadside (I was very pleased). I just think this would be a great feature since the keys aren't being used for anything else anyway on fore-and-aft riggers, and at the same time it seems that single-masters are the only ones that would really benefit from it, as they have no way of backing any other sails to throw them off the wind (like the square riggers get with the ability to back their foresail), and there would be no need to assign new keys since they're already not in use on small vessels.

Whatever happened to the ships from the last poll? I sure would love to see the Endymion in game, that would be one helluva frigate to captain

This may be slightly pedantic, but as an avid naval historian and sailor I would LOVE to see the 32 points on a compass card in the UI, rather than the degreesº we have now. Aside from just being purely aesthetic, it would help players accurately gauge how close to the wind their vessel can sail, accurately in determining any ship's sailing window, i.e. square-riggers can sail no closer than 6 points on the wind (roughly 68º), whereas fore-and-aft rigged vessels can sail up to four points to the wind. For those unfamiliar with the historical practice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Points_of_the_compass There are 32 points round the compass card, with a point being roughly 11.25º, including the four cardinal points, N, S, E, W. What do other players think?

I would love to see Avatars in game at some point later on, perhaps not for combat necessarily, more for the functions mentioned above, but agree it should be restricted until we get the 'Naval' side of things down pat, which it looks like the devs are very well on their way to! I'd really just love to see how my character looks in a dashing Commander's uniform

One thing I would love to see is captain customizable ship-colour/paint-schemes. I would love Naval Action to implement a feature, much in the way that PotBS did, and did well (barring the garish hues of hot-pink and lime green they allowed), where - selecting from a realistic colour palette - captains are able to customize the paint scheme of their ship's broadsides, gun-deck tiers, wales, undersides of hull and perhaps masts and fighting tops? (Perhaps this could be done for a small fee in game). Geoff Hunt, marine illustrator-extraordinaire of Patrick O'Brian's books as well as many others, describes in detail what pigments were available aboard ships of the era and how they were made in his book on painting the HMS Surprise (which I have and would be more than willing to transcribe or scan for the devs if they are interested): black, browns, white and off-whites (to tan), red and yellow ochres (with of course orange in there), soft greens, and smalt blue (which, he said ranges from a dull ash to a rich royal blue, depending on the quality of the pigment). It could be accessed from an interface in the captain's cabin (if this feature is implemented) as some players here have discussed before, I believe. Were the devs considering implementing this at some point or at a later date?