New arrival on the market: The Longship

This is a pressrelease from Chase Speculaas, builder of the SPD Brigantine:

The Longship is the much-awaited and newest addition to the SPD new-line of combat ships. Using wearable parts technology, which attaches and detatches and rezzes parts of the ship automatically, the Longship is able to sport 171+21 prims and still be able to function smoothly using realistic wind-driven sailing physics. Alternatively, you can switch to rowing mode and ignore the wind.

The cannons can be controlled by your crew, with an easy, intuitive interface. Alternatively, the cannons can be hidden or removed for an unarmed ship, perfect for transport (carrying 8 avatars). The ship can be used as a plain vehicle, for relaxing cross-grid cruises, or as part of the SPD pirate ship game; its cannons damage other new-line SPD ships (currently only the Brigantine, Mujer Vieja, and Longships, but I'll be developing several other compatible ships in the future), and you can sink them/be sunk/etc.


Features:
--Rowable or sailable, with animated oar movement
--Copiable and Modifiable
--Seats 8 avatars
--24 HP
--Can be damaged by cannonballs fired from other compatible ships
--Capsizes if it heels too much in strong crosswinds
--Repair Depot included
--ALL textures on the ship are modifiable
--Ship is driven by the wind, using Kanker Greenacre's sailboat script as the base (however, heavily modified)
--Cannons can be armed, or hidden belowdecks
--171 + 21 prims, using state-of-the art automated wearing technology
--Hull shows progressive damage (cannon ball holes, smoke, etc.)
--2 independently aimable chaser cannons, with longer range than the Brigantine's cannons
--Muzzle flash, smoke effects, etc.
--Includes the newest version of the Speculaas Melee system, for swordfighting
--Can be Scuttled
--Progressive damage effects; sails more slowly the more damaged it is

***Special thanks to Zhuan Tarski for building the body for this incredible ship!

The landmark in the release points to Chase's shop in ElvenGlen

Update: I couldn't find it in ElvenGlen, but it is also available in Sanchon 137,16,40.
Price L$ 1 100

Updated update: Wrong landmark, sorry about that. Correct is ElvenGlen (217, 49, 26). The SLurl link above should be update as well.

Ironclads: Newsflash?

At 2:35am this morning I noticed that the Murakami Steamworks line of popular ironclads (such as the CSS and USS historical models, as well as the David) seems to have been withdrawn from the market.
I am not sure if this is because of scripting updates or anything, but a quick visit to the company's HQ in Erlberg only showed up an empty region for sale.

I have contacted both Mr. Murakami and his colleague to see if I can get some more information. If so, I will post it here soforth.


Update: I got a reply from Mr. Murakami and the company is in the process of moving to Caledon. Meanwhile they had to take down the server. It might be down a month or two, unless they find anyone willing to lend some land for it until they are re-established.

Welcome aboard!

We would like to wish Miss Eladrienne Laval welcome aboard the HGS Zaneta!

Miss Laval of Caledon Regency holds the rank as Midshipman in the Imperial Navy of Caledon, has proven herself in battle and is known not to flinch when facing danger.

Midshipman Laval will take the position of Boatswain (see details below) on the HGS Zaneta, which generally mean she will be in charge of morality boosts, grog and whisky rations, coordination of guns in battle, gangpressing and ship order. The latter means keeping the crew in line and the captain sober.. occasionally.

If you wish to know more, you can view her journal, A Stroll Through Caledon

Welcome aboard, Boatswain!


BOATSWAIN
The Boatswain supervised the maintenance of the vessel and its supply stores. He was responsible for inspecting the ship and it's sails and rigging each morning, and reporting their state to the captain. The Boatswain was also in charge of all deck activities, including weighing and dropping anchor, and the handling of the sails.

Post-Captain

The title Post-Captain was used to distinguish those who were captains by rank from

• officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain regardless of rank;
• commanders, who received the title of captain as a courtesy, whether they currently had a command or not. (Note that Commander's rank is lower than Captain.)
  

Once an officer had been promoted to post-captain, his further promotion was strictly by seniority; if he could avoid death or disgrace, he would eventually become an admiral (even if only a yellow admiral).

In the Royal Navy of the time, an officer might have a rank, but not a command. Until the officer had a command, he was "on the beach" and on half-pay. An officer who was promoted from commander was a captain, but until he was given a command, he was on half-pay. Once the captain was given a command, his name was "posted" in the "Naval Gazette."

An officer "took post" or was "made post" when he was first commissioned to command a rated vessel — that is, a ship too important to be commanded by a mere commander.
Unrated vessels could also in some cases be commanded by post-captains. Being "made post" is portrayed as the most crucial event in an officer's career in both Forester's Hornblower series and O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series.

A junior post-captain would usually command a frigate or a comparable ship, while a senior post-captain (i.t. a full rank captain) would command a ship of the line.

Rank Insignia
After 1795, when they were first introduced on Royal Navy uniforms, the number and position of epaulettes distinguished between commanders and post-captains of various seniorities.
A commander wore a single epaulette on the left shoulder.
A post-captain with less than three years seniority wore a single epaulette on the right shoulder, and a post-captain with three or more years seniority was the same as captain and wore one epaulette on each shoulder from then.
In the O'Brian series, Aubrey "wets the swab" -- that is, he celebrates his promotion to commander (and the acquisition of his "swab" or epaulette) with the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol.

Note that the term was descriptive only: No-one was ever titled "Post-Captain John Smith".

Post-ships
Post-ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the age of sail to describe an unrated ship (see rating system of the Royal Navy) which was, for whatever reason, and usually temporarily, commanded by a post-captain instead of a lieutenant or commander. When a post-captain took command of an unrated vessel she would instantly transform from a brig or sloop-of-war to a "post-ship". When the post-captain relinquished command the vessel would transform back to her normal status.

Unlike other uses of the term "ship" during this era, "post-ship" implies nothing on the rig of the vessel.

Main source: Wikipedia

Information on the "Runner"

Since my Canal Runner has actually become a bit popular, not just in Caledon, and I probably will develop different models in the future, I have decided to create a specific page with notes and images of it.

That way, it is also easier for me to collect the documentation (and for you to find it), than to have it spred out over several blog posts.

The page is enabled for comments, so if you have any reflections, feel free to post them there!

Adress of the page is:

http://sintrenton.wordpress.com/projects/the-canal-runner/

You don't have to be a pirate...

Most of us have to admit it. Flying the black and white flag, with any version of skulls, crossbones, etc is a special feeling.

But you don't actually have to be a pirate to hoist the dreaded flag of the past.
One nations hero was another country's pirate, a truth still alive and kicking today (may have to substitute it for terrorist, insurgent, or any other term, though).

Also, sometimes military ships were using it to either scare the enemy, or to show that no quarter was expected, nor given.

And..
The British Navy has a tradition to fly a Jolly Roger when returning to port when a submarine made a kill at sea. The Jolly Roger would have "x"s for every kill they made.

The SPD Brig: Rigging

Rigging is the arrangement of sails on a ship. Basically there are two kinds, "square-rigged", where the sails and spars (on a mast you have the wooden beams to which the sails are fastened. These are called spars), go in the direction left - right, and "fore-and-aft", where they go front-back (like most sailing yachts today).

The SPD Brigantine is actually more similar to a brig than a brigantine in it's rigging. Of course there were a lot of variantions, more or less from ship to ship, but in general, a brig has two masts, both square rigged, whereas a brigantine also has two masts, but a square rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft rigged mainmast.

For comparison, you can compare the brigantine Irving Johnson to the brig Lady Washington. The rigging on the SPD Brig is nearly identical with the latter.

Here are the names of the individual sails on this magnificient ship:


Above the main topgallant sail was occasionally a very small sail, called the royal.
The Boommainsail could sometimes be called the gaff, but in my opinion, the former is more correct. Especially since that is the most important sail on the SPD Brig (basically the one doing most of the job).
The "wings" rigged fore-and-aft (sails E & F) are called studding sails, and named after the sails to which they are fastened.