Down to the bilge, to work the bilge pump and tar and caulk the boards.
It's dank, hot, and filled with slithy detritus or sloshing water and detritus if the bilge needs pumping out.
Really mean;.....a few lashes from a whip before one goes down into that filthy place,......
Another book I found says "stowing the cable" is the worst job on a sailing ship.
You gotta go in a cable box, a small room, as the anchor comes up and arrange the chain so it doesn't snag up when the anchor goes back down. You end up on your hands and knees on a pile of skanky chain that has been in the ocean for a good long time, so it's covered with grime and barnacles and whatnot,.... and......if it so happens that the anchor drops back down unexpectedly,....you can get really badly hurt.
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Another book I found says "stowing the cable" is the worst job on a sailing ship.
You gotta go in a cable box, a small room, as the anchor comes up and arrange the chain so it doesn't snag up when the anchor goes back down. You end up on your hands and knees on a pile of skanky chain that has been in the ocean for a good long time, so it's covered with grime and barnacles and whatnot,.... and......if it so happens that the anchor drops back down unexpectedly,....you can get really badly hurt.
whoever told you : stupidity
First : no ship in that age (up to the 19th century) anchors with a chain, because both of the weight involved (you need 3-4 times the length of the way to the bottom...plus more, you never know how deep the ocean is. 30' of water = 120' feet of chain... at... say... 30 lbs for every three feet ? That means 1.8 tons, plus the anchor... to haul up with a winchlass ) and the impossibility to lift that chain without a steam assisted winch. Chains are for mooring in Naval ports, that's it.
Second : Anchors are stored outside the ship. Always. Especially since you need them there in case of emergency. They weigh a freaking lot, too. That is : in the vicinity of "tons". Drop those down a hatch to retrieve them in case of emergency ? Noone's been that stupid since the day of the Romans....
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as for the OP :
Bad jobs :
- Outside painting of the hull, always needed, usually in a boatswain's chair. Then... ahem, slip the cable ? Or forget the poor sulk when you change course, suddenly dropping him into the ocean.
- Forgetting him in the masttop. For hours.
- having him "log" (estimating the depth of water with a handline). Again - for hours. Have fun throwing that 6-10 pound weight out and hauling it in... twice a minute
- Sandscraping the decks. Just as much fun. Especially if you do it alone.
- Oil and prime the tackles. If you are mean, while they are topside, in the rigging.
- Having him clean the bowsprit and lower bow. Just under the buntlines (aka "the local loo") 'nuff said. also great fun in "heavier" weather, when one is actually "underwater" for at least half the time
Anything more ?
That being said, the whole "hazing" part is just sooo much off the board for piracy it is actually very stupid fun. Basically, that "hazing2 is the reasons why people joined pirate crews, to escape the stupid everyday work drill on merchant vessels.Nevermind the drinking part.
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It was on a Windjammer;
found out about it from this book:
Windjammers: The Final Story
it's on page 35; I can't copy/paste
This is for the OP; I'm sure there's some anachronisms to it somehow, but I thought it had a really dismal vibe to it. Sorry I'm not historically and technically accurate enough for some; I'm kinda land locked and not as big a nautical expert as.....others......
I figured, though, that in a game with flying winged horses, giant people whose hips don't shatter when they run, and corpses that walk around and suck blood for some reason and turn into bats, it wouldn't really suspend disbelief too much to have a chain locker with an actual chain instead of a cable on it on a pirate ship.
It was on a Windjammer;
found out about it from this book:
Windjammers: The Final Storyit's on page 35; I can't copy/paste
Noted... and... it's still bulls**t
Firstoff, the guy is talking "windjammers" which would be late 19th century to early 20th century sailing ships
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Viermastbark_Passat_in_T ravemuende-1.jpg
having a look at the above picture (1911 built Passat, german "flying P liner") you can see the admirality anchor on the left on the forecastle near the bowsprit. Hanging outside (where it belongs). She has a short anchoring forechain, which, given that the ship has been lying there after decommissioning in the 1960 is from both a later, after WW-II, period. Been sailing past it for last 30+ years^^
As for chain : Just looking at Brian Lavery's "Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600 - 1815", pages 30-56. Lavery is one of the foremost naval historians in the world. I trust him... slightly more than some nameless captain telling me something at the bar. That is, being a historian myself^^
Plus, the captain named actually a) never said he did it on a steamer or windjammer or whatever. He just said it happened to him
and b) the guy in the second part actually refers to "the cable", not "the chain".
plus
c) the guy is talking about the anchor running "out", slipping the capstan and yanking anyone on the cable up into the sea. Yeah, painful, especially being yanked through the deck.
I trust in a certain degree of.. well.. "story telling" by the crew. Picturesque.. now hand him some more grog.
No "chains" attached.... Just noting that the weight of the anchor alone (!) is estimated at between 18 cwt (e.g about 1800 pounds(imp)) and 74 cwt (7400 pounds for bigger ships like "HMS Victory"), which makes that thing... burdensome ? Add some very wet hawser. Usually, unlike chain deployed to 5-7x the depth anchored in, and made of fully soaked hemp/manila. A hawser cable being around 720' in length, meaning just about enough to anchor in 100'-140' of water. With each cable at app 10" - 12" diameter (more for bigger ships, up to 22"-24" of thickness = square the weight ) weighing around 2-4 tons each (dry). Of course one could stow them in the bilge...
So, overall : a 2 ton anchor and another 2-4 tons of wet hawser is mean enough to haul in each morning. Nevermind adding chain.
Anchor lifting was performed by up to 96 men on a "single" capstan (anything up to a heavy frigate), and by up to 200 or 300 on a larger ship of the line.
Poor "Wormwood"....
I am not saying... but given that there are neither "capstans" on any of the ships in the adventure, nevermind a chain- or cable locker or even places to actually stow this stuff..... because... they would basically bi-sect the crew deck (above the hammocks, it's kept on the ceiling to "dry out" ) , lengthwise, there being no "orlop deck".
Ouch^^
So let's best keep anchoring out of the "Skulls and Shackles'" business ?
I figured, though, that in a game with flying winged horses, giant people whose hips don't shatter when they run, and corpses that walk around and suck blood for some reason and turn into bats, it wouldn't really suspend disbelief too much to have a chain locker with an actual chain instead of a cable on it on a pirate ship.
Excellent belief.
I just subscribe to keeping stuff "as normal" as possible, especially with the flying horses around.because, let's face it, "conventional" fantasy is basically "normal history" with some magic and more of a trans-gender fix added. Nevermind what most people actually "consider" history to be.
If one really considers and extrapolates from things possible through applied use of magic.... most Sci_Fi looks palish. But nobody really does anything with the stuff.
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Vikingson's got a lot of good suggestions, there, although I'd hold off on logging until the ship gets into inland waters or at least close to shore, where the depth of the water is considered shallow enough to worry about grounding.
As to the anchor question, though, I think there's an initial misunderstanding of what Spanky said, along with a less than kind way of wording things, that needs to be addressed.
Spanky never said that the anchor would fall into the "cable box." What he said was that if the anchor were to "[drop] back down unexpectedly" then things would be bad. And, vikingson points out, that is quite true. A heavy anchor dropping to the bottom is going to give that cable a lot of velocity and if the person inside the box gets tangled up, he's going to be both crushed and ripped apart.
Now, as to the concept of anchor chain, it is true that ships didn't start regularly using iron chains for anchoring until World War I. However, there are references to iron anchor chains going back to the 1400s, and references to "iron cable" going back to the ancient Greeks.
These days, we require so much anchor chain (3 to 5 times the depth of the water), because it is actually the weight of the chain that holds the ship fast. The anchor's flukes dig in and help keep the chain from slipping on the bottom.
For older ships that don't have as much displacement as the huge modern vessels we have. Heck, even today, a 50-foot boat with a working weight of 1,600 pounds only needs a 23-pound anchor. A galleon, whose overall length wasn't more than 150 feet, had an anchor that typically weighed about 2,000 pounds, not 1.8 tons, although most ships had two such anchors, as well as a smaller 500-pound streaming anchor.
Obviously, your research on the weight of anchor chains for larger ships is pretty thorough, and a chain for raising the anchor would have to be strong, which usually translates to heavy. But as I mentioned earlier, you could also rely on the weight of the chain to hold the ship in place, allowing you to make the anchor lighter.
Making such a chain isn't outside the capability of Golarion's metalworkers, either. Consider that George Washington had blacksmiths produce a chain barrier that spanned the Hudson River in 1778. The 17 smiths took six weeks to make the 1700-foot chain, and each link weighed 275 pounds.
Anyway...just some additional info. Anchor chains were not at all common prior to the 19th century, but they did exist. And as such, it's not a stretch to allow them to exist in the scope of Golarion's maritime technology. It's also better on messageboards to try and be "overly polite", since direct, no-nonsense descriptions can come off as impatient or mean-spirited when a person only has your text to go by.
Obviously, your research on the weight of anchor chains for larger ships is pretty thorough, and a chain for raising the anchor would have to be strong, which usually translates to heavy. But as I mentioned earlier, you could also rely on the weight of the chain to hold the ship in place,...
Certainly right. Still chains are heavy, very much so for anything of 1800 pounds or more...nevermindthe forging of steel(?) links in sufficent number.. The ships in the AP would have to be reworked, too...
"Sovereign of the Seas" (17th century): 127 feet on the keel, 6 anchors. Used anchors of between 55 cwt (5500 lbs) to 69 cwt (6900 lbs): possibly "over-anchored", but not by much (Lavery).
Plus, modern anchors are more advanced in concept, especially on the digging in part, old anchors only using half of their weight "below ground". Actually using a 42 pound main on a 38' sailor hereabouts. Baltic environment. Would use more on the Atlantic.
Btw you have a 50' boat with a working weight of 1600 lbs ? You mean 16000 lbs, right ? *grin*
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And the OP was looking for "what could we do for the PCs"^^^So let's help him there
- Restowing the ship. Especially nice in the extremely hot weather. With a limited crew. Numerous adjustments...
- given the general lack of utility boats on the "Wormwood" (oversight ?), have them slip theirs (make one up) overboard, then back again onboards, than off and over on the other side....
- or in general, introduce a day or two of calms and have them row the ship^^
Excellent belief.
I just subscribe to keeping stuff "as normal" as possible, especially with the flying horses around.because, let's face it, "conventional" fantasy is basically "normal history" with some magic and more of a trans-gender fix added. Nevermind what most people actually "consider" history to be.
If one really considers and extrapolates from things possible through applied use of magic.... most Sci_Fi looks palish. But nobody really does anything with the stuff.
Whereas, I see this anachronistic jumble already existent and setting a precedent for further anachronisms if they're useful and evoke an emotional response. YMMV; I should twist off when the little gaggle of helper MD's do a nuclear medicine pulmonary ventilation and perfusion exam on House, like they'd even know where to begin.
Why they call me in at 2 am to do it.|
Contributor
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Excellent belief.
I just subscribe to keeping stuff "as normal" as possible, especially with the flying horses around.because, let's face it, "conventional" fantasy is basically "normal history" with some magic and more of a trans-gender fix added. Nevermind what most people actually "consider" history to be.
If one really considers and extrapolates from things possible through applied use of magic.... most Sci_Fi looks palish. But nobody really does anything with the stuff.
Whereas, I see this anachronistic jumble already existent and setting a precedent for further anachronisms if they're useful and evoke an emotional response. YMMV; I should twist off when the little gaggle of helper MD's do a nuclear medicine pulmonary ventilation and perfusion exam on House, like they'd even know where to begin.
Why they call me in at 2 am to do it.I only barely know where to begin deciphering that phrase. And I'm really smart! ;-)
Whereas, I see this anachronistic jumble already existent and setting a precedent for further anachronisms if they're useful and evoke an emotional response. YMMV; I should twist off when the little gaggle of helper MD's do a nuclear medicine pulmonary ventilation and perfusion exam on House, like they'd even know where to begin.
Why they call me in at 2 am to do it.
yeah well, so true about that^^ We do have some wicked rules about "this cannot be repaired unless you have massive heal-ranks" in-house and we do not raise, but yeah...
