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One of my players and I built the Maiden of the High Seas, and we're using it as the Man's Promise. Now I'm trying to come up with stats for the ship using Fire as She Bears.
The Maiden is a three masted galleon, with the classic squared-off stern. According to Table I - Historical Ships in FASB, a typical galleon has 10 hull locations and 4 rigging locations.
The Maiden is 140 feet long, and it's 35 feet wide for most of that length. In the vertical direction, I'm assuming that the Maiden contains a 20 foot high hold (below the level of the table), in addition to the two decks and the castles.
If I round the 35 foot width up to 40 feet, then the ship has 36 hull locations, arranged like so:
hold hold decks decks castle castle
hold hold decks decks castle castle
hold hold decks decks
hold hold decks decks
hold hold decks decks
hold hold decks decks castle castle
hold hold decks decks castle castle
If a typical galleon has 10 hull locations, then this ship is a giant among its kind!
If I round the 35 foot width down to 20 feet, then the ship has 18 hull locations:
hold decks castle
hold decks castle
hold decks
hold decks
hold decks
hold decks castle
hold decks castle
18 hull locations is still a big galleon, but not outrageously huge.
I wanted to give both versions of the ship a reasonable chance to catch another vessel, so I gave them both a sleek hull. I also gave each version as many rigging locations as the rules allow (11 for the single-wide Maiden, and 20 for the double-wide).
Using these assumptions, the single-wide Maiden has a 44 Strength, a 7 Dexterity, a base speed of 13, and Average Maneuverability. A heavy load of cargo for this version starts at 268,416 pounds, or about 134 US short tons, or 13 points of plunder. (It sinks at around 22 points of plunder.)
The double-wide Maiden has a 62 Strength, a 1 Dexterity, a base speed of 22, and Poor Maneuverability. A heavy load of cargo for this version starts at 2,451,456 pounds, or about 1226 US short tons, or 123 points of plunder. (It sinks at around 204 points of plunder.)
If my results are correct, then I'm very much inclined to use the single-wide version of the Maiden. Its higher maneuverability makes it better at intercepting other ships, and its cargo capacity of 13 points of plunder is fairly close to the 15 points listed for a sailing ship in the Skull & Shackles Player's Guide. Plus, it doesn't require an army to sail it effectively.
Has anyone else run these calculations? If so, how do my results compare to yours?
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It does seem odd to me that the PCs start Part 2 of the AP with such a good ship. Particularly under the S & S ship rules, there would be little reason to trade up to a better ship until much farther into the AP. Giving the Promise a broad, heavy hull should be good incentive to capture another ship.
Maybe I'll just switch the nameplates on my Maiden model whenever the PCs trade up, and hand-wave away any differences in size.