{"id":1896,"date":"2013-07-11T17:42:50","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T23:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/?p=1896"},"modified":"2013-07-11T17:42:50","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T23:42:50","slug":"sailing-sailing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/?p=1896","title":{"rendered":"Sailing, Sailing…"},"content":{"rendered":"

This will be the last post for awhile because a) deadlines and b) medical stuff–appointments, tests, all that, all taking time out of the writing day.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So I decided to hint at some things coming up in Crown of Renewal<\/em>, along with the background research that went into them.\u00a0\u00a0 I hope this will tide you over for a couple of weeks, while I finish the revisions and the shorter work due for an anthology.I am fortunate to have a multi-talented friend who studied naval history in graduate school, and who has repeatedly helped me when I ventured offshore in a story.\u00a0\u00a0 Several years ago, I asked him to help me design the background of the seafaring people in Paksworld.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He lent books, suggested online sites, and steered me away from some of the movie-based ridiculous things I thought of initially.\u00a0\u00a0 This research, carried on over years,\u00a0 meant that when I got to a book in which a POV character would actually be on a ship, I had a ship for the character to be on.\u00a0\u00a0 Blessing<\/em> is this ship’s name, and she is one of three ships owned by the same\u00a0 family.\u00a0\u00a0 There’s a sister ship, and then the third is a different type.<\/p>\n

I still needed more details.\u00a0\u00a0 I wanted to know what kind of trees needed to exist for certain types of ships to be built,\u00a0 what the sails and ropes would be made out of and why and what it would take to grow whatever it was.\u00a0\u00a0 I wanted to know if A was possible, and why B was better, and how the lack of gunpowder and guns would affect ship design.\u00a0\u00a0 We discussed the differences created by the kind of water a ship sails in–why ships limited to the Immerhoft Sea might be different than ships that sailed the Eastern Ocean.<\/p>\n

I drew multiple plans of ships, trying to understand the logic of one design over another.\u00a0\u00a0 (These were very sketchy, rough, ugly drawings, nothing like finished plans for ships, and were on any scrap of paper I had handy when I thought of something new.) \u00a0 In order for certain things to happen aboard, I needed certain elements of ships on Blessing (for instance, two passenger cabins on the main or waist deck, in addition to the master’s cabin, a fo’castle, a crow’s nest capable of holding two persons on the main mast, at least two masts carrying square sail(s),\u00a0 sufficient cargo capacity to make a journey from Pargun to the Immer River without having to resupply,\u00a0 and enough salable cargo to make a profit from such trade, etc.<\/p>\n

There must, of course, be other types of ships than these.\u00a0 Some are rowed–usually small, used in rivers, in coastal areas.\u00a0\u00a0 Some are both human- and wind-powered, carrying sail when the wind blows a convenient direction and rowed when the wind dies or it’s contrary.\u00a0\u00a0 (I’ve peered until my eyes watered at paintings, etchings, ink drawings, pencil sketches done by artists from the 1500s up, at least.)\u00a0 I needed at least four basic types of vessel: the merchant cargo ship for sea travel, the merchant cargo vessel for river travel (up the Immer or the Honnorgat) , the pirate galley, the fishing vessel…plus a variety of small boats.\u00a0\u00a0 And then the various cultures got involved…the Pargunese, for river crossings, use a “Viking” type long, narrow vessel.\u00a0\u00a0 But there are also rafts, and small river-fishing boats, and in the Immer, some barge-like cargo boats rather like canal boats were, pulled by animal (or man) power from the shore.\u00a0\u00a0 And small-boats–like our common rowing and individual fishing boats.\u00a0\u00a0 Not all of them got into the story, but I had to know they existed, just in case.<\/p>\n

Although I have sailed very small boats (we have a sorta-kayak with a sail rig, and I’ve been on a larger but still small sailboat with a cabin), and have visited both original (Old Ironsides, the Viking ships in the museums in Oslo, Norway) and replica historical ships, I’ve never been on a square-rigger under sail.\u00a0\u00a0 And I know that watching videos of re-enactment voyages is not like actually being there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However…I had written about Paks’s winter trip from the Halverics to Verella in Oath of Gold<\/em> before I’d ridden all day on a snowy mountain trail, and spent that day thinking “Hot diggity, I\u00a0 got it right<\/em>!”\u00a0 (I had hiked in snow quite a few times.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve talked to another friend who has sailed in many places, including in New Zealand waters in rough weather.\u00a0 So I’m hoping that the seagoing scenes will work for those of you who have been out of sight of land in a ship powered by sails.<\/p>\n

So what is Blessing<\/em> like?\u00a0\u00a0 She’s a combination (for story purposes) of a Portuguese caraval and a bluff-bowed, “fatter” Dutch trader (but not as big as most of those.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She’s three-masted, with the main carrying a big square mainsail and a smaller square sail above it, and the mizzen and foremast usually carrying triangular sails that do more steering than anything else.\u00a0 So she’s\u00a0 nimble to steer, and moves well out at sea.\u00a0\u00a0 She has a large cabin area aft, with two passenger cabins (one on either side) a master’s cabin (quite good sized, at the rear, and a deck above these where the steersman and the master both hang out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Exact dimensions aren’t given…but her ratio is 3:1, length to beam, and she has bluff bows and an almost square stern, though the transom overhangs the actual stern, which is more rounded for less drag from turbulence, and better rudder performance.\u00a0 The passenger cabins are just a bit bigger than the sleeping compartments on the BritRail night train from Scotland to London I was on one year…longer, but not much if any wider.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her ship’s boat, when at sea, is carried upside down over the forward hatch.<\/p>\n

On northbound voyages, she carries both oilberry oil and oilberries themselves, southern wine,\u00a0 salt,\u00a0 certain spices, fish sauce, glazed tiles, pottery,\u00a0 flax, hemp (both in bales and in more finished form) ,\u00a0 silk (cloth only, not thread),\u00a0 copper items and raw copper.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On southbound voyages she carries a lot of wood–both whole logs (not huge ones) and rough-sawn lumber,\u00a0 wooden objects made of woods not available in the South,\u00a0 salt fish (the equivalent of the salt cod),\u00a0 furs (as skins),\u00a0 wool,\u00a0 tin, lead, raw silver.\u00a0\u00a0 Blessing<\/em> sticks to this route, but interacts and trades at Bannerl\u00edth with ships that routinely cross the Eastern Ocean to the eastern continent.\u00a0\u00a0 This continent, with its mountain range running N\/S along the shores (inland, but not a long way) is a source of metal ores\u00a0 and objects made by dwarves, gnomes, and elves, as well as a kind of grass highly prized for making mats and baskets.\u00a0\u00a0 These east-trading ships are often also bringing in the salt fish they’ve caught or traded for.\u00a0\u00a0 Specific leathers (raw or worked) are traded in various directions.<\/p>\n

Pirates are a problem in specific areas…usually fairly close to shore, as they carry large crews that\u00a0 limit their range (for supplies of water and food.)\u00a0 Most combine oars and sail, and–if they get the right angle on a sailing vessel–are able to intercept and board it efficiently.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All pirates are not alike (other than capturing and robbing ships of cargo)–some also capture sailors and\/or passengers for ransom or for sale,\u00a0 some kill specific people (assassins afloat), etc.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Merchant ships try to avoid those areas where pirates are, and enough crew to fight them off.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some cargo items are useful in fighting off pirates (though it cuts into the profit if you use up oilberry oil, for instance.)<\/p>\n

Although there are monsters in the deep, they don’t come into this story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This will be the last post for awhile because a) deadlines and b) medical stuff–appointments, tests, all that, all taking time out of the writing day.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So I decided to hint at some things coming up in Crown of Renewal, along with the background research that went into them.\u00a0\u00a0 I hope this will tide you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,53,45,5],"tags":[108,106,112,12,51,107],"class_list":["post-1896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crown-of-renewal","category-life-beyond-writing","category-revisions","category-the-writing-life","tag-background","tag-contents","tag-life-beyond-writing","tag-research","tag-revision","tag-the-writing-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1897,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions\/1897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}