Ok, so those reading my new story, Felicia's Second Life may be aware of how Felicia's turning everything upside down with her 'inventions'. In chapter 4, she will be introducing another 'invention' that would look like Eiffel Tower to these backward people. No, there's no actual tower involved.
In chapter 4, she will build ships. It starts with a cog, then larger ships. Let's talk about the largest ship.
Felicia will be building a brigantine (2-masted) at a length of 50 meters and beam of 12 meters. It's supposedly almost twice the size of the biggest navy flagship as well as being faster, more spacious and more maneuverable than any other ships in the region. It was originally meant for deep sea tuna fishing. It also has 40 oars in total for various purposes, which will eventually be replaced with cannons. After Felicia realize that it would be a waste to use it for tuna fishing, she converted it to be used as a warship and her personal flagship.
Just look at this if you need an example. Sailship
Now my questions:
1) What should I name this ship? I just can't think of any name that would fit the largest and most fearsome warship of the middle ages.
2) Considering that there are 40 oars (which isn't going to be used much other than entering or exiting ports or during windless journey), is crew of 90 enough? Or is it too low?
Thanks in advance for your help. Please throw in the names of your dream ships if you have any. If I like any of your names but I don't think it fits the brigantine, I may use it to name the cogs, which is still a better ship than the ones they have in the story.
Comments
ship's name and crew.
40 oars needs 80 to 120 men.
Bought unfinished due to war and increased pirate activity? Of course the price for the ship nearly made it a steal, right? Was grandpa officiating the contract dispute and mentioned this headache to Felicia? Did Felicia come up with a solution where everyone profited? (Grandpa got his pain relief. The merchant got a barter for goods that he could sell at a profit. The ship builder moved to a more spacious location. Felicia moved her surplus goods and opened the door to more trade.)
It started as a business deal that quickly turned into a new business enterprise.
Call the ship Lollipop (kidding), Enterprise.
Ship
No, Felicia didn't buy it. Felicia now has her own shipyard that can build cogs and brigantines of that size. She originally designed it as a fishing vessel, but later found out that it was bigger than even the biggest warship they have in the region. It was originally built in order to expand Mruna's fishing capacity, but a certain event in chapter 4 when it was almost finished forced it to be converted into a warship/flagship instead. It will also be used in future chapters for trading as well as carrying supplies and troops back and forth between Mruna and the front lines.
Lollipop is a unique name, kinda fits Felicia's craziness.
ship's name and crew.
"On the Good Ship Lollipop" was the signature song of child actress Shirley Temple. Temple first sang it ...
Crew; 80 to 120 just for the 40 oars.
The ships primary description is that of a surface superiority ship. Not really for troop air freight transport but it can be their escort.
Miss Adventure
With oars and men to pull them, you would run balance between provision and sleeping space and functionality. Why even have oars?
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Oars
The ship has oars because it's river ship, with the ability for deep sea sailing. The Mrun River's wind is faily weak in some seasons and that makes oars essential since the ship is so big. Many medieval designs such as cogs, holks, chinese junks and some others still use oars for various reasons especially in the Mediterranean and for river sailing. The oars also won't be used often, only during port entrances/exits when the sails would be trimmed or during windless journeys. The oarsmen are also the sailors, unlike triremes, they won't be sitting at the oars all time rowing. They do have lateen sails, so regardless of wind directions, they will still be able to sail, but there are times when you want to go somewhere quickly even when the winds are unfavourable.
Illustration not a brigantine
The "2000 60m Tall Ship Custom" to which your link directs us is a brig, not a brigantine. A brigantine would not have a square mainsail on the main mast. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brig and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigantine for examples.
Brig
Yes, I know it's not a brigantine, but it's of a similar size and design, though not the same variant. I just included it because some people can't imagine what it looks like or its dimension with the illustration that wiki showed.
Vessel of that size
Vessels of that size typically did have auxillery oars that were referred to as Sweeps in the British Navy. As a commercial vessel the crew size would be anywhere from 10 to 25. As a Warship then yes, a complement of up to 90 would be appropriate. A British 6th Rate which was the smallest size Frigate had a complement of around 150. Also, typically, the British and American Navy's would arm a vessel that size with 14 guns, 7 per side. On average they were 4 pounders but might go with 6 pounders. If you want to read a good source for a warship that size read Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien. It is the 1st in the Aubrey/Maturin series. The movie, The Far Side of the World was based on this series (HMS Surprise - which was a 6th Rate).
Just checked my Kindle for Master and Commander. Cpt Aubrey's first command is the Brig-rigged Sloop, HMS Sophie. She had a full complement of 90.
Master and Commander
When you mentioned it, I immediately thought of the movie. Nice movie, loved it very much, but it's hard to find it in my country.
I did think that a ship of that size should have around 150 crew, but when I was designing the ship, I wondered where they would be sleeping, so I reduced it to 90, but I still thought that it was too tight with this many crew. Thanks for the references.
Now, what would you name it if it's your ship? :D
Sleeping space
The British Navy allocated 14 inches of space per sailor for hanging their hammocks in their berthing spaces. As for name, this is a warship owned by a Woman. Don't bother going with typical naming conventions as this is Felicia's Flagship. Notice that Capt Aubrey's first command, the Brig/Sloop HMS Sophie does not follow typical Warship naming conventions. Go with your heart and name her what you think Felicia would name her Personal Command. Hell, during WWII the British built a small Escort-class (anti-sub) ship by an unconventional name. This was the Flower-class Corvettes. As such, each Corvette was named after a flower.
Names for warships
Indomitable, Invincible, if it really is the largest and most powerful warship, either of those names would be good. Your ship is a brig, btw, which is a modified brigantine. A brig could put up square main sails on both masts, a standard brigantine did not have the rigging for that. At various times, though, the ship might have been called a brigantine before the distinction became clear.
Since yours is the first on the world, you can call it whatever you like. :)
The Brig Sophie in Patrick O'Brian's books had 90 to 100 men, counting Marines, your ship as described is larger, so 120-130 men sounds about right. You need 80 men just for the sweeps.
Other names?
Artemis, Atlantis, Argosy, Athena, Bellerophon, Bountiful, Celeste, Callista, Dragon, Dolphin, Dutiful, Excelsior, Eureka, Fleet, Freya, Fearsome....
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Names
Indomitable and Invincible sounds like what stuffy older nobles would name. So I'm probably going to use it for Felicia's grandfather's ship if you don't mind.
Thanks for the explanation and the suggestion.
How about after a race of female wariors?
Valkyrie