Where can I learn about...

[Palfrey]

... ships and sailing? I know nothing and now that I'm editing my book I should probably try to make it realistic. (I was so disappointed in The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference... It completely fails to mention several things fantasy authors need to know about!)

 

[Lucanus]

What era? It makes a difference. Are we talking triremes or pirate galleys?

 

[N. E. White]

Oh, oh, oh, pirate galleys, please! I want to know about pirate ships!

 

[Palfrey]

What era? It makes a difference. Are we talking triremes or pirate galleys?

In between those two I think. (Had to look up "triremes"). I do need war galleys though. Specifically I need to know two things:

1) How many troops would a war galley carry?
2) What kind of damage could a merchant ship sustain that would slow it down but not incapacitate it?

... But I would like to have more of a general education too so that I can make what happens on the ship (Captain's orders etc.) more specific.

No pirates, sorry.

 

[PeteMC]

1) How many troops would a war galley carry?
2) What kind of damage could a merchant ship sustain that would slow it down but not incapacitate it?

... But I would like to have more of a general education too so that I can make what happens on the ship (Captain's orders etc.) more specific.

Define "war galley" - a Tudor warship was considerably bigger than a Viking longship, for instance. In some periods the sailors were also the troops, in others you have sailors who work the ship and marines who fight.

Are you writing historical fiction or alternate world fantasy?

If it's historical, find a relevant reference book for ships of your period. If it's alternate world, what sort of equivalent time period are you aiming for (eg ASOIAF is very medieval, whereas WOT feels much more Renaissance in its setting). Find a reference book for roughly the right time period and use that.

If you're doing alt world you don't have to be quite so vigorous with your research, as long as it doesn't feel outrageously implausible - I'm fondly thinking of a scene in Orcs where a ship is so close to the shore that the characters can wade out to it and only be thigh-deep in the water, yet in the same paragraph there is reference to there being two holds below decks....

In terms of damage etc, I guess it depends on the type of ship. If it has oars or sweeps then having some broken would be limiting but not debilitating. Broken masts or burned sails are popular with damaged sailing ships in fiction, but I'm not a sailor so wouldn't know how realistic that sort of thing is.

 

[goldhawk]

1) How many troops would a war galley carry?

Are you talking before or after cannons?

2) What kind of damage could a merchant ship sustain that would slow it down but not incapacitate it?

If the merchant ship was not armed, they would stop when the warship was in range to do damage.

 

[Palfrey]

Are you talking before or after cannons?

Before.

If the merchant ship was not armed, they would stop when the warship was in range to do damage.

No, the damage to the merchant ship is caused by a storm. It has nothing to do with the war.

 

[Sonja Ravenscroft]

Wondering if this could be pulled in the "knowledge" thread we have going?

 

[Laer Carroll]

I'm unsure why you would ask this question here, or consult the fantasy reference guide you mentioned. Only many hours in a library and searching on the internet will answer your question.

Did you ever read any of the sea-war series such as the Hornblower series by C. S. Forester? The feeling of authenticity in those books came from much research. There is no easy path to this kind of knowledge.

 

[Sonja Ravenscroft]

Try asking it here:


http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29379


A little knowledge thread we're putting together for questions just like yours!

 

[Palfrey]

I'm unsure why you would ask this question here, or consult the fantasy reference guide you mentioned. Only many hours in a library and searching on the internet will answer your question.

That's why I titled the thread "Where can I learn about..." I was hoping for a book recommendation, but when people asked me questions in return I felt it rude not to reply. It didn't look like a book title was forthcoming.

 

[Lucanus]

I usually google for answers or amazon search when I want a book on a subject. Not very sexy but it gets the job done.

 

[Chris_KW]

I rely on google, and, sadly, wikipedia for information I can't find elsewhere.

And did you get the idea for the scene from a novel you read? I always find the original source is the best template to extract information.

 

[Lucanus]

I find wikipedia as a nice place to start when I know little about a subject. It's accurate enough to lead you down the right path so that you can do further research.

 

[Aneurin de Batz]

The library's a better bet than wikipedia. Although it'll probably require more patience. Everyone and their aunt Ethel can edit wikipedia, so there's no real guarantee that it's accurate. Or the sources people have taken the information from are accurate....


Also; I think some of your questions aren't helpful, and won't get useful answers - especially "how many troops can a war galley carry", as there are so many variables, not to mention there's not really a standard size for them, or indeed most of the old ships. They might be able to carry more troops over a short journey where fewer supplies are needed, they might only be able to carry a boarding party, they might have rowers, they might be sail powered...

"What sort of damage could a merchant ship sustain..." Well, if we're talking degree of damage, then, again, what size, how is it rigged, what type of hull, how many crew, any rowers? If we're talking what type of damage, then hull, loss of crew/rowers and sail. A leaking hull will take on water, adding weight, slowing it down, etc, and might even add to the drag the ship suffers. Loss of crew or rowers (okay, or oars) and obviously things just don't get done as fast. Lost and damaged sails mean less wind effect.

 

[Palfrey]

Also; I think some of your questions aren't helpful, and won't get useful answers - especially "how many troops can a war galley carry", as there are so many variables, not to mention there's not really a standard size for them, or indeed most of the old ships. They might be able to carry more troops over a short journey where fewer supplies are needed, they might only be able to carry a boarding party, they might have rowers, they might be sail powered...

Ah, but that does answer my question. What you're saying is that there are enough variables involved that I can make up a number and still have it sound plausible.

 

[Aneurin de Batz]

Pretty much. Not to mention, nobody can really complain (unless you're writing historical fiction, anyway), that what you've written is wrong. Maybe in your world a war galley is five hundred feet long with six masts and a dozen sails. So long as things sound reasonable, no-one will mind.