Small Merchant Stats.

[John Acton]

I threw this log together quickly last night as an opponent/target for my pirate sloops. I'm planning to convert a Hermione in a similar way to Texas' Sibylle to represent her. I was wondering if the stats seemed appropriate.

[Bligh]

I'm not sure, but I would say your gunnery is a bit high for a merchantman without trained gun crews unless she was an Indiaman. Also under manning was a constant problem on such ships. The owners looked for maximum profit for minimum outlay. For every cannon and its ammunition you lost cargo space.
Consequently I would put the log more at:-

Gunnery.

1-2-1, 1-2-1, 1-1-1, 0-1-1, 0-1-0.

Crew actions.

4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1.

Small arms.

2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1.


This would also reflect how morale would fall off quicker than on a King's ship.


Rob.

[Dobbs]

I'm not sure, but I would say your gunnery is a bit high for a merchantman without trained gun crews unless she was an Indiaman. Also under manning was a constant problem on such ships. The owners looked for maximum profit for minimum outlay. For every cannon and its ammunition you lost cargo space.
Consequently I would put the log more at:-

Gunnery.

1-2-1, 1-2-1, 1-1-1, 0-1-1, 0-1-0.

Crew actions.

4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1.

Small arms.

2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1.


This would also reflect how morale would fall off quicker than on a King's ship.


Rob.

Hmm, my merchants are completely lame!

Gunnery

0-1-1, 0-1-1, 0-0-1, 0-0-1

Crew actions.

3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1

Small arms.

2, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0

[Naharaht]

In the novel 'Sharpe's Trafalgar' by Bernard Cornwell the male passengers were made to practice firing the guns in case the merchant ship was attacked. Was this common? Naturally, the cannon aimed by Richard Sharpe was the one which hit the target.

[Bligh]

I can't help feeling that civilians firing guns from a rolling ship would be of more danger to the ship than the enemy.
Rob.

[Bligh]

I can't see anything wrong with your evaluation of a Merchantman Dobbs.
I was just giving my opinion on what a well armed and crewed ship would perform like.
Lots of ships just had a couple of long guns per side and half a dozen swivels. Enough to discourage Natives and freebooters, but not sufficient to engage a well armed Pirate Sloop.
As I said HEIC ships could be and often were a different kettle of fish.
This one is a bit like how long is a piece of string.
Rob.

[Comte de Brueys]

I can't help feeling that civilians firing guns from a rolling ship would be of more danger to the ship than the enemy.
Rob.

Anything that distracts enemy fire from "your" position is good.

[TexaS]

I'm not sure if there was any photo showing my ship's card. I have even removed the forward and aft arcs. Merchants often even had smaller gun ports and could not train the guns as far forward and aft.

You can pretty much get away with anything from a heavy frigate to an almost unarmed vessel as a merchant.

[Bligh]

Would you be kind enough to re-post your card Jonas, to give John a bit more to go on.
All I have in that line is my Bomb Ketch which is not really of any help in this instance.
Thanks.
Rob.