Glad to post it! It makes me think we should rate merchant ships as starting out with only 2 crew actions. There guns might be loaded before the fight but they would have a tough time reloading, sailing, and doing damage control at the same time.
Glad to post it! It makes me think we should rate merchant ships as starting out with only 2 crew actions. There guns might be loaded before the fight but they would have a tough time reloading, sailing, and doing damage control at the same time.
Quite agree, unless it was an Indiaman who could afford to run full crew.
On the strength of what was read, I was just chatting with my son about the use of timber and construction methods used. Inevitably the conversation moved onto crewing, replacing spars after gales etc. When we got onto crew sizes. 150 plus for Frigates, against say 30 for a well found Merchant ship leaving Portsmouth. With the losses incurred on a voyage,deaths, illness, impressment by Warships, etc. we got onto developments in ship handling and how the Merchant Fleets improved technology through sheer necessity. A loss of 10 % crew in Gib, and then another 10% by the next warship you meet say at Capetown, and with say three or four crew lost to accidents, disease etc, you could be down to say 20 men before you even hit the hurricanes in the Indian Ocean. Hardly enough to man the pumps, let alone steer the ship and make good the leaks. Manning the guns! Better hope some of the passengers were Army Officers.
Rob.
I agreed with this, and put it on my provisional designs for merchantmen! - they are on my album at: http://www.sailsofglory.org/album.php?albumid=370 - I hope you agree with my stats?Originally Posted by AirborneEnginee
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