Ships of the Kalayan Sea - by Judith

Tartane

Also see 

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/TAPA/82/Speed_under_Sail_of_Ancient_Ships*.html

When we combine all the above evidence we find that under favorable wind conditions, ancient vessels averaged between 4 and 6 knots over open water, and 3 to 4 knots while working through islands or along coasts. Before a favorable wind, a (whole) fleet could log between two and three knots.With unfavorable winds, a fleet usually could do no better than 1 to 1½ knots.

Ships of the Kalayan Sea 

The unique characteristics of the Kalayan Sea control the types of ships that commonly ply its waters: protected by mountains, it is usually much calmer than the Glimmerstar Sea, Boreal Sea or the Sea of Mists. Also because of the surrounding mountains, winds are less reliable and tend to frequently veer or die away altogether.

Warships

Oared galleys are a common sight, varying from the light weight, single banked Liburnians with thirty rowers to the prestige heavy Quinquereme galleys with three hundred rowers that are the flagships of city states. Depending on the design of the ship, rowers may be arranged in from one to three banks with up to three rowers at each oar on the largest galleys. City states with a preference for using slave oarsmen (such as Marg) tend to prefer using single banked galleys as they require less skill to row though are far less efficient and manoeuvrable than the equivalent two or three banked galley.

Biremes and Triremes are far and away the most common designs, preferably rowed by free oarsmen with only a single rower on each oar. Some states try to encourage citizens to enrol as oarsmen by presenting a term of service in their fleet as an alternative to judicial punishment for an offence or non-payment of taxes.

The numbers of oarsmen on a galley means that they must stay close to land as they cannot carry supplies for more than a couple of days at sea. In addition the lowest bank of oars are close to sea level making them less seaworthy in rough weather. This is exacerbated in some designs, particularly favoured by the Lomari Navy, that place fighting castles on the superstructure making the galley top heavy and even less seaworthy. Lomar’s navy prefers to try to make use of its superb marines and their favoured tactic is to go alongside an opponent to board them.

Depending on size, a galley will have one or two masts carrying square sails. These are very efficient when the wind is behind the ship, but otherwise the galley will need to rely on its oars. Galleys avoid the more versatile lateen rig as it tends to make a ship heel – a bad idea given the lowest bank of a galley’s oars are typically only 3’ above the waterline.

Merchant Ships

For bulk cargoes the most common merchant ship on the Kalayan Sea is the Xebec (pro. zeebeck), a two or three masted lateen rigged ship. It is generally quite beamy with a low freeboard making for easy loading and unloading of cargo. The lateen rig enables it to sail into the wind by tacking and the simplicity of the sail plan means that even the largest Xebec needs only about twenty-five sailors to manage it. In light winds most Xebecs are at high risk from Corsair galleys. Margish merchant ships often carry numbers of slave rowers as well as sailors and fit their Xebecs with oar locks for long sweeps – slaves are a cheap and plentiful commodity in Marg making this a financially viable proposition.

The smaller counterpart of the Xebec is the Tartane: usually single masted and lateen rigged. They are ubiquitous as coastal traders and fishing boats. Two people can easily handle a small Tartane and it’s rare for even the larger ones to carry more than ten men.

High value cargoes are often carried on a Dromon: a ship originally of Katagian design merging aspects of galleys and Xebecs, though faster and more seaworthy than a Margish Xebec. A Dromon uses the familiar Xebec rig, but has a higher freeboard to allow for a single bank of oars so, in addition to the sailors, she also carries about eighty rowers who can double as marines should the need arise. Katagia developed the Dromon as a warship to carry artillery to launch Katagian Fire at other ships. The Dromon has a more streamlined hull than a Xebec but lacks a galley’s ram.