Caravel
Medium Merchantman
Draft: 1 ½ fathoms
Structure Dice: 3d8
Hardness: 5
Maneuverability: -2 (-2 Merchantman)
Speed: 80ft./ 8 knots
Turn Rate: 4
AC: 8(-2 Merchantman)
Weapons Fore: 2 falconet (swivel guns)
Weapons Aft: 2 falconet (swivel guns)
Weapons Broadside: 1 bombard (demi-culverin ?)
Damage: swivel gun 4d6, demi-culverin 1d4x10
Special Qualities: none
Crew: 25
Passengers: 5
Cargo: 60 tons
A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable, three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish for long voyages of exploration beginning in the 15th century.
Because of its smaller size the caravel was able to explore up river in shallow coastal waters. With the lateen sails affixed it was able to go speedily over shallow water and take deep wind, while with the square Atlantic-type sails attached, the caravel was very fast. Its economy, speed, agility, and power made the caravel esteemed as the best sailing vessel of its time. It generally carried two or three masts with lateen sails, while later types had four masts
text from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravel
This is a just a quick stab at statting up a caravel. Even though these stats are probably generous, it is pretty slow and under gunned compared to anything in the Skull & Bones era.
I couldn’t find any specs for the bombard and the falconet seems pretty similar to a deck gun, though both would use inferior powder so maybe the Range Increments should be reduced.
I noticed that both Skull & Bones and Corsair! both use the same text for the Ship Type characteristics. Both list the Merchantman type as having a -1 AC modifier, but all of the ships of the Merchantman type have a -2 modifier listed in their AC stats. I assume that -2 is correct and the -1 is just a typo in the Ship Type description.
Brajah