Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9781097" data-attributes="member: 4937">I've already mentioned this, but technology doesn't change the dynamics and in fact just makes it worse.  A pinnace could have crew of 25.  Balinger's were crewed by 40.  Longships could have crews over 100, and even typical ones a crew of 70.  The same pressures apply.  Bigger ships have more freeboard, are more seaworthy, are faster, and perform better in battle.  If the overall technology is a few centuries older, then the ships handle more poorly, move more slowly, tack close to the wind less well (and so rely on oars more), but aside from being less capable all the dynamics are similar.   And as I said before, the primitive technology actually meant ships of similar size required more crew - the single masts and single sails and less efficient tackle meant more sailors were needed to raise and lower sails.  The less complex rigging meant more rowers were needed.  Steering oars needed more men to man them especially in storm conditions than rudders.   Cogs and hulks required one crew for every 10 tons burthen.  A typical 80 ton cog needs a crew of eight, but crews of up to 40 were sometimes used to protect against pirates and cog and hulk great ships of up to 1000 tons with a crew of 100 did exist.Successful piracy in this era involved wolfpacks of up to 120 galleys, each crewed by 70 or so men, capable of raiding major cities if necessary.  History isn't really the friend you are claiming.  It just makes drowning at sea more likely.And it doesn't really get better in terms of crew sizes moving to Dhow in the Indian ocean, or galleys in the Mediterranean.  You might could have "we sail about on the sea" without pressure to get a bigger boat, but if you are talking actual piracy that pays, then the pressure to get a bigger boat will be there.</blockquote>

Verification