Bah, humbledebug...

[ellyssian]

It looks like my frigate and my man o' war and - most likely the merchantman as well - are all, in fact, galleons.

The state of the Spanish navy in 1650 has a particular lack of diversity, from what I can find. I don't have any evidence that they sailed snows (that's snoo, to you,) but as the corvette was more of a French and English thing of a hundred or so years later, they're right out, and at least snows were used. I suppose I could give them a schooner or a sloop, but with the latter we get a bit smaller than what I wanted, and with the former we get much less variety.

Of course, I may still have facts out of line - and, except for those which are purposefully one or two centuries ahead of schedule (with a core technology that was proven viable in 1650, if isolated, and unused for a similar timeframe,) I want the remaining facts to be accurate for the period.

I have a couple of historically minded folks ready to take on copies once it's done, but I'm still looking for a few other readers who are experts in their field:

• 1650 and thereabouts (first hand experience welcome!)


• Port Royal, Tortuga, and the whole Carob Bean thing


• The British and Spanish Navies of the mid-17th century


• The ships - and nautical technologies - thereof


• The ships - and nautical technologies - of the 18th and 19th centuries


• Speakers of the French language, particularly in regard to phrases related to the previous two items


• Experts on all things piratical (i.e. dreadpiratetait =)

Comments

[d2leddy.livejournal.com]

melintur may have some expertise, along with dreadpiratetait, on some of the piratey topics you list.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll try and flag him down later - I've added him to my f-list, because for some reason he wasn't already on it...

[tewok.livejournal.com]

linithiliel posts a word-a-day and today's was a nautical term from Clark Russell's "Sailor's Language: A Collection of Sea Terms". Dunno how hard it'd be to find, given that it was published in 1883, but it might be worth looking 'round for.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Found it on Google Books

[tewok.livejournal.com]

Great! I hope it's useful if you end up getting it.

[tewok.livejournal.com]

Or maybe it's all available on Google Books and I am displaying my ignorance...

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

You can browse through some/all of it on that link. Definitely looks like something that would be fun to have, even if it wasn't for a writing reference.