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Hello again, scribes. Back in March, Wooly Rupert asked this: “We know, thanks to the City of Splendors: Waterdeep book, that Waterdeep's navy consists of 55 ships, of various types and functions. What we don't know is anything about the ships, other than their types. So, are there any ship names, noteworthy captains, or bits of other naval lore you can share?”
Ed makes reply:



Certainly. The navy is increasingly being “taken for granted” in Palace decisions; considered “part of the furniture” that’s “always there,” of proven competency and strong enough for the city’s needs, so requests for more funds, new ships, and the like can safely be ignored. This will inevitably mean a decline in the navy (as ships age into dangerous unseaworthiness, and founder or get drive onto the rocks if they end up fighting naval battles in onshore storms) if this thinking doesn’t change.
However, right now the navy is strong, and we know the name of some ships and notable captains:

The Witch of the Waves: Raker, currently the ship with the most elite reputation in the fleet, due to superb performance in boarding and battling pirates. Its crew are swaggering “seabloods” (veteran sea fighters with “masts” [“kills”] under their belts), and they are captained by Master Amandas Talkurr (CG male Illuskan human Ftr9/Rog4). A fast, sleek, newly-rigged, dark-hulled ship.

The Kissing Mermaid: Raker, an old and patched veteran of many sea-battles that groans and yaws when under sail, but somehow weathers the fiercest storms and keeps on battling. Its crew has a reputation for lawbreaking, roguery, and reckless tactics - - but they also have a reputation for victory, and for appearing when most needed to aid sister ships and “win the day.” Lady Master Baerestra Mooncastle (CG female Tethyrian human Ftr 7/Ari2) captains a crew of misfits, from disfigured former slaves to half-orc “shes” to mongrel folk. “Lady Castle” is scarred and homely, but dresses like the most beautiful of fashion-conscious nobles, and cursed and jests and plays pranks as outrageously as any legendary pirate of minstrels’ tales.

The Sword of Storms: Raker, the slowest and largest ship in the navy, its upperworks rusty-red and sheathed in overlapped, hammered-down old shields and armor plate because it’s still fitted with a lone heavy catapult constructed to hurl loads of rocks coated in flaming pitch. The Sword bristles with railings, has a ram reinforced by more timber bracing than any other ship in the fleet that has pierced far more enemy vessels than the rest of the navy combined, and a crew of old stiffnecks and gray-tusks (a term equivalent to saying in our real-world terms: “stiff-upper-lip, walrus-moustachioed stalwarts”). They consider themselves the iron backbone of the navy and the true “best ship,” and are encouraged in this belief by the “Old Rock” who captains them: the monacled, grizzled, wintry-eyed Master Izidd Rocklar (LN male Chondathan human Ftr10/Exp4: maker of catapults and bombards).



Ed saith more, but I’ve chopped his reply in half to avoid the post-size limits, and will present the second and concluding bit tomorrow.
love to all,
THO


Hi again, all. Ed concludes his answer to Wooly Rupert’s request for more information about Waterdeep’s navy with details of another seven vessels:



The Ready Gauntlet: Striker, a “small but fast and energetic, pouncing” ship of the city’s navy, battered but many-times-repaired, and typical of the bulk of Waterdeep’s strikers. A veteran crew of casually-dressed misfits is captained by Master Araskro Minthul (CG male Chondathan human Ftr5), a grizzled and garrulous sort who is of the firm opinion that if he fell overboard, the crew would just carry on without him, as “they’re all more than ready to captain or helm any ship in this fleet.”

Sarran’s Sword: Striker, named for a long-ago bold captain of Waterdeep, who loved to chase down, board, and slaughter pirates. An unlucky ship, with a history of sideswiping docks and moored vessels, crew deaths from rigging falls at sea, and a crazed sailor who stealthily murdered comrades aboard for most of a season before being caught (and executed). A fast vessel, captained by Master Halthos Belkairel (LG male Tethyrian human Ftr6, of a fast-rising, wealthy, “wannabe-noble” merchant family specializing in horsebreeding, cured meats, and brass musical instruments).

Blackasyre’s Revenge: Striker, named for a long-ago member of the City Guard who desperately wanted to captain a naval ship. When he got the chance, he was so disabled by uncontrollable, nigh-constant seasickness (“lying on his face retching onto the decks from beginning to end of the voyage, except when he tried to get up and fell right back down again,” as one seahand put it), that he had to give it up. Heartbroken, he resigned from civic duty, hurled himself into mercantile trade, and in a bare three years had assembled a profitable merchant shipping fleet. Whereupon Usmro Blackasyre commissioned shipwrights to build three “fighting caravels,” and gifted them to the navy. Both he and they are gone to graves with the passing years, but this new striker was named in their honour. Master Rhantaeros Naullaer (LG male Illuskan human Ftr6) captains it ably; he’s a calm-in-battle veteran of more pirate skirmishes and chase-down-smuggling-ships-and-board actions than anyone else currently on active navy service.

The Floating Axe: Striker, sailed by an all-shield dwarf crew (the lone one-race ship in the navy; Admiral Hornwynd frowns on “single-race crews” and the heightened rivalries that might develop in his ranks because of this, but Piergeiron accepted this donation from a wealthy Waterdhavian dwarf merchant, Lorlan “Stonesides” Duraxe, because it was politically expedient to do so. Thus far, the dwarves have proven to be clumsy but fast-improving sailors, and the best board-and-brawlers in the navy, under their captain Torsan “Burntbeard” Hailstone (LG male shield dwarf Ftr7).

The Gallant Lady: Transport (cog), newest and largest of the naval transports, the Lady was built as a supply ship only, although one cabin roof was reinforced to take a mounted catapult if one was ever needed in future. Veteran Lady Master Valla Dorminthar (LG female Chondathan human Clr4[Valkur]/Exp3: sailmaker and rigger; Str18), a huge, beefy woman of prodigious strength but kindly, motherly disposition (affectionately known around the navy as “the Cow,” but never to her face) calmly and patiently trains (and retrains) crew after crew of recruits, taking them out into the teeth of line squalls and gails to give them experience in rough-seas fighting and escort work. The Gallant Lady rolls worse than any other ship in the navy, but has two sealed sidehulls (pontoons) mounted on arms thrusting out from either side of the ship (Valla’s innovations), that (like a catamaran) check the worst of its rolls and keep it from capsizing.Crews love Valla but hate her ship.

The Mount Waterdeep: Transport (cog), the closest thing to a “typical” transport the navy has, marginally the largest and sturdiest of eight very similar ships built at the same time by Arnagus the Shipwright for the navy, at a time when blockades had been threatened by both Luskan and Amn, some sages were warning of an imminent orc horde, and the Masked Lords wanted to make certain that Waterdeep could provision itself by sea if it was beseiged. Like its sister ships (which include The North Wind, The Mount Sar, The Mount Araddyn, and The Mount Hellimbrar), this cog is usually bristling with catapults as it sits docked in the naval harbor, or wallows along the shore participating in mock battles. It is captained by Master Ghorkan Daznar (LN male Calishite human Ftr6), who is typical of the capable, laconic naval men promoted from the ranks for their calm competency.

The War Whelkin: Transport, a shallow-draft, broad-beamed, wallowing vessel that’s almost a barge (once it was a huge “sterncastle cog,” but it was topheavy, kept heeling over and capsizing, and was abandoned by its foolish Amnian owners [who’d ordered all the extra decks be built atop what the shipwright had given them] in Waterdeep harbor, upside down and full of water; the authorities claimed it, dragged it to a city shipwright, and had it cut down to its lowest deck, to yield the Whelkin of today) . The “Wallop” (as all the navy calls it) has metal-clad crenellated sidewalls for troops to fire from behind, metal plates hammered at odd overlapping angles all over its decks to inhibit fire (from enemy incendiaries), and six light catapults mounted on its decks. Admiral Hornwynd recently gave orders (after it almost sank in rough seas) that it was never to sail out of the harbor again (in some of the naval defense plans, it is to sail into a “sea gap” in the breakwaters and anchor there, blocking passage for other vessels, and it carries six anchors and chains for this purpose; these orders still stand). Its crew is a mix of the rawest recruits and the most ailing, leathery old salts, captained by Dallance Askalur (NG male Illuskan human Ftr5) a foppish wannabe-noble of great good looks and elegant wardrobe and manners, who’s in disgrace with Admiral Hornwynd for running a fast raker onto rocks during a mock battle, and has been reassigned to the Wallop as punishment. His drawling ease hides his rage and frustration well, but the entire navy knows it’s there.



So saith Ed, who’s thrown up over the side of a wallowing vessel or two in his day, and ALMOST been hit on the head with a boom while racing. He did once, in his youth, find himself hanging on to the high rigging of a tall ship with one hand during a sudden gust of wind, with nothing under the rest of his body but a lot of wind, rain, and a long, long drop into cold waves below. Luckily for gaming fans everywhere, he didn’t let go.
love to all,
THO

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Originally posted by Dhomal

Hello-

I just got to this section in the old Grey Box Cyclopedia :)

Raging Tears Unknown type [Pirte Isles - Inner Sea]- Captain: Urdogen "The Red"(Cyclopedia of the Realms (1st ed) p 69 1st Col.

Kissing Maiden Unknown type [Pirte Isles - Inner Sea]- Captain: Teldar (Cyclopedia of the Realms (1st ed) p 69 2nd Col.

There is mention of the various sorts of crafts that exist among the pirates - and where they may have been obtained. p 69 3rd Col.

Dhomal

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Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen

I think that the wretched ship which sails to Chult in The Ring of Winter by James Lowder was also named.

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