Table 4–17: Nautical Equipment 1 Anchor
1
Air bladder 2
Astrolabe 3
Belaying pin 4
Bilge pump 5
Binnacle 6
Boatswain’s whistle 7
Captain’s log 8
Captain’s speaking cone 9
Charting tools 10
Compass 11
Ditty bag 12
Diving grease 13
Diving helm 14
Goggles 15
Grappling hooks and line 16
Lifesaver 17
Log line 18
Maps and charts 19
Oar 20
Table 4–18: Nautical Equipment 2 Rope
1
Sail repair material 2
Sail, great lateen 3
Sail, great square 4
Sail, large lateen 5
Sail, large square 6
Sail, medium lateen 7
Sail, medium square 8
Sail, small lateen 9
Sail, small square 10
Sea rations 11
Sextant 12
Ship repair material 13
Ship’s bell 14
Siege weapon and ammunition 15
Water odometer 19
Table 4–19: Captain’s Orders Abandon ship: everyone overboard 1
All hands in: no night watches 2
Anchor’s aweigh: let’s set sail 3
Bear down: turn away from the wind 4
Bring alongside: pull beside another vessel 5
Bring to: use the sails to come to a halt 6
Cut and run: cease grapples on ship and flee 7
Full ahead: top speed straight course 8
Full and by: sail into the wind 9
Furl the sails: wrap sails around mast 10
Hard to aft: turn right 11
Hard to port: turn left 12
Haul wind: turn into the wind 13
Lay ahull: wait out a storm 14
Lay: to come and go, usually followed by a 15
deck position
Outward bound: leave port of safety 16
Overbear: sail downwind, stealing another's wind 17
Pipe down: demand silence 18
Sound the bell: an alert 19
Toe the line: crew report on deck in line 20
Table 4–20: Ship’s Crew Artillerist
1
Bosun 2
Cabin boy 3
First Officer 8
Sea wizard 13
Seaman, experienced 14
Seaman, green 15
Second Officer 16
Slave, new 17
Slave, veteran 18
Steward 19
Table 4–21: Nautical Terms 1
Abeam: At right angles to, or beside, the boat 1
Aboard: On or in the boat 2
Aft: Toward the stern 3
Aground: When the hull or keel is against the ground 4
Aloft: Overhead or above 5
Amidships: The middle of a vessel, either longitudinally or transversely 6
Anchor: An object designed to grip the ground under a body of water 7
Astern: Behind the boat 8
Backstay: A support wire that runs from the top of the mast to the stern 9
Bail: To remove water from the boat 10
Ballast: Weight in the lower portion of a boat, used to add stability 11
Battens: Thin, stiff strips of wood, placed in pockets in the leech of a sail, to keep its form 12
Beakhead: A platform or projecting structure forward of the forecastle 13
Beam: The width of the boat at its widest 14
Bearing: A compass direction from one point to another 15
Belay: To make secure 16
Bight: A loop 17
Bilge: The lowest part of a boat, designed to collect water that enters the boat 18
Block: A pulley 19
Boat Hook: A device designed to catch a line when coming alongside a pier or mooring 20
Table 4–22: Nautical Terms 2
Boatswain/Bosun: An officer in charge of the rigging and sails and whistles the crew to their posts 1
Bolt Rope: A rope sewn into the luff of a sail for use in attaching to the standing rigging 2
Boom: The horizontal spar to which the foot of a sail is attached 3
Bore: Interior of a cannon barrel 4
Bow: The front of the boat 5
Bowsprit: A spar extending forward from the bow 6
Broach: To spin out of control, either causing or nearly causing a capsize 7
Broad Reach: A point of sail when the boat is sailing away from the wind 8
Breech: The part of a cannon behind the bore 9
Buoy: An anchored float marking a position or for use as a mooring 10
By the Lee: Sailing with the wind coming from behind, and slightly to the side 11
Capsize: To turn a boat over 12
Cast Off: To release lines holding boat to shore or mooring, to release sheets 13
Centerboard: A fin-shaped, removable board that extends from the bottom of the boat as a keel 14
Chainplates: Metal plates bolted to the boat to which standing rigging is attached 15
Chock: A guide for an anchor, mooring or docking line, attached to the deck 16
Cleat: A fitting to which a line is secured 17
Clew: The lower aft corner of a sail 18
Close hauled: A point of sail when the boat is sailing as close to the wind as possible 19
Cockpit: The area, below deck, more protected than the open deck, where the wheel is handled 20
Table 4–23: Nautical Terms 3
Companionway: A stairway or ladder leading from one deck to another 1
Displacement: The weight of the water displaced by the boat 2
Draft: The depth of the boat at its lowest point, also the depth or fullness of the sail 3
Drift: The movement of the ship when not powered, or being pushed sideways while powered 4
Ease: To loosen or let out 5
Fathom: A measurement relating to the depth of water; one fathom is six feet 6
Figurehead: A carved bust at the foremost extremity of the bow below the bowsprit 7
Forward: Toward the bow of the boat 8
Forecastle: A short, raised foredeck; forward part of the upper deck between foremast and stem 9
Foremast: The forward mast of a boat with more than one mast 10
Foresail: The jib; one of a few different sails at the foremast 11
Fouled: Entangled or clogged 12
Freeboard: The distance from the highest point of the hull to the water 13
Furl: To fold or roll a sail and secure it to its main support 14
Gallery: A balcony projecting from the stern or quarter of a large ship 15
Gimball: A device that suspends a compass so that it remains level 16
Ground Tackle: The anchor, chain, and rode 17
Gundeck: The deck where the guns are located 18
Gunport: Exit in a gunwale or bulwark for the muzzle of a cannon 19
Gunwale: The railing of the boat at deck level 20
Table 4–24: Nautical Terms 4
Halyard: The line used to raise and lower the sail 1
Hard Alee: The command given to inform the crew that the helm is being turned quickly leeward 2
Hatch: A rectangular opening in a vessel’s deck 3
Head to Wind: The bow turned into the wind, sails luffing 4
Headsail: A sail forward of the mast, a foresail 5
Headstay: A wire support line from the mast to the bow 6
Headway: Forward motion 7
Heave To: To stop a boat and maintain position (with some leeway) by balancing rudder and sail 8
Helm: The tiller or wheel, and surrounding area 9
Helmsman: The member of the crew responsible for steering 10
Heel: The leeward lean of the boat caused by the action of the wind on the sails 11
Hoist: To raise aloft 12
Hold: The interior of a hull, especially of a merchant ship where cargo and ballast are stowed 13
In Irons: Having turned into the wind or lost the wind; stuck and unable to make headway 14
Jib: A foresail; a triangle-shaped sail forward of the mast 15
Jibe: A change of tack while going downwind 16
Keel: A fin down the centerline of the bottom of the hull 17
Knot: A unit of speed; one knot is (one nautical mile) 6,076 feet per hour 18
Lanyard: A line attached to any small object for the purpose of securing the object 19
Lateen: A triangular sail, or the style of rigging in which the sail is tied to a boom 20
Table 4–25: Nautical Terms 5
Latitude: Degrees north or south of the equator 1
Leeward: Downwind 2
Lifeline: A rope fence surrounding the deck to help prevent crew from falling overboard 3
List: The leaning of a boat to the side because of excess weight on that side 4
Longitude: Degrees east or west from a fixed line which travels from the North to South Pole 5
along the surface of the planet
Mast: A long pole or spar of timber set upright on a ship’s keel to support the sails 6
Mizzen: The shorter mast behind the main mast 7
Mooring: An anchor or weight, permanently attached to the sea floor, with a buoy on the surface 8
Pinch: To sail as close as possible toward the wind 9
Point: To turn closer toward the wind (point up) 10
Port: The left side of the boat 11
Port tack: Sailing with the wind coming from the port side, with the boom on the starboard side 12
Privileged vessel: The ship with the right of way 13
Reach: Sailing with a beam wind 14
Ready About: Prepare to come about 15
Rhumb Line: A straight-line compass course between two points 16
Rigging: Standing rigging is the mast and support lines; running rigging is the lines for adjusting sails 17
Rudder: A fin under the stern of the boat used in steering 18
Running: Going directly downwind 19
Scull: Move the rudder back and forth in an attempt to move the boat forward 20
Table 4–26 Captain Names 1 Arthur
1
Bainbridge 2
Barron 3
Berwick 4
Catesby 5
Charles 6
Chauncey 7
Cook 8
Cushing 9
Drake 10
Edward 11
Everett 12
Fryatt 13
Gendar 14
Halpin 15
Hazard 16
Hook 17
Jean 18
Joshua 19
Table 4–27 Captain Names 2 Lawrence
1
Maynard 2
Mulzac 3
Nelson 4
Reid 5
Richmon 6
Roberts 7
Ronston 8
Samuel 9
Scarlet 10
Seyburn 11
Silver 12
Stockton 13
Thomas 14
Truxton 15
Van Durgen 16
Welch 17
Wilkes 18
Winslow 19
Table 4–28: Rope Knots Artillery loop
1
Bowline 2
Clove hitch 3
Figure eight 4
Fisherman's knot 5
Halyard 6
Midhsipman‘s hitch 7
Monkey’s fist 8
Noose 9
Reef 10
Rigger’s bend 11
Running bowline 12
Sailor’s hitch 13
Sheepshank 14
Sheet 15
Span loop 16
Square 17
Studding sail 18
Timber hitch 19
Water knot 20
Table 4–29: Crow’s Nest (Vantage Point) Cliffs
1
Coral reef 2
Docks 3
Driftwood 4
Enemy ship 5
Floating island 6
Friendly ship 7
Kelp bed 8
Lighthouse 9
No features 10
Peninsula 11
Raft (with occupant?) 12
Sand dune 13
Sand island 14
Sargasso 15
Sea tower 16
Ship graveyard 17
Shoreline 18
Stone island 19
Tidal marsh 20
Table 4–30: Ship Mission Attack
1
Deliver or picking up cargo 2
Envoy to sea races 3
Exploration 4
Fishing or whaling 5
Mapmaking or star charting 6
Military maneuvers 7
Passage 8
Patrol 9
Pilgrimage or religious quest 10
Piracy 11
Prison transport 12
Rescue 13
Research 14
Salvage 15
Scouting 16
Secret mission for monarch 17
Smuggling 18
Trade 19
Treasure hunting 20
Table 4–32: Maritime Adventures
After being signaled to a small island, the survivors there claim to need a lift back to the mainland.
1
Their ship, sunk nearby, is of an enemy nation and the grateful folks try a coup once the journey is underway.
All gossip is abuzz of an infamous pirate captain finally captured and set to be executed this day, 2
with still no word on his famous treasure trove.
Creatures resembling weresharks are washing up on shore, dead, but lycanthropes revert to their 3
human forms when they die.
Finding an underwater race at war with its own kind, the characters discover two family scions 4
each laying claim to a map to a human pirate’s treasure cache supposedly filled with magical riches.
Flocks of seagulls have been attacking anyone approaching a recently wrecked ship, driving them off 5
with strange sounds and diving attacks.
Ghostly sailors lumber through the dock ward at night, but they are missing their heads.
6
Group of local fishermen have tales of catching strange, many-tentacled mutated air-breathing 7
creatures in their nets.
Ocean waters the group sails on become red and are scalding to the touch, and begin warping the 8
wood the ship is made of.
Pilgrims ask the group to bring them to an offshore monastery on a series of rocky islands, but the 9
monastery is abandoned and the clergy and monks vanished.
Sea elves begin showing up in fishing nets poisoned or diseased, and yet the elves refuse help from 10
a landlubber ambassador cleric who wants to help.
Sea witch claims an infamous lighthouse’s beam from town is causing havoc, but no one knows why.
11
Series of storms have parked near a major and important shipping lane and shows no sign of 12
moving on or stopping.
Ships coming into harbor all report a small island just out of view, an island no charts ever 13
recorded before.
Shipwreck is spotted sailing on the ocean as if it were raised from the depths and somehow 14
seaworthy again.
Shipyard suffers a series of setbacks after mysterious, instant fires seem to start on their near-15
completed work out of nowhere.
Toppled lord begs the group to see him safely to an underwater city where he can live out his 16
remaining days safe from the assassins who pursue him.
Unscrupulous miser uses legal slaves to smuggle alchemical materials to an illegal guild, until one of 17
them explodes coming off a ship at the docks.
Well-used trade route is being reported as a deathtrap. Ships are attacked from beneath with no 18
chance to repel or see the attackers.
Whales sacred to a dockside temple to the sea begin showing up beached with signs of shark attack 19
as the cause, in waters where no sharks have ever been reported.
With no wind, the group’s ship drifts into a sargasso sea so thick you can walk on the kelp to other 20
abandoned ships caught in the deathtrap.
Table 4–33: Maritime Legends After heavy damage during a war,
1 the Sirocco was abandoned and left to sink. The rescue ship was
rammed later that night by the sinking ship, apparently unmanned. Both ships sank together.
Capt Voldmaar of the
2 Lady Shark was forced to walk his own plank when his first mate started a mutiny. His ghost haunts the local waters, searching for other sailors of a betraying sort, and they are never seen again. “Taken by Old Vold” is a common muttering when a sailor goes missing.
Captain Remy Marlin of the
3 Slow Burn made a profit from transporting passengers only to rob them and force them overboard. A crewmen killed him in his sleep and tossed his body into the sea.
Captain Zachariah Montaigne spent seven years building
4 the Twister to only have her destroyed by
storm on her maiden voyage. His ghostly ship is seen only on the anniversary of her destruction.
Evil water spirit took the form of a woman and was “rescued.” She killed the entire crew and 5
waited to be rescued again. She fell in love with a sailor and told him her true nature. He killed her and her ghost still gets “rescued” from empty ships while looking for him.
A frigate named
6 the Excellent Sinner was a merchant ship famous for her speed. She sailed a long time before retiring. She was to be sold at auction, but vanished from dry dock the night before.
Galleon the
7 Familiar Demon sails upside down, using the sails to collect water currents and only rights itself to attack. It is crewed by vampires.
Johan and Argenta, pirate lovers, fought over booty. He killed her in a rage and dumped her into 8
the sea. Her ghost returned and killed him but could not pass on to rest. She now captains the ship.
Jilted tavern wench found a witch to curse the man who chose the sea over her. He and his fellow 9
crewmen can never set foot on land ever again. It is rumored they still live.
Kraken Rock marks where Captain Fenwick’s crew of the
10 Tireless Wench were attacked by a
ghostly kraken. Whenever a crewman has a bad night's sleeps, older sailors mention the legend.
Pirate ship
11 Black Thunder and crew are invisible; the telltale wake is the only way to see them.
They’ve plagued the sea for over a hundred years.
Pirate ship
12 Profane was finally caught and sunk in these waters 27 years ago. Folks still find empty lifeboats from the ship on the coastline to this day.
Prisoners and criminals transported by sea often disappear, missing without a trace. The crew claim 13
to never remember seeing the missing person. Traitorous seaman are most oft to disappear.
Razor Coast is riddled with shallows and deadly reefs. The legend says that the only true way to 14
pass safely is to sacrifice a green sailor to the waters below.
Rowing barge called the
15 Lucky Monkey was oared by slaves. Tired of being mistreated, they revolted and killed their master, but before Captain Zimmer died he cursed them to remain slaves forever.
A ship named
16 Sabrina — a sturdy cog — was found with all hands missing and nothing odd noted in the captain’s log. She was towed to port only to disappear the next night.
The Ship
17 Dire Nixie of Lord Trevor and Lady Diana Ballestine, within sight of dock it suddenly exploded and a ghostly replica emerged from the flames. It is often seen at night and at a distance.
Stormwrack Isle is home for those lost at sea trying to save others. Ghosts of sailors lost to the 18
sea congregate here, and warn ships of impending doom through small superstitious messages.
Three brothers joined the navy and earned Captain titles. Two were killed in the line of duty and 19
their ghosts aid the survivor Captain Gabriel Slade in his interests. Disgruntled by the pointless loss of his kin he became a pirate, marauding the south seas in a pointless act of revenge.
White Towers of Woe appear randomly, jutting from the waves and the faint singing of women is 20
Ships
Table 4–34: Ship Names 1 Briny Baron
1
Contrary Lady 6
Cruisecoral 7
Cyclone’s Lament 8
Golden Opportunity 13
Gull’s Friend 14
Lady’s Luck 18
Lady’s Promise 19
Lost Love 20
Table 4–35: Ship Names 2 Moon Glider
1
Nick of Time 2
Passion’s First 3
Plot Thickens 4
Stubborn Lass 10
Tenderfoot 11
Tide Tamer 12
Widow’s Return 19
Table 4–37: Ship’s Cargo 1 Alchemical supplies 1
Artwork 2
Ballast 3
Bolts of silk or satin 4
Bolts of velvet 5
Exotic pets 9
Fine tapestries 10
Fresh minted coins 11
Healing salves and bandages 15
Ivory 16
Kidnapped noble 17
Leather goods 18
Livestock 19
Manure 20
Table 4–38: Ship’s Cargo 2 Marine jewelry
1
Monster 2
Noble dowry 3
Precious stones 7
Prize mounts 8
Raw ore 9
Trade bars 15
Vegetables 16
Weapons and armor 17
Wild animal(s) 18
Wines and spirits 19
Wood and lumber 20
Table 4–39: Ship Size
Length 100’, Keel 70’, Beam 33’, Depth 20’
1
Length 130’, Keel 100’, Beam 16’, Depth 6’
2
Length 140’, Keel 100’, Beam 45’, Depth 23’
3
Length 150’, Keel 120’, Beam 25’, Depth 10’
4
Length 150’, Keel 120’, Beam 25’, Depth 11’
5
Length 150’, Keel 135’, Beam 25’, Depth 8’
6
Length 160’, Keel 120’, Beam 35’, Depth 26’
7
Length 180’, Keel 130’, Beam 47’, Depth 32’
8
Length 200’, Keel 170’, Beam 30’, Depth 16’
9
Length 240’, Keel 210’, Beam 70’, Depth 14’
10
Length 35’, Keel 30’, Beam 10’, Depth 4’
11
Length 55’, Keel 40’, Beam 16’, Depth 8’
12
Length 60’, Keel 40’, Beam 18’, Depth 15’
13
Length 60’, Keel 50’, Beam 15’, Depth 8’
14
Length 70’, Keel 50’, Beam 22’, Depth 20’
15
Length 70’, Keel 60’, Beam 17’, Depth 6’
16
Length 75’, Keel 50’, Beam 25’, Depth 18’
17
Length 80’, Keel 55’, Beam 26’, Depth 17’
18
Length 80’, Keel 60’, Beam 25’, Depth 9’
19
Length 90’, Keel 65’, Beam 24’, Depth 10’
20
Table 4–40: Ship Type 1 Barque
1
Brigantine 2
Caravel 3
Carrack 4
Cog 5
Drakkar 6
Dreadnaught 7
Dwarf knorr 8
Dwarf skald 9
Elf assault ship 10
Elf man-of-war 11
Fishing boat 12
Frigate 13
Fusta 14
Galleass 15
Galleon 16
Galley 17
Grain ship 18
Great galley 19
Junk 20
Table 4–41: Ship Type 2 Keelboat
1
Ketch 2
Large carrack 3
Longboat 4
Longship 5
Man-of-war 6
Merchantman 7
Orc landing craft 8
Orc warship 9
Pinnace 10
Polacre 11
Rowboat 12
Royal galleon 13
Sail boat 14
Small carrack 15
Small galley 16
Towership 17
Warship 18
Xebec 19
Yacht 20