Difference between revisions of "Talk:HMS Allegiance"

Revision as of 02:35, 15 August 2010

Ranks aboard ship

Ships' ranks in the Royal Navy were a complex mix of commissioned officers, warrant officers, and the equally complicated ranks of petty officers and seamen, with various classes among the ranks. For our purposes, which is mostly understanding the basic social structure, I've simplified things somewhat -- a midshipmsn's status varied, for example, depending on whether he had "made post" or not -- but as officer cadets, I've listed them with the officers.

The following ranks had the privilege of dining in the wardroom, a situation that arises quite often in the books: the commissioned officers Captain, Lieutenants, the Captain and Lieutenant of Marines, and the following warrant officers: the ship's Master (or Sailing Master), the Purser, Surgeon, and Chaplain.

Other warrant officers who did not dine in the wardroom included: the Gunner, the Boatswain (or Bosun), the Carpenter, the Armourer, the Ropemaker, the Caulker, Sailmaker, the Cooper, and the Master at Arms.

Petty Officers: the Captain's Clerk, Yeoman of the Sheets, the Coxswain, the Sergeants of Marines, Quartermasters, Armourer's Mates, Gunner's Mates, Yeoman of the Powder Room, Boatswain's Mates, Caulker's Mates, and the Ship's Corporals (assistants to the Master at Arms), Captains of various parts of the ship (such as "Captain of the Foretop"), Quartermaster's Mates, Gunsmith, Quarter Gunners, Sailmaker's Mates, Carpenter's Crew, and the Cook.

Able Seamen: those designated "Able Seamen" plus the Coxswain's Mates, the Corporals of Marines, the Cooper's Mate, the Purser's Steward, the Yeoman of the Store Room, and the Cook's Mates.

Ordinary Seaman: those designated as "Ordinary Seamen" plus the Purser's Steward's Mate.

Landsmen: Landsmen and Marine Privates

Boys: Boys part of the ship's crew and boys with the Marines.

(Master's and Surgeon's Mates had a unique status and higher pay than other mates, but for our purposes, I've put them with the petty officers.)

(Source is mostly here: http://www.hmssurprise.org/Resources/ships_officers.html, with some information from various other resources on the Age of Sail.)

-whitearrow

Map

Does anyone know who did this map? And can they do a similar one for Temeraire's return trip overland? Andrew 05:13, 9 January 2008 (PST)

Sketch of Allegiance

Can anybody do a sketch of the Allegiance? I have some trouble picturing exactly what she looks like, and what the difference in scale is between, say, her and HMS Surprise.--SarekOfVulcan 09:00, 22 January 2008 (PST)

Regarding Issues with the route taken

I was reading through several notes about Temeraire on both Wikipedia and Tvtropes, and one complaint was that the route taken by the Allegiance isn't the fastest route to take (To get to the Cape Of Good Hope from Europe, it's quicker to sail to Brazil, and then follow the strong winds of the Clipper Route. This may sound like an error, unless one considers the amount of food that is eaten by the dragons on board the transports. For example, when the Allegiance sailed to Africa with Lily's formation, the reason they would have taken the shorter route would have been; 1, With the dragons requiring too much food than could be stored on the ship, continuous stops were required to reload, and 2. The winds of the clipper route are highly dangerous, and could sink the ship.

Any thoughts on this? It just occurs to me that this issue could soon spring up on one of the pages sooner or later, and we should address it and either explain it or (preferably not) mark it as a goof and move on.

I don't recall offhand whether the book talked very much about making provisioning stops on the coast. It's true that before Temeraire's arrival, British aviators (and their dragons) don't seem to've considered fishing for tunnys etc. instead of an endless supply of cattle... but OTOH the huge dragondeck implies a huge volume of ship underneath it that could be used for storage, plus enough ballast room at the other end of the ship to counterweight the dragons. My big question is what keeps the dragondeck warm all the time? If they're burning coal, shouldn't there be more mention of smokestacks and some huge coal storage area? (If anything, resupplying fuel might be more of an issue, depending on whether heating the dragondeck is an absolute necessity or just makes the dragons less cranky.) --Wombat1138 19:26, 14 August 2010 (PDT)

Hmm. I don't know much about shipping, but I know the Cape of Good Horn is notoriously difficult to navigate. Perhaps a ship as large as the Allegiance would make it even more so? Plus there is the iceburg issue which a dragon wouldn't be font of, since it's clear they like warmer climates. I also wonder if the fact that Spain was an ally of the French at that time might've had something to do with it? --strangerface