On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 11:43 AM, Onno Meyer <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear GURPSnet, > > just a quick question: if a small craft is called a gig, what size > do you expect, compared to a launch, a pinnace or a cutter? My own > thoughts are heavily influenced by Traveller, rather than actual > naval history. How about you?
The thing with ship names is that meanings change over time, and from place to place. For instance, a pinnace is usually a fairly large boat used as a tender. But the Dutch in the 17th and 18th century called a class of ship-rigged ships (in the 80 foot range, more than capable of sailing across an ocean) pinnace. IN most sailing navies, a launch was a role, and the boat that fit the role got called the launch. It was the biggest boat carried by a warship. so a launch of a ship-of-the-line would be bigger than one carried by a brig. Now, a launch is a fairly large motor boat. And the RN had a class of patrol boats they called launches in WWII. And "cutter" is another role-based name. There are cutter sailing boats (single masted, but the size and details of the sail plan vary from time to time and place to place. They're fast, they sail well into the wind, so they were used by smugglers and customs people trying to catch the smugglers. So the US coast guard ships are "cutters" because they're revenue ships, even though they're nothing like the cutters they had in 1790. Unless you're in a particular historical period, just pick a name. -- David Scheidt [email protected] _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
