The Pirate's Ketch "Morass"

 If you want to plunder booty?

The Ketch Morass would be a priceless asset to any navy who could get hands on her deck, but when she raised the black on her first encounter, the unfortunate merchantman's captain was left in awe to what scalawag could assemble such a craft. Rarely do Bomb Ketches sail from European empires who prize their destructive potential but never to the water's of the new world. "They really have no use in the Caribbean." the betwixt governor of Nassau said after several ships reported her activities."Unless someone really has it in for blowing up sugar cane plantations or just plain hates aiming a cannon. Why Here? One salvo could burn a settlement to the ground."

This question has occurred to most of the appointed officials in the region with wild speculation and rumor swirling if it is a pirate vessel at all. A privateer perhaps? A vessel of fortune perhaps? Or just a grim facade to entice capitulation over confrontation.   

 

The Ketch "Morass" engages the HMS "Penetrator" off the Barbados coast. 

No Pirate in the high sea's would hoist this many Flags, Most merchants would get the point after one. 

The Chain on the Halyard is an interesting detail that I wanted to capture in the model. The volcanic plume of the belching mortar would alight any combustible line put in place to stay the main mast. 

The 12 guns and siege mortar give a clue this vessel was probibly a refit from a Brigantine or Schooner in a former life. 

Modeler's note:

This was created from the Old Glory25's American Cutter model, completely refitted, Masts moved and numerous parts from different manufactures. No one really produced a Bomb Ketch and this was as close as I could find. As with most of my models it's questionably anachronistic but unquestionably playable.  

American-cutter by Old Glory 

 

Laguna Matata

 

Welcome to Laguna Matata, jewel of the misplaced Portuguese New world Colonies. A little Back history: The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 divided the "New World" into land, resources, and people claimed between Spain and Portugal. The meridian ran North and south 345 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands, off the coast of northwestern Africa. This conveniently placed most of the Caribbean, New World, and abundant natural wealth square in the hands of the Spanish empire. In 1630 a storm battered Caravel  ran aground on a spit of sand west of Tobago leaving much of her ruin as a warning to passing seafarers. Cargo and crew long since assumed  claimed by the waves, it was a complete mystery to both the Spanish and Portuguese Empires when a battered Naval ensign bearing the crown and shield of Lisbon was found aloft of a village 62 years after the wreck. Surrounded by mangrove trees and at its center a Jesuit mission, Laguna Matata's settlement is a cornucopia of escaped slaves, Portuguese decedents, the Indigenous people who took them in,Spanish renegades, and scoundrels. The mangrove trees are so thick, reasonable trade can only be exchanged by small launches rowing past the shallows to larger ships and few captains brave the natural barriers to sell there. 

    The island's wealth comes from trade in cocoa beans, trekked from South America via mule train through the mountains then across the straits from Caracas by native canoes. Spain's monopoly on the cocoa trade has made smuggling quite profitable as the European empire grow a sweet-tooth for the delicious extracts.     

 

     In Game terms the Laguna Matada is a haven for the detritus of the Caribbean. Culture, religion, Languages all merge into a colorful struggling village. Only shallow draft ships can get anywhere near the Island and regular merchant trade is unheard of. Trade goods and Luxury goods bring a high price and cocoa is the currency of choice.  

The French Armed Merchant "Phoque à capuchon"

 

The "Phoque A' Capuchon" or the Hooded Seal in English, is a heavy armed merchantman fresh to the West Indies trade route. Captained by Pierre Le Fue; a short man, shorter on temperament and, exhausted of patience or tolerance for savages of the Caribbean. Seemingly his reference to the English. Pierre refuses to take on crew not fluent in the only language fit for business: Langue française, and will not speak directly to any one not using his native tongue. Some speculate, other witnessed, many share the story of his violent outburst at the slips of Port Manteau when he flailed a harbor master for addressing him as "Peter Le Fue" Captain of the " Fuc' a Capuch'n". Since then the first mate, fluent in 17 different dialects acts as a translator, sometimes even in the port of Martinique where they speak French, but not to the satisfaction of Pierre.    

The Phoque runs laden with cannon, and the order's to "Fue" rings out more often than the crew would prefer, sometimes even in port. Most of the seasoned crew wait for orders to filter through the officers before taking action. No Phoque, n'est-ce pas? 

 

The Hooded Seal

   

Fort-Nicanville gets a new domestic battery

Fire Lock Games Stone Tower

 

Fort Nicanville, considered a push over by most scalawags of the Caribbean has had a sorted past with some of the more colorful and eccentric entrepreneurs (Pirates & Smugglers) in the crystal blue waters of the Lesser Antilles. With a shallow harbor and windward island side location, trouble often is in town before anyone even realizes a ship sailed into the harbor. This has lead to a greater leniency to the customs and regulations of trade on the docks. Over the past 15 years the subsequent governors have set tariff to fund a harbor defense. In the beginning, colloquially called the Gov'nr's Cut, seem to mostly get channeled into a "Just in case we need a Ransom Fund", but surprisingly grew into a coffer as the expectations of a bastion laden fortress slowly and un-enthusiastically shrank to meet budget. Now nothing like the colossus of Rhodes, the French harbor battery emblazoned with the King's royal crest stands to thwart an angry fisherman or perhaps those Portuguese smugglers that insist of defecating on the wharf.                       

A pelican brief-ly on the docks.

New Island locations

 

I'm developing at least two new locations for the Twisted-Lords Convention in Oklahoma City this summer. The Spanish main and a Garifuna settlement, the later components to that location pictured in this post. This is not the finished Island but some of the models surrounding the island that will be thick with a mangrove growth preventing encroachment of the empires of the old world.

 

Styrene Plastic Sails

 Tutorial for making polystyrene sails. 

Why Polystyrene? 

Sails on a model ship for gaming need to have the following qualities:

• Moisture resistant.
  
• Durable and damage resistant.
• easily repairable at or between games.
  
• readily available material.
  
• Takes paint and stain well.
• Light enough to not pull down spars and rigging.
  

 

 Materials needed:

1. Polystyrene sheets: .005" or .13mm thick. (Evergreen scale Models, stock # 9009.)
2.  Polystyrene Strips:  .010 X .030 X 14 inches (Evergreen scale Models, stock #6-101)
3. Polystyrene Strips: .010 X .188 X 14 inches (Evergreen scale Models, stock #6-108)