Fregate Marseille

Tensions in the Caribbean have been high since the arrival of a new British warship and not wanting his interests to run afoul Louis the XIV has dispatched the Fregate Marseille (Frigate Marseilles EN.) to appease his edgy local governors. The ship has made birth at Fort-Nicanville (pronounced: Fornication-vil in FR.) not to duel with the British ship-of-the-line but rather to drive away the influx of scalawags that are no longer welcome in the English King's waters. The Frigate Marseilles a 26 gun, fully rigged warship has not entered the Caribbean without the notice of the other colonial settlements. More than a few times the captain's unintentionally engaged English speaking merchants by simply hailing for news.

"They came up right next to us like they were want'n to trade and parley. Then her captain shouted "Ahoy! Fregate Marseille to English Vessel." They never loosed a shot but after we heard they gave no quarter our captain ran like hell....."

The "Rood Dijk"

For 98 years the banner of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC has monopolized on trade from the new world to the Far East. In her armada of cargo laden fluyts, Junks and galleys seemingly unnoticed passes discrete and deadly vessels tasked to aggressive negotiations. Many a troublesome Governor have overlooked tariff after a company bombard ketch dropped anchor in his harbor and iron on his customs house. Too well known to the Brethren of the coast is the say’n to dally to long in a pirates haven attracts the company and a meal for the ravens.

Beneath the ensign of the United East India Company and the billowing canvas of little more than a yacht, the ROOD DIJK, Red Dike in Dutch, hides a 13 inch mortar used for trade liquidation in hostile takeovers. The Dijk in a matter of a few commodity exchanges can bring a bull market to a crashing halt. It is said that the Ketch got its name from the vessel’s first skipper that drunkenly reminisced of the red tulips of a lush valley that he knew as a young man. Seems no man of his hamlet was allowed entry and was often driven away by the frigid approach.

H.M.S. Titan Uranus

The HMS Titan Uranus, the dominant power of the British Crown in the new world is commanded by Rear Admiral Philip McCavity. A grand vessel to say the least, filled with the finniest British seamen in the Caribbean has done her best to bring taxable goods safely to port. This fifty-two gun, fourth rate ship of the line to most navies, has dominated the sea-lanes east of Hispaniola and makes birth at Port Manteau a prominent English stronghold in the West Indies.

Nothing makes a scalawag clinch up like the sound of a bow cannon shot across his Poop deck and the cry of "TITAN URANUS OFF OUR STERN!" quoted a beaming midshipman of the Royal navy.

Small Craft advisory.


Nothing quite says British Naval Superiority like the prowl carving of a preening cherub clutching the Ensign of St. George's Cross.

The Pinnace "Enya"

Smuggling in the new world is the second oldest profession, right behind taxation and only because women were frightful bad luck on ships. Small craft like the Pinnace Enya have served as couriers, duty free traders and cut rate transportation for those unable to afford the high tariffs of the crown. Not much of a prize for pirates and too costly for the crown to waste resources chasing down, the skipper of the Enya quietly slip in and out of ports around the Caribbean making a fair living.

The Salty Swallow

Blockade running for nearly a decade the Swallow boasts a spotless log of no lost seamen before the mast. Her skipper B.J. O'Toole an Irishman of Limerick with a notable aptitude for short anapest metered poems has made a name for himself and vessel by running contraband and individuals avoiding the English crown from Caracas to St. Kitts.
"For the French I not be a like'n, but thar' colors I'll not be Strike'n. Under thar' lettre de course I strike the English with nary remorse. Kill'n every limey bastard among'um."
Skipper B.J. O'Toole

The "Sea Cups"

The Sea Cups a recent acquisition by pair of entrepreneurial brothers has been a little more than a handful for her new investors. Previously Dutch crockery kilnmen the Van Utters, sold their family business and set sail for the west Indies in search of a better market to peddle their jugs. To honor their former trade they christen the Sea cups after their previous holdings in the Delftware "Double Tankard" factory where the pair apprenticed. Although thought of as pair of boob's by their less than enthusiastic crew, firm profits have kept the crew more than aroused about their next grope at fortune.

The Pinnace "ENVY"

The Pinnace Envy skippered by the enigmatic yet strangely effeminate self Commissioned Major Crimson Flow terrorizes the shoals of the Virgin Island about every 28 days. Leaving no survivors and staining the seas with blood, Major Flow has waged a curious war against the East India Trading company's New world coco production bound for markets in Western Europe. Much speculation has flourished about this sea Musketeer's identity and eclectic targets but no evidence points to any local man as an able hand on the pinnace.