Waveswept Rose

History and Description

The Waveswept Rose is a large, fast courier and escort warship of the Imperial Merchant Navy, part of the Merchant Marine under House V'neef. It was commissioned in RY751 from the shipyards of Arjuf, and entered service two years later. 

The Rose was designed to marry a sleek hull of the Western style with the battened sails common amongst merchants in the waters of the Inner Sea and the rivers that feed it. With the wind at its back, there are few faster ships under sail, though the junk rig is less maneuverable than those sail plans favoured by pirates and the Imperial Navy, and less able to push through headwinds. The latter issue is resolved through use of a unique system of side spinnakers and angling jibs, though this requires a skilled crew to correctly operate.

The Waveswept Rose was built for comfort as well as speed, as it was intended to courier key V’neef packages and Dynasts between the distant ports of Arjuf, Greenharbour, and the Western satrapies (such as Bushan)… through blockading actions, if need be. It is fitted out with fine mahogany panelling, two double and three single staterooms, a large saloon and dining room, a chartroom, three large bathrooms, and a comfortable observation room in the deckhouse, in addition to cargo stowage (small for a vessel of its size) and crew quarters in the forecastle.

The Rose was designed for this blockade courier role along with a handful of similar vessels, three sister-ships out of Arjuf and one out of Chanos, all of which adopted sail-plan and keep shape variations devised by Merchant Navy admiral V'neef Ririon to test new vessel concepts while making use of the battened sails common amongst the Merchant Marine for ease of use and repair. It is the fastest of these vessels, its crew making the (disputed) claim to having made the Vatamu-Cherak run in only 7 days, and thus the one to whom the Western courier routes have fallen.

The Waveswept Rose, under captain V'neef Tamsen, currently plies the Western trade routes between Vatamu and Bushan, sometimes alone and sometimes as merchant convoy escort, stopping at island satrapies and Blessed Isle ports in between to deliver its cargos, including packets delivered under contract for the Imperial Post.

Some Peleps captains of the Imperial Navy Water Fleet have accused captain Tamsen and the Rose of engaging in piracy against Naval supply vessels, though House V’neef dismisses such claims as laughable and the accusers have withdrawn when pressed to present evidence of such offences.

Notable Crew

V'neef Tamsen (current captain), Patchwork Quilt (current First Mate), Charging Guppy (current boatswain), ? .

Statistics

Hull: Lorcha schooner 185ft Length/ 135ft Beam/ 29ft Draft.

Sail Plan: Three-mast cambered junk rig with 3 jibs & retracting side spinnakers.

Displacement: 298 tons

Armament: 1x heavy ballista (fore), 4x light ballistae, 2x sailcutters.

Crew: 52/13 + captain & Post overseer