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"...now, my dear friend, you really cannot hold me here any longer!" Cooke said. "But..." Cooke interupted Montoya immediately: "If I hear one more word of a curious beetle or a non-descript turtle, I swear by the gods, I am going to have you keelhauled under your own vessel! It has been weeks since we set out from King's Harbour towards Quinnsville and sir Smaugton has been expecting us for at least a month!" Montoya blushed, hesitated, and discreetly let go of a bunch of feathers, before speaking up. "I have no idea why you would expect such of me..." Clearing his throat he continued "Of course... As you have so often told me, the tide waits for no man..." Cooke nodded with satisfaction "Indeed!" "As soon as we have dispatched the orders I asked you to write up..." As Cooke held up a document, Montoya nodded "Thank you, good sir. I hope you support my dispositions..." "I do, entirely. McLeod will be happy with a new command, and will make a fine captain. And more so, the Justicia is going to be a fine addition to the pirate hunting task force." "Let is be so, and then we are off to Quinnsville..." The "Justicia" is a sistership to the "HMS Kite" (Formerly "War Dwarf") by Legostone. I simply manipulated the colours a bit. Thanks for looking - C&C is welcome, as always. The Justicia will be my contribution to the pirate hunting task force.
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Cooke was in high spirits - This was the kind of sailing he was made for - Cracking on through the waves at nine knots two fathoms under every conceivable scrap of sail. The HMHV Athena was heeling over, and the frequent spray of sea water reached as far as her main mast each time she broke a wave. Cooke we driving her hard, just this side of reckless, and he loved it. So did the crew - After weeks of lying moored in King's Harbour, keeping harbour watch and working hard on shore, they were now back were they felt at home. Familiar duties, meals, and watches that to most landsmen would seem insufferable, was their way of life - and they loved it despite Cooke constantly calling for sail trimmers to get that extra half a knot. Currently, most of them had a respite. It was nearing noon, and Cooke was occupied with his sextant, measuring the angle of the sun at its highest, a daily ceremony that would mark the start of a new naval day and allow him to lay down his latitude with the utmost accuracy. A landsman might have remarked that with the coast of Cocovia clear on the starboard side, this was perfectly superfluous. One had simply to keep it there, and they would invariably reach Quinnsville, their destination, in due time. In fact, Montoya had done so, but surprisingly (to Montoya), Cooke had not attended to his arguments and instead suggested that he should retire to the main-top from where he might spot some curious birds. Right ahead, some wreckage had been spotted, and some of the crew where now exercising the chasers, running out the starboard nine pounder to fire at an empty barrel. This was a procedure they had done countless times, and they were already expert gunners, yet they never seemed to tire from the joy of the great guns firing and hitting true to their mark. On the fore top-gallant yard, a midshipman and a seamen were in the progress of shaking out the last reef in the top-gallant as the wind had dropped slightly, and Cooke believed she would carry it. The HMHV Athena is a snow-rigged sloop-of-war, formerly of the Royal Navy. Originally built in Oleon, but captured at the onset of the last war, she had been Cooke's first independent command and allowed him a small fortune in prize money, as well as several chances to distinguish himself as an enterprising commander, none of which he had passed over. However, during the peace, the Athena had been sold out of the service and Cooke set ashore on half pay. Recently, Montoya had inherited a considerable sum and purchased the Athena, and had now outfitted her for an expedition to the new world. The crown had caught news of this expedition and offered its support, assigning a contingent of Royal Marines, protection from impressment of its crew, and access to ports and supplies, in return for claim to any land discovered. Therefore, the Athena now carried the designation HMHV: Her Majesty's Hired Vessel. She is armed with four 18 pounder carronades per broadside and four long bronze nines for chasers. The long range chasers enable her to harass an enemy from afar with swift and accurate fire during a chase, often allowing her to take weaker enemies, or escape from stronger, without significant damage. And while the carronades are ineffective in long range engagements, they give her the punch of a much larger vessel, if she manages to close with the enemy. Cooke had recently received orders from the Crown, which was the reason for all this cracking on. Not only had his appointment as military governor of King's Harbour been confirmed, but he had also been appointed Military Commander for Cocovia. A rank in navy terms comparable to commodore, and only in very few cases bestowed upon a mere commander, not yet even of post-rank yet. It should be of no surprise that Cooke was both excited and nervous to do a good job. This might well be his best chance for a promotion to post-captain, and perhaps the command of a frigate he had always seen as the pinnacle of naval enterprise. Currently, this new command included only a few forts, a gunboatand the HMHV Athena, plus whatever the mayor of Quinnsville had at his disposition, but his orders had also told him that a mixed battalion of cavalry and infantry was despatched for Cocovia. Therefore, the Athena was stretching out towards the East-coast of Cocovia and Quinnsvilleto discuss military dispositions with Sir Thomas Smaugton, the mayor of the settlement, and to get at better insight in the tactical situation there. At the same time, he would circumnavigate Cocovia to survey all possible landing sites and vantage points, as they may prove to be of tactical importance at a later time. _____________________________________________ Thanks for looking and reading - I hope you enjoyed it - I am quite happy with how this vessel came out, but C&C is always welcome - I would like my next one to be even better. The pictures are a bit potato, but they were taken in the rush of pacing everything up and moving out. I would have preferred a better background and I struggled abit with the sunlight, but I hope you can still enjoy the moc. There are a few more detail and overview shots in flickr. While the landsman might take her for a brig, she is actually snow-rigged, due to the small trysail-mast just abaft the mainmast. I think the Athena is best fitting for a 4A, but thoughts on this is welcome too. I am not going to license her for quite some time, as I will be using her for story purposes, rather than risk losing her in the MRCA. Plus, having her sail around wouldn't fit with my story.
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Update: Now the HMS Kite of the Corrington Royal Navy Try at least once finishing a single ship in a single day, it is fun (besides the rigging:P). The War Dwarf is a rather old war brig, brought here by the family of Monezterell brought it over from the old world as she was one of their best ships back then. Since then she had a general overhaul, as she was a bit outdated in comparision to many of the new ships that are and were being built. She may not be the fastest ship on the ocean, but she can keep pace with the majority of modern ships again. It is commanded by Captain Damian Chetham. Instead of writing more I would rather let pictures speak for me. War Dwarf, starboard side, also a general overview. starboard again, but this time a bit more close up, here you can see her broadside - 3 18 pound guns, 2 9 pound guns, as well as a swivel gun. This is mirrored on the other side. As well as that she has 2 permanent chase guns. Thats a total of 6 18 pound guns, 6 9 pound guns (the chase guns are 9 pounders too) and 2 swivel guns, a total of 14 guns. You should be able to see that there is a lot going on on board. Next we have a picture of her stern, as well as her portside. And lastly we have a picture straight at her bow, including the chase guns. Well, not exactly the last picture - there is also one together with the Wringe I and the unfished Green Winds. I'm unsure if I want to license her, I might put her up for sale - I could definetly use some more DBs:P Special thanks to Captain Green Hair for the hull building technique, it really helped. The rigging was painful (and is still far from perfect) though. Total of 12 hours spent building her. 4 of those on rigging and sails.
