Completed [Tipsy Wench] Bombard and a Castle

[Shimoje]

89th of Spring 516 A.V.

The Tipsy Wench. Her knockers usually full of booze, wines, and other trade goods fit enough to make any girl jealous. Today she sits idly in the Docks of Syliras, just waiting for one to come across her empty hull. The ship had long since been docked since its arrival. Most of the crew absent about the city and the captain, Yngvarr Æðelwine, most likely enjoying a must needed rest on flat earth.

It wouldn’t be long now though, until her fine spirit would see the ocean’s waves once again. Preparing a ship is often a very tedious task, especially after being neglected for a short time after a long expedition. The ship was still standing strong, but certain things upon it still needed work. The sternpost and whipstaff steering need adjustment, and among all others the weaponry aboard the ship needed some minute repairs. The foremast and forecastle were showing signs of sticking as well, but that would be an easy fix. Mostly likely one of the crew members grew in a hurry and retracted the guide ropes a bit too fast from their docking.

Shimoje traveled to the docks with his usual tools, belt pouch, and varieties in his pack. The ship had its centerboard retracted to prevent wanderers boarding the ship. Remembering back to his previous trip he knew that at least one person would be aboard. “Siv!” Shimoje yelled upward to the masts. A head popped out of the very top of the crow’s nest on the top of the main mast. The man looked a bit drowsy as he stood up trying to catch his balance. Looking down the man said “Oi, I recognize ye’ bald head. Be you Shimoje?” Siv yelled down. He promptly bounced out of the nest and climbed his way down nearly losing his grip a couple of time. “shyke ye all!” Siv shouted, now out of sight from Shimoje.

[Shimoje]

Soon enough the centerboard fell down to the docks nearly hitting Shimoje in the process. With a laugh “What have you Siv, been drinking the caps stock?” Shimoje said as walking up the board to the ship. “Ye know it. So whats brings ya?” Siv remarked as punching Shimoje lightly on the shoulder. “It’s about time for me to start repairs!” Shimoje remarked enthusiastically. “Oi, boy o’course!” Siv responded as he gestured towards the board. “Well, liff her up, don’t wantcha getting nabbed by a curious intrud’r.” Siv said while standing there arm’s crossed. He knew full well that Shimoje would struggle to do this on his own. It was often a two man job retracting the board. “You know, Siv, I really should come up with a better way to lift this thing.” Shimoje struggled the words out as he attempted to lift the board from the docks.

Bending down at his knees and pulling backward with the occasional lift from the knees the board scratched against the docks only moving slightly. In hesitation Shimoje glared up towards Siv as if asking for help. “Fine, ye weak arms didn’t grow any as I see.” Siv laughed out as helping get the board up. “Theres ye go!”

“If memory serves the sternpost, chasers, and whipstaff were acting up? Those are probably the hardest to deal with, but I could possibly work on the weapons and foremast.” Shimoje said openly as if speaking to himself, but expecting Siv to listen. Turning to observe he noticed that Siv was leaning against the wall to the ship fast asleep. Shimoje walked over and gently kicked him in his leg. “And what have you done besides drink while we were in the city. You have a job here too.” Shimoje scolded. “Careful boi, I can still run circles round ye, well maybe not now, but I can…” Siv slipped back into his slumber and Shimoje let out a scoff. Clearly Siv would not be of much help currently.

[Shimoje]

Making his way to the mid-deck Shimoje looked downwards to see the empty hull. Normally it would be full of crates and kegs of beer. He wasn’t too interested in that, but regardless it was a note worth making. “eventually we will have to fill these with trades that cap made here in Syliras.” Shimoje remarked as speaking to him. Turning around he looked towards the bombardier. It was lopsided and didn’t seem to be standing up straight. Shimoje inspected the bombard, slowly walking around it to notice that it’s wheel had been knocked off of its axis. “This is no good.” He said to himself.

A bombard unable to maneuver around is surely useless. The crew would need to move the bombard from side to side of the ship depending on the way in which they were firing and the movement of the masts. It would be an easy enough fix, though to ensure it was properly repaired would require some ingenuity on Shimoje’s part. Not too far a couple of ropes had been hanging from a stowed boom. Getting leverage to pick up the bombard would prove difficult but a simple pulley system might be able to be quickly used with the rope and the boom. A few other ropes tied to the shroud of the mast might offer support.

Carefully making his way to the fife rail Shimoje climbed the main mast carefully and scuttled his way onto the mainyard. Using the footropes as support Shimoje made his way directly above the bombard and dropped the rope down and across the top of the boom. Luckily the rope was long enough to coil a bit on the deck below. Looking down Shimoje started to shake with his incredible fear of heights. His hands grew clammy and his gut churned.

He hated climbing the masts, but it was his job at times. Making his way to the shroud and grabbing on for dear life he dropped his body onto the shroud using the ratlines for support with his feet. He then tied the rope to the shroud as an anchor. Slowly climbing his way down to the side of the ship Shimoje dropped his feet from the ratlines and attempted to dismount onto the deck. His clumsiness from the fear of heights caused him to nearly fall. Luckily the deck was only a few feet below, regardless his upper body hit the deck and his arms fell out from under him. “Shyke!” Shimoje yelled in the process of picking himself back up.

For this process Shimoje would use the ship to provide the manpower, but first he must tie the rope to the bombard. He picked up the coiled piece of rope occasionally shaking it to get a bit more slack and to ensure he had tension on the rope. He wrapped the bombard up and tied it up using a simple rigging knot.

[Shimoje]

“Now to just drop the main chains of the shroud!” Shimoje said. Leaning over the side of the ship was chains which attached the shroud to the mast, if one would drop the chains they would fall and in turn the weight would work in conjunction to lift the bombard. Little by little Shimoje struggled to remove the clevises of the chains, but soon enough with a scuttling sound the chains dropped, their metallic clinging heard as the dropped a few feet lifting up the bombard.

“There!” Shimoje stood a few feet away from the bombard looking over his rigging and the pulley system. Tension on the line was tight enough, and as long as a lot of pressure would not be pressed onto the bombard it looked like the boom would hold against the mainyard. Walking over to the bombard he could tell that the wheel had simply fallen off onto the floor of the deck. Repositioning it he placed it back onto the axis, noticing that a pin was missing to keep the wheel in place. Surely this was the reason why.

With a frustrated shrug Shimoje rifled through his pack for a piece of wood small enough to perhaps carve a replacement. Taking out the necessary knives he twirled the piece of wood in his hand, whittling it down till it made a curve and a very necessary diameter of 2cm which he measured by trial and error. Placing the carved piece of wood into the shaft of the axis on the wheel and testing to see if it would still turn Shimoje stood up in satisfaction and relief.

“Well, that is that!” Shimoje said. “Oi, wha the shyke?!” Siv yelled from across the ship. “Whatr yous doing?” He asked. “I had to fix the wheel on the bombard. Unless you want to encounter some sort of pirate and not be able to defend our wench?” Shimoje smiled towards him. “She ain’t my wench, but you feel free and defend her from the nasties!” Siv said before falling back to sleep.

Shimoje put up his tools in his pouches and turned over towards the side of the ship. Untying the previous riggers knot, the bombard dropped slightly down onto the deck of the ship, slightly rolling backwards. “ah!” Shimoje let out in relief. He went over to the bombard and untied that as well, then pulled on the rope to release it from the boom. He didn’t dare climb the mast again.

[Shimoje]

“Now to reattach the shroud to the chains.” Shimoje spoke as he grabbed ahold of the shroud and pulled with all his might. His muscles were aching in the process, it wasn’t an easy task and lifting the chains were fairly heavy. Eventually after a few chimes of struggle the chains reached the edge of the ship’s walls. Moving over to the edge of the ship he leaned over carefully and started to attach the chains back onto the clevises.

Having a neat work habit that Shimoje has, he then went over to the rope and started to wrap it into a nice coil and sat it next to the bombard. “actually I think perhaps securing the bombard to the side of the ship would be safer.” In his retort Shimoje then unraveled the rope just enough to tie to both the bombard and the wall of the ship. This would later prevent it from moving about the ship during sail unless needed.

“Now the foremast and forecastle.” Shimoje said to himself once again. He started to feel a bit insane talking to himself, but it overall helped him work. Walking across the deck with a sense of pride Shimoje reached the spot of the foremast and immediately noticed it wound up around the mast. The forecastle was mildly effected by the same ropes. “Sloppy work.” He shrugged as he attempted his hand at shaking some of the ropes loose. It was no use. For this job he would have to completely remove the mast from the base. Luckily it was a smaller mast, and not a fairly large piece of wood.

Turning the brake knob to the mast, it quickly started to come loose. The wood inside sitting with a bit of slack. Using a bit of lifting force he picked up the mast and let it drop, the ropes falling along with it. From there it was easy enough to untangle the ropes and put them in their proper places. He paid close attention to set them in their proper places to ensure the functioning of raising and lowering the rather small portions of sail.

Lifting the mast back up he set it back into the base and started to turn the knob, tightening it to it’s post. The stays ran vertical, but now he only need to pull on the rope to ensure the proper functioning. With a slight pull of the sails sling he dropped the sails and then quickly boomed it back up onto it’s mainyard. Shimoje was fairly tired, but proud of all he had accomplished in the day. He went over next to Siv and sat down closing his eyes for a little bit of a nap.

[Samuel Longwell]

Grading Complete Please edit your grade request thread so that it's obvious that it's been graded. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/problems with your grade. Name: Shimoje XP Award: Observation 2 Planning 2 Socialisation 1 Bodybuilding 2 Climbing 1 Gadgeteering 3 Carving 1 Carpentry 1 Sailing 2 Lore: Gadgeteering: A simple pulley Sailing: Tangled ropes are sloppy Notes: Enjoy your grades.