Gmornin.I've got 8 versions of the Postillionen now and am tinkering with them. Links will be coming later.
These 2 ships seem to be from around 1720 or so. The Neptunus is a Privateer from Ostende. That is all I know about it. It's not a brig or a sloop or a frigate. So, what is it? It's bigger than a brig and smaller than a frigate. I'm tempted to call it a balanced ship rather than a military ship.
The Postillionen has a hull as large as a light frigate but the armament and crew of a brig. To me she fits in between the light frigates and the light frigate based Indiaman both in cargo size and armament. In fact she is only slightly longer than the Greyhound with 2 less guns. Could she be some sort of balanced ship as well? What other small ship classes are there in POTC?
Hi,
Great job on the colour schemes I like them,
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Corvettes are designated as fast vessels carrying 20 light guns or less on a single deck, which means that the Postillionen (1701) and Neptunus (1720 - 1730) could also be considered as Corvettes. They both historically carried armament of the same calibre (6lb) and were built for speed.
The Royal Navy used the term Sloop of War to describe a Corvette although I have seen Ship Sloop and Sloop used as well which can be confusing.
Privateers are vessels built for commerce raiding and could be anything from a single masted sloop to a large warship; for example the Mordaunt 1681 was a 46 gun Privateer before being purchased into the Royal Navy and Captain Kidd's Adventure Galley was also a Privateer.
Privateers were usually backed by a sponsor or sponsors who would pay for the construction and fitting out of the vessel and expect to make the money back when the privateer captured prizes. The crew are not payed a normal wage but out of shares from the Privateering venture with the majority of the prize money going to the owner.
Hope this helps,
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