[3e] La Recouvrance

[Phaelen Bleux]

La Recouvrance (TL5)
La Recouvrance is a two-masted topsail schooner that was laid down in 1991 as a public and private venture to recreate a ship from the age of sail. She is based off plans for the Iris, a ship designed by Hubert, which in its day was used for courier, surveillance, and merchant protection duties. The Iris was designed in 1817, and five other ships were built off the same plans.
La Recouvrance sails daily from Brest as a tourist ship, carrying 25 passengers on day trips, or 12 overnight. She is named after a neighborhood in Brest.

Subassemblies: Body with Mediocre lines +7, one 92' Main Mast +3, one 92’ Foremast +3.
Powertrain: 4,600 sf of Barquentine- (Topsail Gaff-) Rigged Cloth Sails.
Occupancy: 12 bunks, 18 hammocks, 1 cabin. Minimum crew is 1 driver + 3 sailors.
Cargo: 2,500 cf

Armor: 3/5W overall

Weaponry:
16x 17-pdr cannons (Culverins) [Body:L,R] (100 shots each).

Body: Navigation instruments, 12 bunks, 18 hammocks, 1 cabin, 1,800 man-days provisions. On Deck: Capstan (4,800-lb. winch with 6-man muscle engine), primitive controls, one cockboat.

Statistics:
Size: 82'x21'x92' Payload: 62.6 tons Lwt.: 145 tons
Volume: 13,000 cf. Maint.: 41 hours Price: $240,815

HT: 8. HPs: 4976 Body, 219 Mainmast, 219 Foremast.

wSpeed: 13.1 wAccel: 0.6 wDecel: 1 wMR: 0.05 wSR: 6
Draft: 10'. Flotation Rating: 371 tons.

Design Notes:
Structure is Medium, with Standard materials. Waterproofed. Armor is DR 5 Standard Wood. The volume of the armor is figured into the design, as per the rules on p. VEii5. The ship’s volume was taken as 100 cf per displacement ton. The main mast height was given in the historical information, the foremast appears to be the same height in photos. Design sail area was 6,771 sf; the real-world value is shown. Design draft was 4.9’; the real-world value is shown.
Although the actual ship is a TL7 vehicle, this design uses TL5 figures for cost and weight.
Historically, the Iris and her ilk carried 50-60 men. Although I could find no historical armament for these ships, La Recouvrance features 8 mock gunports per side.

[Icelander]

Vessels this small would be unlikely, to say the least, to carry 17 pounders. Not to mention that at the time it's meant to emulate, culverins were outdated.

More likely would be six-pounder cannon or carronades of 18 pounds or so, if in British service.

[Phaelen Bleux]

Originally Posted by Icelander

More likely would be six-pounder cannon or carronades of 18 pounds or so, if in British service.

Does anyone have a rough guide for ship size/use vs. cannon size?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Phaelen Bleux

Does anyone have a rough guide for ship size/use vs. cannon size?

Unfortunately, no. But you can look at vessels with a similar displacement or (more likely to be available, though less helpful) tons burthen and check what they historically used. Of course, standards changed over time, and what would have been regarded as normal in one era would be seen as undergunned in a later one.

12-pounders would be heavy armament for a sloop of war and standard for a small frigate (the kind that was phased out over the Napoleonic era). Anything smaller than a ship of the line or an American super-frigate (or one of the razeed ones in other navies) wouldn't be carrying 18-pounders.