Brig of War

Last crawled date: 10 months, 2 weeks ago

Let me tell you a story... Legend has it that on a remote island deep in the heart of the Spanish Caribbean, lies a mythical treasure immeasurable in wealth. An intrepid young privateer, tired of relinquishing his spoils to the crown, embarks on a perilous journey to recover this long forgotten trove and retire wealthy, free from tyranny and taxation. He gathered his men, kissed his wife goodbye for the last time, and sailed into the unknown. His voyage was beset with calamity from the very beginning; after being attacked by pirates and ravaged by a hurricane, he found himself shipwrecked on a desert island, alone save for a grizzled buccaneer marooned some 8 years prior. Despairing after the loss of his ship and crew, he feared he would die of starvation or thirst, but the buccaneer told him to have faith. For the buccaneer had long ago found the treasure on that very same island, and revealed to him that he could use the treasure to construct a ship with ease, and sail from the desolate island back to salvation. Astounded, the privateer wondered aloud at the nature of this mysterious treasure, which allowed him to conjure up ships so easily. The buccaneer only smiled, and led him to an old and rusted sea chest, which he opened to reveal a cryptic set of letters reading... https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/soap-skin-bubble Luckily, you don't have to sail to the edge of the known world to find this tool and master the seas. I used this extension to build the hull of this brig, and I am working with TitaniumNine on refining the technique. I use two different soap skins to construct a graceful wineglass hull, with the first bubble bulging out to construct the majority of the hull, and the second skin tapering down to the keel. The tricky part of this is getting the intersection between the skins just right, if you check out the hidden geometry on this model you'll see I didn't quite nail it. It's finicky to work with at first, but it is definitely a time saver once you get the hang of it. Here's the details of this ship for anyone who bothered to read this far down: ~130' long 2x 6 lbs chaser cannons at the bow & 16x 32lbs carronades along the deck Brigs with this armament could match or overpower a 36 gun frigate (armed with 18lb long guns) at close range, although carronades lacked the accuracy or range of cannons. The British Navy favored carronades because they required less powder and less men to operate in a gun crew. Brigs required a third of the personnel needed by larger frigates, so this combination was ideal for the undermanned British Navy; A satisfactory warship for a Navy on a budget. Here's some good pirate music to rock out to when you're building your own ship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgjp2Y3fULk&list=PL2lEMhX9H6tkKH24e2eSqt6QBkq-Jfru9 #sailing_ship #ship #ship_of_the_line #brig #Brigantine #warship #navy #Age_of_sail #Galleon #1800s