The Diamant

The Diamant
The Diamant is a Montaigne-built, two-masted brig outfitted as a whaler, skippered by Ariyi Aipajawa. She sails with about 35 hands when fully crewed. She is not a pleasant ship to be aboard—many years of hauling the carcasses of huge sea creatures, hundreds of barrels of oil and blubber, and even worse organic materials from the deep have left her grimy and smelly.

General Performance: She is a very tough ship, carrying extra oak armor along her flanks both to protect against pirate gunfire and the counterattacks of huge sea creatures.
Armament: She is armed with 13 guns: 6 cannons on each side, and one smaller bow gun. The crew is not generally big enough to operate more than 6 or 7 of the guns at a time and still sail effectively, so gunnery crews need to be on their toes to switch from port to starboard and back when necessary. The crew also has access to rifles, pistols and a couple of fearsome swivel guns.
Whaling Gear: Diamant is equipped with dozens of harpoons and line for capturing whales and other huge sea creatures. Most of this gear is kept in the ship’s whaleboat, a long rowboat tasked with harpooning sea creatures and delivering the lines back to the main vessel, which hauls them in with huge winches.
The Hold: The hold contains dozens of (currently empty) barrels, ready to be filled with whatever oil, blubber or ichor the crew recovers. Plenty of space is left for solid cargo (crew provisions, animal carcasses, etc.), but particularly large catches are often lashed to the outside of the hull or simply towed into port. Even empty, the hold is not a place for those with weak stomachs.
The Bilge: This area is a crawlspace between the floor of the hold and the bottom hull. It is probably best not to contemplate the slurry of organic material that sloshes around in Diamant’s bilge.
Bridge Deck: This raised deck on the stern of the ship contains the helm. It is about four feet higher than the main deck.
Main Deck: The large deck running forward from the bridge deck, this is where most whaling operations occur: throwing harpoons, winching in catches, etc. The whaleboat is mounted on the main deck, and can be lowered into the water in only a minute or two.

A large set of lattice doors in the middle of the deck opens down into the hold.

Gun Deck: Directly below the main deck but above the hold, this is where the ship’s main armament is mounted. An armored storeroom in the center contains black powder for the ship’s guns, the crew’s firearms and explosive charges used to kill huge sea creatures. In combat the gun deck quickly becomes cramped (the gun deck is only 5 feet high), smokefilled, hotter than hell and unbelievably loud.
Berths and Galley: The stern of the gun deck is cordoned off with canvas curtains, and provides sleeping hammocks, a stove and other facilities necessary for life at sea.
Officers’ Quarters: A tiny stateroom is walled off from the rest of the berths to serve as Captain Aipajawa’s quarters.
The Topsails: The ship’s two masts support a variety of both square and triangular sails, and a large gaff-rigged sail on the mainmast. Ropes and ladders and precarious walkways crisscross the entire area.