Editing Talk:2577: Sea Chase

:They're pointing right, which matches the map? (Was posting the following comment, but might as well answer this straight away.) Also, being chased by a pirate ''towards'' all those lovely New World riches seems funny idea, on balance. Although of course it depends on when and how a privateer discovers a possible prize... for some reason in the very middle of the Atlantic rather than in a more bottlenecked part of the trade-routes. Perhaps the merchantman was spotted leaving the vicinity of Bermuda (they have the sails for it!), with signs of carrying cargo of value, and it was considered worth chasing all the way to the mid-Atlantic, just about catching them up. The voice 'from the map' comes from the Easterly ship, as well, so that can really only mean that it went just a little more east prior to the gap-in-the-map appears and it would make Europe the most practical destination afterwards. As for the winds, matching the map position with prevailing/trade-wind diagrams, they could easily be caught in a north-westerly/north-easterly zone that naturally forms a gyre in the atmospheric flow (on average, and of course passing weather systems can send contrary winds any which way off the various edges of a rotating or counter-rotating pressure-system as it moves loosely across the ocean. On the whole I think it was a reasonable assumption to make that they're Europe-bound (by inclination and/or because that's the way the chase takes them), based upon both illustrative convention and the general logistics of the situation, but then with the possible top-mast flags 'error' I'm not sure exactly how strictly Randall intended this all to be. He could have colour-coded the dots, individually, if he was even that bothered - not just made them both red. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 20:23, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

:They're pointing right, which matches the map? (Was posting the following comment, but might as well answer this straight away.) Also, being chased by a pirate ''towards'' all those lovely New World riches seems funny idea, on balance. Although of course it depends on when and how a privateer discovers a possible prize... for some reason in the very middle of the Atlantic rather than in a more bottlenecked part of the trade-routes. Perhaps the merchantman was spotted leaving the vicinity of Bermuda (they have the sails for it!), with signs of carrying cargo of value, and it was considered worth chasing all the way to the mid-Atlantic, just about catching them up. The voice 'from the map' comes from the Easterly ship, as well, so that can really only mean that it went just a little more east prior to the gap-in-the-map appears and it would make Europe the most practical destination afterwards. As for the winds, matching the map position with prevailing/trade-wind diagrams, they could easily be caught in a north-westerly/north-easterly zone that naturally forms a gyre in the atmospheric flow (on average, and of course passing weather systems can send contrary winds any which way off the various edges of a rotating or counter-rotating pressure-system as it moves loosely across the ocean. On the whole I think it was a reasonable assumption to make that they're Europe-bound (by inclination and/or because that's the way the chase takes them), based upon both illustrative convention and the general logistics of the situation, but then with the possible top-mast flags 'error' I'm not sure exactly how strictly Randall intended this all to be. He could have colour-coded the dots, individually, if he was even that bothered - not just made them both red. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 20:23, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

::Very long explanation for nothing ;-) That they are sailing east is clear from the fact that the red dot closest to Europe is the one being chased, and it just crosses the meridian from the west to the east so they can throw the switch. End of all other arguments. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:27, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

::Very long explanation for nothing ;-) That they are sailing east is clear from the fact that the red dot closest to Europe is the one being chased, and it just crosses the meridian from the west to the east so they can throw the switch. End of all other arguments. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:27, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

So by my (less than encyclopedic) reckoning, that's a fast gaff-rigged sloop flying chasing what appears to be a more cumbersome gunter-rigged (or bermuda?) schooner (iffy on that one, but it's not a ketch). What's most strange is that they're triangular, not square, as a merchantman/non-raider should need (especially in a chase such as this) as much sail as possible just to get its deeper and wider hull moving. Neither are using topsails, maybe because the wind conditions are contrary. Yes, the top-flags are pointing backwards, but then that's also a common artist error (with anything other than a modern wingsail), while both ships are flying clearly foreward sails (not spinnakers, I'm sure) and the chased one seems distinctly inflated to the direction of travel. Era-specific peculiarities are beyond my easy assessment (or indeed what century such an encounter might actually be in). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 20:23, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

So by my (less than encyclopedic) reckoning, that's a fast gaff-rigged sloop flying chasing what appears to be a more cumbersome gunter-rigged (or bermuda?) schooner (iffy on that one, but it's not a ketch). What's most strange is that they're triangular, not square, as a merchantman/non-raider should need (especially in a chase such as this) as much sail as possible just to get its deeper and wider hull moving. Neither are using topsails, maybe because the wind conditions are contrary. Yes, the top-flags are pointing backwards, but then that's also a common artist error (with anything other than a modern wingsail), while both ships are flying clearly foreward sails (not spinnakers, I'm sure) and the chased one seems distinctly inflated to the direction of travel. Era-specific peculiarities are beyond my easy assessment (or indeed what century such an encounter might actually be in). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 20:23, 6 February 2022 (UTC)