Tarn or Ram Ships

 

Tarn ships are long, narrow vessels with a shallow draft, with a keel to beam ratio of 8:1. They are easily beached at night as it is common for Gorean seamen to beach their ships at night and launch again in the morning. They are carvel-built with the planking fastened with bronze and iron nails. Some may have wooden pegs in some places. The planking on the ships vary from 2 to 6 inches in thickness. Tarn ships are constructed using four types of lumber: tem wood for rudders and oars; turwood for galley frames, beams, clamps, posts, and hull planking; ka-la-na for capstans and mastheads; needle trees for masts, spars, cabin and deck planking. They have a single, removable mast with lateen or triangular sails. The masts are easily removed before battle. The ram rides just below the waterline with a heavy projection shaped like a tarn's beak and shod with iron. Just behind the ram is a shield shaped like the spread crest of a tarn. This prevents the ram from going to deeply into the enemy ship and becoming jammed. The bow is concave, sloping down to meet the ram. The ship is steered with two oars or side rudders. The sternpost is high and fanlike. Tarnships may be painted a variety of colors.

 

The ship itself is a weapon, though it may also be outfitted with removeable turrets and catapults. Huge quarter moon shaped steel shearing blades are afixed to each side of the hull between the oars and bow. A common naval strategy is to slide along the hull of the enemy vessel to shear off its oars.

Tarn ships are difficult to sail windward because of the length and narrowness of the ship and the shallow draft, therefore they are commonly sailed in fair wind. They are less seaworthy than a roundships and more easily washed with waves. They have a greater danger of breaking apart in high seas, since they are not built to lift and fall with heavy waves. Tarn ships are designed for speed and war.

Gorean tarn ships are always oared by Free men in an open air rowing deck. This makes the men available to fight. The men sit three to a bench protected by a parapet, behind which is a bowman. Thole ports for the oars are in groups of three, spaced 10 inches apart with nearly 4 feet between each set of thole ports. The benches on which the men sit slant toward the stern castle to allow all three men to row. Oars vary in length by a foot and a half to allow for the distance of each man on the bench; the inner most oar being the longest. Oars are commonly 27 to 30 Gorean feet and weigh one stone per foot. The oar on the inboard end is weighted with lead to make rowing practical for the weight.

 

Tarn ships are classified by the keel length and width of the beam.

 

Heavy Class

• Keel: between 120 – 128 Gorean feet

• Beam width: between 15 – 16 Gorean feet

• Triple banked

• 120 oars

 

Medium Class

• Keel: between 80 – 120 Gorean feet

• Beam width: between 10 – 15 Gorean feet

• Double banked

• 90 oars

 

Light Class

•  Keel: between 50 - 70 Gorean feet

•  Beam Width: between 6.25 - 9 Gorean feet

•  Single banked

•  60 oars

 

Most Tarn ships have a crew between 150 – 250 men, depending on the size of the vessel, about half of which would be at the oars.

 

Round Ships

 

Round ships, also known as Merchant ships, have deep holds for merchandise. They are oared vessels with heavy permanent rigging. They are generally two-masted, so it has more sail than a war ship. The main mast is a bit forward of amidships and the foremast is some four or five yards abaft of the ship's yoke. Both sails are lateen and the yard of the foresail is about half the length of the yard of the main sail. The rowing area is enclosed and commonly carries from one to two hundred slaves in the rowing hold. Round ships have a keel to beam ratio of about 6:1. They are slower and less maneuverable than war ships, but can still be used in naval battle. Their decks are capable of holding numerous ship weapons such as catapults.

Round ships can be classified into three categories: light galley, medium class, and heavy class. Merchant ships are most commonly identified with their name written at three points on the ship: the starboard bow, the port bow, and the stern.

  

• Heavy Class: 7500 - 9000 weight

• Medium Class: 5000 - 7500 weight

• Light Class: 2500 - 5000 weight

 

Torvaldsland Ships or Serpent Ships

 

Torvaldsland ships or serpent ships are different from most other Gorean ships. They are smaller, clinker built ships with overlapping planking. These ships are more seaworthy than other Gorean ships, though they must be baled frequently and are not well suited for carrying cargo.

The sails of Torvaldsland ships are square rather than lateen and cannot sail as close to the wind. They can be taken in or let out as needed.

Torvaldsland ships have a prow at each end, making it easier to beach them and reverse directions without the need to turn the ship around. They are very fast. With a fair wind, the Torvaldsland ship can cover 200 - 250 pasangs a day. On some light raiding galleys, the tarnhead at the prow is hinged. This helps remove the weight from the prow's height and gives the ship better stability in high seas. The tarnhead is always at the prow while the ship is in harbor or when entering an inlet or river so it can make its raid. A white shield is hung on the mast as a sign of truce.

 

Other Types of Water Craft

 

Other types of Gorean water crafts include barges, coracles, skiffs, rush crafts, and punts.

Barges are used on rivers and constructed of layered timbers of wood. They are generally towed by a team of river tharlarions.

 

They differ from river barges in that they are narrower with high, curved prows. They are anchored at bow and stern and generally oared by slaves. These types of barges are used most commonly in Port Kar.

Coracles are basically leather tubs propelled by poles. They are used by the poor of Port Kar.

Rush crafts are used by the rencers of the Vosk delta. They are formed of pliant, tubular vosk rushes and bound together by with marsh vine. They are slightly curved at stern and bow. They are small, light, and narrow; barely large enough for a man, and easily rowed by a triangular bladed tem-wood paddle.

A punt  is a small, square ended flat bottomed boat propelled by a pole. They are commonly kept on larger vessels and used for small chores.

 

Most Gorean ships use lanteen, or triangular sails. These sails permit sailing closer to the wind, greater maneuverability and efficiency in tacking. The lateen sail, on its single sloping yard, is also beautiful, which is important to most Goreans.

There are three main types of sails, all of which are triangular (lateen), and used for different wind conditions.

 

The Fair weather sail is the largest of the three and used in light winds.

The Tarn or Storm sail is used with strong winds.

The Tharlarion sail is a smaller version of the Storm sail, used with blustery, shifting winds.

 

All Gorean ships have eyes, and they are the last thing a shipwright does before a ship is launched. The eyes are located either in a head surmounting the prow, or on either side of the bow. Goreans believe ships are living creatures and therefore need to see where they are going.

 

Note:

The descriptions on this page are the work of John Norman, author of the Gor novels.