So I thought I'd write up a little something to give everybody some idea of daily life aboard the Sea Lynx, at least under Captain Inaya for this first voyage! This is just to give some background support for your RP, and not to dictate anyone's play. Obviously we're not here to RP out some of the more boring chores and aspects of life at sea, so if you are on the crew, you're of course under no obligation to spend your time online "working." For passengers, this is just flavour!
There's always a ranking officer on deck, who's in charge of keeping the ship on course and giving instructions to the crew. They're also responsible for discipline, if needed. Most of the time, it's either Inaya or Wasi or Grandmother (as Inaya refers to her) Angold, with Inaya taking the majority of the evening, night, and the early mornings, and Wasi the majority of the daytimes.
Most of the crew, with the notable exceptions of the captain, first mate, navigator, helmsman, and the cook, are assigned work shifts and watches. A ship needs to be sailed around the clock, and there's no autopilot button for night-time, so having shifts is essential. Work shifts are longer, and involve sailing and ship chores, whereas watches are shorter periods of time during which you're expected to stay at a post and watch the sea, the sky, the horizon for changes or danger.
Crewmembers, please feel free to RP your shifts as you like! Your work can be conveniently off-screen according to the needs of your OOC schedule. Nobody is actually going to be given specific assignments or anything, this is all just background information that you can use to support RP if that's helpful for you.
Each day's official start is at dawn (5am-ish), the hour of promise, with time allowed for prayers so long as there isn't a storm (Inaya's a good Azadi, it seems, and can be seen sitting on the quarterdeck praying in the grey dawn each day). Even though shifts overlap each other, and some crew might be in the middle of a shift or finishing theirs at this time, it's still the "beginning" of the new day!
During shifts, crew are responsible primarily for sailing the ship, meaning they follow officers' instructions to change the configuration, angle, and area of the sails and the spars in order to best catch the prevailing winds. Since the winds change frequently, and are not always blowing in the direction we want to travel, this is the biggest and most constant job of a sailor, and will take up most of your on-duty time. When the ship can sail on without changes for a time, chores are assigned. These can be almost anything... examples include, but are not limited to:
- swabbing the deck (no one is exempt from deck swabbing, except Grandmother Angold, by Captain's decree)
- going below to the bilge to check for leaks (the Sea Lynx is new, and her boards are getting accustomed to constant immersion in seawater and the stresses of sailing - even though she's well built, the settling process often involves small leaks springing up as the wood adjusts) and to pack any gaps with oakum and tar
- helping out in the galley, scrubbing pots and pans and dishes or chopping ingredients to prepare the next meal
- pumping the bilge
- sweeping the decks below and generally keeping things clean
- splicing rope and repairing sails
- picking oakum
- tarring rigging
- applying grease to the masts
- sanding rough spots in the decks, or occasionally sanding the entire deck (holystoning)
- polishing brass fittings around the ship
- even the dreaded head-scrubbing is part of the crew's job. Inaya uses it as punishment, naturally. Didn't do your job properly last shift? Gave an officer cheek? Go scrub the head.
The watch necessitates three people at a time (atop the mast, quarterdeck, and forecastle) to constantly scan the sea and the horizon. Although it might seem appealingly easy, this job is somewhat difficult, mostly because people tend to lose focus or fall asleep when they're staring at the sea for long periods (especially in the dark!). And anyone who falls asleep during their watch definitely gets punished. Watchmen are expected to report anything they see of note, but must call out if they see other ships, rocks or land, mist ahead (or anywhere nearby or unexpected), shifting currents, and unusual activity in the water. Some sailors think having three watchers at a time is a bit silly - it's overkill, there's nothing to see, so why should three people watch nothing? But that's what Captain demands.
In these early days, Inaya has been very particular, even fussy, about changing around the configurations of the sails and spars, sending the crew aloft regularly to make sometimes-minute changes to the amount of play in the rigging and sails, or to the exact angles of the spars. Some of the crew grumble about being made to do so much work when it seems to make no difference at all. Especially so since the Sea Lynx is having to tack almost all the way so far, against a near-constant south wind, making more work for everyone already.
Regarding training: I apologise for not having set up a formal training event, I had meant to but I came down with a nasty illness the first week of our voyage and just haven't been able to make it happen. Training for junior crewmembers is sort of assumed to be mostly happening on the job, with inexperienced crewmembers being paired up each day with a salty sailor, but as far as code teaching, I am always happy to do a session, whether arranged formally or on the spot, so just let me know if that's something you need!
Hopefully this helps give just a little bit of orientation for everybody... but feel free to ask questions if there's anything not covered that you'd like to know, and I'm sure between myself and Mistsparrow (praise be to their sparrowy name) we can cover it! 😁
