A "Sea Dog" - once more!

[Hollow Bones]

Hello there!

Recently moved to a new apartement and, while going through some old boxes, to my surprise I found my old copy of "Sea Dogs"! Installed, set my sails and I must admit - it feels great to be back in the archipelago!

Didn't take me too long to remember why I'd abandoned it, years ago, but cruising this page I've found the 1.06 patch that says it'll fix most of the bugs. Downloaded it here at work and can't wait to get back home, patch the game and start a new career. Also found a link to Hosehead's guide (Hosehead's Mercantile), which I'm sure will be a great source of information!

Anywho...

My reason, in the first place, to post here is my curiosity about one of the ship types that appears in the game. Namely the shnyava.

The in-game description states it's a ship originally designed in Sweden. Seeing though that I am from Sweden, and never heard of it (albeit my knowledge about sailing vessels is quite poor), I did a quick Internet search. The answers I got gives me reason to believe it's a Russian designed ship. BUT, isn't the game itself made by Russians? Why then, would they state it's Swedish? The plot thickens...

Strelna.ru - shnyava description
Wikipedia.org - Imperial Russian Navy - The shnyava is mentioned in the section about the Russian navy under tsar Peter the Great.

Is there anyone here that might know the history about this kind of ship? As I mentioned before, I don't know much about sailing vessels (and not very interested in the vessels, per se) but historical naval warfare is one of my larger interests.

Oh, and sorry for not using the proper language when posting. I'm still too much of a landlubber to use the proper pirate lingo...  

//Hollow Bones

[Hosehead]

Hey, HB!

Wellcome to the site.  New captains are supposed to buy the first round of rum, but I'll set one up.

Ain't squat on the internet about that ship -- I was surprised.  IMHO, my guess would be that the Russian Shnyava you mention is a descendant of a Swedish Shnyava of an earlier time.  But it is all guesswork.

Your internet reference is to an ninteenth century ship.  SeaDogs is "supposed" to be much earlier, in the 16th century.  However, it was never really accurate in the sense of being locked into one period.  I think they had to take ships from many timelines in order to have enough ship designs to fill their different ship classes (and they really needed a fast, inexpensive ship for class 5 which had Luggers and Galleons, and the Pinnace was too expensive).   Being that the designers are Russian, maybe the origins of that ship would be more common knowledge to them over there. 

I recall that the Swedish navy was very powerful in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and Russia had to blast their way back into the northern ancestral lands to get contol of the northern seas.  So my guess would be that in the course of those campaiagns the Russians captured or got exposed to the Swedish design, and made it their own.

Or the designers could just be outright wrong, eh?

[Hollow Bones]

Blasted... I knew there was something I was forgetting! Thank you for that first round of rum, Hosehead. Hit me over the head if I don't buy the second one! And the third...

Yes, the Swedish fleet has been quite powerful, from time to time. Although, it was at its height in the middle of the 16th century - counting the number of ships and men. The 17th century saw some grand ships come and go. Most well-known probably the "Vasa", who sank on her maiden voyage in 1628, but also the lineship "Stora Kronan", the most powerful ship in the world (at the time, 1668) with her 126 guns. By coincidence, they both sank because of similar reasons...

Well, I guess the shnyava will remain somewhat of a mystery. I agree that the developers probably put it where it is because of the need for a, as you say, lighter and faster ship among the other class 5 ships. I just abandoned mine, in favour of a class 4 brig...

You finished with your second round of rum there, then? 'Cause here comes the third round!

//Hollow Bones

[Gray Beard]

I always felt that the Shnyava was actually a schooner. That was a Swedish design I think. at least the name sounds Swedish!

That is what I called it in my lost realism mod that arrainged ships by by naval rank.

[Hayreddin Barbarossa]

 
Another HB on the island eh? Welcome mate!