Ships: from the sloop to the Leviathan

Which ship to choose

Ships are bought at the shipyard next to the main pier of Tortuga. The sloop is free, and new players are given a corvette and 5,000 doubloons in port — a comfortable way to start. The bigger the ship, the more guns and the tougher the hull, but the slower it turns and gathers speed.

Light ships — the sloop, caravel, schooner and xebec — catch merchants and escape pursuit; the xebec is the fastest hull at the yard. Medium ships — the brig, brigantine, corvette and pinnace — balance speed and firepower for a small crew. Heavy ships — the frigate, galleon, East Indiaman and ship of the line — soak up damage and answer with a broadside that makes a merchant strike its flag after a couple of volleys.

There are unusual vessels too: the galley and the galleass also row, the bomb ketch carries a heavy mortar, and the turtle ship hides its deck under a spiked shell. Do not rush for the most expensive hull: a big ship without a crew is clumsy in a fight, and it has work for everyone — gunners at the cannons, a helmsman at the wheel, a bosun with planks for repairs. How to gather people is covered in Clans and crews.

Classes, speed and prices

The table is built straight from the game data: speed is the speed under full sail, broadside is the number of cannonballs in a broadside, hull is how much damage the ship can take. The Black Crown and the Flying Dutchman belong to the King and cannot be bought.

Figures are taken straight from the game; prices may change during the beta.

Every ship class

• Sloop — Free at the Tortuga shipyard. Light and nimble, with swivel guns.
• Brig — A sturdy hull and four guns a side.
• Corvette — A smaller Crown-style hull: fast and nimble, five guns a side.
• Frigate — Three decks, cabins, seven guns a side.
• Galleon — Bigger than a frigate: sturdy, mahogany and gold, eight guns plus the waist battery.
• Ship of the line — Two tiers of broadside — 9 + 7 guns a side, black with ochre bands. Three gun decks inside.
• Queen Anne’s Revenge — Blackbeard’s ship, rebuilt after the historical original: a black hull with gold bands, crimson sails, guns at open ports, his flag.
• Leviathan — A giant twice the Crown’s size: eight tiers of guns, stern galleries with balconies. Sits deeper in the water than any other ship.
• Brigantine — Square foresail and gaff mainsail: sturdier than a schooner, 5 guns a side, a hold.
• Caravel — Three lateen sails, a cabin on the high stern: nimble, 3 guns a side, a hold.
• Bomb ketch — Mainmast set aft, a small mizzen and a heavy mortar on the foredeck: hits above its size, 4 guns a side, a hold.
• Galley — Twelve oars a side and two lateen masts: nimble, low, 3 guns a side, a hold.
• Pinnace — A slender three-master with a tall narrow stern and a balcony: faster than a fluyt, sturdier than a xebec, 6 guns a side, cabins and a hold.
• Junk — Three masts with red battened sails, a cabin on the high stern: sturdy, 5 guns a side, a hold.
• Turtle ship — A deck under a spiked shell, a dragon head and oars: very sturdy for her length, 6 guns a side, slow.
• Galleass — A big sail-and-oar warship: three lateen masts, 14 oars a side, a round gun tower at the bow — sturdy, 6 guns a side.
• East Indiaman — A pot-bellied three-masted company merchantman: the sturdiest single-tier ship, 7 guns a side, two decks and a hold — unhurried.
• Black Squall — A fast black galleon: one gun deck, black sails, a lateen mizzen — faster and nimbler than a frigate, 8 guns a side.
• Schooner — A class from the Tortuga shipyard. Below deck there is a hold you can climb down into.
• Xebec — A class from the Tortuga shipyard. Below deck there is a hold you can climb down into.
• Fluyt — A class from the Tortuga shipyard. Below deck there is a hold you can climb down into.
• Flying Dutchman — The King’s ghost ship: it dives and resurfaces. Inside: a furnished sterncastle, bone ribs and ghost light.
• Galleon “Black Crown” — The King’s flagship. The wind is always fair.

Ships from the inside

The ships are not cardboard props — you can walk through them. Big ships have gun decks, cabins and a hold; the ship of the line has three gun decks, and small ships have a hold below deck. The holds of large vessels have a barred brig, and the fluyt has cabins behind doors.

Inside you can sit down, lie down, ring the bell, open the chart on the table and call the musicians. In rain and storm the planks darken and shine with water, and you can swab the deck. Every class carries its own figurehead.

The shipyard: upgrades, looks and sails

• Upgrades: hull, sails and guns — up to three levels each; at level three the guns get triple barrels.
• Five kinds of guns: standard, long guns, carronades, chain shot and incendiary.
• Looks and refits: hull trim sets, copper sheathing with armour, a second gun battery, a tall rig and an iron-shod ram — all visible on the ship model.
• Paint and name: hull colour, sail colour (scarlet, emerald, golden, purple, striped), a flag and a name of your own.
• Selling: sell a ship back to the yard for part of its price or offer it to a nearby player at your own price.

You can turn every class around in 3D before buying: the Ships section on the home page uses the very same models as the game.

Legendary ships

The Black Crown is the King’s flagship: three decks, a captain’s cabin with an organ, a chart room and a 16-gun broadside. The Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship with bone ribs and ghostly light that dives beneath the waves and surfaces again. Neither is for sale.

Queen Anne’s Revenge is rebuilt after Blackbeard’s historical ship — a black hull, golden bands and crimson sails. The Leviathan is a giant even bigger than the Crown, with stern galleries and balconies; it sits deeper in the water than anything else. These two are the shipyard’s VIP classes. How to fight with them is explained in Sea battles and boarding.

Read next

• How to play
• Tortuga and islands
• Sea battles
• Clans and crews
• What’s new
• Forum