'Nautical' from SidneyR - 'De Pelikaan, 1688'

"De Pelikaan", 1688

Being well placed on a shallow water estuary, Laarden has cultivated a thriving sea and riverine trade in a vast array of trade and produce.  The merchant and noble families of this Flemish town have a reputation for driving a hard bargain, but also having a nose for good business.

Almost all of the legal, customs-paid trade comes by shallow drafted ships, modeled on the Fluyts of Amsterdam and single-masted Dutch widjschiffs.  These shallow bottomed river luggers are the mainstay of Laarden's trade.  They are the sinews of the town, and the foundation of its wealth.  Far from the romance of a yacht breaking the North Sea foam, or the might of a two-decker man-of-war, the Laarden merchant fleet compensates by being quietly efficient and able to turn a profit in all weathers. In times of war, the ships are used to import foreign mercenaries and allied contingents from other Flemish cities on the Flanders river lines and coasts.  And, with a sharp eye to a commercial bargain, the holds of ships bringing mercenaries to Laarden are also stacked with trade goods - undyed wool from Spain, sulfur from the Baltic, mast spars from Sweden, newly produced Danish muskets, German breastplates and plug bayonets and, inevitably, even in wartime, the luxurious French fashions which are the fixation of the impressionable young Laarden nobility.

Named after the town's civic symbol, "De Pelikaan" has a typically elaborate stern galley (with the love of the citizens of Laarden for conspicuous ostentation on display, again), and a flag in the town's colours - pale blue and yellow.  A pelican figurehead on the prow and an escutcheon  showing the town's crest complete the appearance of the ship - and then it's all down to business, with bales of wool, barrels and jars of sulfur having been added to make a lucrative, if risky, cargo.

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For this round, I wanted to try my hand at ship-building.  It's the first ship I've built fom scratch, and I enjoyed it.  I should have started earlier as there was a lot to get through.  I've tried to keep the Laarden/ Pelican/ flag colours theme into this Themed Round.