I'm building the Discovery1789. Capt George Vancouver's ship that he used to explore the Pacific Northwest coast. I'm trying to determine what kind of ships boats they had. They had a lot of boats as they would anchor the Discovery and then explore the coast in the small boats. There was four, maybe five, boats on the Discovery, a launch, a yawl a large cutter and a small cutter and sometimes they referred to the "small boat". Her escort, the Chatham. had another three or more. I got this info from Vancouver's journal. I also read Archibald Menzies( ships botanist and surgeon) journal and six officers logs. Pretty dry stuff. Anyway the problem comes with the yawl. Vancouver talks about using the yawl but never mentions a pinnace. Everyone else talks about using the pinnace but never mentions a yawl. They all mention the launch and the cutters. Fortunately they refer to the boats as the "Discovery's cutter" or the "Chatham's cutter" so I was able to keep them separate in my counting. So do I build a pinnace or a yawl? It was George's ship, you would think he would know what kind of boats he had. But at the same time you would think that six officers would know a launch from a yawl(I haven't figured it out yet). I'll leave the botanist/surgeon out of it.
There is one possibility. Vancouver's journal was edited for the book by his brother after Vancouver's death. Maybe he substituted yawl for pinnace for some strange reason.
Should I side with the captain or his crew?
There is one possibility. Vancouver's journal was edited for the book by his brother after Vancouver's death. Maybe he substituted yawl for pinnace for some strange reason.
Should I side with the captain or his crew?