The ruler of the Queen's navy
Jan. 26th, 2026 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baroque_mongooseI'm still fighting off whatever I was fighting off yesterday; but if I'm still fighting it, that does strongly suggest I'm winning. Whatever exactly it is, if it was going to take hold, it'd have done so by now.
Anyway, just so you all know, I'm a ship's captain now.
I'm going to pause while all those of you who know me in person finish laughing their socks off. It's quite true that I am pretty much seasick on damp grass and won't go near the sea if I can possibly avoid it (I don't mind admiring it at a safe distance, but I don't like the smell of seaweed, and I'm not a fan of beaches in general - you get sand in your knitting). Ship's captain, you may well ask? What am I on?
Ah, no. It's not what I'm on; it's what I'm in. I'm in the SCA, and that means that, if I so wish, I get to join the navy. I could, had I so desired, have been an admiral, like Sir Joseph Porter in HMS Pinafore, whose advice, famously, was: "Stick close to your desk, and never go to sea/And you all may be rulers of the Queen's navy!" So I followed his advice... but decided that Captain was good enough for me. One ship is plenty. I don't need a whole fleet.
Needless to say, these aren't actual ships (except, apparently, in one case - someone in the navy has a real physical coracle). They're virtual, which is the kind of ship I'm most happy with. All it means is that you get a rank or letter of marque, with a nice scroll to show for it if you either a) pay extra or b) do it yourself (I am, needless to say, doing the latter, because I can); and you get your name and your ship (or flagship, if you're an admiral) listed on the navy roll. (It's online, but hasn't yet been updated to include me. You can find it here: https://insulaedraconis.org/activities/navy/) In reality, it's just a nice way to acknowledge contributions to the travel fund, which is there to help take the load off the Prince and Princess. They're expected to attend a lot of events, which naturally gets expensive, and it doesn't really help that our current Prince and Princess are both based in Ireland and there are more events on the big island than on the smaller one.
I'm absolutely fine with this. I get to be helpful, and I get command of a "ship" that is recognised as officially existing... but I also get to design that ship myself from stem to stern, just so long as it's within the SCA period (ie pre-1600 - the sort of design I have in mind is 14th century, so I am quite safe there). There's a small version of it on the scroll, on which I am currently working, but I'd quite like to do a larger-sized drawing of it at some point.
Of course, that does mean I need to improve my drawing skills. But at least, unlike sailing skills, I do already have those!
Anyway, just so you all know, I'm a ship's captain now.
I'm going to pause while all those of you who know me in person finish laughing their socks off. It's quite true that I am pretty much seasick on damp grass and won't go near the sea if I can possibly avoid it (I don't mind admiring it at a safe distance, but I don't like the smell of seaweed, and I'm not a fan of beaches in general - you get sand in your knitting). Ship's captain, you may well ask? What am I on?
Ah, no. It's not what I'm on; it's what I'm in. I'm in the SCA, and that means that, if I so wish, I get to join the navy. I could, had I so desired, have been an admiral, like Sir Joseph Porter in HMS Pinafore, whose advice, famously, was: "Stick close to your desk, and never go to sea/And you all may be rulers of the Queen's navy!" So I followed his advice... but decided that Captain was good enough for me. One ship is plenty. I don't need a whole fleet.
Needless to say, these aren't actual ships (except, apparently, in one case - someone in the navy has a real physical coracle). They're virtual, which is the kind of ship I'm most happy with. All it means is that you get a rank or letter of marque, with a nice scroll to show for it if you either a) pay extra or b) do it yourself (I am, needless to say, doing the latter, because I can); and you get your name and your ship (or flagship, if you're an admiral) listed on the navy roll. (It's online, but hasn't yet been updated to include me. You can find it here: https://insulaedraconis.org/activities/navy/) In reality, it's just a nice way to acknowledge contributions to the travel fund, which is there to help take the load off the Prince and Princess. They're expected to attend a lot of events, which naturally gets expensive, and it doesn't really help that our current Prince and Princess are both based in Ireland and there are more events on the big island than on the smaller one.
I'm absolutely fine with this. I get to be helpful, and I get command of a "ship" that is recognised as officially existing... but I also get to design that ship myself from stem to stern, just so long as it's within the SCA period (ie pre-1600 - the sort of design I have in mind is 14th century, so I am quite safe there). There's a small version of it on the scroll, on which I am currently working, but I'd quite like to do a larger-sized drawing of it at some point.
Of course, that does mean I need to improve my drawing skills. But at least, unlike sailing skills, I do already have those!
