The Darkwing

Not quite two months ago, a company of barbarians (with citizen-Sesel in their midst) managed to seize the pirate galley Darkwing from the hidden fortress carved into the living rock of the Ocean's Throat caves. As to the fate of the fort, that will be dealt with in a subsequent post; suffice it to say that Durham of the Ringing Anvil has invested it with renyu of the Wasgo Tribe.

This post however is about the Darkwing and about the cargo that was secured in her hold at the same time:

Registration and Wharfage

As noted by Bartholomew Pettibone when he and his companions captured her, the Darkwing must be registered at a particular harbor in order to take part in any kind of official trade. Though it need not be the harbor of Cothon, that would seem the most convenient, as it is the base of operations of those who now possess the galley.

To register a ship in Cothon costs 75 dinars (gp), which is an annual fee (and so would not need to be paid again until next year (month depending on when exactly the fee is paid).

Furthermore, holding a ship in the harbor costs wharfage fees, assessed per foot of ship's length. In Cothon, wharfage costs 7 dirhams (sp) per foot of shiplength per day, which for the Darkwing, on the lighter side at 60 feet, would cost 420 dirhams, i.e. 42 dinars, per day.

Fortunately regarding wharfage, however, the party decided to dock the Darkwing at the quays of the Kantor Kabljauhof, and they are happy to waive the normal wharfage fees for six months in gratitude for help in seizing the pirate ship--and the Ocean's Throat fort as well! Which is to say, at the beginning of April next year the Darkwing will be assessed normal wharfage fees per day, so long as she remains docked there; and Cothon will assess the same, if she chooses to dock in the public harbor.

The Cargo

Meanwhile, seized at the same time as the galley was her cargo of pirated goods, which came with her into Cothon, to be offloaded and inventoried there. In this case--again, seeking to win goodwill from the company and from Durham particularly--the Kantor agreed to hold the cargo in their warehouses without fee, while someone from the adventuring-company looked through registrations, cargo manifests, and lading histories to attempt to find the former owners of the various goods, presumably so that they could be returned.

(The "bonding fees" that the Kantor is waiving would amount to 1% of the declared dinar-value of the goods being stored per month)

Sesel, Voice of the Survivors, asked his friend Gan (no relation to Gan ad-Din) to assist in this task, and this is what Gan was able to discover:

• the case of fine ivory was identified as being imported by the Banu Hanbal, a merchant-house
• the two cords of tiu wood was likewise being imported by Banu al Saddiyas, one of the greater houses
• half of the ingots of common metal--20 altogether--were being exported to the city of Ittiyqa (another in the Ten Cities League) by the Banu Baraqi (commonly called Barcidae)
• the 5 "ingots" of chlen-hide were being exported by the Guild of Alchemists (associated with the tavern Cothon-Under-Star), also to Ittiyqa
• and the 3 crates of weapons were being imported by the Banu al Dawr--possibly to replace those lost by their servitors on expeditions into "the Facility"?

The rest of the cargo was perhaps moving to and from ports other than Cothon, and no relevant records seem to exist here to point out where or to whom they might belong. Given that this is the case, with the permission of the harbormaster and the city's market-officers, is agreed that the party can dispose of the remaining goods as if they were the party's own. If within the next year, someone comes forward with a reasonable claim that they really were the original owners--something that can be shown in court--then the party must surrender to them the goods, or half of any money they got from the sale (though this last eventuality is highly unlikely at this point).

To sell the cargo in the market will require hiring the Guild of Longshoremen to transport it, and then a fee paid to the assessors of the market on behalf of the Souffets. The remaining cargo (12 bundles of furs, 20 bags of textiles, 20 ingots of common metals, 10 barrels of ale, 40 sacks of hops, 15 barrels of fish) would require an unlading fee of 42 dirhams (3 dirhams per "tun" ... the Scribes admit to fudging on the precise amount of "tunnage" here). Then to sell it, the fee paid to the assessors (the "hawking fee") would be 9% of the total value of the goods (the idea being that you declare the value of the goods at the price you bought them--or lower?--and then negotiate for higher sale prices). Altogether, as inventoried by Gan, the value would be 4450 dinars if everything were to be sold, which would be assessed a hawking fee of 401 dinars.

These fees would all change assessment according to just what was taken to market by the company--if anything--and that is up to their discretion.

Assuming that the company elects to sell something in the market, it will require someone to use their downtime for the week essentially to find the right buyer--with the goods divided according to their nature, and requiring a roll per "type" (i.e. fish and beer could be sold together as "foodstuffs", the furs could be sold as a lot, &c.).

Of course, the cargo doesn't have to be sold. It could be disposed of in other ways--supplies for the Wasgo, metals used by the workshops at the Ringing Anvil or Crag Keep, &c. &c. It's up to the company to decide how to proceed.

A note--future cargos will probably be handled a bit differently, especially on their breakdown into lots and goods, but I worked this cargo up before getting The Pilot's Almanac (from Columbia Games). The hawking, lading/unlading, and bonding fees will all remain, however.

And What's Next??

If registered, the Darkwing could be used by her owners as a source of income--cargos could be bought to fill her holds, destined for nearby ports, and thus to ply the trade routes to Nous, Ittiyqa, or elsewhere. They would only need to hire a crew, a captain, and a pilot (or some one of them could captain the ship himself or herself), and then spend downtime securing a cargo--and off she would sail, hopefully to bring in a reasonable income!

Otherwise, she would also make a fine platform to adventure to parts distant from Cothon--to the Denyan Isles, for instance, or west following the codices of Hamdi the Voyager!

Or if strapped for cash, they could sell the ship--she would certainly fetch a price exceeding 30,000 dinars, which is nothing to laugh at ... though the Scribes suspect somehow that this will not be the final decision.

Ultimately, it's up to the company to decide just what to do with their prize ...