Here’s my biggest build ever. Over 2000 parts, a week of work, and my reference was a drawing of a ship from the 1680s. But at least it’s complete with fancy rug.

This is the Golden Fleece, ship of one of the first Golden Age Pirates: Joseph Bannister. The story of Bannister is a super interesting one, but not much is really known about him. He was assigned captain of the Fleece sometime in the 1670s or 1680s and traveled a long route to Jamaica, meaning historians think he must have been a man of nobility or honor to hold a position like that. At some point he decided to him rogue and ‘stole’ the ship by simply rallying the crew and beginning his career. He was captured once and escaped by bribing some of the dock workers where he and his ship were being held, convincing them to gather his men being kept on shore to come to the ship at night and make an escape. They did so between 2 naval forts in the middle of the night too which is insane to me. Then he’s thought to have made friendships with a few French captains and even participated in some of their operations out to sea, including raids on Mexico

His final send off was a massive battle between himself and 2 ships of the British navy that were chasing after him, when in Samana Bay, Dominican Republic, he careened his ship and unloaded some of its guns onto a small island and fought the British vessels HMS Drake and HMS Falcon until they literally ran out of ammo. Then he burned the Fleece to prevent its capture and escaped on another ship where he was soon after caught and killed before reaching port to prevent his escape again. So yeah he’s my favorite.

Anyways, controls are as follows: throttle to 40% is best, make minor turns using yaw. She has 6 guns, and a couple more decorative spots reflecting her history as a civilian galleon before it’s piracy career.

There’s a good book about finding the location / story of the wreck called Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson. If what I’ve described sounds interesting to you, then that book would be too.

Anyways, please let me know what you think! And thank you!