As part of our Exploration and Discovery topic we designed our own ships in groups. We then wrote letters to several shipbuilding companies asking for their comments on our ships. Our ships had an older design but were furnished in a more modern manner.

Mr Boag from BAE Systems was kind enough to send us a detailed reply with comments on each of our ships.

Ship 1 (Lewis, Harry, Jenna, April, Jessica)

This ship is wide enough to be stable in rough sea conditions without being so wide as to increase the ‘drag’ (drag can be thought of as the force pushing against a ship as it goes through the water. The same force that acts against a car with air).

It is also deep enough to prevent water from causing a problem by splashing the top deck. Hammocks are a perfect solution that uses less room than ordinary beds but also allow the person who is using them to remain stable when the ship moves at sea.

The entrance to the kitchen seems to be at the rear of the vessel which might cause the sailors to become slightly wet if it is stormy so perhaps the entrance could be an emergency exit with an entrance inside instead.

I do like having the 3 masts to make the most use of wind to power the ship and the thought given to having a compartment with your emergency objects inside. I am sure the crew will appreciate the walkplank too!

Ship 2: The Strategy (Jacob, Megan, Neve, Kayla, Grace, Ian)

The size of the ship is great with a nice width that will be stable in rough seas but narrow enough so that it doesn’t lose speed from ‘drag’.

Escape ladders are a particularly good idea, in the Navy escape ladders are a must! Especially if a compartment floods and you need a quick route out. You have also located the cabins and bedrooms in lower decks on the ship which is how they are actually designed. This means all the compartments that you need to use can be easily found and accessed.

One improvement that you might wish to consider is using round windows instead of square ones. Round windows are much stronger and evenly spread the force of the water whereas square windows concentrate the force at all 4 corners which could mean disaster!

Good idea to include a crow’s nest as this was the best point from which to find land or an enemy using a telescope!

Ship 3: Corn Glider (Sam, Iain, Tony)

Includes a very useful and detailed list of staff that you would need for building parts of the ship. This ship will be much faster than the others as it is quite narrow (4.5m wide) but you may experience a little more movement in high seas! You have kept most of your heavy equipment low down in the ships decks which will make the ship more stable although you might want to make more compartments inside the ship so that one hole doesn’t flood the whole ship!

An excellent idea to use ikea furniture as this will save you having to build your own and will be cheap and easy to fit. I also like storing your gun powder low down so it will be underwater and harder to hit with a cannonball – this is the same location modern ships store their fuel.

Ship 4: The Fox (Abbie, Erin, Elle, Kian)

A well laid out ship from the inside – splitting the ship up into those separate compartments means that if a cannonball hits your ship, it will only flood a single room instead of the whole vessel. You may wish to swap your storage areas to a lower deck in the ship, if you keep the heaviest objects low down in your ship you will be more stable in rough weather.

One thing you might want to consider is that the ship is very wide for its length. You might be very stable in rough seas but your ship will be a little slow!

The ship has the best shape for moving through the water and a nice high crow’s nest in order to spot your enemies!

Ship 5: Ligator (John, Brooke, Rebecca, Kate, Katie)

This is perhaps the widest ship which would mean one of the most stable in rough seas however it will also be the most difficult to move because of the ‘drag’ from the water as it tries to move forwards.

It is a great idea to keep the storage area as low down as possible to maintain a nice, stable ship however you might want to split up your rooms into small areas in case a cannonball makes a hole and floods your ship! This will make a great cargo vessel with plenty of stability and storage area.

The ship is nice and tall and has a high ‘freeboard’. This is what we call the length from the where the water line will be to the top deck of the ship. Having a high freeboard means your ship is less likely to have water come over the deck and flood downwards which is a good feature!