The latest of my musings comes from a sailing trip out into the San Francisco Bay to watch the America’s Cup. We rented out a small catamaran - and its crew of three men of differing ages who had clearly been on the water their entire life. I’ll be honest here - the America’s Cup is the most boring sporting event I have ever had the misfortune to be in the vicinity of during my short life. The food on the ship was abysmal as well, and my mind began to wander. Here was born the premise for my latest thoughts: What if, in a fantasy archipelago, catamarans and trimarans were discovered and came into widespread use far earlier than they did in reality? Well, there was no signal on the bay, but upon arriving home I delved in to my sudden fascination with the Age of Sail and the Age of Exploration, as well as naval warfare and the engineering of sailing vessels. The main reason that catamarans and trimarans were not adopted far earlier in the history of our world is that they’re simply impossible for the civilizations in the 1200s - 1500s to create efficiently and/or safely. The masts of sailing vessels pre-modern materials were embedded deep within the hulls of a monohull ship.

As you see here, all three masts extend far into the hull of the ship, which offered greater support to the masts so that they could bear the pressure caused by wind on the sails. On the modern multi-hulled vessel, the mast extends merely to the surface of the deck, and is supported by a shroud which consists of steel cable to anchor the mast to the deck. To prevent ourselves from having to gimmick steel cable into an Age of Sail era world, we can implement a specific scheme of rigging known as the Bermuda rig. The rig was invented in the 17th and 18th centuries in Bermuda to allow vessels at the time to sail into the strong west wind, because west was where the profit was. This helps us avoid any unnecessary use of magic or gimmicks. Solution: Slightly stronger cable owing to natural fibres, light enchantment or elven crafting implementing the Bermuda rig to allow for a stable and strong mast.

The other problem is that the technology available in the 1200s - 1500s was completely unsuited to constructing larger multi-hulled ships, which we alleviate using the excuse that due to the setting being in an archipelago, the art of shipbuilding has been enhanced far past where it was at similar points in our technological advancement, owing in part to the use of magic. I refer mainly to the infeasibility of large hulls.

One last thing is needed to thoroughly integrate this idea, and that is a motive, as we have just put forth the means. Multihull ships greatly aid an archipelago dwelling magic-capable civilization through three main benefits: They’re faster than monohulls, more stable than monohulls, and more comfortable - perfect for island hopping. The areas where monohulls triumph over multi-hull ships is primarily in ease of construction, as well as the ability to roll in the water with a weighted keel, which helps survive heavy storms and waves. However, neither of these are an issue in the scenario outlined above, because we have eliminated the factor of ease of construction, and through the use of spellcasters on-board as well as geography, heavy waves are less of an issue than they would be on the open sea.

As a rough parallel, catamarans have been used in Polynesia by the natives for centuries to travel quickly between nearby islands. These are much cruder, consisting of two logs strapped together, but serve well as fast and sturdy transportation.[1]

Remaining questions: Effects of the importance of sailing on society, Lore and background regarding on-board spellcasters.