Grandmaster of the Seas

Grandmaster of the Seas is a Grandmaster-class clipper. The ship was designed by Alphonse Klipper on behalf of the Southern Seas Trading Company.
Although the exact cost of the ship is unknown, it is believed to be the most second most expensive non-military vessel ever commisioned, when taking into account design costs, after Jebediah's Leviathan.
== History ==
After hearing that Alphonse Klipper had designed a new, lightweight and fast trading ship on behalf of the Sunshine Coast Company for their trade with Raqqos, the Southern Seas Trading Company immediately petitioned Klipper to design a similar vessel for the fledgling Peshwamanar trade route.
Owing to the huge distances involved with the route, which rendered the fulfilment of orders slow, posed issues for transporting perishable and semi-perishable goods and placed great strain on crews, traditional sailing vessels were not well-suited to the Peshwamanar trade routes. Furthermore, most vessels of the period in the Inland Sea had been designed with the stormy region of Raqqos in mind and thus prioritised durability and compact size over cargo volume and, crucially, speed. The development of new ship building techniques and advanced sail construction, alongside the desire for large and faster cargo shipments, provided the demand for a new class of ship. Alphonse Klipper of the Rubellium Guild of Shipwrights was commissioned by the Sunshine Coast Company to design a ship to meet the specifications. Whilst officially the Sunshine-class, this style of boat became informally known as a Clipper (a Pemblicised form of Klipper's name).
The Southern Seas Trading Company realised this ship would resolve many of their concerns regarding the Peshwamanar route and so commissioned a similar design of vessel for their trade routes. The Grandmaster of the Seas was the first of these Grandmaster-class clippers was longer and featured additional sails when compared to the Sunshine class, but its core premise remained the same.
Category:Ship