Charting the Course

This is the first of five pictures commissioned by NauticalNymph for members of the Sirena's crew. The Sirena is a 6th rate French vessel captured by the English, recaptured by the French, and eventually stolen by Angelo Torricelli, an Italian pirate. The Sirena does most of its work in Southeast Asia, but crew members include everyone from pressed English sailors to Norwegian masters and dock workers from St. Petersburg.

This picture is of Josiah Kent (aka Twig) and Angelo (aka Lowlocks). They're sorting out a course with Australia, but having forgotten this, I estimated the coordinates for India when making the map. Ha hmm. I then blurred them out conveniently ;) Kent was deserted in India when his parents were being shipped off to the Australian penal colony. He was part of the HMS Surprise's crew and came up the hawse hole to become a midshipman. He wasn't fond of the new duties and was actually pleased to be pressed to the pirate crew. He has an aptitude for math and is being tutored by the ship's irritable master Dagfinn Kittelsen. The tattoo on his arm is the Hindi word for 'promise,' but the first letter can't be seen. You can also see the headboard of Angelo's mandolin.

All of this is from one of the many story lines in Life on the High Seas. I can't wait for them to converge again so the doctor (aka French spy swept off the coast of India when Torricelli got shanked in China) can get busted by the English navy. I plan to do this in water colors as well but wanted to scan it in in case I messed up because of the detail