SS Hampstead Castle
A competing shipping line, the Arter Line, set out to build the biggest and grandest class of liners yet seen on the oceans of Stormworks, the Duchess class. She would be over twice as large, significantly faster, and far more luxurious than anything the STL had to offer. The company, however, would struggle with finances during the first ship’s construction and work was halted.
The Stormworks Government, who was now dealing with a massive pandemic, was seizing ocean liners for service as hospital ships. They agreed to pay for the completion of the Duchess if the Arter Line would allow her to serve as a hospital ship until the emergency had passed. The Line agreed, but unfortunately had to file for bankruptcy before they could regain control of their beloved Duchess.
The SHS Duchess would serve as a hospital ship for two years before the Government had decided to grant ownership of the vessel to the Stormworks Transportation Line, as reparations for their lost Harston. The STL quickly agreed, took ownership of the liner, and renamed her the SS Hampstead Castle.
The ex-Duchess would serve many great years with the STL as their largest and fastest liner; able to achieve a speed of 16.4 knots, and proved to be very popular with passengers. However, by the time the Harston was introduced into service in 1909 the vessel, although only 14 years old at this point, was already out of date. The Harston and the ships that followed in that class took great inspiration from the Hampstead Castle, but were grand improvements on her 19th century design. Despite this, the vessel was still popular amongst the traveling public and was set to work working alongside the Harston and eventually the Harston’s sister, the Hemdon, on what would be a three ship express passenger service. The following year, however, saw a halt on this plan.
War had broken out and the Stormworks government was in desperate need of large ships to carry the troops and wounded. Work on the Hemdon had been shortly suspended as focus transitioned over to conversion work. The Harston was pulled into duty as a massive troop carrier while the Hampstead Castle was converted back into her hospital configuration. Several months later the Stormworks Government subsidized the completion of the Hemdon as the largest hospital ship and the SHS Hampstead Castle sailed alongside her ferrying the wounded away from the front lines. Typically, both ships would sail together, however, come 1912 the Hemdon was experiencing some engine troubles and had to limp back to Stormworks for repairs: leaving the Hampstead Castle all on her own.
Prior to her return to Stormworks waters on her 10th voyage, mines had been laid off the Isle of Sharpe in order to protect the Stormworks ports from enemy vessels. At 1:38pm the Hampstead Castle struck one of these mines on her port side, just under the bridge. Only approximately 2 miles off of the coast of the Isle of Sharpe, her captain attempted to steer the Hampstead Castle towards the Island in an attempt to beach her. The explosion, however, jammed the rudder and such a maneuver proved to be impossible. The explosion also warped and unsealed watertight doors allowing water to flow freely throughout the ship. With many officers, medical staff, and wounded clinging to the ship’s railings, she rolled quickly onto her port side and disappeared; all within 16 minutes. Not a single lifeboat could be launched and only a handful of survivors could be pulled from the water.
PLEASE NOTE:
– Spawns at the LARGE CUSTOM OIL RIG
– You can turn on all of the lights from the machine room which can be easily accessed via the uptake casing crawl space in front of the aft funnel or through the lower class passageways on C Deck
– This ship is fitted with a unique lighting failure system. I HIGHLY encourage you to sink this at night!
– You can launch a flare and activate the scuttle via the aft docking bridge
– Make sure to pay attention to what types of sliding doors are used where. There is a different between the electric sliding and non electric sliding doors. Any non electric you can enter
– PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME THE SCUTTLE ISN’T WORKING. IT IS, JUST GIVE THE SHIP SOME TIME TO DO HER THING!!!!
TO LAUNCH THE NEW LIFEBOATS:
1) Hit the "set up davits" button on the davits
2) Turn on the electric connectors which can be found on the bow of the lifeboat
3) Lower the ropes until boat is connected
4) Raise boat and swing out davits until boat is over the side of the ship
5) LOWER AWAY!!!!
HOW TO USE THE HELMSMAN FEATURE:
1) Make your way to the chart room
2) Use the touch screen to chart out your course (make sure to account for the ship’s maneuverability)
3) Hit the Helmsman button to take control away from the helm
4) Sit back and enjoy the voyage
NIGHT SINK AND DEEP WATER IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, but will not prevent the ship from fully sinking
THANK YOU TO:
– Jacco’s Waypoint Controller: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1793949233
– Craig P’s GPS Autopilot: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1753758050&searchtext=gps+autopilot
This ship is a bold experimentation of many different elements and affects: some you will notice, some you may not. Please feel free to let me know in the comments what features you liked, and / or some features you think could be improved / removed.
LINK TO HOSPITAL LIVERY:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2200188405
Official ScoodlyPoodly Discord Server: https://discord.gg/9CDmqvS8rB
DO NOT REUPLOAD UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!!!!!!
Have fun and good sailing!
-ScoodlyPoodly
