Ships crew

Big Orc

Mongoose
In Arms of Legend the ship descriptions have a value attributed to Crew, but, there is no explanation as to whether this value represents maximum crew, minimum crew or average crew. Can anyone enlighten me on this topic?
 
After a quick look it would appear to list average sized full compliments of crew, of which one third to a half would actually be needed to run the ship easily, less under easy conditions, far less in a pinch.

For instance, a ship such as the Mary Rose could operate at a push with a skeleton crew of 20 or so, yet her wartime compliment of sailors was 200 (not including soldiers, gunners and various specialist like surgeons, officers staff etc which could take the total compliment up to 450 men).

Another consideration is the period in which the ship sails, a square rigger today (google the jubilee sailing trust) can run on 30 to 50 men.

Jason's Argo, a much smaller vessel and more ancient is reported as having between 40 and 55 men. A replica penticonter was completed in 2008 and named Argo, and carried 50 oars.

A 44 foot viking knarr built in 1972 sailed from Norway to Newfoundland with a crew of 12 (it only had 4 oars so relied on sail).

So you see, crew can vary wildly due to the time period, ship dimensions and current status and use of a vessel.
Whatever you guess at will be good enough, and you can always add more men who were below decks if needs be, or lessen those active by putting them off watch.
 
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