Kingsport 1844: Tuttle Shipyard

7) The Tuttle Shipyard
Between Silver Street and Fish Street, The Yards, Harborside. Est. 1644

Keeper’s Note: This shipyard is a location in “Kingsport 1844,” and was written for the White Leviathan campaign. It contains minor spoilers for anyone intending to play White Leviathan as a character.

A) Heart of Empire
There’s little reason for the player characters to visit the Tuttle Shipyard except for general curiosity, but some may wish to view the Aldebaran under construction. The Tuttle Shipyard occupies an area loosely enclosed by Silver Street to the west and Fish Street to the east, with additional manufactories between Gold Street and Wharf Street. Although Father Neptune is positioned over the Illsley Shipyard to the west, the Tuttles like to joke that “Father Neptune trusts us to be closer to the sea!” The main office is located above a warehouse on Fish Street, adjacent the Hellfighters Engine Company, a group of Nativist firemen who keep order in the yard and occasionally do strong-arm work for Tuttle-approved political causes. (The burning of Opium Row? Let’s say neither the Tuttle Hellfighters nor the Illsley Liberty Bells were in any rush to extinguish that blaze!) A few taverns are scattered around the Tuttle Yards, mostly owned by some friend, cousin, or distant relation of the Tuttles, the most popular being Fish & Ships, located at the corner of Fish and Ship streets and known for its fried cod sandwiches and imported libations. Also popular are the Judy Blue, a floating brothel that operates from a decommissioned sloop, and the Eight Bells, a rowdy public house on Maul Street.

Kingsport Note: The locations described above are not detailed further, and are left for the Keeper to improvise if needed. If the Keeper has access to Chaosium’s “Kingsport: The City In the Mists,” the Rope & Anchor is also located on Ship Street. Because Ross gives no founding date for the tavern, the Keeper may decide whether it’s a recent construction or dates back to colonial times.

B) Entering the Shipyard
Visitors may enter the Tuttle shipyard from any direction, but the official entrance is on Brig Street just above the docks. If the characters arrive during the day, they’ll see the Corinthian being hove down by the dock, its copper sheathing being replaced by a team of workers taking advantage of low tide. Because this process is usually performed in the drydocks, the sight is somewhat rare. (The Tuttle drydocks are currently occupied by the Aldebaran and the Sumatra Queen, a barque owned by the Marshes of Innsmouth.) A small group of idlers have gathered to watch the ship rolled on its side, offering sage advice about warm water and shipworm. The sunlight gleams brilliantly from the new copper, and a cheerful Arkham daguerreotypist named Holgrave Maule has set up his equipment to capture the careening—“Using sunlight and copper to capture sunlight on copper, hey!”

C) The Aldebaran
While many whaleships are refitted from existing vessels, the Aldebaran is being built as a whaler from keel to topmast. Intended to be Sleet, Baker & Blood’s flagship, the Aldebaran is scheduled to sail on January 1, 1845, and will be captained by Nathaniel Coffin Warnock. A Seamanship or Pilot (Boat) roll confirms the quality of the workmanship—there’s no shortcuts, and no expenses have been spared. The workers are currently preparing for the installation of the ship’s figurehead, which will be brought from Erasmus Doppler & Sons on November 4 (see Encounter 8.)

The Stars Are Right! (Or at Least One of Them.)
A Natural World or Occult roll identifies Aldebaran as the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus­, a prominent red star serving as the bull’s right eye. A Science (Astronomy) roll offers additional details: One of the four “Royal Stars” of the ancient Persians, Aldebaran was called Lampadias, or “Torchbearer” by the Greeks, named because it followed the Pleiades across the sky. The Arabs preserved this meaning­, and “Nā᾽ir al Dabarān” means “The Bright Follower.” The star’s English name is a transliteration of the Arabic. This information may also be gathered at a library with a successful Library Use roll. However, what cannot be found in books are the star’s Mythos associations. A Cthulhu Mythos roll connects Aldebaran with He Who Must Not Be Named, a mysterious being said to drive artists and sorcerers mad. A Kingsport Cult roll recalls that Aldebaran was sacred to the “St. Michael’s Witches.” At dusk during the winter solstice, Aldebaran perches just above the steeple of the Church on Central Hill (Encounter 23).

White Leviathan > Chapter 1—Kingsport 1844
[Back to “The Yards” | White Leviathan TOC | Forward to Encounter 8, Erasmus Doppler & Sons]

Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 19 October 2021
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]

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