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[Caffiend]

well i didnt see that i was wondering if anyone else played with it and saw the kinda like a forest in the back like a water mark...

[BadSmeagol]

Ok, I have been going crazy with this trying to identify the ship images we have so far. I finally got desperate and tried to get some help. I sent an e-mail to the maritime historian at the National Parks Service ( http://www.nps.gov/history/maritime/ ) with the ship pics from the last video we got, the one from Clarity, and the weird one with the Ontario motto that was sent to Trustiva. I asked him if he could help identify what type of ships they were. Just got his reply.

"I do not often take tests by email but will give this a shot.

The first image is too dark to be able to make out the hull clearly, but is
appears to be an frigate or late galleon with a somewhat lower than normal
hull (quarterdeck & poopdeck aft). The rigging is in considerable
disarray, though, and that is something that would not generally be
tolerated by a naval captain. It looks somewhat like the Black Pearl in
the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, or one of the Hollywood Errol Flynn
pirate movies, ie. a fantasy rendering with intentional exaggeration.

The second image is also quite inaccurate for any ship known. The hull is
grossly larger than it should be, the sailing rig is extremely simplified,
and the hull details are mis-proportioned to each other. The hull is so
large that the sail area is huge even before any sails are set - it could
only go straight downwind. The hull seems to have been based on a Spanish
or Dutch galleon, but not too faithfully followed. It sure is dramatic
though.

The third image is the most accurate to my mind, even though it is very
faint. It seems to have been based on a galleon hull and rig, but has an
extra high deck at the stern, perhaps an extra-high poop deck or a caboose.
That feature seems to be a bit too high and would make the ship unstable.
It would also tend to make the hull act like a weathervane and want to
point upwind whenever the wind got strong. Some galleons and other
fifteenth & sixteenth century ships did have these sorts of large sterns
though so it is plausible. I just don't know how they sailed it. It also
appears to lack a mizzen mast, which would make it hard to balance the
sailing rig - a necessary feature in steering with the small rudder area
and wide sterns these ships had. The hull above the waterline is
exaggerated in contrast to the hull below, which is minimized. This is a
feature of sailor-made models and drawings (such as votive models) - the
sailors envisioned their parts of the ship to be larger. A ship
carpenter's model or often may be just the opposite; with them the hull
might be a bit larger than it should. The stylized falcon or dragon image
at the top of the page is nice and might point toward this illustration
being associated in some way with the wonderful historical fantasy novels
of Naomi Novik, except her series to date has been about ships and dragons
in the early 1800s. The inscription seems to be in Latin in somewhat
modern handwriting but I can not read anything beyond the middle word which
looks like Fidelis, meaning faithful.

I hope that this is helpful in your research. Please let me know if I can
be of any further assistance."


I have no clue if this helps or not. Thoughts anyone?

[Tresbien]

It sounds like he's saying that they are inaccurate drawings of the ships (I did like the votives and Pirates of the Caribbean comparisons.). I don't think he's right about the bird/wraith being a falcon because they have rounded heads and no tufts of feathers on their crowns, and this one's head comes to a point like a cardinal's does.

It might be good to remember that we're being told a story that includes both real world and fictional elements and places.

[Merago]

Hey BadSmeagol, we've both been looking in to the same thing it seems! I spent hours poring over images of ships yesterday, and, when I wildly surmised that it might be New Bedford that this is set in, I got all excited when I discovered that the New Bedford Whaling Museum (http://www.whalingmuseum.org) had hundreds of pictures of sea vessels, many of them very similar to the ship we saw in songwraith's last video. I was convinced I'd find the image used there. I gave up when my eyes went cross-eyed from comparing the number of masts and sails to songwraith's ship.
The photo archives are here (http://www.whalingmuseum.org/newbedphoto/default.asp?) if anyone else fancies giving it a shot.
Great idea in calling in an expert BadSmeagol.

[BadSmeagol]

Merago- I checked out that whaling museum too.

Well, I'm thinking that if Songwraith is using songs from movies it might not be too farfetched to think that some of the images are from movies too. I don't know. It seems like I keep hitting a brick wall.

[Tresbien]

Don't forget that there are other images to consider aside from the ships. We also have the unknown house, the doll and the lion's head to identify.

[BadSmeagol]

I'm at a loss with the house image. I can't identify that without more info. With all the images we have gotten so far the ships and birds seem to be the most recurring, so I guess I was focusing on them. I am usually really good with research, but this one is really making me nuts. I just keep feeling like I'm missing something.

[Tresbien]

I know how you feel BadSmeagol as I'm usually good at research. I was looking at the house/building again to see if I could find anything identifying on it. There must have been something there to account for areas being blacked out. Since no one's mentioned them yet, I wanted to note the two children. Next to and just below them, in the right-hand corner, there's something written, which I believe is "Liber and Sons," perhaps the photographer. Here's my adjusted look at it:

[Pavoreax]

I think you may be chasing ghosts. I don't see two children, but if you're looking at what I think you're looking at, I see a dark spot on the wall, where the pattern of the siding is still visible.

[thebruce]

I lookedat te page again, normally and with a black light... nothing else has stood out. everything in the picture is what it is

[Tresbien]

Thanks for checking it thoroughly thebruce.

Pavoreax you may be right but it looks to me like the figures are in front of the house not a part of it. But then I first thought it was a shrub so can't be sure. Actually, when I lightened the image and removed the color, I was surprised to see what appeared to be two children when I hadn't noticed them at all before.

[Brave777]

Hey everyone! This is my first ARG and having fun so far! I emailed songwraith with name and location as well and hoping for a reply (though it says he hasn't been on youtube in 5 days).

My fiance had an interesting observation. The lady in the clouds from the hearts vs heads video looks like its off a coin. That could fit with his narrative

[Tresbien]

Welcome Brave777. Here's the screencap of the ship you requested, and I've added another one that I adjusted. I'm inclined to rely on the judgment of the NPS maritime historian on the ships images we've seen so far.

"Time is a currency..." is not a unique expression; it just means use your time wisely, and I don't think in this case it has meaning beyond choose your words carefully. Songwraith did say in in the very first video that he would not hold our hands, which I think is his intention again.

[BadSmeagol]

I was thinking that the O's on the map that are all over water might be shipwrecks. No luck with that though, but I'm still checking...

[Tresbien]

BadSmeagol, you might find this helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shipwrecks_of_the_United_States Since some wraiths arise out of water, I agree that this is a reasonable explanation of the Os on the map.