Frigate

A frigate is a generic term for a warship, and has been applied to numerous vessels throughout Terran history. In the lands of Sosaria and later Britannia, the frigate has long been the ship of choice for adventurers, explorers and pirates alike, allowing sailors to maneuver the realm's oceans with cannons in tow.

History
Frigates were first available in the early days of Sosaria, during the events of Ultima I. In this age, ships could be procured for a little under six-hundred pence and were available throughout the coastal "Transport shoppes" which dotted Sosaria's landscape. Later, during the incursions of Exodus in Ultima III, such vessels were scarce to come by amongst honest vendors, with the pirates of the era having secured the vast majority of the water ways. In this age and for several years to follow, a frigate could most commonly be procured by fighting against a raiding crew bold enough to attack one's party on shore and then claiming their ship after dispatching them.

Ship craft was still in practice during these dark days of high piracy, and it was, in fact, in this very era that the legendary HMS Cape was built—a ship whose speed and power was of such potency that merely equipping a ship with its magic wheel would steel the strength of the mundane vessel's hull. It is said that for generations after this prodigious vessel sailed and sank that its likeness was not matched, owing to the misplacement of its blueprints by its inventor's descendants.

Legends such as the Cape aside, it was not until the days of Blackthorn's regency that shipwrights became a common sight amidst the coastal cities of Britannia. During the age of the Oppression, the mariners of the realm were likely at the apex of their calling—with frigates back on the open market and with the erection of the four manned lighthouses to guide wayward sailors to shore. It was in this period as well that skiffs first became a common piece of equipment on sea-faring vessels, allowing for further exploration of coastal shoals and rivers.

Even after the eventual destruction of lighthouses in the upheaval that followed the Underworld's collapse, frigates continued to be the standard ship for travel for several years. By the time of the events of Ultima VI cannon-equipped vessels were still common, although ships were generally sold without skiffs to accompany them. It was only over the next two-centuries of relative peace that the frigate finally went out of fashion, with armed vessels no longer being common by the time of the Avatar's arrival in Ultima VII. It seemed that piracy as it was known had died out in this new age of Britannia, with the once inhospitable settlement of Buccaneer's Den slowly transforming itself around a burgeoning tourist industry, and many raiders retiring from their lives of crime. With the seas now largely free of marauders, it appears that the frigate met its end as well, its armaments rendered unnecessary.

Frigates on Minax's Earth
It is said that during the altered time line of Terran history created by the sorceress Minax, that cannon-bearing frigates were a common sight throughout all four major time zones accessible through the planet's time doors - with such vessels appearing from the  ninth millenia B.C. up through the  twenty-second century A.D. Apparently, amongst the sailing culture of this strange alternate world, those who sought passage on any ship required an artifact known as a  blue tassle to prove their mettle to the crew, although precisely what the significance of these tassles were has never been brought to light.

It is assumed that after the enchantress was slain, that history righted itself, and that Earth's rich and varied naval customs and technologies were restored to normalcy.