Civilian ships of the Sea of Jars

Civilian shipping on the Sea of Jars is the lifeblood of the Eleven Cities. The standard of living enjoyed in the cities is wholly dependent on a steady stream of foods, wines, raw materials and finished goods transported from one city to another, and nine times out of ten that transport is undertaken by ship. A merchant planning on transporting a cargo from, for example, Elpaloz to Andymalon would almost certainly do so by ship rather than by land, simply because it is quicker and, if more expensive, also more cost-effective. Some cities, such as Ramoros and the Insular Cities, were in fact founded on the expectation of intercity trade, being more or less inaccessible by land and not possessing enough arable land to feed themselves, at least not with any comfortable margin of error.
All the Eleven cities also have thriving fishing industries. Fish is a staple of their diets, and many fishers also find species of additional economic significance, such as the octopus found around Halumay from which Sapphire ink may be extracted. Few fishers operate with pole and line from shore; most operate their own boats or work for those who own watercraft.
These considerations make shipping a central concern for the people of the cities.

Construction

Ships on the Sea of Jars are constructed predominantly out of wood, held together with wooden dowels or, less commonly, iron nails. The two best sources of timber for ships are the pine forests surrounding Ramoros and Andymalon, cities for whom logging and shipbuilding are crucial exports, though shipwrights of both the southern and northern cities can call upon local timber reserves.
Ships are clinker-built, made with overlappning planks, and civilian ships are generally built with low, broad hulls the better to accommodate cargo. Sails are made from linen spun from flax while ropes are made from jute. Although unglamorous these commodities command high prices due to their importance in outfitting ships.

Financing

It is entirely possible, and by no means uncommon, for a prosperous merchant to purchase their own ship. This represents a major investment, however, and many ships are thus purchased on credit from shipbuilders. Once a ship leaves the port where it was built there is actually no guarantee it will ever return, and a substantial proportion of the ships on the Sea of Jars actually carry fugitives from the debts incurred in their construction. For this reason shipbuilders tend to prefer to do business with larger consortia more likely to purchase a ship up front. The largest and most trustworthy of these consortia are of course the Commercial Guilds who maintain offices in each of the major cities. As such a large number of ships are in fact leased to merchants from the guilds, who serve as a sort of sea-wide ship registry as well as a merchant bank and can, with their international network of communications, keep track of where each ship is. This incidentally increases their already robust hold on the majority of the meaningful merchant traffic on the Sea of Jars.

Operation and crewing

Depending on the size of the vessel a ship's master will need to hire anything from a couple of crew (for a small private fishing vessel, which are typically family-run) to as many as fifty. Regardless of the size of the ship, young adult men are preferred simply because operating a sailing ship calls for an abiding degree of reliable upper body strength. 
Fishing boats typically operate close enough to shore that they spend only one night, at most, out of sight of land. In such cases a captain is the only officer required. Merchantmen on ocean-going voyages of more than a few days must be provisioned and require something of a chain of command to keep the crew on task, the ship on course and the provisions appropriately rationed. The appointment of officers is delegated to the captain, who will typically appoint a cook, a bosun, and a mate. Captains with personal methods of organisation may divide the crew into departments with department heads or appoint second or third mates. A captain may do his own navigation or he may appoint an officer for the role. In most cases these chains of command, whatever form they take, tend to be respected, or at least approached in good faith. Sailors on the Sea of Jars are a parochial class of people and take a certain pride in their humble but crucial role in securing their society's well-being; polite critiques may be common but mutiny is rare.

Facilities

Most substantial merchantmen have two decks, one for 'operation' and one to hold cargo. The operation deck will include the captain's cabin, typically at the stern (with the prevailing wind coming from behind, this is the part of a sailing ship least likely to be subject to odours). Some ships also reserve a second cabin for the navigator or paying guests. The rest of the operation deck will consist of a galley and a mess where the crew can eat and relax when not on watch. Individual sailors do not have their own cabins, instead stringing their hammocks or laying their bedrolls wherever they can during sleeping hours.
Very old ships can still be found with vacant areas in the operation deck where a shrine to Zargyod, the pre-Wesmodian god of luck, metals and the sea, was once situated. Without known exception, this area (typically only a few square feet) has now been emptied but institutional culture on many ships still accepts it as a site worthy of respect; it is a common superstition, for example, that one should not swear, or speak ill of a captain or crewmate, where somebody standing in that area might readily hear such a statement. In pre-Wesmodian times it is well-known that the outfitting of a shrine to Zargyod was consisted an essential part of readying a vessel for a voyage; sailors on bot warships and merchentmen successfully petitioned to delay ordered journeys because the small brass or copper statuettes of the god had not been cleaned and replaced in their niches. Thaumatologists with an interest in the cult of Zargyod seek out ships with such facilities in the hopes of gleaning some insight from archaeological examinations of these former shrines.