Hotcha! I got a couple of bites {O)

Okay lessee. Bear in mind fellas I'm still working out the finer details and they may be subject to change but here goes.

Amos one of the underlining ideas I've toyed with is that it would be a ship being slowly ousted by the changing technology, the hybrids you were talking about. So we'd probably say full rigged. Were full rigged as opposed to hybrids looked down upon any at this time? Like it would equal obsolete? Or were they just accepted as part of the business?

The size...hmm. Not terribly big I would think but big enough to carry a fair number of passengers. What would be the smallest size that could still safely cross the ocean and the holding capacity of such a boat?

Rapaire: Eh *coughs and grins sheepishly* Well lessee. Countries and ports of the setting...ah. Part of the story is that things get a bit...odd right at the beginning so that may not be such a item in the story but I haven't got that far yet. The flag and country of origin...right now the three choices are pretty typical. England America and Canada. But if there are other possibilities throw them out. That's just the first three that automatically came to mind. I'd say either Atlantic waters or further up north. Nova Scotia comes to mind but I don't know if that would be feasible.

Another question...how was ownership established so far as a ship was concerned during this time? Would you have a captain that owned his own passenger ship or was it still a matter of being privately owned and a captain hired to take it back and forth? Could ships be passed down in a family? Also what was an acceptable age for a man to be made a captain? Could he be fairly young and if so how young would be realistic without being ridiculous?