Unhomed Seamanship (possible spoilers???)

[Seafoam Understone]

I'm continuing the script and now reached the portion of the tale where Foamfollower is relating to Covenant the story of the Unhomed.
In it instead of a long drawn out monolouge (which would kill the pace of the "proposed" movie) I'm using a series of images drawn from Foamy's song of the Unhomed. Even giving sneak peeks to Birathairan Harbor, Elohim and so forth as the Unhomed are "roaming the seas, boldly going where dreaming goes..."

I recall that there were a group of ships (7?) that left the Giant home and quested outward. I also recall that some of them stayed with the Elohim.
Then according to Foamfollower's song :

We are the Unhomed --
lost voyagers of the world.
In the land beyond the Sunbirth Sea
we lived and had our homes and grew --
and set our sails to the wind,
unheeding of the peril of the lost.
We are the Unhomed.
From home and hearth,
stone sacred dwellings crafted by our reverent hands,
we set our sails to the wind of the stars,
and carried life to lands across the earth,
careless of the peril of our loss.
We are the Unhomed --
lost voyagers of the world.
From desert shore to high cliff crag,
home of men and sylvan sea-edge faery lands --
from dream to dream we set our sails,
and smiled at the rainbow of our loss.
Now we are Unhomed,
bereft of root and kith and kin.
From other mysteries of delight,
we set our sails to resail our track;
but the winds of life blew not the way we chose,
and the land beyond the Sea was lost.

From the (bold) lines we see that the Giants were obviously caught in a bad storm (Soul-biter?) and thus ended upon the Land at Coceri. Now my question is did the ships wreck? Did some of them sank? You'd think a people that live/breathe/eat/sleep the seas would fare better than to be ship-wrecked? It would leave a bad "first-impression" for anyone not new to the chrons to see a group of sea-loving people ended up ship-wrecked.
I dunno.
As Johnny Five said: NEED INPUT!

[michaelcov]

The way I remember it " and I could be wrong" The problem was not so much as they were shipwrecked as they were lost. Blown so far off course they had no idea where they were. I also believe they always had one ship out to sea looking for familiar waters. They never gave up hope of finding away home untill the Giant-raver showed up.

[Lament]

Now my question is did the ships wreck? Did some of them sank? You'd think a people that live/breathe/eat/sleep the seas would fare better than to be ship-wrecked? It would leave a bad "first-impression" for anyone not new to the chrons to see a group of sea-loving people ended up ship-wrecked.
I dunno.

I'll speak from my experience in the USN.

Seamanship is never more dangerous then when encountering landfall that has never been charted, "Terra incognita". In modern day seamanship "Sea and anchor detail" Is a complicated and delicate process. Ensuring that tonnage of weight moves smoothly (and does not exactly stop on a dime) through complicated shoals and reefs is a risky proposition. Even with modern day utilities such as radar and concise sea charts which tell us exactly where these unseen dangers lay, the possibility of breaching the hull with a reef or shoal is not unforseeable. It has even happened to US naval vessels much to their PR dismay (and the Captains that are summarily removed from command).

I tend however to agree with Michaelcov in that They were probably blown of course. The normal procedure when finding an unknown harbor or landfall by most sailors would have been to perform a sounding to determine a safe-depth of water to drop anchor:

sound4 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sound)
v. sound·ed, sound·ing, sounds
v. tr.
To measure the depth of (water), especially by means of a weighted line; fathom.

2. (Naut.) [From Sound to fathom.] (a) measurement by sounding; also, the depth so ascertained. (b) Any place or part of the ocean, or other water, where a sounding line will reach the bottom; -- usually in the plural. (c) The sand, shells, or the like, that are brought up by the sounding lead when it has touched bottom.

Sounding lead, the plummet at the end of a sounding line.

Sounding line, a line having a plummet at the end, used in making soundings.

from dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sounding

So they would have dropped their sounding line and lead to measure the fathoms and depth. Once the anchorage was established the Navigator would have begun visual triangulated fixes to maintain position every half hour or hour depending. The detail would have been maintained indefinately while at anchor. And then I imagine shore parties would have been called to board their rowboats and head to land to investigate.

I admire your work Seafoam. Hope I helped.

[Fist and Faith]

Foamfollower says that, after some ships sank, some Giants stayed with the Elohim, etc, they tried to go Home:

"So they set their sails by the stars, and sought for Home. But they were prevented. Familiar paths led them to unknown oceans and unencountered perils. Tempests drove them beyond their reckoning until their hands were stripped to the bone by the flailing ropes, and the waves rose up against them as if in hatred..."

And they ended up in Coercri.

It is clear to me that Foul had a hand in their becoming Unhomed, and I'm sure he had a hand in their failed attempts to get back Home. They had three ships out to sea at all times, searching for familiar stars and seas, but never found anything. Until:

"Well. One hope we have found for ourselves. When spring came to Seareach, our questing ships returned, and told that at the very limit of their search they came upon an isle that borders the ancient oceans on which we once roamed.

[Seafoam Understone]

okay, so I need to show some ships at anchor and others wrecked and ...
this is to fill out the scene so to explain (hopefully) to those new to the Land a quick snippet of what's going on with the Giants and "why are they called Unhomed"... it does help

Thanks Lament and Fist