How would you get a Tyrannosaurus off a s

Hello. I am not sure where to post this, but I am writing a dark fantasy story set in a medieval-style world, and I need some technical advice. (I have previously posted about my fantasy world in this thread. The problem I will describe here is related but different.

My problem is this: I have a race of animals called Cortios. They are theropod dinosaurs similar in appearance and size to a Tyrannosaurus. And I have a Cortio whom I need to transport across the sea. His name is Belgrim, he is 14 metres long and weighs 6 tonnes. He is used as a mount and a beast of war by the Rissitic warrior N�rkiz�.

At the beginning of my story I have Belgrim on a ship. The army then goes ashore to invade an island (as described in my other thread). So I need some way to get the Cortio off the ship. I am unsure how I might do this.

Now, the overall technology is equivalent to Europe somewhere in 1000-1100 CE, but with ships a bit more advanced, perhaps 100 years more. The ship carrying him is the flagship Mother Hydra, a behemoth 40 metres long. (Ships aren't normally this big, but it's epic fantasy, remember, so I have larger-than-life heroes and marvels of technology and magic in it. Mother Hydra is one such marvel, her construction aided with magic.)

The Rissitics are not landing in a proper harbour but at a beach. And Mother Hydra is a huge ship, so there's a limit to how close to land she can go without running aground. Now, Belgrim can't climb down a ladder, obviously, and they can't just set up a huge crane to lift him off. His weight makes everything complicated. He could jump off and swim, but I am worried that a six-ton monster leaping off the ship might cause it to capsize, or at least rock dangerously.

Any suggestions? How do I get Belgrim off the ship? Thanks in advance. :)

I would suggest possibly bringing the ship in as close as possible and then transferring the beast to a shallow draft barge or raft to bring it in close to shore.

Do something along the lines of what Hannibal did with his elephants when crossing the Rhone. He made barges (rafts) but covered them in dirt, sticks and grass so as to make the elephants think they were on solid ground. Then he had them hauled across.
Either that, or could it swim?

*Knights
Are you able to construct a pier out from the coast/beach, where the ship can dock (while in deep water still), or would that be too time consuming?

Fair enough. If other ships are present, could you arrange them in a descending fashion beside each other, so Belgrim slowly gets closer to the water. From here, he can jump off the final (expendable) boat?

Ships of the era were constructed such that they rode low in the water.  It wasn't until much later, with the Galleons for example, that ships were constructed with the deck high above the waterline.  That being the case, it should be simple enough to use a shallow ramp to move the beast from the deck of the ship to a raft, as suggested.  That would be more or less how the ship would be loaded / unloaded at a dock.  The only difference here would be that the beast is being unloaded to a raft rather than a dock.  Of course you'd want calm seas before attempting such an operation.

So set up a ramp that leads down to a big raft? Yeah, that sounds pretty good. From the raft he can then jump in the water and swim ashore.

Originally posted by Dolphin How did the beast get on the boat in the first place? How it leaves will have to adhere to this as a pre-requisite.

The beast got on the ship in a proper harbour, where resources and time were plentiful. I imagine they could have a big ramp from the harbour to the deck where it could just walk over.

Thanks for the posts. :)

Originally posted by deadkenny Originally posted by Spectrum So set up a ramp that leads down to a big raft? Yeah, that sounds pretty good. From the raft he can then jump in the water and swim ashore.... Lol, well if the 'beast' in question can 'swim', couldn't it simply 'jump' off the side of the ship and swim to shore?� I was assuming it couldn't swim, hence the need for some 'method' for getting it ashore.

Actually, I mentioned this in my opening post. The Cortio can swim, but I am worried that a six-ton monster leaping off the ship might cause it to capsize.

Edited by Spectrum - 23-Aug-2007 at 18:18

Originally posted by deadkenny Originally posted by Spectrum Actually, I mentioned this in my opening post. The Cortio can swim, but I am worried that a six-ton monster leaping off the ship might cause it to capsize. Lol, quite right.� Well obviously reading all the way to the last sentence of a longer post isn't a strong suit.� ;)� However, that does simplify matters a bit.� If the only issue is getting it off the ship, even into deep water, then it's simply a matter of weight transfer.� As the beast moves to one side of the ship, it will need to be 'counterbalanced'.� Part of the 'crew' of the ship would do quite well in this regard.� The 6 ton beast could be countered by 80 members of the crew, or so.� As the beast approaches one side of the ship, the crew would shift to the opposite side.� As the beast moves down the 'ramp' it's weight shifts off of the ship and onto the 'raft', the 'counterbalancing' members of the crew can then shift back towards the centre of the ship.� You'd want the base of the ramp places towards the centre of the raft, to 'disribute' it's weight evenly there.� Once you've got the beast onto the raft you can 'lift' the ramp and do whatever you want.

This is a good idea, thanks. :)

I have a new idea: I think I'll have a sea battle near the shore. The Imetrians attack the fleet to prevent them from landing, but they are defeated and the Rissitics move up to face the ground forces at the beach.

During the sea battle, Mother Hydra sails up to an Imetric ship and latches grappling hooks onto her. Then soldiers from Mother Hydra board the enemy ship. At this point, Belgrim leaps off to board. I figure that since the ships are tied together with grappling hooks, there is not much danger of capsizing. After the battle aboard the Imetric ship is won, Belgrim can just leap overboard from there and swim ashore (it's not so important if anything happens to the captured ship).