Off Port Royal, Jamaica, in the year 1660.
The Swallow at Sea
Your first command
Leave it blank and the crew will call you Captain.
On a phone or tablet, you sail with the buttons under the heading "Ship controls", just below the sea chart. Swipe to them, or use the VoiceOver rotor set to headings. When you take command, VoiceOver is placed on Raise sail.
This moves you onto the sea chart. JAWS and NVDA should switch to application mode by themselves so your keys reach the ship. Press H at any time for the keys. Up Arrow raises sail.
At sea
The captain's cabin
Sea battle
The Swallow
The enemy
Space fires a broadside from the side facing her. E tells you where she is. S reports on both ships. Up Arrow full sail, Down Arrow battle sails. Sail into her to board.
Ship controls
Marooned
You sit alone on the sand of a deserted island, with nothing but the waves for company. Your career as a captain is over.
Retirement
Controls
Touch screen
The buttons under the heading Ship controls: Turn left, Turn right, Raise sail, Lower sail, Report, Lookout, Where am I, Wind, Destination, Bearing, Beacon, Fast time, Go ashore, Cabin, Zoom chart, Repeat, Pause and Help. Menus and sea battle buttons appear just above them when needed. With VoiceOver or TalkBack, slide your finger to a button and double tap.
Controller
- Left and Right
- Turn
- Up and Down
- Raise and lower sail
- A
- Ship report
- B
- Fast time
- C
- Captain's cabin
- X
- Next destination
- Y
- Lookout
- Z
- Bearing to your destination
- Start
- Pause
- Select with A, B, C
- Go ashore, guide beacon, where am I
- Select with X, Y, Z
- Previous destination, the wind, repeat
- Select alone
- Hear the controller buttons
- In menus
- Up and down move, A chooses, B goes back
- In a sea battle
- Left and right turn, Up full sail, Down battle sails, A fires, C where is she, Y both ships
Keyboard
Steering works in compass points. There are 16 points around the compass, so one press of an arrow turns you about the width of a clock's hour hand. Your speed depends on the angle between your heading and the wind. Straight into the wind you can only row, and slowly. With the wind behind your shoulder, the Swallow flies.
The helm
- Left Arrow
- Turn left one point. Hold to keep turning
- Right Arrow
- Turn right one point
- Up Arrow
- Raise sail: furled, half sail, full sail
- Down Arrow
- Lower sail
- F
- Fast time on or off. Turns off when something happens
- P
- Pause or resume
Reports
- Space
- Heading, point of sail, speed, sails, wind and day
- W
- Wind direction and strength, and your best headings
- N
- Where am I: distance and direction from the nearest town
- L
- Lookout: nearby land and ships in sight
- R
- Repeat the last message
Navigation
- T
- Pick the next destination, nearest town first
- Shift T
- Previous destination
- B
- Bearing and distance to your destination, and which way to turn
- G
- Guide beacon on or off: a chime from the direction of your destination
- Z
- Zoom the chart out to the whole Caribbean, or back in
- 1 to 4, or Up, Down and Enter
- Choose when a ship or town asks for a decision
- H
- Hear the keys
- M
- Sound on or off
What you hear: waves all around, wind that grows with the breeze, and surf that gets louder and moves left or right as you near a coast. A ship in sight sends a soft tick from her direction, lower when she is behind you. A fast double tick means she is chasing you. The guide beacon chimes from your destination's direction and rings high and doubled when you are pointed right at it. In a strong wind a gust can knock your bow one point off course, and dark squalls bring rain, thunder and more gusts. The game tells you which way to turn to get back on course.