Where are the kraken?

I have been re-reading the series, and noticed that there is something missing from the sea battles. The kraken are described as fairly intelligent, and know that boats contain edibles. Yet there is no mention of their appearance at any of the battles, which strikes me as odd. I would have thought an apex predator such as this would have learned that the sounds of a sea battle are likely associated with food, and would be drawn to battles.

Assuming they show up, they probably show up to collect the bodies from the water. Also, they're probably keying on the sounds of ships breaking up/sinking, rather than the sound of cannon - ships have been around and sinking for a lot longer than cannonfire has.

Besides, let's be honest, mentioning kraken showing up for/after naval battles would not really add much, if anything, to the story, and simply take up space and wordcount that could be used to move the story along.

Kytheros wrote:Assuming they show up, they probably show up to collect the bodies from the water. Also, they're probably keying on the sounds of ships breaking up/sinking, rather than the sound of cannon - ships have been around and sinking for a lot longer than cannonfire has.

Besides, let's be honest, mentioning kraken showing up for/after naval battles would not really add much, if anything, to the story, and simply take up space and wordcount that could be used to move the story along.

It is interesting the variety of questions we think of to ask. It goes to prove that as individuals we are all unique. But if RFC were to write in a a way to answer all our questions, the Safehold series would be longer than the Encyclopedia Britannica!

Don

n7axw wrote:

Kytheros wrote:Assuming they show up, they probably show up to collect the bodies from the water. Also, they're probably keying on the sounds of ships breaking up/sinking, rather than the sound of cannon - ships have been around and sinking for a lot longer than cannonfire has.

Besides, let's be honest, mentioning kraken showing up for/after naval battles would not really add much, if anything, to the story, and simply take up space and wordcount that could be used to move the story along.

It is interesting the variety of questions we think of to ask. It goes to prove that as individuals we are all unique. But if RFC were to write in a a way to answer all our questions, the Safehold series would be longer than the Encyclopedia Britannica!

Don

Longer than the Brittanica? What a truly fine idea.

At least in the larger battles, they probably are staying clear due to the amount of sound in the water. After all, the US Navy is in trouble with ecologists due to their use of sonar in whale habitats.

doug941 wrote:At least in the larger battles, they probably are staying clear due to the amount of sound in the water. After all, the US Navy is in trouble with ecologists due to their use of sonar in whale habitats.

Doubtful. The amount of sound in a cannonfest battle can be deafening to people close by, but it doesn't transmit well into the water. The only thing that could really make a big, scary underwater BOOM would be a ship's magazine going off.

Comparing the level of sound of one such battle to a sonar is like comparing a laser pointer to a Class 4 laser rangefinder. The first is a small, momentary discomfort, the second blinds you permanently in short order.

n7axw wrote:

Kytheros wrote:Assuming they show up, they probably show up to collect the bodies from the water. Also, they're probably keying on the sounds of ships breaking up/sinking, rather than the sound of cannon - ships have been around and sinking for a lot longer than cannonfire has.

Besides, let's be honest, mentioning kraken showing up for/after naval battles would not really add much, if anything, to the story, and simply take up space and wordcount that could be used to move the story along.

It is interesting the variety of questions we think of to ask. It goes to prove that as individuals we are all unique. But if RFC were to write in a a way to answer all our questions, the Safehold series would be longer than the Encyclopedia Britannica!

Don

and a lot less boring.

peke wrote:

doug941 wrote:At least in the larger battles, they probably are staying clear due to the amount of sound in the water. After all, the US Navy is in trouble with ecologists due to their use of sonar in whale habitats.

Doubtful. The amount of sound in a cannonfest battle can be deafening to people close by, but it doesn't transmit well into the water. The only thing that could really make a big, scary underwater BOOM would be a ship's magazine going off.

Comparing the level of sound of one such battle to a sonar is like comparing a laser pointer to a Class 4 laser rangefinder. The first is a small, momentary discomfort, the second blinds you permanently in short order.

The key words in my post were "At least in the larger battles." A fleet action like Tarot, which according to safehold.wikia, had 99 vessels in action will have thousands of guns firing. Do I think sound will have that effect with 20-30 ships? No, but a fleet action will. Remember that water transmits sound better than air, and that sound will transmit thru the hulls and to a lesser amount thru air into the water.

doug941 wrote:

peke wrote:Doubtful. The amount of sound in a cannonfest battle can be deafening to people close by, but it doesn't transmit well into the water. The only thing that could really make a big, scary underwater BOOM would be a ship's magazine going off.

Comparing the level of sound of one such battle to a sonar is like comparing a laser pointer to a Class 4 laser rangefinder. The first is a small, momentary discomfort, the second blinds you permanently in short order.

The key words in my post were "At least in the larger battles." A fleet action like Tarot, which according to safehold.wikia, had 99 vessels in action will have thousands of guns firing. Do I think sound will have that effect with 20-30 ships? No, but a fleet action will. Remember that water transmits sound better than air, and that sound will transmit thru the hulls and to a lesser amount thru air into the water.

The more recent battles would be acoustically louder - shells don't always hit their targets and a shell exploding in the water would be quite loud enough to stun anything in the water for quite a distance (and possibly kill fish in the area). Whilst the kraken would be repelled by the bangs, the buffet afterwards would be most unhealthy to be near for anyone in the water.

doug941 wrote:
The key words in my post were "At least in the larger battles." A fleet action like Tarot, which according to safehold.wikia, had 99 vessels in action will have thousands of guns firing. Do I think sound will have that effect with 20-30 ships? No, but a fleet action will. Remember that water transmits sound better than air, and that sound will transmit thru the hulls and to a lesser amount thru air into the water.

Granted, water transmits sound better than air, but the point is the transition of the sound from one medium (air) into another medium (water). That transition is what makes an above-water cannonfest barely bothersome to underwater critters: the amount of sound that does make the transition is laughable. The other part you mentioned would be a transition from atmospheric noise to wood, causing vibrations that transmit into the water. This does cause noise, but not from the cannon's fire: from the moving, scrapping, and impacts that take place aboard a ship during a fleet action (I would equate it to people banging with sledgehammers on the inside of the hull). I have no idea if that level of sound would scare krakens or not.

This is the why sticking your palms over your ears works: atmospheric sound has to overcome the transition from air to your flesh to air again, and loses almost all of its potency on the way. (Unless the sound causes some kind of harmonics in the second medium, but that's another issue)