Sky Ship

Sky Ships are fictional flying ships from Paul Stewart's fantasy book series The Edge Chronicles. Sky ships are the equivalent of water borne ships in the Edge universe and are used primarily for transporting supplies and valuable commodities across the Edge.

Sky ships resemble 15-18th century European style wooden sailing ships, with one or more large buoyant rocks placed in the centre of the hull which creates lift. They make use of triangular or square sails for maneuvering, which are hung from their masts like conventional ships or from the ship's hull.

They are depicted in the books through drawings by Chris Riddell.

Located on the top of the main mast, the caternest is a lookout point similar to a crow's nest. It is named after the Caterbird's cocoon which it resembles.

The most distinguishing feature of a sky ship is its flight rock. In the Edge Universe, some varieties of rock float depending on their ambient temperature - sinking when hot, and rising when cold. The temperature of the rock is controlled by a Stone Pilot who uses the flight burners and cooling rods on the flight rock platform to alter the ship's altitude. The flight rock is penetrated by various pipes that transfer heat around it and housed in a cage between the fore and aft hulls.

The flight rock platform is situated on top of the flight rock cage and has several levers built into it that allow the Stone Pilot to control the temperature with bellows and cooling rods. The flight burners are flaming torches mounted near the flight rock and connected to it through metal pipes that provide the heat needed to control the sky ship's altitude.

The hull of a sky ship is split into two sections; the fore hull normally contains the crew's sleeping quarters, some small hull weights and a hold, and the aft hull contains a cargo bay, food storage, galley, infirmary and the housing for control cables and interior hull weights. These areas may also be included in areas of the aft castle.

The hull decking can be used to hold weaponry such as harpoons, crossbows and catapults.

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