The Cairn · Vessel
MV Tallow
A forty-one-year-old hauler that went out with ten and came back with fourteen. Her hand log says three hundred and thirty-one days on passage; her master clock says two hundred and forty-one; her second engineer's says two hundred and sixty. Nobody has ever reconciled them, and the ship is the argument: her master died on the way, Efe brought her in as acting master, and admitting her — people, cargo and all — is the decision the Cairn's whole first book turns on.
Designation
Civilian Bulk Hauler (independent registry)
Service
Forty-one years in service at 2318
Hull
41 m beam across the frames — the registry figure; her length is nowhere on record
Complement
Ten out on her last charter; fourteen home
Propulsion
Commercial fold plant, charter-route rated
Armament
None
Classification
MV — Master-commanded civilian hull