Freland Shipyards

Other than the warehouses and storage buildings, the biggest industry in the Warehouse District is shipbuilding. Occupying a large chunk of the shoreline near the border of the Merchant District, Freland Shipping employs almost a hundred workmen in its twin dry docks and other smaller workshops.

Architecture

The Freland Shipyard takes up a wide section of the waterfront. Piers lead up to two dry docks, each containing ships under construction. Small storage sheds, warehouses, offices, and other outbuildings are spaced around the docks. A wooden fence with two large doors surrounds the whole compound; the fence is sturdy, but a skilled thief could easily get over it.

History

Silas Freland is the proprietor of the shipyard, and he has dominated the shipbuilding trade in town for decades. The only other shipyard in Freeport went out of business 30 years ago, after a fire consumed three ships under construction in a single night. The owner of the shipyard, a Badian named T’giri, had neglected to renew his fire insurance, and Silas picked up the assets of the charred shipyard for a song. T’giri was ruined, and he disappeared soon afterward; most people assumed the despondent man threw himself into Freeport Harbor and drowned. While rumors persisted that the fires were deliberately set, no one could prove anything—and given Silas’ known ties to the crime lord Finn, no one really tried to prove anything.
For decades the Freland Shipyard has enjoyed a shipbuilding monopoly in town, and for all Silas’ shadiness, he’s never really cut corners. At its height, the shipyard would turn out about five large sailing ships a year, every single one snapped up by some merchant or captain almost as soon as it launched from dry-dock. Shipyard makes decent ships, and captains from all over the region would come to Freeport to buy them, paying up to fifty percent more than the usual market price for such craft.

Parent Location

Warehouse District

Owner

Silas Freland