Ship silliness in The Legend of Tarzan

[FifteensAway]

So, I rewatched The Legend of Tarzan the other day - some parts of the movie I like, some are absurd.  But one thing has kept me laughing for the last few days.  The scenes near the end with the boats off shore, there is one ship scene where the deck of the ship is crowded willy-nilly with ventilators pointing a variety of directions.  Virtually impossible for any real ship of such size to need a third of the ventilators shown, maybe 1/6th would still be too many. 

Part I like best is the early scene with the marching soldiers - after that, well, frankly, the best scenery is Margot Robbie, though there are some nice traditional bits of scenery.  Mostly I rewatch when I need to take a break and have a 'movie nap'.

I just felt the need to share for some reason.  Maybe because I'm working on building ships and ordering ventilators for some of my projects and it just stood out so much more.

For those confused, here is an image of a ventilator (from The Armchair General's page):

[anevilgiraffe]

well a picture of the offending scene might help... I've no pressing desire to watch it again.

[Westfalia Chris]

I don't  recall the particular scene either, but given that ships built with an eye to service in the tropics would have large numbers of ventilators, it's not an unreasonable assumption... the movie's "tenuous" authenticity notwithstanding (although I still quite like it for being satisfyingly Darkest-Africa-ish).

To wit, HMS Cockchafer which IIRC had 10 ventilators on the foredeck alone, or SMS Iltis featuring 11,  both built for colonial service.

As to orientation, you would point sufficient numbers of ventilators upwind and some downwind to ensure proper circulation below decks.

[FifteensAway]

WC point well taken but this ship was little more than a Sudan style gunboat as depicted from what I could see. 

And I did try to find a still of the ship - without luck.  Perhaps if I get a moment I'll slip the disc into the player and try and snap a shot.  Just don't hold your breath.

[Cat]

To paraphrase Mervyn Bunter: "My old mother always used to say that ventilators are like cowbells."
 
Alas, the Internet Movie Boat Database Wiki has no entries for this movie.

[Westfalia Chris]

So in order to know what we're talking about (not the fashion these days, I know), I assume you're referring to the ship in the image attached below.

It's obviously not a real vessel but a CGI interpretation of what a troop ship might have looked in the 1880s, although I would say it is not unreasonable. I counted ca. 16 ventilators, which would befit the period where one would essentially rely on wind speed for the circulation (no proper electric fans to assist until the 1890s at least, and then only on state-of-the-art vessels. RMS Mauretania, although probably twice the size and a good 20 years later than what the film purports to depict, had 14 pairs of ventilators on the superstructure alone, if I am not mistaken. You'll need one or more ventilators to funnel in fresh air to belowdecks and a similar number to guide it out again, and again, it's the tropics.

Now, the film is obvious a fantasy piece with an atrocious mangling of history, but I think this depiction, while suffering from that bland CGI aesthetic with no real expert knowledge, is reasonably realistic in my book. The steamboat Adelaar being a real ship looked much better, obviously.

But your time would be better spent watching The Search for the Nile when it comes to Darkest Africa than this.  If it must be the Congo, the Tim Roth Heart of Darkness would be more faithful if despairing.

[FifteensAway]

WC, by Search for the Nile, is that a movie or the mini-series? 

[Westfalia Chris]

WC, by Search for the Nile, is that a movie or the mini-series?

The six-episode 1971 BBC series. It just must have been on the minds of Messrs. Peers and Copplestone back in the 90s.