What kind of ships are Vivacia, Paragon etc?

[Farseer]

"...it was actually well before dawn when Sorcor ordered the sweeps out." - page 284, "Of Derelicts And Slaveships", Ship Of Magic


Now in Pirates Of The Caribbean, Barbossa says "Run out the sweeps", and what the men run out are undoubtedly cannons of a sort. So are there two nautical meanings for "sweeps", or did all the ships actually have some form of firepower?

Other than this instance or them being mentioned, I can't remember any other occasion in which any of the ships engaged in anything but hand-to-hand combat.

I recall a long ago conversation with the beings known as 'thul (well, it was a debate that I thought I was doing quite nicely in for a time, actually!) where I slipped cannons into LST by accident. What can I say? I got caught up in the moment and thrill of the debate and, for a second there, after reading this post, I thought I was being vindicated!

Now where was that debate? I think it may have been in the Voyages of Discovery thread? Ah, good times when time allowed for a good debate or two , even when the facts brought into the debate were actually ficticious!