(i already mentioned this in the goblin comments somewhere, except i couldn’t recall its NAME)
i. it is called “Drake!”
ii. it comes in a long thin box, and the “board” is a rolled up parchment MAP! (drawback: it has been rolled up far longer than it has ever been unrolled, and prefers to be that way — if you weigh it down at the corners, you have to be super careful not to knock them, or the whole board rolls up w.a snap, sending the pieces flying)
iii. there are two sides, GALLEONS and PRIVATEERS — galleons have to transport TREASURE from one port to another; privateers have to sail from a PIRATE HAVEN, sink or board the appropriate galleon, and take the treasure back to the haven
iv. it is goblinesque because (a) conditions change as the wind shifts (it shifts by a quarter turn each round), so that sandbanks appear; squares become becalmed; lee shores become lethal etc etc’ and (b) because each ship is assigned a certain number of points (represented by a square bead you pop on the little mast); as these points decline (during battle or becalm-ment), the ship is able to function less well
v. the ships — sadly mostly somewhat broken now — are gorgeous little plastic jewel-like barquentines, kind of like ship-shaped dice with masts: when i get the whole lot close to a digi-camera i will post em
vi. further details: the title-page of the rulebook reads: ‘“Drake!” by Edmund Vale, 2nd edn 1939, from the “Ahoy!” registered series of British Sea Games, Robert Ross & Co.Ltd., 2 Albion Terrace, Southampton’ — I can find no further details, except to say that an Edmund Vale wrote books about social history and the sea around the same kind of date
vii. WE SHOULD PLAY IT SOMETIME and SEE IF IT IS ANY GOOD