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Captain's Quarters

Every player ship has a hidden captain's quarters below deck - a small private room with three chests, reached through the ship's hatch. Stash a voyage's loot where boarders can't grab it off the deck, duck out of sight, set a trap for whoever follows you down, or - once you've cleared an enemy crew - climb into their quarters and plunder it.

Crewed enemy ships don't have this - their hatch is just a loot chest. The captain's quarters is a player-ship feature.

Going below

Walk to the deck hatch - you must be standing within two tiles of it - then use any of these; they all do the same thing:

Way How
Hatch (double-click) Double-click the deck hatch.
Hatch (context menu) Single/right-click the hatch and choose Captain's Quarters.
Command / hotkey Type [gobelow - or bind the GoBelow client macro to a key.
Boat menu Click CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS in the ship (VESSEL) menu, next to EMBARK.

The command and the menu button always use the ship you're standing on, so an old boat menu left open from another vessel can never drop you into the wrong quarters - and every way in checks the same two-tile hatch rule.

Going below costs nothing.

Coming back up

The quarters have a ladder at the far end. Double-click it and you climb back up to your ship's deck - even if the ship has sailed on while you were below. [gobelow (and the GoBelow macro key) is a toggle: used from inside the quarters, it climbs you straight back up.

Sailing while you're below

  • The ship keeps its heading. Whatever direction the ship was sailing when you went below, it keeps sailing - it won't stop just because the captain stepped away from the deck.
  • You can't give new steering orders from below. Forward, turn, stop and the like only work from the deck - climb back up to change course.
  • Ship abilities need the deck too. Firing the ship's abilities from the quarters is disabled - climb back up to use the ability hotbar. (The quarters remain a stash, hideout, and trap room.)
  • You're still "at sea" for talents. Your Ocean-tree bonuses stay active while you're in the quarters.

Who can go below

  • You and your allies (party / guild / alliance) can descend any time.
  • An enemy can only descend once every one of your deck crew is dead - then the quarters are theirs to plunder. Your crew is the lock on your cargo.
  • You can dive below even mid-fight - but after you climb back up there's a 15-second cooldown before you can descend again. Try to drop down too soon and you'll be told how many seconds to wait. (This stops bobbing up and down to dodge blows.)

The dangers

  • If your ship sinks while you're below, you drown - you're killed and wash ashore in town, and everything in the quarters goes down with the ship. Keep an eye on the hull.
  • The quarters are lawless, like the open sea - full PvP. If a raider clears your crew and climbs down, it's a straight fight.
  • No escape by magic - it's a closed room. You can't recall, gate, or teleport in or out of the quarters, and you can't mark a rune down there. The only way in or out is the hatch / ladder. So a cornered captain can't recall to safety, and a raider can't recall away mid-plunder - whoever's down there settles it there (or rides the ship down). You're never stranded, though: the ladder always takes you back to the deck, and sinking or dry-docking puts you ashore / on the dock.
  • A raider in your quarters pins your ship. Just like an enemy on the deck, a non-friendly player or pet in your captain's quarters stops the ship from moving - and it stays stopped even after you climb back to the deck. If a raider follows you down to loot, you can't sail away until the quarters are cleared. Deal with them, or you're dead in the water.
  • You hear them coming. While you're below, you'll be warned - "You hear unfamiliar footsteps on the deck above..." - the moment a stranger boards the ship above you, so you're never caught completely unaware. Anyone in your party/guild/alliance is "familiar" and triggers no warning.
  • Plunderers can take as long as they like and make multiple trips to haul out a full quarters - there's no timer.

Taking on water

When your hull springs a leak (it drops past 75% / 50% / 25% health) two puddles appear - one on the deck and one in the captain's quarters below. Each puddle slows the ship 10%, so a badly flooded hull wallows. Double-click a puddle to bail it (you're frozen for a few seconds while you scoop the water out); bail both - deck and below - to get the full speed back.

Stashing & recovering loot

  • Drop items into the three chests to keep them off the deck.
  • The chests keep their contents across a server restart, tied to your ship - log back in and the loot is still in the quarters, waiting. The bond is to the hull, so the same chests come back to the same ship.
  • If your ship sinks, the quarters loot goes down with it - restart or not, a sunk hull's chests are gone for good.
  • Dry-docking the ship at a Dockmaster empties the chests onto the ground at the dock for you to pick up - the same as the ship's hatch loot.
  • If you log out in the quarters, you'll return wherever the ship is when you log back in - even across a restart, the ship climbs you back onto its deck. If the ship was sunk while you were offline, it's gone; use the Help → Stuck option (or recall) to get back to town.