Dex & wisdom would be the important stats for sailors IMO (i am not saying strength and con are useless, but just not as important, they would be 3rd and 4th IMO).
Darkvision wouldn’t do a damn thing, its range would barely get off the side of the boat.
Poison resistance is not disease resistance.
Some spoiled food would be poison, but some would also be disease (depends on how it spoiled and the food).
In order for short stature to be relevant to ship design, they would need a completely custom designed ship tailor made for them, which would have benifits but sounds unlikely for what pirates would be sailing. (That being said, a dwarven merchant ship designed speciifcally for their stature would be a massive pain for normal height characters to battle on)
lower speed means they swim slower too which means going overboard is even worse.
EDIT:
dwarven submarines!
short stature actually hugely relevant as submarines are notoriously cramped
darkvision means no need for lights in the sub, beneficial for multiple (admittedly somewhat minor) reasons.
honestly no clue what stats would be important for a sub, no argument here
toxic gasses less of a problem thanks to poison resistance
Dont even need to go to the surface, a fully underwater submarine port could be connected to existing dwarven settlements near the ocean with the correct design and planning.
Dex is good, but IMO it’s not as vital as Con. Sailors were dying a LOT, and it wasn’t from accidents. Con would help a lot with diseases (those were rather common on sailing ships), the exhaustion inherent to working on a sailing ship and the lack of nutritious food. And scorbut, which is a disease, was one of the biggest issues in intercontinental sailing.
Darkvision might not do jack for navigation, but it would be very useful when you need to work day and night and the only available light sources are torches, oil lamps, candles, moonlight and starlight.
The OP never even mentioned pirates.
AFAIK most sailors couldn’t swim at all, and when would the lower speed actually be an issue? In most cases, it’s all about whether you get exhausted before you’re at your destination.
The height being an issue for other creatures gave me a funny thought. If dwarves didn’t build massive structures and instead built for their height, people invading them would have such an issue. You’d have dwarves running through halls chopping at them while they’re crawling around or bent down. Invaders wouldn’t stand a chance.
These are all problems humans already have and try to get around. A few adventurous and entrepreneurial dwarves is all it would take to kick start the golden age dwarven naval empire.
I am looking at this from a fun world building viewpoint and I find this idea exciting.
I have issue with almost all of your points.
EDIT: dwarven submarines!
Dex is good, but IMO it’s not as vital as Con. Sailors were dying a LOT, and it wasn’t from accidents. Con would help a lot with diseases (those were rather common on sailing ships), the exhaustion inherent to working on a sailing ship and the lack of nutritious food. And scorbut, which is a disease, was one of the biggest issues in intercontinental sailing.
Darkvision might not do jack for navigation, but it would be very useful when you need to work day and night and the only available light sources are torches, oil lamps, candles, moonlight and starlight.
The OP never even mentioned pirates.
AFAIK most sailors couldn’t swim at all, and when would the lower speed actually be an issue? In most cases, it’s all about whether you get exhausted before you’re at your destination.
Great point with the submarines, though.
The height being an issue for other creatures gave me a funny thought. If dwarves didn’t build massive structures and instead built for their height, people invading them would have such an issue. You’d have dwarves running through halls chopping at them while they’re crawling around or bent down. Invaders wouldn’t stand a chance.
Dex is valuable for tall ships, but steamships and ironclads, str/con is the way to go.
tall ships are a hate crime to dwarves
I like the mental image of a dwarf ship that’s 6 ft tall and got 47 masts to make up for it.
like one of those italian airplanes from the 1920s!
Dex would be super important for them too. Cannons of all flavors aim with dex due to being ranged weapons.
For sure wisdom being the highest priority unless they always sail near the coast, but to be fair you only need 2 people with high wisdom
These are all problems humans already have and try to get around. A few adventurous and entrepreneurial dwarves is all it would take to kick start the golden age dwarven naval empire.
I am looking at this from a fun world building viewpoint and I find this idea exciting.