E. Kebel Chatterton :
Sailing Models- Ancient and Modern, 1934. Extracts from Chatterton, E. Keble: Sailing Models Ancient
and Modern. Hurst and Blackett, London, 1934.
Introduction.
Edward Keble
Chatterton (10 September 1878 – 31 December 1944) was a prolific
writer who published around a hundred books, pamphlets and
magazine series, mainly on maritime and naval themes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Keble_Chatterton
Marine art historian Margarita
Russell, describes the Hand G marine scenes as "capturing the
first true vision of pure seascape" in art.
Gautier de Coincy. Les
Miracles de Notre-Dame. Auteur : Delisle, Léopold. Auteur de
lettres Date d'édition : 1301-1400 Contributeur : Gautier de
Coinci Type : manuscrit Langue : Français Format : Parch. -
I-III, A-B et 245 f. à 2 col. - 335 × 225 mm. - Reliure velours
vert et soie brochée Droits : domaine public Identifiant :
ark:/12148/btv1b6000451c
barque de Pierre
ballottée par les flots Breviarium ad usum fratrum Predicatorum,
dit Bréviaire de Belleville. Bréviaire de Belleville, vol. I
(partie hiver) Auteur : Jean Pucelle. Enlumineur Auteur : Maître
du Cérémonial de Gand. Enlumineur Date d'édition : 1323-1326
Type : manuscrit
Fig.
123 A
Beurtman of 1778. (From a
model in the Science
Museum, South
Kensington)
Title Page
Sailing Models- Ancient and Modern.
Page
7
Preface
This is an entirely new book on a subject which has an even
wider appeal than when my first monograph was published years
ago.
That volume is now rare and hard to obtain even at a premium:
copies have changed hands at several times the original price.
Since then, however, much more information has become
available on this fascinating subject; and the number of
enthusiasts who find their recreation the study of sailing
models, ancient or modern, has grown enormously.
I have long been asked to issue such a production as will give
the reader two things: the pleasure of indulging in the
glorious pageant of shipping, and a means whereby he can at a
glance perceive representative models of each period available
within the limits of European travel.
These specimens have been selected from private and public
collections of the British Isles, Scandinavia, France,
Germany, Holland, Spain, among other regions.
It is hoped that apart from the delight which is obtainable
from beautiful things, these little ships through the ages
will help to make dusty history a living and very human story.
In these hulls are summed up not merely the world's great
sea-contests, but that striving for know¬ledge which is the
basis of all discovery and progress.
I would like to express my gratitude to private owners as well
as to those Curators who have most courteously rendered me
every facility for presenting their exhibits.
Acknowledgments
(sic) have been made in the appropriate
places.
But also I desire to thank for their assistance Mr. A. R. B.
Lyman, the Ship Model Society of Liverpool, Professor A.
Requejo, Captain Julio F. Guillen, Mr. G. E. C. Crone, Mr. J.
W. Van Nouhuys, Mr. W. Voorbeytel Cannenburg, Mr. G. S. Laird
Clowes, Captain Olof Traung, Mr. Albert Pinnell, Mr. Reginald
Colver, Mr. H. Griffiths, and the Model Ship Society of
Lancashire and Cheshire.
EGYPTIAN
SAILING MODEL OF THE XITH DYNASTY EGYPTIAN SAILING MODEL OF
THE XITH DYNASTY
EGYPTIAN MODEL OF THE XITH DYNASTY
RECONSTRUCTED EGYPTIAN SAILING MODEL
ATHENIAN TRIREME OF FIFTH AND FOURTH CENTURIES B.C.
SHIP OF SIDON
ST. PAUL'S SHIP
WELSH CORACLES
DONEGAL CURRAGH
VIKING SHIP ENGLISH CRUSADER (LATE THIRTEENTH CENTURY)
FOURTEENTH-CENTURY MEDITERRANEAN CARGO SHIP
EX-VOTO SPANISH FIFTEENTH-CENTURY MODEL
FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HANSEATIC COG SHIP
COLUMBUS'S SANTA
MARIA
COLUMBUS'S SANTA
MARIA COLUMBUS'S SANTA MARIA THE GREAT MICHAEL, 1511 HULL OF A SPANISH GALLEON,
1540
FRENCH GALLEON, 1560
DRAKE'S GOLDEN HIND,
1577
ELIZABETHAN GALLEON ARK ROYAL,
1587 ELIZABETHAN GALLEON (ABOUT
1600). (In Colour)
FLEMISH GALLEON, 1593
THE HALF MOON
HUDSON'S HALF MOON
THE CALMARE NYCKEL,
1629
THE SOVERAIGNE OF THE SEAS,
1637 THE SOVERAIGNE OF THE SEAS,
1637 ARMED MERCHANTMAN, 1641 DUTCH WARSHIP, 1650 DUTCH WARSHIP, 1650 FRENCH SECOND-RATE (PERIOD
OF LOUIS XIV) ENGLISH EAST INDIAMAN
(ABOUT 1640) PINNACE (TIME OF CHARLES
I) DUTCH FLUITSCHIP (ABOUT
1650) THE 50-GUN AMARANTHE, 1653 THE NASEBY, 1655 THE NEPTUNE, 90 GUNS THE NEPTUNE HANGING CHURCH MODEL
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY WARSHIP HANGING CHURCH MODEL,
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY THE JONGE JOHANN,
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY THE HOFFNUNG VON LUBECK,
1686 THE HOFFNUNG VON LUBECK,
1686 THE LOWE,
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY EX-VOTO FRIGATE FROM THE
CANARIES (LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY) DANISH EX-VOTO MODEL FROM
A SWEDISH CHURCH (1700-1720) DETAILS OF RIGGING OF
DANISH EX-VOTO MODEL FROM SWEDISH CHURCH NEAR
GOTHENBURG DANISH EX-VOTO MODEL FROM
SWEDISH CHURCH ON ISLAND NEAR GOTHENBURG OF 1700-1720 DUTCH EX-VOTO WARSHIP OF
ABOUT 1700 DOCKYARD MODEL OF QUEEN
ANNE IOO-GUN WARSHIP 70-GUN WARSHIP OF ABOUT
1712 50-GUN SHIP, NAVY BOARD
MODEL OF 1727 THE NEPTUNUS,
PRIVATEER (ABOUT 1717) UNIDENTIFIED 50-GUN
WARSHIP OF ABOUT 1727 50-GUN WARSHIP OF ABOUT
1727 UNIDENTIFIED 8O-GUN
WARSHIP OF 1704 THE WASA, 1761 THE WASA,
1761
SWEDISH EAST INDIAMAN FINLAND, 1761 THE DUTCH FOR-TUYN, 1764 EAST ASIATIC COMPANY'S
SHIP OF ABOUT 1768
SPANISH 8O-GUN SHIP RAYO
(1749-1805) SPANISH 112-GUN SHIP REAL CARLOS
(1787-1801) CAPTAIN COOK'S ENDEAVOUR, 1768 BRIG ATALANTE, 1796 DUTCH WHALER (BOOTSCHIP), ABOUT
1770 THE THREE-MASTED DUTCH
GALLEON GODE HOOP
(LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY) PRISONER-OF-WAR MODEL OF
H.M.S. FOUDROYANT THE LORD DUNCAN, 64
GUNS THE FRIGATE PROSPERITY, 32
GUNS THE BRIG FLAME, PRIVATEER,
150 TONS FRENCH FRIGATE LE TERRIBLE THE FRENCH FRIGATE LE MUIRON ENGLISH CORVETTE OF ABOUT
THE YEAR 1800 H.M.S. NELSON, 1814 H.M.S. CONWAY THE STAR QUEEN
(1820-1840) FRIGATE OF 1830 DUNDEE SHIP ANN MILNE, 1841 FRENCH BRIG LES DEUX MARIES,
NINETEENTH CENTURY SHIPYARD OF ABOUT 1670 THE CHRISTINA AGATHA
ABOUT TO BE LAUNCHED, 1843 CAREENING THE FRIGATE PRINS FREDERIK DER
NEDERLANDIA, 1842 BRIG GARIBALDI, 1850 CLIPPER SHIP MARCO POLO, 1850 CLIPPER SHIP LIGHTNING, 1854 CLIPPER SHIP JAMES BAINES,
1854 AMERICAN CLIPPER OF ABOUT
1850 AMERICAN CLIPPER OF ABOUT
1850 FULL-RIGGED SHIP FRANCE, 900 TONS STAR OF INDIA, 1861 IRON SHIP EVELYN THE SOBRAON, 1866
TEA-CLIPPER CUTTY SARK THE SHIP TORRENS AMERICAN SHIP HENRY B. HYDE, 1884 THE SHIP CROWN
OF ITALY, 1885 THE FOUR-MASTED BARQUE HOLKAR THE FIVE-MASTER PREUSSEN, 1902 THE SHIP
BERKSHIRE SAILING BRIGS AND FULL-RIGGED SHIPS SAILING SHIPS AND BARQUES TOPSAIL SCHOONER IN FRESH BREEZE FULL-RIGGED SHIP IGHTENHILL H.M.S. IMPREGNABLE NORTH CHINA TRADING JUNK,
1932. (In Colour) NORTH CHINA TRADING JUNK, SHOWING BOWS NORTH CHINA TRADING JUNK, SHOWING DECORATED
STERN MEDITERRANEAN GALLEY OF
1780 MEDITERRANEAN
XEBEC, 1780 MOORISH LATEENER VENETIAN GALLEY DECORATIVE MODEL
OF GALLEY ENGLISH YACHT OF LATE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISH YACHT OF
LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, SHOWING DECK CHARLES II
YACHT. (In Colour) DUTCH YACHT OF
1761 DUTCH YACHT OF
1800 PAVILJOENPOON
(LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY) A BEURTMAN OF
1778. (In Colour.) (Frontispiece) HERRING BUSS,
1800 FISHING HCEKER,
1845 KOFSCHIP,
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY HOOGAARTS
FISHING VESSEL HUMBER KEEL NORFOLK WHERRY MERSEY FLAT ELIZABETH, 1827 RIVER WEAVER
FLAT AVON
DUTCH NAVAL
CUTTER (LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY)
THE FAMOUS SCHOONER YACHT AMERICA
1851 PILOT SCHOONER PRIDE
OF LIVERPOOL
FRENCH ICELANDIC FISHING SCHOONER
AMERICAN FISHING SCHOONER COLUMBIA
SCOTCH FIFIE SCOTCH FIFIE NEPTUNE
SCOTCH ZULU
SMACK-RIGGED SCOTCH FISHING BOAT SMACK-RIGGED
SCOTCH FISHING BOAT SUFFOLK BEACH YAWL BITTERN
SOUTHWOLD BEACH PUNT
BRIXHAM TRAWLER
MODEL OF
ELIZABETHAN GALLEON (ABOUT 1600) STUART ROYAL YACHT—RIGGING
PLAN STUART ROYAL YACHT, 1670 TOPSAIL SCHOONER MY LADY - SAILS
AND SPARS TOPSAIL SCHOONER MY LADY - QUARTER
SCALE TOPSAIL SCHOONER MY LADY - COLOUR
AND DECK FITTINGS HUMBER KEEL
Page 14
[Blank]
Page 15
SAILING
MODELS ANCIENT & MODERN
Amoung the intellectual pursuits it
would be difficult to find any so
fascinating and so rich in rewards as
the study of ship evolution through
the ages.
One may trace this subject through the
channels of pure history as set forth
in documents; it may be followed
pictorially bv examining such drawings
and paintings as have regard to
maritime matters, but these are so few
until the seventeenth century that a
complete sequence becomes impossible.
Valuable though the comparatively few
marine pictures are, when showing
contemporary vessels, they not
infrequently suffer from a lack of
definiteness and slur over just those
details which we desire to know with
precision.
Conversely, it is undeniable that such
artists as the Van de Veldes have left
us with no little knowledge respecting
the general appearance of ships under
way, besides such minutiae as
ornamentation externally and the set
of sails.
It might be contended that the
draught, or design, of a ship
possesses a primary importance; which
is perfectly true.
But that, again, is of comparatively
modern practice and before the
fifteenth century the universal custom
was to build by eye and not from a
plan.
Moreover, the earliest of these
designs are very few, and at their
best create a flat, lifeless
impression; whereas, of all the
objects created by the skill of man
none is more round, more full of life
and potential energy than a ship.
The whole fabric of civilisation is
built up on travel, for life is
progressive rather than static.
Human knowledge, commerce,
exploration, colonisation, discovery,
prosperity, and invention are all
linked up with movement from place to
place; but especially throughout all
ages has the boat or sea-borne vessel
been the means by which the exchange
of ideas and commodities, the
revelation of fresh information,
become possible.
Rule
Page 16
out
of the world's story marine transport, and there is but little
to narrate.
Watch the development from skin-boat to ocean carrier, and you
have the very framework of man's progress. Now
the rise of great nations such as the Egyptians, Phoenicians,
Greeks, Romans, Venetians, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch,
English, Scandinavian, has been so closely connected with the
gradual perfecting of a sail-driven vessel that unless we have
before our eyes some clear and definite conception as to the
prevailing ship-type in each notable period, understanding
its limitations and its possibilities, we miss the very
reasons and causes of results.
For example, how can dull print satisfy our minds when
considering the Crusades, the voyages of Columbus, the
planting of America, the Anglo-Dutch, or long Anglo-French
naval wars, unless we know exactly how the shipping looked,
how it could be handled, how it was rigged, what sort of
accommodation it afforded, how it carried its armament ? If, then, it be true that human
progress for the most part has been built upon keels, the
study of marine derivation and naval archaeology will be found
not merely glorious in itself but full of illumination in
regard to mankind's activities.
And it is here that the models, preferable to the drawings or
paintings, of ships enable the imagination to visualise with
an intense realism those great scenes of the past which were
to decide the trend of mundane advancement.
Merely one glance at a model is to place oneself as a shipmate
with any selected ocean adventurer.
We go aboard with Drake, or Anson, and sail round the world
understanding the reasons for this rope and that spar, for
that piece of canvas.
We learn why the guns were put here and not there; we can with
a model see for ourselves not merely so much of the ship as is
above waterline, but the entire hull shape, and at once we
perceive that such underwater lines and such a grip, such
clumsy sterns or such full bows, could scarcely allow a ship
to make headway against the wind.
Thus, at once, we comprehend why for century after century the
route to North America must be not direct but south towards
the equator though homewards by the nearest way; following the
trade winds and choosing a fair breeze, instead of the
shortest distance. There is in the making of a model
a sincerity demanded far higher than normally presented by the
painter.
Vagueness, or scamping of any item,
Page 17
will be recognised immediately.
Artistic licence gives way to
meticulous exactness: the object is
to be put before our eyes with
entire fidelity, and no slipshod or
careless craftsman ever produced a
good ship-model by covering his
laziness or ignorance with some
brilliant gesture.
It is a proof of a man's honesty and
patience if he sets forth to fashion
a reproduction in wood, or ivory, or
metal; to set up complicated rigging
and shape the spars seaworthily.
But few efforts are more obviously
ludicrous than a ship's
representation ill conceived and
robbed of conscientious skill.
Apart from its illustrative and
historical appeal, the close study
of these models has a sentimental
and romantic attraction which
continues unrivalled.
He who can stand before such an
object without emotion is outside
aesthetic influences.
Young or old, rich or poor, sailor
or landsman, there are very few
occasions when a ship in miniature
does not excite immense admiration,
sympathy, and unbounded joy.
Twenty-five years ago, when I
published my Sailing Ships and Their
Story, the number of nautical
antiquarians was comparatively
small; museum catalogues contained
many an inaccuracy; the art of
model-making belonged to the few.
To-day, however, both in the United
Kingdom and the United States there
are nautical research societies
doing splendid work. They have made
considerable additions to knowledge,
and been influential in correcting a
good deal of heresy.
Never, indeed, has the public mind
taken so much interest in the sea
and ships; never has so much care
been given to marine models.
Not only in the British Isles and
America, but on the European
continent, these creations have
taken on a new value.
Nautical museums in Liverpool and
other ports have come into being;
other collections, after the neglect
of years, have begun to be
overhauled and rearranged with
greater affection.
In private houses dust-laden little
ships, and long-forgotten, have been
dug out from lumber-room and attic,
treated with reverence, repaired,
and reconstructed according to sound
archaeological data for the pleasure
of posterity.
Not many years ago this exact
restoration would have been
impossible: indeed it is scarcely an
exaggeration to claim that by far
the greater number of old models
still in existence have been during
the eighteenth, nineteenth, or early
twentieth century, re-rigged and
re-sparred not in accordance with
their appropriate period, but with
only the rigger's personal
experience
Page
18
of modern sea-going.
Thus by unwarranted accretion have been added features
which never belonged to that ship's lifetime; whilst,
simultaneously, characteristic items of the past have
ruthlessly been destroyed.
Now it is not practicable to prevent occasional breakages
or the deterioration of wood and cordage.
Fragile rigging is especially likely to suffer as the
years go by, and the amount of vibration along our roads
week after week is doing real harm to some of our ship
specimens.
(I know of one building where this is so bad that any
photography must be made on Sundays.)
But, fortunately, just as the last old shellbacks are
dying out or losing their eyesight, there is springing up
a series of Ship Model Societies whose members make it
their hobby and joy to build slowly yet authentically; to
set up rigging and even sails so deftly and truly, that
the most critical sailorman misses nothing that should be
there.
It is a sign of this new-born interest that some of the
ablest makers of ship models have no connection with the
sea and on the contrary live far inland.
It would be hard to choose a hobby more delightful,
employing mind, eyes, and hands in making something that
is at once a work of art and sums up the past most
charmingly.
At one glance the beholder has before him the expression
of considerable research, yet this object has a living
individuality of its own.
Whilst the most admirable painting shows a ship from one
angle, the model can be viewed bow on, stern, amidships,
looking down from a gull's eye view on to decks, or from a
fish's aspect upwards.
We thus come to the several classes.
These are (a) old and contemporary, (b) modern
representations of past ships, (c) new models of to-day's
shipping.
The last two can be further divided into other categories.
Are they to be of the "show-case " sort- objects of beauty
and instruction?
Or capable of being sailed, whilst not forfeiting their
other virtues?
And these will all come under our consideration in the
following pages.
The principle here followed is to offer the reader a
pageant of shipping selected from the best contemporary
models in Europe's public and private collections; and
where contemporary items are unobtainable to choose the
finest examples reconstructed in harmony with modern
research.
The series of vessels here put forward should form a
companion to any study of history, but they are especially
valuable as indicating man's groping
Page 19
towards that kind of transport which would give him
a measure of sea-independence.
With few exceptions we at once note that from early Egyptian
times down to the Reformation ship-models were chiefly made
because of some motive connected either with the next world
or some religious inspiration.
After the mid-sixteenth century of our era the stream
divides: in such regions as Spain and Brittany, as well as
other Catholic maritime localities, the association of model
boats and ships with churches continues to this day.
In England and more northern countries, such as Sweden, the
Reformation banished these craft so ruthlessly that most of
them were destroyed utterly and with them departed some
priceless records.
But Queen Elizabeth was not dead before Phineas Pett
was making the earliest official English ship-models.
From that date we have a not quite continuous practice of
model making in England, Holland, and presently in France no
less than the Baltic States.
Sometimes these ships in embryo were as a guide for the
builders; sometimes to excite a sovereign's enthusiasm; on
other occasions they were made as unique presents; later on
for the convenience of public or private shipowners about to
give orders for new construction. We set forth on our
investigation, then, from Egypt, whose inhabitants were
great sailors.
It has ever been the country for ships and boats ; since not
only was the Nile its great and only continuous road, but
there was the proximity of Mediterranean waters on the north
and on the east a canal connecting with the Red Sea.
Thus modern exploration has revealed large numbers of
illustrations dealing with such items as papyrus rafts,
rowing boats, fishing boats with a long seine net, river
sailing ships, ocean sailing cargo carriers, ceremonial
boats, fighting ships, pirate boats. We know that the great
ship of Snefru was 160 ft. long, that cabins were
frequently erected; that mallet, chisel, and adze were the
shipwrights' tools; that in order to prevent these
banana-shaped hulls from hogging they were braced
permanently as to the sea-going types, and temporarily in
regard to the river class before being launched. In his latest contribution to
the subject Sir Flinders Petrie, the distinguished
Egyptologist (1), emphasises the interesting fact that the
use of Footnote
1. See Ancient Egypt and
the East, 1933, Parts I-IV.
Page 20 inflated skins or basket-work
coracles do not belong to Egypt, though so familiar in
Babylonia.
But papyrus, being quite abundant in the Nile swamps,
provided the standard boat-building material for craft even
30 ft. long.
The Egyptians actually went to Palestine in "vessels of
bulrushes."
But timber was used concurrently, especially acacia and
cedar from Lebanon.
The notable characteristic is that these ships were all
carvel-built with no ribs, the whole structure being held
together piecemeal by dowels and ties, and its principle of
construction being that of the lashed reed-bundles of the
papyrus boat secured with cords. Whilst the Egyptian shipbuilder
added cross-beams he did not consider framing necessary; and
there was a standardised shape, no matter in what category
the vessel might be placed; the only variations being in the
ratio of length-over-all to extreme beam. The sail was
single with one mast, and the former had a boom which was
supported by numerous lifts.
In earlier instances the mast is frequently bipod, thus
doing away with the need of rigging; though the later
development was not merely to have one spar for mast, but to
do away with the boom.
Ships without booms clewed up by brailing sail to yard;
ships with booms lowered yard to boom. Numerous strong backstays, which
included the halyards, supported the mast in the case of big
ships with a single or double forestay the other side
In some boomless craft the sail is not square but
almost triangular, coming to an apex at the foot; thus being
able to catch the wind above the Nile banks without having a
useless sail-area below.
For going in a southerly direction the sail was set to catch
the northerly wind of the Nile and Red Sea: when bound
north, or down the river, mast and sail were lowered on
tressles and the oarsmen got out their paddles. Now it is because the Egyptian
mind was so steeped in boats and ships, that models of these
were buried with the deceased and formed a prominent part in
his eschatology.
They were intended to convey spiritual transport for him in
the tomb.
By the courtesy of Sir Flinders Petrie and Dr. M. A. Murray,
of the British School of Egyptian Archaeology, I am able to
present three of the world's most ancient sailing models.
These belong to the Xl th Dynasty and are more than 4000
years old.
Found at Thebes, they illustrate just those points we have
been discussing: the square sail with yard and boom, the
lifts, the lowered mast and spars for the oarsmen to
Fig.
1
Egyptian Sailing Model of the Xlth
Dynasty.
Found at Thebes.
(Reproduced by
courtesy of Sir Flinders Petrie
and Dr. M. A. Murray)
Fig.
2.
Egyptian Sailing Model of the Xlth
Dynasty.
Found at Thebes.
(Reproduced by
courtesy of Sir Flinders Petrie
and Dr. M. A. Murray)
Fig. 3. Egyptian Model of the Xlth
Dynasty.
Sails and spars
stowed to row against northerly wind. Model found at
Thebes. (Reproduced by
courtesy of Sir Flinders Petrie
and Dr. M. A. Murray)
Fig.
4. Reconstructed Egyptian Sailing Model.
Found at Thebes.
(German Museum, Munich)
Page 21
row against the northerly wind.
We recognise the standardised hull with
considerable overhangs, and the flat bottom is quite
accurate.
The immense paddle aft is the early use of that which
eventually must become a
rudder, and has an interesting
story of its own. The cabin aft protected from the sun, and
the man right forward ready with his fender, are not without
peculiar interest.
Some of these Nile types were steered by two, three, or more
paddles on the quarter, which will be clearly noticed in the
modern reconstruction of an Egyptian ship by Professor
Busley. This is from the German Museum,
Munich, and the details sum up the results of modern
research.
Observe how the hull is braced by means of a
rope truss running fore and aft.
The fender is again seen, the sail is loose-footed, but
another accurate detail is the span of rope between two tall
posts aft.
On to this span rested the mast when lowered, so that by
hauling on both parts of this rope it would be easier to do
the hoisting again when mast and spars required to be set
up. Among the most ancient
ship-models must be reckoned likewise those made of pottery.
Egyptian examples are to be seen in the collection at
University College, London, repeating the standardised shape
with over-hangs and flat bottom.
Sir Flinders Petrie calls attention to a pottery boat
preserved in that museum with holes as well for the mast as
for the A-shaped spars which took the place of rigging.
Thus even in predynastic times, that is to say before 3500 B.C.,
vessels were sailing up the
Nile.
Extremely interesting is the College's possession of a
little model pirate boat with four thwarts and a ram.
This specimen dates from about 1000 B.C.
and was found broken in a tomb:
it had been mounted on wheels as a child's toy. Outside Egypt have been
discovered votive models dating back to the days of
classical Greece and Rome.
There exists one in the museum at Athens, giving a faithful
idea of a galley's hull.
In the British Museum is a terra-cotta model of a Greek ship
dating from the sixth century B.C. She is clearly a cargo carrier.
With this should be compared a pottery model in University
College which represents a Roman cargo vessel entirely
differing from the warlike, long, lean galley type.
Notable features of this cargo model are the hatches, the
combings at each side of the deck, and a
reasonably-shaped hull for the
purpose of conveying safe and dry the greatest amount of
goods. Among the many terra-cotta
models discovered
Page 22
by
excavating
at Amathus are both merchant and man-of-war examples, and
one (dating from about the sixth century) will be seen in
the Science Museum, South Kensington. In the absence of complete
contemporary models with their masts, sails, and oars of
classical Mediterranean times, we must needs fall back on
the reconstructions made by two distinguished continental
archaeologists.
Professor Carl Busley has here given us a good idea of an
Athenian trireme belonging to the fifth and fourth centuries
B.C. The earliest species of Greek
fighting ship was impelled by twenty oars, but by
lengthening their galleys and increasing the number of their
oars as well as rowers more speed was obtained; and this
extreme mobility was the basis of their ramming tactics.
Thus the bireme, or two-banked galley, was destined to be
superseded by the trireme or three-banked class which became
the standard war vessel measuring 148 ft. long, 18 ft. beam,
and drawing about 5 ft. of water.
The oarsmen toiled naked on their rowing benches and endured
many a nasty knock when the enemy snapped off his opponents'
blades, driving oar-handle into unprotected bodies.
Fig.
5. Athenian Trireme Fifth and Fouth Century
B.C.
Reconstructed by
Carl Busley.
(German
Museum, Munich)
It will be noticed
that Professor Busley has given a large sail and a small
one.
This is quite correct.
For making a long passage with a fair wind both would be
carried, the smaller one being known as the akation, a
word which included sail and mast.
Before going into battle this was stowed.
Xenophon in his Hellenicagives
a most illuminating picture of sea life when describing (VI,
2) the voyage of Iphicrates in 373 B.C.
from the Piraeus to modern
Corfu. For this naval expedition Iphicrates left ashore his
big square sails.
Cruising from headland to cape, they bivouacked at night on
the beach, with a fire burning in front of the encampment to
ward off sudden attack.
The voyage was resumed at dawn, stopping only for breakfast
and supper when the ships were temporarily brought ashore;
but in fine weather it was not unusual after the evening
meal to haul off and continue the passage if pressed for
time, the admiral showing a light from his ship to prevent
straggling.
According to Xenophon, there was a code of signals which
included such orders as "sail in column," " vessels in
sight." The reader will not fail to
obtain a vivid picture of this galley class from the
reconstruction of a "Ship of Sidon" by Dr. Jules Sottas of
Paris.
The double rudders aft were descended from Egyptian and
Phoenician
Page 23 influence.
The two most important officers on board were the kubernetes(whose
position aft was that of pilot as well as sailing master),
and the proreuswho
commanded
the fore part of the ship and was responsible for the
look-out.
Each superintended those oarsmen in his respective part.
It was the keleustes, or
boatswain, who ordered the time to which the oarsmen pulled,
and he was assisted either by a flute-player or a man with a
hammer, for keeping up pace and regularity of rowing.
Only a few sailors were carried for hoisting the sail,
working the sheets and halyards; the main portion of the
ship's company were the hoplites, or
marines,
who did the actual fighting and are clearly shown in Dr.
Sottas' model on the upper deck, with the oarsmen below. The Romans did not take
naturally to the sea, but became a naval nation in spite of
themselves, and Polybius informs us that it was through a
Carthaginian ship getting ashore that they were provided
with a model for building.
Rome was essentially a military rather than a seafaring
people, but on the Tiber banks she built her galleys with
their bronze-shod rams, one large mast and sail, but also
the small mast and sail which she called a dolon. As in Greece, the oarsmen were
the lowest human beings, and it was beneath the dignity of a
Roman citizen to row.
The generic word for ship's mast, sail, halyards, sheets,
and braces- that is to say her cruising gear- was armamenta. Livy uses the expression sublatis armamentis(
with all gear hoisted") to signify "under full sail" ; and demendis armamentisto
mean that all this gear had been taken down in readiness for
battle.
The marines of each Roman ship were organised as a century
under a fleet-centurion (centurio classicus), so
that the soldiers merely came afloat to do their fighting
and then went back ashore, ending their period of service
after twenty-five years. By means of a gangway fitted
underneath with spikes like to a raven's claws- for which
reason this boarding-bridge was known as a corvus,
or crow- the soldiers could pour
forth and board the enemy alongside, and thus naval tactics
still continued with more regard for land precedent than was
to be paid after the Middle Ages produced big-bodied vessels
unable to manoeuvre rapidly but capable of carrying guns. Now the Roman merchantmen- naves oneraria-
sometimes transported passengers but they were especially
valuable for bringing corn to Ostia,
Page 24
whose outer harbour plan was not
unlike that of Ramsgate Harbour to-day, though the former's
entrance had been made wider, measuring 120 yards but
divided by an island pier.
Owing to constant alluvial deposits, this outer harbour
became shallow, and Claudius made an inner one which he
joined by a new cut to the Tiber. Into Ostia came not merely corn
but cargoes of wine, timber, and costly marbles.
The wind which made the outer harbour most uncomfortable was
from NNW., sending in dangerous waves.
The best time for a Roman ship outward bound for Alexandria
was to leave Ostia between July 20 and August 20 when a
northerly wind- aquilo-
could be expected.
These corn carriers were of necessity to the Roman citizens,
and from Lucian (who lived about a.d.
125-200) we know that the big
corn ship Goddess Isis, which
had
put into the Piraeus, measured 180 ft. long, more than a
quarter of that in beam, whilst from deck to keel through
the hold the height was 44 ft.
She had a tall mast with square sail and forestay, lofty
curved stern with her name thereon, a flame-coloured smaller
square foresail, anchors, windlass, capstan and stern
cabins.
Her capacity was alleged to be such that she could transport
enough corn to feed every person in Attica for a whole year. Unfortunately there have
survived the fewest pictorial records of these very
attractive corn vessels, which were the great Mediterranean
traders during the first generations of the Christian era,
and will ever be associated with the voyaging of St. Paul.
But from the design shown in relief on the tomb of Naevoleia
Tyche at Pompeii, together with a relief discovered at Ostia
only in 1863, it is possible to form a clear conception of a
navis oneraria, so
short,
round, beamy, and flat, that the Dutch hoekerreproduced
in our present volume has a ridiculous resemblance in many
general features. Thanks again to the patience and
skill of Dr. Sottas, who has made a special study of the
subject, we are able here to consider a model not merely in
accord with the two reliefs, but inspired and made complete
from literature.
And it is to be added that during the season 1913-1914 Dr.
Cotenau of the Louvre Museum discovered at Sidon, that
historic port which sheltered so many corn ships, a
sarcophagus containing a bas-relief which likewise indicates
an Alexandrian corn ship under way.
She has one big mast with square sail and yard ; but also a
smaller square sail and yard (known as the artemon) on
the bowsprit end. The stern has a swan neck
Fig.
6. Ship of Siddon.
Reconstruction by Dr. Jules Sottas.
Page 25 and head, the mainyard is in two
pieces lashed together (just as the Mediterranean tartane
fishermen do to this day), there is a cabin in the stern,
the steering paddle or rudder projects on the quarter, and
the hull is guarded externally by parallel wales.
The mainyard has its halyards and slings with shrouds at
either side of the mainmast, besides braces for the
mainyard. Now, whilst this discovery was
made by Dr. Cotenau only after Dr. Sottas' model was built,
the former generally confirms the latter.
We know from the New Testament that St. Paul's Alexandrian
grain ship was so big that besides her wheat she could carry
276 persons.
I find that Roman shipowner-merchants were granted special
privileges provided the vessel had a capacity for carrying
10,000 modii, and that corn was brought to Rome for a period
of six years.
The size of a corn ship may thus be reckoned as able to
carry at least 280 tons.
Dr. Sottas has made his model of a vessel carrying 250 tons,
which is much the same. The artemonwas
certainly
in general use by A.D. 50,
but for steering purposes when the wind was on the quarter
and when
close-hauled to prevent the ship luffing up.
The word is probably derived from artao, meaning
"to
hang some thing on another," and the sail was to prove
valuable (though for a different purpose) in St. Paul's
ship.
With this model in front of us, and reading the Revised
Version (rather than the hopeless seventeenth century
translation which fails to interpret early seamanship), we
can follow St. Paul's experiences intelligently and
sympathetically.
The past becomes the present; the dead becomes alive.
Fig.
7. St. Paul's Ship of Siddon.
The merchantmen in
which he sailed his last voyage.
(Reconstruction by Dr. Jules
Sottas)
We observe that she
could make good 100 miles daily, yet took "long days" to
cover 200 miles against a head wind.
Picture this vessel caught in a heavy NE. squall from Mount
Ida and having to run for it to Clauda, towing the skaphe(or
dinghy). This was afterwards hoisted aboard- by tackles from
the mainyard, as shown in the model.
The ship was then strengthened by those girdles or trusses
whose origin we have seen in Egypt and survived through
Greek and Roman times.
When encountering bad weather towards the North African
coast, they lowered mainsail and yard, sending the whole lot
below to diminish windage.
This obviously would make her roll considerably, so they
first threw overboard some of the wheat and then the
mainsail with its yard.
Page 26
Later,
when
approaching the land, they took soundings with the lead, and
let go four anchors from the stern.
Why?
Because this was the higher part of the ship (clearly proved
by the three reliefs though not quite sufficiently stressed
in Dr. Sottas' model) and she would ride drier that way, but
the anchors were not too reliable.
The sailors got out of control, and lowered the dinghy under
pretence of laying out anchors from the bows.
The soldiers cast her adrift.
Next day the four anchors were slipped, and the artemonor
small foresail was hoisted; under which seamanlike method
she ran easily before the wind till she hit the ground of
Malta.
Three months after this shipwreck, the passengers were
carried by the corn ship Castor and Pollux-
her name was painted in relief on either bow- to Syracuse,
Pvhegium, and so to Puteoli, where passengers and corn were
landed. All these people would have had
little room for moving about.
There was a deck cabin abaft the mast, though this would be
used by none except the shipmaster, pilot, and centurion.
The steering was done with two half rudders worked by
rotation on an axis by a tiller and constantly held in
position.
The mainmast is shown supported by seven shrouds on either
side, the yard being held to the mast by a rope strop,
supported by lifts, controlled by braces.
From relief evidence we know that triangular topsails, or
rafees, were set on occasions from the masthead to the
mainyard.
The mainsail had boltropes with sheets, and it could be
lengthened by strips of leather.
Brails were attached to the footrope and passed through
thimbles up to the yard, then down the other side ; thus by
hauling on the brails you could shorten sail till it was
close up to the yard. By a careful examination of the
classics a model-maker to-day can create, for us those ships
which have long since become historic, but, in the wild
imaginations of unlearned artists, have too long been
perpetuated as meaningless inventions.
The Homeric literature, with its unrivalled details and
catalogue of vessels, their colour, capabilities and other
qualifications, might well be drawn on with a gathering of
other data from Virgil as a beginning.
The missing links are fewer than might be imagined, and
sea-sense informed from other knowledge supplies the rest. The belief in untameable anger
of the sea, its tyranny over ships, man's helplessness
against winds and waves, his instinct as a weak mortal, date
back to pagan centuries, but are definitely expressed
through the Middle
Page 27
Ages.
In Catholic worship the connection with maritime thought is
specially noticeable through Spain.
Churches were built in the shape of an inverted ship, and
the structure called a nave.
The story of the Ark, and of Jonah, prevented even the most
inland peoples from forgetting the sea.
From about the ninth century onwards the receptacle for
incense was shaped like, and given the name of, a boat or naveta. In the Madrid Naval Museum is a
fourteenth century example with rounded bows and square
stern similar to a contemporary ship of that period: there
is even a stern-castle on this incense naveta. Much more elaborate and instructive as a
contemporary model is the fifteenth century navetain
the Capilla del Con-destable, Burgos.
Here we have a reasonable,
well-designed and executed hull which really resembles a
ship not too far removed from Columbus' caravel.
Like the superb Burgos cathedral, this model is decoratively
Gothic, for on both sterncastle and forecastle rises a
church tower. So also at inland Florence will be found in
the museum a mediaeval church lamp.
Another fifteenth century Spanish naveta,
with castles, but also mast and
squaresail, is in Saragossa.
A sixteenth century silver navetaexists
in the church of Santa Maria, Pontevedra, also showing both
fore and sterncastles. Side by side with these models
grew up examples which were made and presented in fulfilment
of a solemn vow and gratitude for deliverance from sea
peril.
Through such ex-voto offerings developed the custom of
carrying little ships in procession on special feast-days.
From at least the fifteenth century these ex-voto church
models become more frequent, for the reason that more
adventurous voyaging was taking place.
Nor have they by any means ended. Many are rough, crude efforts of
simple sailormen, showing a greater care for correct detail
as to such matters that strike a seafarer's imagination,
than for right proportions and artistic effect.
Whereas the ecclesiastical models are of precious metal,
these vow-fulfilled expressions are of wood, and whilst they
may seem to the critical barbaric, - at least they were
sincere attempts.
There could be made a list of them forming a running
commentary of the centuries' marine dangers.
One need go no further afloat than the Calais churches to
find fishing vessels of our own period, and not even steam
has banished from Spanish mariners the custom of making
Page 28
ex-voto models after their own
ships.
At Tortosa, for instance, there is one of the year 1840
showing a three-masted early steamer with square yards and
paddles; whilst at Tenerife in the Canaries is a very modern
one dated 1920, with such things as funnels, round scuttles,
upper deck, and bridge.
Need one remind ourselves of the schooner models carried
to-day in processions through the streets of Breton ports ? Sometimes, too, a metal-wrought
ship model was designed for a reliquary, and that in
Mallorca cathedral belonging to 1547 with main and mizzen
masts, forecastle and the now much more extensive poop which
had developed out of the sterncastle, is worthy of note.
If it has some modifications suggestive of the uninformed
metal craftsman rather than the sailor, it possesses much
which is worth while studying, e.g., the channels for the
mizzen.
Indeed the collective value of all these conscience-inspired
miniature ships is that they confirm, explain, and complete
our knowledge derived from illuminated manuscripts, church
windows, carvings, tapestries, paintings, and other
manifestations. Some point which seems obscure in a
contemporary narrative becomes clarified from a study of
such creations in plate or wood. One can never be too
thankful that so many have been spared from the ravages of
time, wars, and the prejudices of man. It is sad to think that in
Northern Europe hundreds of ex-voto fleets were swept out of
existence.
Mr. Morton Nance has stated (Mariner's
Mirror, VI, 26) that in one Bristol
church no fewer than thirty-two used to hang from the roof.
They were made in silver and wood.
What a wonderful epitome of West Country seafaring they must
have been!
How many Atlantic gales and narrow escapes they suggested!
Still, even in our own generation the old custom of hanging
contemporary models within the walls of churches has been
revived.
In Southwold, for example, you will find a lifeboat among
others; and in the church of St. James, Southampton, has
been deposited one of a liner.
Now that each year sees fewer fishermen going afloat in
sailing craft, and their ships are being sold away or broken
up, we shall some day be thankful that somewhere they can
still be admired in miniature. We shall return to southern
ships presently. In Northern Europe the evolution
of the ship's hull owes nothing to the raft, after the
floating tree has been excavated into the primitive boat
Page 29
that
we
call a dug-out; but the employment of skins, stretched over a
wicker framework, connotes a higher mental attainment and is
well on the way towards building vessels with planks over
wooden frames.
As every tourist knows, coracles are still used in parts of
Wales, on the Wye and also on the Dee.
The only essential difference between these and the historic
British coracle lies in the adoption of tarred canvas instead
of skin. The two specimens here illustrated are from the
Liverpool Museum, and show respectively the Towy and Teivy
species.
With these river examples must be compared a sea development
to be found in the Donegal curragh also still in use.
Fig.
8. Welsh Coracles
That on the left the
Towy type : that on the right used along the
Teivy.
(Liverpool Museum)
These
Irish open boats are made of several sheet thicknesses
with twigs for ribs, practically the only wood being that
for constructing the gunwales.
The curragh measures about 18 ft. long with 3 ft. beam,
and a depth amidships of 2 1/2 ft.
Such a craft weighs 120 lbs., and draws only 6 inches,
carrying a couple of men.
The sloping bow with its slight sheer, and the cut away
stern, make the design far more seaworthy than would be
imagined.
I have often watched a similar type crossing from the
Blasket Islands to the Kerry coast during a heavy Atlantic
swell with several people on board, and remarked on their
marvellous behaviour where most wooden dinghies would
succumb.
A couple of men can carry her up to the island top, safe
from the effect of waves, and the great virtue of these
curraghs is extreme buoyancy.
Mr. Mannin Crane (to whose remarks I am indebted for
further information) states that a Donegal curragh will
carry eight persons in fine weather, and two paddlers can
impel them quite easily at 5 knots.
"They do not fear heavy seas as much as a high wind."
With the various Norse ships which have been
unearthed in Denmark, Scandinavia, and Germany we have no
present concern since they are not models; but the information
obtainable from the examination of actual hulls combines with
our other facts to make a reconstruction very accurate.
Contemporary carvings, such literature as the "Sagas" and the
"Song of Beowulf"- so rich in picturesque nautical detail- or
much early English poetry, the discovery of anchors as well as
other bits of inventory, all provide answers to our
questions.
Whilst it is true that no section in the history of mediaeval
civilisation is so lacking as that which pertains to
seafaring, yet by careful investigation we can complete a
composite picture.
Fig.
9. Donegal Curragh
(Liverpool Museum)
With the various Norse ships which have been
unearthed in Denmark, Scandinavia, and Germany we have
no present concern since they are not models; but the
information obtainable from the examination of actual
hulls combines with our other facts to make a
reconstruction very accurate.
Contemporary carvings, such literature as the "Sagas"
and the "Song of Beowulf"- so rich in picturesque
nautical detail- or much early English poetry, the
discovery of anchors as well as other bits of
inventory, all provide answers to our questions.
Whilst it is true that no section in the history of
mediaeval civilisation is so lacking as that which
pertains to seafaring, yet by careful investigation
we can complete a composite picture.
Fig.
10. Viking Ship
(Liverpool Museum)
Page 30 In their widest sense the Middle
Ages are covered by the dates 600-1500, the Viking period
being from 789 to 912, and the Saga age from 900 to 1050.
We think of the Norse ships with their red-blue, or
blue-red-green, or yellow-blue striped sails, though royal
vessels and great dragons sometimes decorated their sails with
historical pictures.
The model here shown is a reconstruction from the Liverpool
Museum, and the rudder still bears strong affinity to that of
Egyptian and classical Mediterranean custom.
Why ?
Because similar problems in the same conditions naturally
produce almost identical solutions.
The stern of Egyptian sailing ship, Greek galley, or Roman
corn ship, was rounded and not square: therefore the most
obvious place for any steering method must be right aft on the
side.
Furthermore, since these craft were frequently beached, some
means had to be provided for hauling up the rudder. This will
be noted in the model.
So also the mast could be readily lowered when the time came
for the oarsmen to pull against the wind.
There were plenty of hands aboard for hoisting, pulling,
fighting.
At night, and in sheltered waters, an awning was stretched
amidships to keep out rain and cold.
The ridge pole and one of the crutches for this purpose will
be noticed. The figureheads, and round wooden
shields to protect the crew, the oak planking and clinker
build, the pivoted shutters to prevent the sea from entering
the oar-holes, the design of hull to make her light to row yet
able to carry sail, the great length in proportion to beam;
all such exhibit the progress of these rough north Europeans
by the ninth century.
And if we would demand actual measurements we have them in the
Gogstad ship discovered in 1880.
Built of oak planking 1 3/4 inches thick, her length is 79 ft.
4 in., beam 16 1/2 ft., draught 3 ft. 7 in., rowed by 32 oars
; this being the kind of vessel undertaking voyages over the
North Sea, Atlantic, and even south to the Mediterranean.
Such ships were fitted with windlass, a cable of flax or
walrus-skin, this being secured for'ard under a knee.
It was not unusual to moor with two anchors, which were
buoyed. I surprising to note how light were these.
True, the twelfth century Norse ships carried one best anchor
and eight others- apart from their fighting grapnels- but it
is remarkable to find one of the Oseberg ship (unearthed in
1903) weighing only 22 lbs.
Also, curiously, there were no hawse holes in these craft.
Page 31
From contemporary manuscripts,
church windows, but especially from reliefs and seals, the
model-maker of to-day can with patience bring to life again
those bigger-bodied and castellated single-masted vessels
which were characteristic of the Atlantic seaboard down to the
fourteenth century.
In England the seals of Winchelsea, Sandwich, Hastings, and
the barons of Dover are most illuminative.
So likewise in Spain the thirteenth and fourteenth century
seals of San Sebastian and Pamplona, together withrral
fourteenth
century sculptures in Lisbon, enable us to get no uncertain
idea of those ships which were still very much under Norse
influence and carried the rudder at the starboard (or
steering) side.
Fig.
11. English Crusader (Late
Thirteenth Centeury)
Modern reconstruction partially finished,
based on the the seals of Winchelsea and Sandwich.
G. F. Campbell, Esq.)
The
English
Crusader model here shown has been constructed as a result of
research and largely relying on the Winchelsea-Sandwich seals.
It represents a clinker-built ship of 73 ft. long and 19! ft.
beam, with a depth of 9 ft. 7 in. through the hold.
The mast would rise 58 ft. above deck to set one large
squaresail.
The bulwarks would be 3 ft. 9 in. high, the castles decorated
in red and yellow, the hull oak-coloured, and black pitched
below water-line.
Built to the scale of 1 inch to 1 foot, this model has yet to
be completed, but it properly shows the rudder and tiller on
their way to becoming a more solid feature, just as the
castles were eventually to be embodied in the hull, instead of
being mere superstructures, that has been introduced during
the thirteenth century.
Noticeable, too, is the gradual preference for sails rather
than oars- the latter being carried only for auxiliary
purposes.
As we know from other sources, the bowsprit was being
introduced during the thirteenth century, though not for the
purpose of setting additional sail.
During the fourteenth century, at any rate, the squaresail had
already begun to lace a bonnet on its foot, but reef points
are distinctly shown in the thirteenth century Hastings seal. The largest north European vessels
by the mid-twelfth century were of about 80 tons, but in the
Mediterranean the use of two and even three masts was not
exceptional.
By the end of the thirteenth century Genoese ships traded up
to the English Channel, and the more frequent voyaging
naturally caused owners to demand oceanworthy, sea-keeping
types rather than the modified open boat species.
It was from about the year 1100 that an improvement set in
which was as decided as revolutionary ; though by no means
universal or rapid.
At the top of the mast was another castle
Page 32 whence archers could shower their
arrows on an enemy's decks, whilst others let fall heavy
stones; and this topcastle was destined to become a more
permanent fighting top through which the mast penetrated.
As to the bowsprit, there were depended from its outboard end
a chain and grapnel to be used as preliminary for boarding. By the year 1320 the largest of
England's ships were of 240 tons and able to transport forty
horses of crusaders; and even a century earlier they were
fitted with cabins, which meant nothing more than light
partitions able to be rigged or unrigged quickly.
But from early in the thirteenth century the transition from
big boats to little ships becomes more marked.
The history of the stern-post rudder is still to-day a little
vague, though expert knowledge inclines to the belief that it
originated not in the Mediterranean but up the Baltic or
North Sea.
Certainly by 1240 north Europeans had begun to shift the
primitive Egyptian-Phoenician-Greek-Roman paddle from the side
to the stern's extremity; though the evidence of seals proves
that by no means every important ship type accepted the
innovation.
The change, however, was bound to come, and for two reasons.
Ships were carrying more men and more cargo on longer voyages,
which connoted bigger hulls, bigger sail area, and need for
greater steering control.
Moreover, as the ship became beamier and the sterncastle part
of its structure, it was not practicable to persist in a side
rudder.
The Dutch word for the new fashion was hangroeder: the
distinction between hanging (or semipermanent) rudder and
that which was now more solidly affixed aft along the midship
line, well indicates the cleavage between ancient and modern
marine thought.
So we shall soon find the old-time round stern giving way to a
square, in order that the rudder may the more firmly be
secured. One could not expect vast sudden
improvements to take place in thirteenth century England,
which at that time was financially poor, though this in turn
was the inspiration of no little piracy along the Narrow Seas.
The voyages of crusaders and others to the Mediterranean could
not fail to have their effects, and about 1297 we find the
first mention of admiral, followed less than a century later
by the first instructions regarding convoys; since English
kings and princes enjoyed the wines of Bordeaux, and took the
trouble to escort the twenty wine-barrel ships with others
well armed.
Page 33 During
the
Middle Ages Genoa, Venice, and Pisa were the three great
Mediterranean maritime powers.
And it is from the relief completed by a Pisan artist
(Giovanni di Balduccio) in 1339 for the shrine of St. Peter
Martyr in the church of St. Eustorgio, Milan, that we can
obtain a good conception of a fourteenth century trader.
In the Victoria and Albert Museum is exhibited a full-size
reproduction of the shrine, but more to our purpose is the
model which Mr. G. Kruger Gray has based on this sculpture,
making only a few seamanlike modifications as the Pisan
landsman's of
nautical knowledge demanded.
At present this reconstructed ship is
at to the Science Museum, South Kensington, and an excellent
instance of what can be done without being inaccurate.
So to speak, this vessel has been released from dull stone to
its former freedom, and it needs only the slightest
imagination on our part to go aboard, take her to sea, dodge
pirates and mistrals, land cargo, and hurry homewards.
Fig. 12. Fourteenth-Century Mediterranean
Cargo Ship (From a model in the Science Museum, South
Kensington, by permission
of Mr. G.
Kruger Gray, Esq., F.S.A.)
In order effectually to
concentrate attention on any subject, it is necessary to
segregate and put all else aside; then to magnify and compare.
If that is the scientist's method with the microscope, and of
the judge confronted with a mass of statements, it is not less
requisite for the naval archaeologist.
In a painting or a sculpture we are hindered by the setting
and technique from perceiving all the values which can only be
appreciated by separation and comparison.
In this model we are able to confine our attention to the
following among other features.
First of all, she has not a square sail but a lateen (or "
sail of the Latins ").
We cannot assign an actual date to the introduction of this
fore-and-aft rig into the Mediterranean, but certainly by the
thirteenth century it was there in general use, and there is
good reason for supposing that it had been adopted to some
extent during the ninth century resulting from Arab influence.
The year A.D. 880 is the earliest actual evidence of Europeans
having this triangular shape, yet the curious fact has yet to
be explained why in 1521 when the Portuguese Magellan
discovered the Pacific Ladrone Islands he found native boats
rigged with a fore-and-aft sail of similar form ; wherefore he
named those the "Islas de las Velas Latinas."
Perhaps it may be that the lateen really originated in the Far
East, and, through the voyages of Chinese as well as Arabian
ships westwards, it became familiar to the Near East mariners,
but finally by means of the Arab it was brought from Indian
Ocean to the Red Sea. Page 34 At
any
rate it was found so useful in the Mediterranean that
Christians and Moslems alike adopted it for their galleys till
it reached its fullest expression at the Battle of Lepanto in
1571, when both masts carried an enormous curved yard.
The advantage over the squaresail lay in being able to point a
couple of points nearer the wind.
As we know from the Bishop of Mondonedo, who went to sea in
one of Charles V's galleys, "every time the wind changes, when
it passes from one side to the other, the lateen-yards are
lowered each time to be rehoisted." So in this model before us the
sail was set to leeward, but if the wind changed, the yard
must be dipped and hoisted the other side; for which reason
the shrouds are running and not standing.
Yard and sail must be allowed full play to go right outside,
so the shrouds can easily be slacked off by tackles to leeward
and hauled tight on the weather side, similar indeed to the
runners in our modern cutters.
This will be obvious on looking at the model's blocks and
tackles.
Of course in harbour the sail was stowed along the yard which
could be kept in the hoisted position, but with the tack
hauled down and peak much higher than the illustration
suggests.
In the Gulf of Lions, for example, I have seen the whole
fishing fleet of lateeners thus snug in port so that their
antennae look like so many pheasants' tails sticking up in the
air. By reason of the movable shrouds,
no ratlines are practicable, but a rope-ladder set
fore-and-aft runs up to the masthead.
It was customary then, as we still find to-day, for the yard
to be in two pieces securely lashed together ; otherwise it
were difficult to find a spar sufficiently long, and a serious
matter if it snapped. Notice the three castles- stern- fore-
and top; and observe that since the time of St. Paul not so
very much alteration has taken place in the hull during
thirteen hundred years.
The captain's cabin is aft, the cargo hold is amidships, and
the steering arrangement is almost identical with that of the
ancient Roman corn carriers.
The tackle was for hoisting up the windward rudder, and to
prevent damage when lying alongside a quay.
Such a ship was of about 20 tons burthen, measured 32 ft. long
by 9! ft. beam and 9 ft. depth.
In northern Europe a similar hull, but with a square stern and
square sail, was her counterpart. The lateen- as the sole sail and
not as an auxiliary- was scarcely suitable for the boisterous
northern waters of Europe, though our ancestors were Page 35 still
much
indebted to southerners.
Venice and Genoa were exporting northwards sails, ropes,
anchors and other parts of a ship's furnishing.
Venetian laws took such care of their merchant galleys that
the captain must be a patrician, and eight young nobles were
to embark in each craft to gain experience as well of
shiphandling as of how to conduct a bargain.
Passengers brought with them their own food, wine, cooking
utensils, firewood and mattresses.
They subsisted on salt meat, vegetables, cheese, onions,
garlic, vinegar, and biscuits.
Drinking water was supplied free, but scantily.
If he were a wise man the traveller deposited his gold with
the shipmaster; for the sailors were so dishonest that
sometimes they even tried to sell the ship's anchor.
These men were engaged from March 1 to the last day of
November; winter was not a sailing season. A large trade was done with Acre;
merchants of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa sailing thither for
pepper, silks and sugar that had come overland from the
Orient.
But the pilgrim passenger trade to the Holy Land from such
ports as Venice, Genoa, and Marseilles was to give shipping
quite an encouragement. Fourteenth century English mariners
were still feeling their way clumsily towards the ideal
sailing vessel, yet most of the carrying trade from the north
to Spain and the Middle Sea was done in Flemish ships, which
often had just one white mainsail showing up against the brown
hull and yellow spars.
The bowsprit was well steeved, and the rudder plumb in the
centre, with the tiller coming in through a square stern.
Such a short, stubby, stolid vessel was slow but seaworthy,
and in the summer voyaged so far west as Newfoundland.
A topsail was set flying, sometimes, the sheets leading into
the topcastle.
Some of the shrouds had ratlines, there were deadeyes and
sheeves, whilst the lifts of the mainyard had tackles. Our next model shows a Spanish
fifteenth century ship of this class, wherein will be observed
those features just enumerated, together with rubbing strakes
for going alongside; the castellated architecture, and the
well-developed fighting top.
This is probably the oldest wooden model in existence (apart
from Egyptian relics) and is now in the Prins Hendrik Maritime
Museum, Rotterdam.
Interesting by itself, it confirms the evidence of
contemporary stained glass windows, paintings, and
manuscripts.
She is the midway development between the Cinque port type
Fig.
13. Ex-Voto Spanish
Fifteenth-Century Model.
(Prins
Hendrik Maritime Museum, Rotterdam)
Page
36
of
the Winchelsea seal, and the two-master which during this same
fifteenth century was to sail the seas.
In the illustration before us can be seen the basic design on
which the galleon would eventually be made.
The bowsprit is missing and the rigging is showing the bad
results of time; but there remains quite enough detail to
enable the modern modeller to make a perfect reconstruction. All similarity with the galley
type has departed; the ship depends on sails absolutely, but
still the demand for bigger cargo carriers continues so that
two masts must be employed for dividing up the sail-spread and
during the fifteenth century we get even a third.
At first these two additional spars set only quite small
squaresails, until the foresail became bigger and the mizzen
did away with a quadrangular, in favour of a triangular
lateen.
The word " mizzen," found with variations in Spanish, Italian,
Portuguese, Dutch, German, and French nautical terminology,
originally signified a sail set in the middle line of the
ship.
And it was especially when hauled well in, sailing on a wind,
that the ship of any size found it valuable, just as the
modern Thames barge's tiny mizzen assists her steering. The mediaeval sailor spoke of the
square mainsail as the "crossayl."
He also called it the "grete cloth."
The crew hove up the anchor by means of a capstan, and when
almost atrip hands were sent aloft to let go the gaskets which
were round the yard.
To "cross the mast " was to hoist a yard.
To "turn the lufe " was to steer as near to the wind as
possible, and the "payntede clothys " were the waistcloths for
protection against enemy's missiles.
"Payntede scheldes," or pavesses, were a survival from Norse
days.
"Stere-burde" was the right-hand side, and the expressions
"haul the bowline," for sailing on a wind, "veer the sheet,"
when running free; "no nearer ! " (to the helmsman when
sailing too close in the wind), and "haul in the brails " were
part of the fifteenth English sailor's language. They drank beer, ate bread and
roasted or boiled meats, though the pilgrims who voyaged from
England to St. James at Compostella were so prostrate with
seasickness long before sighting the Spanish coast that they
preferred hot malmsey wine and salted toast.
"How ! Hisaa ! Y'howe ! Trussa ! " were the cries of sailors
hauling on ropes, and not so different from the modern "Heave
! And she comes ! Heave, and again ! " The transition from a two-masted
ship to the three-masted carrack was
Page
37
relatively
small in effort, but important as to results.
For the next hundred vears the carrack was to be the world's
"great " ship till the galleon superseded her.
The increased tonnage and higher free-board gave more
independence and robbed the ocean of some tyranny; which is
to say that the dawn of maritime discovery was not far
distant.
Whilst off the Portuguese and Spanish coasts, and in the
Mediterranean, the two- and even three- masted lateen caravel
was very generally employed contemporaneously with the nau or
big ship of squaresails and lateen mizzen, and the warlike
galley stubbornly persisted, northern seamen were
concentrating on the carrack and cog. With the galley they had little
sympathy, though in Tudor times royal attempts to make its
introduction a valuable war vessel were only failures at the
last.
But that foreign lateen sail remained in popularity for
centuries of English seafaring.
When running before the wind, at the order "Change the mizzen"
the yard was unparrelled from the mast, so that both lateen
yard and sail were shifted to leeward over the quarter, yet
always inside the shrouds, and kept boomed out by means of a
spar. By the late fourteenth century the
cog of the Cinque port seals was soon to become the normal
North Sea three-master.
As so often happened through nautical history, ships changed
their character but retained their class name.
Just as the word " sloop " in different generations has meant
quite different vessels- from sailing craft to steel
men-of-war- so the cog.
In her final evolution as a late fifteenth century Hanseatic
big trader with sprit-sail on her bowsprit, foresail, main
course, lateen mizzen, and topsails, she is presented in the
reconstructed model of the Liibeck Museum.
The grapnel will be noticed at the bowsprit end from which it
was dropped by means of a chain; but to this bowsprit was led
the forestay as well as the bowlines of the foresail.
The supply of stones and darts was hoisted into the topcastle
by means of bags and "cranelines."
Observe that the stern galley is now becoming part of the
hull's design, the capstan and bitts are below deck, the poop
is fast developing in length and height, there is more cabin
accommodation (though still limited), but there was great
difficulty in preserving food or drink.
Salt beef was placed in tubs secured outside on the quarters
well above the waterline, but beer in casks had to be stowed
below where it soon went sour.
Fig. 14. Fifteenth-Century
Hanseatic Cog Ship (Reconstructed model in Museum fur
Kulturgeschichte, Lubeck)
Page
38
It
was no rare occasion for these fifteenth and sixteenth century
ships to spring their masts on a voyage, though spare spars
were carried.
Medievalism, however, was fast disappearing and the
Renaissance spirit was to come over shipmen as it affected the
minds and outlook of landsmen.
Until the three-masted ocean-going vessel and the rudimentary
methods of fixing her latitude at sea had been made available,
there could be no expeditions to find the New World.
To venture across the uncertain Atlantic, carrying food and
drink for an unknown period, denoted at least a sea-keeping
vessel of fair size.
And the undertaking of Columbus was courageous even if we
think merely of the risk from starvation.
Very different were coastal voyages within the Middle Sea, or
even down the African coast. Other than the Norse expeditions
to north-east America, Columbian enterprise had been
unrivalled so that we can well agree with Gomara's well-known
remark that the West Indies' discovery was the greatest event
since the creation of the world, the Incarnation, and Calvary. Of the three ships which set out
on his initial voyage two were caravels, and of the latter one
carried a squaresail at her foremast. The flagship, Santa Maria, was the kind
of carrack which traded to Flanders, her full name being Santa
Maria la Galante. Characteristic features of a carrack were
her carvel build with longitudinal wales, overhanging
forecastle, with square foresail, main course, and lateen
mizzen, though a spritsail and main topsail were soon added.
We know from his diary that Columbus' Santa Maria carried these
five sails.
Not more than 40 men made up her complement.
Apart from the fact that she also had a boat and a cannon, the
above facts exhaust pretty well all that is authentic.
Therefore, the various attempts which have been made by modern
model craftsmen have necessarily differed in results, and some
have been definitely inaccurate. Those three here reproduced have
their own merits.
The first comes from the Liverpool Museum and with minor
modifications, is identical with that in the Science Museum,
South Kensington, which in turn was presented to the British
nation by the Spanish Government in 1923.
This gift, most beautifully made and decorated, a perfect bit
of craftsmanship, was copied from a model made during 1892 in
the Madrid Naval Museum that had been constructed from
information contained in contemporary
Fig. 15.
Columbus's "Santa Maria"
(Reconstructed model in Liverpool Museum).
Page
39
documents.
Nevertheless, in spite of the painstaking care, and the
aesthetic success, this model does not completely satisfy.
There are inaccuracies which were better omitted.
To begin with, no ratlines are legitimate, the bobstay is not
correct, the mainstay should be undivided.
Since the Santa Maria
was an ordinary carrack, and the carrack of this period had a
round stern, the square stern as here shown cannot be
accepted.
In the year 1927 Captain Julio F. Guillen, Director of the
Madrid Naval Museum, constructed a fresh model which embodies
the results of certain criticisms.
Thus the stern is round, the bobstay is not there, and the
mizzen yard has been quite rightly shown to consist of two
parts.
By Captain Guillen's courtesy I am able to reproduce this
model.
Fig. 16. Columbus's
"Santa Maria"
(As reconstructed in
1927 by Captain Julio F. Guillen,
Director of the Naval Museum, Madrid)
The third example has
been recently finished by Mr. E. V. Michael.
Here again there is perfect craftsmanship, and every effort to
be correct; yet at the best we are really thrown back for our
reliable information on such details of a carrack as are found
in Carpaccio's well-known painting of "The Departure of St.
Ursula," and the famous print by the Flemish master "W. A.",
supplemented by a few other contemporary details.
It is impossible to recreate the flagship of Columbus without
surmise and conjecture; even the length of hull (between stem
and sternpost) has been estimated variously between 74 and 86
ft., whilst the supposed beam is about 25 or 27! ft.
Her displacement we can take to work out at less than 250
tons.
One of the greatest losses to posterity was the wreck of Santa Maria off Haiti
that Christmas Day; for if there be one ship in all the
world's history which deserved to be hauled ashore into
preservation she belonged to the Iberian peninsula.
Fig.
17. Columbus's
"Santa Maria"
(Made to scale by E. V.
Michael, Esq.)
From such contemporary
accounts of Columbian voyaging as were written by Bernaldez
and Chanca we can add many a lively detail to the leader's own
diary.
We can see the ships taking on board their salt meat, bacon,
live lambs, calves, heifers, biscuits, corn, and wine, though
the slack work of coopers sometimes caused the latter's loss.
As to the speed of the late fifteenth century vessels, we have
quite definite information.
On the second voyage in 1493 Dr. Chanca went as physician.
He has left it on record that during favourable wind and
weather they made in two days about 200 miles, but that they
covered the distance from the Canaries to Dominica in fourteen
days.
For the sake of comparison it may be
Page 40
mentioned
that the British yawl yacht Amaryllis,
in 1920, sailed from the Canaries to Barbados through about
the same weeks of the year also in twenty days.
Chanca adds that "we should have sighted it in fourteen or
fifteen days if the flagship had been as good a sailer as the
other vessels, for on many occasions the other ships shortened
sail because they were leaving us so far behind." That this is no exaggeration may
be proved by the fact that, on his fourth voyage, Columbus
reached the West Indies from the Canaries in sixteen days, and
in 1585 the Elizabethan Sir Richard Grenville did it in
fifteen days.
Thus these old ships with their heavy gear, their
rough-and-ready outfit, could reel off a steady seven knots in
the trade winds under all sail.
The Liverpool Museum model of Santa Maria and the Liibeck Museum model of
a fifteenth-century cog give an "outligger " (outrigger) for
sheeting home the lateen mizzen.
It is questionable if that spar were already generally in use
quite so early,(1) though it certainly had been adopted forty
years later, by which date ratlines are noticeable in
contemporary illustrations.
So also during the fifteenth century the word caravel was
applied not merely to fore-and-afters of the lateen rig but to
deep-sea vessels rigged after the manner of Santa Maria.
Another instance of the same word being used for different
ship-types. From the carrack developed the
galleon, which was not essentially a Spanish type, since Spain
was the last of great maritime nations to adopt it.
The galleon being built rather for war than for merchandise,
had finer lines and was introduced into the English Navy of
Henry VIII long before it formed one of the Spanish units; and
here we get the prototype of the ship fit to lie in line of
battle, just as the galleasse foreshadowed the frigate and the
pinnace was forerunner of the corvette.
In the galleon the forecastle no longer overhangs beyond the
bows, but is well inboard, and this removal of a heavy weight
at the end would make the vessel less inclined to plunge into
a head sea.
But the galleon did add a beak which follows that of a
contemporary Mediterranean galley and with modifications had
survived all the centuries since imperial Rome.
During the latter part of the seventeenth century this beak
became shortened and curved upwards into Footnote 1.
It is, however, shown in an engraving illustrating Historia do Imperador Vespasiano,
printed at Lisbon during 1496.
Page
41
a
piece of carving till finally it was stereotyped as little
more than a figurehead. The difference between the carrack
and galleon may well be observed by first studying the Great Michael model with
those which follow.
During the early sixteenth century there was a European craze
for building huge warships.
The Scots' Navy had the Great
Michael, the English Navy had the Henry Grace a Dieu, or
Great Harry, and the French were afflicted with the same zeal.
Both the Great Michael
and Great Harry were
built after the manner of carracks and not galleons.
As will be seen from the former, there is no beak but a heavy
overhanging forecastle; and the round stern is now being
supplanted by a square-tuck.
Guns and gunports have come to stay, three masts have
increased to four, and we thus have in the Scottish production
what was described as "a very monstrous ship."
Fig.
18.
The "Great Michael" (Royal
Scottish Museum, Edinburgh)
She was built in 1511
(which also was three years before Great Harry) at Leith under the direction of
a Frenchman.
The Scots' Navy was shortlived, but this vessel made a
considerable sensation.
Constructed of oak, they sent to France for her canvas, and to
Spain for her anchors.
To prevent risk of singeing by firing, her gunports were lined
with leather.
Her length on water line was probably 180 ft., and her beam 38
ft., but she carried 120 gunners, 300 sailors, and 1000
marines. She changed her nationality to French in 1514, when
Louis XII purchased her for 40,000 francs.
This model is in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, and was
constructed some years ago by Mr. R. Patterson only after
diligent endeavour to embody such historical facts as are
known.
It suggests similarity with the Great Harry of 1514 which was also
four-masted, and according to her inventory (still in
existence) carried 184 pieces of ordnance.
She was reputed to be of 1500 tons, but we cannot accept Tudor
figures without reserve.
Sometimes in these manuscripts even the simplest addition is
inaccurate, and there was no rule formulated for calculating
tonnage till 1582.
It is not exceptional to find a manuscript at one place giving
a vessel's tonnage over 150 tons more than mentioned at
another. There existed a very human reason for making this as
big as possible; for when prize-money had to be assigned,
one-third went to the tonnage, so the bigger the ship, the
more money came to be divided. Noticeable features in this
"monstrous " model are the grappling iron
Page 42
for'ard, the hooks at each end of
the mainyard arm for fouling and destroying the enemy's
rigging during boarding tactics; the nettings stretched over
the waist to protect men from falling spars; the " outligger "
or bumpkin of the after-mizzen (known as the "bonaventure,"
while the third mast was called the main-mizzen); and the very
intricate rigging of multiple shrouds.
It should be stressed that the tactical use of cannon at this
period was quite different from our modern ideas.
Short-ranged, these iron or brass pieces were employed
primarily to destroy men, sails, masts, and render the enemy's
ship such a cripple that she could be finished off by
boarding.
Except in calm weather these tall ships were more than a match
for the low-lying galley, down on to whose deck and oarsmen
the heavy iron balls could crash. The hull of a Spanish galleon,
dated 1540, is from a contemporary ex-voto model in the Naval
Museum, Madrid.
The long half-deck extending from aft to the mainmast, the
square tuck at the stern, the short waist, and the forecastle
well waterborne instead of projecting, are at once obvious.
There are exaggerations, as for instance the size of the wales
and rubbing strakes, but the model is a sailor-made job and
can well be studied along with those other galleons which sail
the seas on old maps and prints.
Where the latter give us so much information as to
contemporary rigging and set of sails, there is in the Madrid
exhibit a fine opportunity for getting acquainted with a
galleon's essential architecture.
Fig.
19.
Hull of Spanish Galleon, 1540
(contempoary ex-voto model in the Naval
Museum, Madrid)
Before we examine the other deep
sea vessels, one must remember that smaller craft were
coasting and fishing : the caravel, carrack, and galleon
were the cargo steamers, passenger liners, and battleships
of those days. But,
also, must be mentioned the dogger, hooker, and crayer.
The first two were single-squaresail rigged, not so very
different from the Humber and Tyne keels of to-day.
Sometimes the dogger carried two masts, but never three.
She was the kind of vessel which went out to fish
in the North Sea, and existed certainly by the mid-fourteenth
century.
I think it very probable she was the ancestor of the sixteenth
and seventeenth century herring-buss.
Crayers were of two kinds: the bigger, of 75 tons, carried a
master and 12 mariners with a boy, but the smaller, of 55
tons, had two men fewer. Smaller fifteenth century vessels
had already adopted the fore-and-aft
Page 43 rig though different from the
Mediterranean lateen.
The earliest known illustration of a north European craft thus
rigged is the beautiful little picture in Les Tres Belles Heures de Notre
Dame (1) (thought to be the work of Hubert van Eyck)
which shows an open boat with sprit lugsail, and the date is
thought to be about 1416.
The earliest English pictorial evidence of a fore-and-after that
I have been able to discover is also that of a sprit lugsail,
but the date is 1527. During the following century, however,
there was some relation between Spanish and English
fore-and-afters.
That breezy and reprobate Jacobean sea-dog, Captain Nathaniel
Boteler (or Butler), in his well-known " Dialogues " has an
interesting reference to the hoy which was a useful little
coaster and worked her way handily up the Thames.
He says that this two-master was "a small bark which saileth not
with cross (i.e. square) sails nor yards as ships do, but with
sails cut into the form of mizzen sails and so like those
caravels (which are much in use about Spain) will sail far
nearer the wind than any vessel with cross yards can possibly
do."
They were of about 50 tons, 38 ft. long, 16 ft. beam, 8 ft.
deep, and 8 ft. draught. The hoys, at least, were
inaugurating among English shipping that cleavage which later
was to separate square-rigged ocean-goers from the ketches and
schooners trading along the coast or across the English Channel
and North Sea.
The "cross-sail" vessels with their poop, poop royal,
summercastle superstructures, ill-designed hulls, badly cut
sails, could romp along with wind on the quarter; but tacking
was a farce, they sagged to leeward in the most grievous manner,
and whilst they could head no nearer the wind than 7 points,
they would never fetch.
The only way to handle them and make progress was to sail them
ramping full, and that is why one finds them waiting weeks- even
months- for a fair wind.
The
French galleon model of 1560, in the Royal Scottish Museum,
Edinburgh, is a faithful copy of that original model which is
preserved in Trinity House, Leith.
Whilst the hull is contemporary, and the decorations as well on
sides as galleries, yet the rigging was done afresh in the early
eighteenth century according to Georgian notions; the most
flagrant error being what should be the lateen yard.
Unfortunately this bad habit of
Footnote1.
Unfortunately destroyed during our own generation, but a
reproduction will be found in the Mariner's Mirror (Vol. VI).
- Pages 44 to 93, and the
photographs of the associated models, are not reproduced. -
Page 94
The five northern
models are from the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.
In the first two we have the high-peaked Fifie lugsails
evolved from the traditional square-sail of the North
Sea.
Steered by a wheel, not quick in stays, having a steam
capstan for hauling their nets, they were improved upon
when the Zulu class of about 1878 came along.
The vertical bows of the Fifie were retained, but the
stern will be observed to be that of a Skaffie; i.e.
considerably raked, whilst the hull is beamier, deeper,
with a flatter bottom.
With greater deck space, and quicker in stays, the
Zulu's sail is broader along the foot.
She also has a steering wheel and she sails remarkably
near the wind, her deep forefoot giving her a handsome
grip on the water. To watch a fleet of these
simple-rigged vessels coming back from the herring
grounds with that immense mainsail filled with a smart
breeze is an unforgettable experience. Motors have since been
introduced, but it is rather as wonderfully fast luggers
measuring 83 ft. over all and 61 ft. along the keel,
that they will occupy a prominent part in the story of
small vessels.
Figure 137. Scotch Fifie
(In the Royal Scottish Museum,
Edinburgh.)
Figure 138. Scotch
Fifie "Neptune." (In the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.)
Figure 139. Scotch Zulu
(In the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.)
In the last two of these
five Scottish models we see the smack-rig (i.e. with gaff and
boom) preferred in lieu of the lug, but the round stern
continued.
These herring-boats were used about the year 1880 until the
lugsail ousted them as steam drifters and motor drifters have
to-day.
Figure 140.
Smack Rigged Scotch Fishing Boat (In the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.)
Figure 141. Smack Rigged
Scotch Fishing Boat
(In the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.)
But all round the coast
some of the age-honoured fishing boats are passing into the
chapters of history.
The Norfolk and Suffolk beach-yawls a generation ago were famous
for their speed under lugsails, yet they have now departed. The
Bittern was about the
last of that fleet, and she was broken up in 1928.
In the Southwold Sailors' Reading Room she is still commemorated
by a beautiful model with every article of her inventory.
Made by a veteran of 78, she is exact in every detail, and her
ancestry can be traced to the days of smugglers, when even two
dipping lugs and one standing lug were the rig, and they
required an exceptionally smart cutter to get anywhere near
them.
From the same collection we have a perfect model of a Southwold
beach punt, which is of permanent interest now that practically
all these punts have been converted to motor craft.
Figure 142. Suffork Beach Yawl "Bittern."
(In the Southwell Sailor's Reading Room.)
Figure 143. Southwold
Beach Punt
(From the Southwell
Sailor's Reading Room.)
PLANS
PLAN 1.
MODEL OF
ELIZABETHAN GALLEON (ABOUT 1600)
2. STUART ROYAL YACHT
- RIGGING PLAN
PLAN 3.
STUART ROYAL YACHT, 1670
PLAN 4.
TOPSAIL SCHOONER MY
LADY
- SAILS AND SPARS
PLAN 5.
TOPSAIL SCHOONER MY LADY - QUARTER SCALE
PLAN 6.
TOPSAIL SCHOONER MY
LADY
- COLOUR AND DECK FITTINGS [?]
Page 40 ... an
"outligger " (outrigger) for sheeting home the lateen
mizzen. It is questionable if that spar were already
generally in use quite so early,(1) Footnote 1. It is, however,
shown in an engraving illustrating Historia do Imperador
Vespasiano, printed at Lisbon during 1496 Seville, Pierre Brun, 1499. Historia del imperador
Vespasiano. Pierre Brun of Geneva
had been working in Spain for over twenty years when this book
was published ; at Tortosa with Nic. Spindeler (1477), at
Barcelona firstwith Spindeler (1478) and then with Posa (1481)
at Seville with Giovanni Gentile (1492), and now again, after
an interval, at Seville on his own account, in 1499.
Marine
art historian Margarita Russell, describes the Hand G marine
scenes as "capturing the first true vision of pure seascape"
in art.
http://jhna.org/index.php/past-issues/vol-62-2014/296-the-turin-milan-hours-revised-dating-and-attribution
Flavius Josèphe, Antiquités judaïques (Livres I-XXXX) Guerre des
Juifs (Livres XX-XXVII) Auteur : Josephus, Flavius
(0038?-0100?). Auteur du texte Auteur : Maître de la Cité des
dames. Enlumineur de l'œuvre reproduite Date d'édition :
1400-1415 Type : manuscrit Gautier de Coincy. Les
Miracles de Notre-Dame. Auteur : Delisle, Léopold. Auteur de
lettres Date d'édition : 1301-1400 Contributeur : Gautier de
Coinci Type : manuscrit Langue : Français Format : Parch. -
I-III, A-B et 245 f. à 2 col. - 335 × 225 mm. - Reliure
velours vert et soie brochée Droits : domaine public
Identifiant : ark:/12148/btv1b6000451c
barque de Pierre ballottée par
les flots Breviarium ad usum fratrum Predicatorum, dit
Bréviaire de Belleville. Bréviaire de Belleville, vol. I
(partie hiver) Auteur : Jean Pucelle. Enlumineur Auteur :
Maître du Cérémonial de Gand. Enlumineur Date d'édition :
1323-1326 Type : manuscrit