The Writerโs Guide to Sailing Ships of the Age of Exploration
Posted on October 13, 2023 Leave a Comment
The Age of Exploration, also known as the Age of Discovery, was a time that saw a surge of explorers taking to the seas. From the 15th to 17th century, European explorers discovered and colonized multiple regions worldwide. This exploration would not have been possible without two technological advancements. The first was the magnetic compass, and the second was several styles of ships that could navigate the open seas far from land. Today I will cover the dominant style of ships from this time.
As always, magic is the exception to the rule. Because magic.
Carrack
The carrack is a type of three or four-masted sailing ship that was developed in Europe in the 14th century. It developed from the single-masted cog, which was used for trade in the Mediterranean and the Baltic. The carrack was larger, and its size made it stable in heavy seas and capable of carrying the provisions needed for long ocean voyages. This style of ship was developed and used, most notably in Portugal and Spain. The Portuguese carracks often had over 1,000 tons of displacement. [1] They were usually square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast with a lateen sail on the mizzenmast. They had a single cannon deck. One of the most famous carracks in history was the Santa Maria in which Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the Americas in 1492.
Caravel
The style originated in the 13th century along the coast of Galatia and Portugal. Similar Muslim craft used in the waters of the Iberian Peninsula may have influenced it. [2] The early caravels were only used in coastal waters and often only had a single mast with a lateen rig. Toward the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese developed a larger version of the caravan with a forecastle and stern castle. The foremast was rigged with a square sail which fared better on the open ocean, but the other masts kept their lateen rig, a style known as a โround caravel.โ Some consider the caravel the forerunner of the galleon. The Nina and the Pinta, two of the ships that Christopher Columbus used on his 1492 expedition, are examples of caravels.
Galleon
The galleon developed from the carrack. The shipโs longer hull and lower forecastle improved its stability, speed, and maneuverability. Galleons had multiple decks and served as both cargo ships and military vessels. They existed alongside carracks and often served as escort and defense ships. They were cheaper to build than carracks but had up to two full cannon decks. Five gallons cost about the same as three carracks. The galleon was in widespread use from the 16th to the 18th centuries and was used as the primary vessel in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the mid-1600s. [3] They had three or more masts with a lateen rig on the rear mast and square rigs on the foremast and mainmast. Galleons were mostly under 500 tons, although some such as the Manila gallons weighed up to 2,000 tons.
Junk
The junk was a style developed from Chinese riverboats with influences from other parts of Asia. [4] In later centuries, they became seafaring vessels. The main defining feature is the junk rig. However, there are depictions of Chinese ships from the 12th century with square sales. The junk originated between the 8th and 5th century BCE and was used to sail between islands and traverse rivers. It was in the 15th to the 17th centuries that the junk came into its own as a seafaring vessel. The largest ever built were possibly those of Admiral Zheng He for his expeditions in the Indian Ocean, which lasted from 1405 to 1433. Historians estimate that his biggest treasure ships were between 390 to 408 feet long (119โ124 m) and 160 to 160 feet wide (49โ51 m) and had multiple masts. [5] The Ming Dynasty banned all Chinese maritime trade in the mid-15th to the early 16th century, resulting in the loss of much shipbuilding knowledge. [6]
I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions by using the Contact Me form on my website or by writing a comment. I post every Friday and would be grateful if you would share my content.
If you want my blog delivered straight to your inbox every month along with exclusive content and giveaways, please sign up for my email list here.
May you always find the right words.
Copyright ยฉ 2023 Rebecca Shedd. All rights reserved.
[1] Braudel, F (1979). The Structures of Everyday Life. p. 423. ISBN 0060148454. [2] Elbl, Martin (1985). The Portuguese caravel and European Shipbuilding: Phases of development and Diversity. Revista da Universidade de Coimbra. Vol. 33. Lisboa: Instituto de Investigaรงรฃo Cientรญfica Tropical. pp. 543โ572. [3] Lane, Kris E. Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas 1500โ1750. M. E. Sharpe, 1998. [4] Pham, Charlotte Minh-Hร L. (2012). "Unit 14: Asian Shipbuilding (Training Manual for the UNESCO Foundation Course on the Protection and Management of the Underwater Cultural Heritage)". Training Manual for the UNESCO Foundation Course on the Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. ISBN 978-92-9223-414-0. [5] Levathes, Louise (1996). When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433. New York : Oxford University Press. p.80 [6] Heng, Derek (2019). "Ships, Shipwrecks, and Archaeological Recoveries as Sources of Southeast Asian History". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History: 1โ29. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.97. ISBN 9780190277727.
The Writerโs Guide to Sailing Ships of the Ancient World
Posted on September 29, 2023 Leave a Comment
The history of the sailing ship is long and throughout it humans have developed many types of vessels. The builder’s needs and the advances in sailing technology achieved up to that point usually influenced the designs of sailing ships. This will not be an exhaustive list. There are too many types of sailing ships and variations on them to put in a single blog post. Today, I will start with the ships of the ancient world.
As always, magic is the exception to the rule. Because magic.
Austronesia & the South China Sea
The Austronesian vessels were the earliest ones to take to the open ocean between 3,000 to 1,500 BC. These people developed the catamaran and outrigger, most of which had crab claw sails. They used them to set up the first trade routes in the Indian Ocean, starting in at least 1500 BC and ranging from Japan to eastern Africa. [1] These sea routes were the precursor of the spice trade routes and were the maritime version of the Silk Road. [2]
The Austronesian design influenced the development of the Arab lateen sails and the kunlun bo or Kโun-lun po (ๅดๅด่ถ, lit. โship of the Kunlun peopleโ) of the Han Dynasty, which lasted from 206 BC to 220 AD.
The Mediterranean
The ancient Egyptians had single-masted, square-rigged vessels. Using both sails and oars, they navigated rivers and the Mediterranean Sea. We do not have a name for this type of vessel.
The Egyptians used squared-rigged vessels with a single mast but mainly kept to the rivers and the Mediterranean Sea. These vessels commonly used paddles or oars as well as sails. [3] The Minoans, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Romans later used this style.
The Phoenicians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans used three types of galleys: bireme, trireme, and penteconter. They had both oars and sails and had reinforced bows for ramming. The bireme and trireme were mainly warships, and they used the penteconter for both war and trade. The names came from the rows of oars with biremes having two and triremes having three.
The polyreme was a type of heavy Roman warship like the bireme and trireme but with more rows of oars.
The Indian Ocean
India was trading with Mesopotamia using maritime routes as early as the 3rd millennium BCE but the first evidence of their use of sails is from 400-500 AD. [4] Most vessels involved in this trade route stayed in coastal waters, making cargo ships such as the dhow the most widely used. There were multiple routes between India and the Arabian peninsula, which meant that monopolies and blockades were more difficult.
Several Indian kingdoms, such as Kalinga, used sailing ships as early as the 2nd century AD. Their use of the sail was likely developed from those of the Austronesian vessels. There are depictions of Javanese outriggers from the 8th century that were influenced the same way. [5]
The Atlantic Ocean
In 1996, a boat was unearthed in Dover, England. It was 9.5 m long x 2.1 m wide. Archeologists dated it to approximately 1600 B.C., possibly making it the oldest known seagoing boat. The boat builders made the hull of straight grained oak and used yew lashings. Between 4 to 16 paddlers propelled the boat. It was large enough to carry a significant amount of cargo and, with a strong crew, may have been able to travel 30 nautical miles in a day. [6]
The Vikings were well known for their longships, the first of which date back to between 500 and 300 B.C. [7] They were made of rounded cross-sections that were fastened with cord. These vessels were quick but had little carrying capacity. We have multiple examples of these ships because the Vikings used them in burials. Although originally designed for rivers, they were later used for long ocean voyages such as Leif Eric sends exploration of North America. They had both oars and sails for proportion.
China
The ships of ancient China were large, rectangular, barge like ships with multiple decks and cabins. The ships had ramparts and the ancient Chinese used them as floating fortresses. [8] They were commonly called โlou chuanโ or โcastle ships.โ The first example of these ships is from the Spring and Autumn Period (722 BCโ481 BC). This period also saw the introduction of the iconic junk, which would become the primary vessel of Chinese explorers.
I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions by using the Contact Me form on my website or by writing a comment. I post every Friday and would be grateful if you would share my content.
If you want my blog delivered straight to your inbox every month along with exclusive content and giveaways, please sign up for my email list here.
May you always find the right words.
Copyright ยฉ 2023 Rebecca Shedd. All rights reserved.
[1] Bellina, Bรฉrรฉnice (2014). "Southeast Asia and the Early Maritime Silk Road". In Guy, John (ed.). Lost Kingdoms of Early Southeast Asia: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture 5th to 8th century. Yale University Press. pp. 22โ25. ISBN 9781588395245. [2] Bellina, Bรฉrรฉnice (2014). "Southeast Asia and the Early Maritime Silk Road". In Guy, John (ed.). Lost Kingdoms of Early Southeast Asia: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture 5th to 8th century. Yale University Press. pp. 22โ25. ISBN 9781588395245. [3] From River to Sea: Evidence for Ancient Egyptian Seafaring Ships [4] Pamulaparthy, Sweekar Bhushan. "Ancient Indian Ship". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-12-06. [5] Grice, Elizabeth (17 March 2004). "A strange kind of dream come true". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved 3 November 2015. [6] Canterbury Archaeological Trust: Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Archived May 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine [7] Pauline Asingh (2009). Grauballemanden. Gyldendal A/S. pp. 195โ. ISBN 978-87-02-05688-4. Retrieved 2 July 2013. [8] Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 678โ679
Posted on August 14, 2023 Leave a Comment
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