Monday, January 31, 2011

Warship Bow and Fire pot

 
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Warship (note the sharp ram to the right in the picture) equipped with a fire pot. This was a graffiti (Graffito) in an Alexandrian Tomb; after A Schiff, "Alexandrinische Dipinti," (Liepzig -- 1905) pl. 1. The fire pot probably refers to the use of "Greek Fire" which was a very inflammable liquid used against enemy ships. It was very successful as an offensive weapon.

Reference:-

Lionel Casson, "Ships and Seamanship In the Ancient World," Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995, pl. 115.

Running and Standing Rigging

 
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Two sketches, showing the Running and Standing Rigging on a sailing vessel. The running rigging are the lines which move to set and control the sails. The standing rigging are the stationary lines which support the masts and sails.

The Top Sketch is one which shows the various parts of the running rigging:

A. Sail (in this case what is known as a "square" rig);
B. Mast (Spar that supports the sails and rigging);
C. Yard (Spar that supports the sail when in use or when furled);
1. Lifts (Lines to raise the yard);
2. Halyard (Lines to raise the yard);
3. Braces (Lines to move the yard around the mast);
4. Sheets (Lines to hold the lower corners of the sail against the wind).

The Lower Sketch is one which shows the various parts of the standing rigging:

A. Hull (Ship's structure);
B. Mast (See above);
1. Forestay (Supports the mast and all foresails fore and aft);
2. Aftstay (Supports the mast fore and aft);
3. Shrouds (Supports the Mast athwartships).

Reference:-

Lional Casson, "Ships and Seamanship In the Ancient World," Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore / London, 1995

Venetian Cog, 15th Century, with lateen sails

 
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Reference:-

Attilio Cucari, "Sailing Ships," Rand McNally, Chicago, 1978, P. 29

Venetian Cog, 15th Century

 
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Reference:-

Attilio Cucari, "Sailing Ships," Rand McNally, Chicago, 1978, P.29

Venetian Cog, 13th century

 
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Reference:

Attilio Cucari, "Sailing Ships," Rand McNally, Chicago, 1978, P. 28

Venetian Cog, 15th Century, with lateral rudder

 
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Reference:

Attilio Cucari, "Sailing Ships," (Rand McNally-Chicago), 1978, P. 29

"Mary Fortuna", England, 1300

 
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Attilio Cucari, "Sailing Ships," (Rand McNally-Chicago), 1978, P. 25

Venetian Usher, 15th Century, modified for horse transport

 
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Attilio Cucari, "Sailing Ships," (Rand McNally-Chicago), 1978, P. 29

Friday, January 21, 2011

Medieval Ship -- Merchantman

 
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H. B. Culver, "The Book of Old Ships," Dover Pub., New York, 1992

Greek Galley

 
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Reference:

H. B. Culver, "The Book of Old Ships." Dover Pub., New York, 1992

Roman Warship -- Trireme

 
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Reference:

H. B. Culver, "The Book of Old Ships," Dover Pub., New York, 1992

Greek Merchantman -- "Round Ship"

 
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Reference:

H. B. Culver, "The Book of Old Ships," Dover, Pub., New York, 1992

Roman "Cordita" -- Merchant Vessel

 
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There is no discovered ship of this type and so the drawing is resolved through pictures found in various places in the Roman world. The ship was believed to be stoutly built and fairly slow in speed. The length to width ratio was about about 3 to 1. Ships of this type on occasion reached a large size, in one explanation was rated at nearly 1,000 tons of cargo. However, most of these ships were built for a more modest load of 300 to 500 tons.

Reference:

H. B. Culver, "The Book of Old Ships," Dover Publishing, New York, 1992

"Hulk" Drawing

 
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This "Hulk" drawing shows the rudder, and oarsman and a sail. The men figures are much larger than the vessel by way of showing their relative importance to the drawing.

Reference:

Unger, "Ship In the Medieval Economy 600 to 1600"

Two More "Hulk" drawings

 
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All the "Hulk" drawings used here to date have come from a ancient Psalter (book of psalms). The ship lines have been completely redrawn as to show the lines more clearly as the drawings were expanded for use in the blog.

Reference:

Unger, "Ship in the Medieval Economy, 600 to 1600"

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Roman Warship

 
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--Reference:--

Jane Penrose (ed.) "Rome and Her Enemies," Osprey Publishing, Great Britain, 2005

Corinthian Coin /Carthaginian Carving

 
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-- Prow of a galley, Corinthian Coin, c. 226 B. C., Spain;

--Carthaginian carving showing the front (bow) of a galley. Note the disc and crescent standard on the prow.

Hull Construction of Carthaginian Warships

 
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1. Part of the hull of the first of two Carthaginian warships discovered near Lilybaeum in Sicily;

2. Part of the ram of the second ship;

A. Method of joining planks together with tenons and dowels;

B. Method of nailing planks to ribs;

C. and D. Sections of keel;

E. Section of rearmost rib;

F. Section of fifth rib showing planking nailed to both rib and keel;

G. and H. Sections of the ram.

Reference:

Peter Connolly, "Greece and Rome At War," Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ , 1981

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Ship In Medieval Economy 600 to 1600; Part 1 (Ideas in Ship Design)

For centuries the ship has been a very large and significant part of man’s ability to deal with the world as he sees it. Not only has the ship been a vehicle for transport and warfare, but also a means of exploration and discovery. In addition to the above the ship has been a large component in the evolution and development of our civilization.

In the Mediterranean World the economy of many countries and virtually all of the population depended on the transportation of food items from the areas of plenty to the areas where food production was not possible. This was particularly true in the great cities that dotted the area. For the most part the grain crops which sustained these nations were found along the Northern shores of Africa and separated from the large populations by a large sea. A large sea whose storms and bad weather were often the reason for prudent maritime vessels to stay protected in port. However, it was these same vessels whose task it was to bring vast amounts of grain as a food supply to the areas of Southern Europe. One of the aspects of the storms that laced this sea was that most bad weather was confined to a single season and this determination held true over the many, many, years. In order to address this task the ship designers of old had to take many things into account such as volume of cargo, and seaworthiness. Speed of advance was also a factor and the ability of the ship to withstand the buffeting that was part and parcel of being able to sail the seas. Once a design had been settled upon, in consequence, the economy was very much settled as well. The owners of the ship had to make money from their investment, and this accounted for the volume of cargo, speed of advance and how long the ship would last in it’s task. Once the design of the ship was settled and the economy was determined, the ideas and views of conversion of these ships depended to a great degree upon the economics of the industry. Would the new ideas of ship design advance the amount of cargo carried, speed of advance and would improvements of sea worthiness damage or reduce the gain of the ship owners. All these questions were carefully compared to the cost, effort, and construction of vehicles to move the food and goods along land routes. During the period of the middle Roman and Persian Empires, good roads were constructed for military purposes, and these routes could also be used for the transport of mercantile goods. However, with the decline of both of these empires the roads gradually became very hard to use for freight wagons and of course roads did not answer the necessity of crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Change is just as suspiciously engaged in a changing ship design as in most other areas, particularly when it may be a means to advance an aspect of the ship but reduce the income of that ship even temporarily. For example, if a new sail rig was determined either by the ship designers themselves or by some bits of information gained from other ship designers and builders, the conversion of a ship took time, and needed materials, and during that time of conversion, the ship would not be earning money for the owners, Added to that, the owners would be paying for materials and labor to convert the vessel, and the question foremost during this time was -- would the conversion pay for the money lost, and would the conversion provide a further advantage to the owners of the vessel over and above the current ship design? Multiply these questions by the number of vessels to be converted and one can see that economic conditions very often decided against new ideas in ship design until such conversions were proven to be advantageous. New ideas for ship design were not hard come by. Those ships which dealt with the northern European countries brought their designs to the eyes of the northern shipbuilders, while the northern ships showed the Mediterranean sailors the new ideas that were in use in that part of the world. This exchange of ideas was ongong, but the usefulness of the ideas in combination with the economy of the world from which these sips sailed was a strong hold upon the major modification of existing ships and the risk of building a ship which would not be as useful as a ship of a more proven design

New designs in warships were similarly looked upon. The warship had to be effective in battle. That was the primary need, and as cargo it had to carry or have designed into it the weaponry that was determined by result to be the best that could be utilized for the size and task of the ship. There were different graduations in these concerns, of course, from the fast “runner” lightly armed style of vessel to run down slower vessels with no arms, or the great lumbering warships which depended upon size and weight to complete their tasks. Of course, in all of this, the economy has a large part since governments, like merchants, wanted the best for their money, but they also wanted good performance and new ideas always raised the question would these new ideas and conversions to those ideas be worth the money spent on such, the time it took to make the conversions, and would the newly converted ships be as effective as previously seen.

In the coming studies we shall take up some of these questions and discuss them from the basis of the ancient information that is available, which is a concern in itself. The knowledge and data of ancient ship design is a continuing one as we see in the advance of underwater archaeology and the new discovery of sunken vessels in our area of research.

References;

-- R.W. Unger, “The Ship In the Medieval Economy 600 to 1600,” Croom Helm, London, 1980;
-- A. R. Lewis and T. I. Runyan, “European Naval and Maritime History, 300 to 1500,” Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind., 1985;

--Attilio Cucari, “Sailing Ships,” Rand McNalley & Co., Chicago, 1978

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Three More "Hulk" Drawings

 
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Hulks from the Utrecht Psalter - early ninth century

 
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By the end of the seventh century and the first of the eighth century the "Hulk" had come in use and was considered a reliable small cargo vessel in use along the Low Countries. It owed much to previous Celtic ship design and, the strongly built hull had the shape of half an egg shell or perhaps like a hollowed out banana. It had no keel and used a single sail for propulsion. The center plank of the ship was very broad and made from a single log. Wooden pins held the two planks on either side of the keel in place. In order to provide a more secure leakproof hull two nearly half-round planks were added over each of the seams between the center plank and the two side planks. Two side rudders gave it control as seen in the above pictures. It was particularly suitable for beaching on the sandy shores of the Low Countries where it was primarily in use. An estimate of the ships cargo capacity was approximately twenty-three tons. It was probably decked over and most likely was used mostly for river use and use in the North Sea. It could navigate the tidal estuaries of the Low Countries and England reaching the existing trading ports of the period. By A. D. 750 it had gone through several design changes and was established as a reliable cargo carrier used by the Frisian Traders in their forays to England.



These drawings and the ones following are taken from a ninth century psalter. They are "Hulks" which is an early A Psalter is a book of psalms, or a book containing psalms, which was profusely illustrated and was used in the services of the Byzantine Monastic Catholic Church.

References;

Unger, "The Ship In the Medieval Economy," (London - 1980);

Lewis and Runyan, "European and Naval Maritime History," (Bloomington -- 1895);

"Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary," (Springfield -- 1956).

Friday, January 14, 2011

Byzantine Dromon about A. D. 850

 
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This vessel is a warship with four banks of twenty-five oars. The names in the drawing are in a foreign language, however, the vessel is two masted. The sharp pointed bow is the ram, which is the major weapon of this vessel. The sailing rig is lateen with long booms on each mast and large triangular sails. The ratio of length to width is always greater than 6 to 1, whereas in the merchant ships of the day it was 3 to 1. The essential design of this vessel had been determined by A. D. 600. The Dromon was supposedly developed from the Roman Liburnian which was a light warship in the Roman Navy. The drought was shallow, about 1.5 meters, and usually displaced less that 120 tons, The beam was generally about 5 meters. The hull was narrow and trim and the bottom almost flat. Shields were hung along the sides of the ship for crew protection, as found in the later Viking ships. There were no internal stringers, since the strength of the hull came from the strakes (hull planks) and external wales (strength members). The ship was lighter than merchant vessels which was to be expected since the name Dromon meant "Runner," it was definitely built for speed.

References:--

R.W. Unger, "The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600 to 1600," Croom Helm, London, 1980;

Lewis and Runyan, "European Naval and Maritime History, 300 to 1500," University of Indiana Press, Bloomington, 1985.

Utrecht Ship of A. D. 800 -- "Hulk"

 
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Views of the Ship called a "Hulk" The Hulk comes into use in the early seventh century: More about the "Hulk" in the blog entries to follow.

Top - Length of the ship, side view, one meter scale above the title;
Middle - Length of ship, top view;
Bottom - A is the bow of the ship in all three views. In the third row it is looking directly at the bow;
- B is the mid-ship cross-section (dash line from D to E);
- C is te Stern of the ship in all three views, In the third row it is looking directly at the stern;

There is no indication of a rudder so it may be assumed that the boat was steered with oars or paddles. This vessel was probably a river vessel. It's rounded no keel bottom and low freeboard would make it very dangerous to use at sea.

c.13 Genoese Two Masted, Three Deck, Cargo Ship

 
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This drawing shows a modification of decks from a two decker to a three decker. The depth of hold was estimated at 14 feet, 3 Inches; of the first deck 7 feet, 4 inches; of the second deck 6 feet, 6 inches ; of the bulwark 4 feet, 1 inch; for a total depth of about 32 feet, 2 inches (9.79 Meters). The superstructures are taken from the bas-reliefs of two ships on the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Obviously the modification to three decks would have been advantageous to the economy of countries and ports using or benefitting from this type of ship by it's ability to carry more goods. The sailing rig has not changed because it had certainly proven itself as well as the other basic elements of this ship design.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Ship's Construction Diagram's

 
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Top Picture -- Northern European Clinker-building with overlapping planks;

Bottom Picture -- Roman Mortise and Tenon construction.

These styles of ship construction are taken from archeological finds in the cultures mentioned above.