The Humber keel was a type of single-masted, square-rigged sailing craft used for inshore and inland cargo transport around Hull and the Humber Estuary, in the United Kingdom, particularly through the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Humber keel was a type of single-masted, square-rigged sailing craft used for inshore and inland cargo transport around Hull and the Humber Estuary, in the United Kingdom, particularly through the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The square sail arrangement of the Humber keel is most probably a descendant of the Saxon ship of the fifth century AD. The term "keel" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "ceol", which referred to a ship built using a longitudinal strengthening beam (keel) together with a single mast and square rigging. [1] [ failed verification ] The remains of keels from the 13th century have been excavated, and the keel is identified as a specific class of vessel in the Tudor records kept by the Corporation of York. [2] Early keels were designed to work in waterways which were only 3.5 feet (1.1 m) deep, but could still carry 40 to 50 tonnes of cargo. [3] Such boats were clinker-built, meaning that the planks overlapped one another, but this gradually gave way to carvel construction, where the planks join edge to edge. First the bottom of the hull was carvel-built, with the sides still clinker-built, and then the whole boat used the newer method. [4]
Humber keels were constructed to a variety of sizes, between 57 and 68 feet (17 and 21 m) long and between 14.5 and 16.5 feet (4.4 and 5.0 m) wide. These different sizes were dictated by which part of the inland waterway network that the keel was intended to work on, having the maximum size hull that could get through the locks on their intended routes. [5] : 4
They had strongly built hulls with a bluff bow and a flat bottom. The after part of the hull, in the region of the structural keel, was shaped to give a slightly concave run [lower-alpha 1] so that water flowed efficiently past the sternpost and the rudder. Wood was used as the construction material for much of the keel's history. Clinker construction was the norm until the middle of the 19th century, when carvel construction was gradually introduced. Some were built with carvel bottoms and clinker sides. Typically, oak and elm were used for the planking and the timbers, with a keelson (which was a major structural member) possibly of pitch pine, if not, of oak. Timber dimensions were generous, giving a heavily built hull. The wooden keels being built at the beginning of the 20th century had steel keelsons and iron knees. Iron-hulled keels were built in the latter part of the 19th century and steel hulls into the 20th century. The result of this was that in the closing years of working keels, wooden, iron and steel hulled vessels could be found working alongside each other. [5] : 1-7
In the 20th century, steam and diesel engines replaced sail, with grants available to convert sailing vessels to mechanical power before the Second World War. [2] All of the sailing keels had gone by 1949, but one has been preserved and returned to sail by the Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society. [3]
The sailing rig consisted of a single mast on which was set a square mainsail and a topsail. The mast was stepped on a post called a lutchet, which went from the top of the keelson to deck level, where it provided a socket for the mast to sit in. The mast could be lowered and raised by one person operating the winch in the bows. This allowed the keel to go under low bridges. The square sails were carried on yards which were hoisted from the deck when sails were set. In stronger winds, the yards would be hoisted with the sails furled to them with light yarn that would be broken when the sheets were pulled. The mainsail could be doused by hauling on the slabline – a rope from the deck, up to the hounds (the mast at the level of the main yard) and then to the foot of the sail. This would lift the sail up to the yard and take the wind out of it. [5] : 7, 15
One advantage of the design was the ability to sail very close to the wind, which was essential on the narrow waterways on which they plied. They were also very manoeuvrable, and a single person could handle one on narrow and quiet waters. [3] Lateral resistance was provided by a huge pair of leeboards, since the structural keel protruded below the flat bottom of the hull by only a few inches. A topsail was used when they were navigating the canals and rivers, but not usually when they were on the Humber estuary. [6]
The dimensions of these craft were influenced by the gauge, or width, of inland waterways created or modernised during that period. In comparison to the widespread use of the Narrowboat standard, far fewer inland waterways were designed to accommodate the larger Humber Keel gauge vessels. This standard is still used on associated waterways today.[ citation needed ]
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture.
A sail plan is a description of the specific ways that a sailing craft is rigged. Also, the term "sail plan" is a graphic depiction of the arrangement of the sails for a given sailing craft.
The Norfolk wherry is a type of boat used on The Broads in Norfolk and Suffolk, England. Three main types were developed over its life, all featuring the distinctive gaff rig with a single, high-peaked sail and the mast stepped well forward.
A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail. The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts.
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part of the 19th century. In commercial use, they were gradually replaced by fore-and-aft rigged vessels such as schooners, as owners sought to reduce crew costs by having rigs that could be handled by fewer men. In Royal Navy use, brigs were retained for training use when the battle fleets consisted almost entirely of iron-hulled steamships.
A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. Scows were in common use in the American Great Lakes and other parts of the U.S., Canada, southern England, and New Zealand. In modern times their main purpose is for recreation and racing.
A topsail ("tops'l") is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails.
The koch was a special type of small one or two mast wooden sailing ships designed and used in Russia for transpolar voyages in ice conditions of the Arctic seas, popular among the Pomors.
A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel.
A cutter is a type of watercraft. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig of a sailing vessel, to a governmental enforcement agency vessel, to a type of ship's boat which can be used under sail or oars, or, historically, to a type of fast-sailing vessel introduced in the 18th century, some of which were used as small warships.
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called yards and their tips, outside the lifts, are called the yardarms. A ship mainly rigged so is called a square-rigger.
A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three segments: lower mast, top mast, and topgallant mast. Other large, multi-masted sailing vessels may be regarded as ships while lacking one of the elements of a full-rigged ship, e.g. having one or more masts support only a fore-and-aft sail or having a mast that only has two segments.
Clinker built is a method of boat building where the edges of hull planks overlap each other. Where necessary in larger craft, shorter planks can be joined end to end, creating a longer strake or hull plank. The technique originated in Scandinavia, and was successfully used by the Anglo-Saxons, Frisians, Scandinavians, typically in the vessels known as cogs employed by the Hanseatic League. Carvel construction, where plank edges are butted smoothly, seam to seam, supplanted clinker construction in large vessels as the demand for capacity surpassed the limits of clinker construction..
A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and narrow tributary rivers. The larger barges were seaworthy vessels, and were the largest sailing vessel to be handled by just two men. The average size was about 120 tons and they carried 4,200 square feet (390 m2) of canvas sail in six working sails. The mainsail was loose-footed and set up with a sprit, and was brailed to the mast when not needed. It is sheeted to a horse, as is the foresail; they require no attention when tacking. The foresail is often held back by the mate to help the vessel come about more swiftly.
The ships of Medieval Europe were powered by sail, oar, or both. There was a large variety, mostly based on much older, conservative designs. Although wider and more frequent communications within Europe meant exposure to a variety of improvements, experimental failures were costly and rarely attempted. Ships in the north were influenced by Viking vessels, while those in the south by classical or Roman vessels. However, there was technological change. The different traditions used different construction methods; clinker in the north, carvel in the south. By the end of the period, carvel construction would come to dominate the building of large ships. The period would also see a shift from the steering oar or side rudder to the stern rudder and the development from single-masted to multi-masted ships. As the area is connected by water, people in the Mediterranean built different kinds of ships to accommodate different sea levels and climates. Within the Mediterranean area during the Medieval times ships were used for a multitude of reasons, like war, trade, and exploration.
The Polperro Gaffer is a type of fishing vessel used in Cornwall. The Great Gale of 1891 destroyed the fishing fleets of many of the smaller Cornish villages. The old boats were generally clinker-planked and lug-rigged. The new boats built after the Gale with government intervention and support were to a new design, carvel planked and with the "modern" gaff rig, boats we now know as typically West Country with straight stem and transom sterns though the lines varied from port to port.
The Montagu whaler was the standard seaboat of the Royal Navy between 1910–1970, it was a clinker built 27 by 6 feet open boat, which could be pulled by oars or powered by sail – a shorter version of 25 feet (7.6 m) was also built. It was double-ended; having a pointed stem and stern. Retired Rear Admiral The Honourable Victor Montagu proposed the design.
The SB Kathleen was a spritsail Thames barge built by Glover at Gravesend, Kent, in England in 1901, and registered in Rochester. Her official number was 113,708. She was built to carry grain- for capacity rather than speed. she was 82.8 feet (25.2 m) long and had a beam of 19.7 feet (6.0 m). Light, she drew 30 inches (76 cm) of water, and laden 6 feet (1.8 m).
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".