Medieval ships were the vessels used in Europe during the Middle Ages. Like ships from antiquity, they were moved by sails, oars, or a combination of the two. 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 knarr, a relative of the longship, was a type of cargo vessel used by the Vikings. It differed from the longship in that it was larger and relied almost entirely on its square-rigged sail for propulsion.
Cogs were single-masted vessels, with clinker-built sides and a flush-planked, flat bottom [1]
Although the name "cog" is recorded as early as the 9th century,[2] the seagoing vessel of that name seems to have evolved on the Frisian coast during the 14th century.[3] Cogs progressively replaced Viking-type ships in Northern waters during the 13th century. Why this was the case is uncertain but cogs could carry more cargo than knarr of a similar size. Their flat bottoms allowed them to settle flat in the harbor, making them easier to load and unload. Their high sides made them more difficult to board in a sea-fight, which may have made them safer from pirates.[4]
Cogs were also used as military transports and warships, fitted with towers fore and aft.
The cog traditionally reached the Mediterranean in 1304. This led to a Mediterranean variant, the coach.[5]
The hulk (OE: hulc) is first recorded in the 10th century, when it is distinguished from a keel (OE: ceol), a ship in the Nordic tradition such as the knarr. Very little is known about the hulc, with no archaeological remains or usefully descriptive contemporary records. Early images of hulks show them strongly curved upwards at stem and stern.[6]
Hulks continued to be mentioned in use throughout the Middle Ages and into the 16th century when it is particularly associated with the Baltic and the Hanseatic League. These late hulks could be as large as contemporary great ships. Jesus of Lübeck of 1544 was a ship of 700 long tons (780 short tons; 710t), the same as the Mary Rose.[7] However, how similar later medieval hulks were to their ancestors is unknown. There is some evidence of hybridization with the cog form, showing both hulk and post-construction.[8] Others have suggested that late hulks were partially carvel-built.[9]
The caravel was a ship developed by the Portuguese in the 13th century, being used for fishing and cargo work. It was well suited to some of the exploration activity in the Age of Discovery and was used from about 1440 in this activity. Unlike the longship and cog, it used a carvel method of construction. In contrast to some contemporary Mediterranean ship types, caravels had a rudder mounted on the sternpost, as opposed to using a side-mounted steering oar. It could be either square rigged and lateen rigged (Caravela Redonda) or only lateen rigged (Caravela Latina), as is found in earlier examples. The most famous examples of caravels were the Niña and the Pinta.[10] The caravel became increasingly common in Northern European waters from the 1430s and the spread of this one type of vessel meant that carvel construction had to be learnt in the shipyards outside the Iberia.[11][10]
The carrack was a ship type invented in southern Europe in the 15th century and particularly developed in Portugal in the same century. It was a larger vessel than the caravel. Columbus's flagship, the Santa María, was a famous example of a carrack. The ships commanded by Vasco da Gama as the São Gabriel, with six sails, a bowsprit, foresail, mizzen, spritsail and two topsails, already had the complete features and the design of the typical carrack.
An example of a Northern European late medieval vessel with many characteristics of a carrack is the Danish-Norwegian flagship of King Hans, Gribshunden, which sank off modern-day Sweden in June 1495. It was probably built in the Low Countries near modern-day Rotterdam in 1485, from timber cut in the River Meuse watershed of the Ardennes forest. Archaeological excavation shows its carvel-built hull carried three masts, and featured a forecastle and lapstrake stern castle. With a keel length of about 25.5 meters and an overall length in excess of 30 meters, it was a large ship for the time, especially in the Baltic Sea. It served not only as a warship armed with as many as 68 artillery pieces, but as a mobile castle to serve all of the king's needs as he traveled throughout his realm.[12][13][14]
Small vessels
A number of smaller vessels are named in English sources of the Late Middle Ages, some of which continued into the 16th century and beyond.
Crayer
A vessel of 20-50 tons, used largely on the cross-channel trade.[15]
The hoy originated in Flanders in the 15th century. A single-masted vessel usually of 25–80 long tons (28–90 short tons; 25–81t) used a coaster or on short sea routes, as well as a lighter. The type would evolve in the 16th and 17th, only finally disappearing in the early 19th century.[16]
Picard
First recorded in the 1320s, the picard was a single-masted vessel of 10–40 tons used mainly as support vessel for fishing fleets, bringing home their catches and ferrying supplies, or as a lighter, loading from vessels at anchor and discharging onto beaches or shallow creeks. A widespread type, in use from Scotland, all round the English coast and across in Ireland.[17]
Galleys had been in use for trade and warfare since at least the 8th century BC and remained in use throughout the Middle Ages. Rowing was the primary method of propulsion, which was well-suited for often-fickle winds of the Mediterranean where they were primarily used. The galley was also used in the waters of Northern Europe, but to a lesser extent since its low freeboard and lack of stability in rough seas made it vulnerable. During the years 1150-1350, after the Second Crusade, the Mediterranean witnessed an economic boom known as the Commercial Revolution. To keep up with trade, ship building increased as well. Italian city-states like Venice constructed ships like the galley. By the thirteenth century there were galleys that could carry up to 500 metric tons (490 long tons; 550 short tons) of cargo and was about 40 metres (130ft) long.[18]
The longship was a type of ship that was developed over a period of centuries and perfected by its most famous user, the Vikings, in approximately the 9th century. The ships were clinker-built, utilizing overlapping wooden strakes.
The balinger was a clinker-built oared vessel, initially with a single mast, but in the 15th century larger vessels had a second mast. They were usually small vessels of 40–60 long tons (45–67 short tons; 41–61t) but larger vessels of up to 120 long tons (130 short tons; 120t) are recorded. Balingers were popular in the Bay of Biscay and English Channel and were used both for trade and warfare. Fast and with the flexibility of oars and sails for propulsion, they were commonly used by pirates.[19]
In the waters off the west of Scotland between 1263 and 1500, the Lords of the Isles used galleys both for warfare and for transport around their maritime domain, which included the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, the Hebrides, and Antrim in Ireland. They employed these ships for sea-battles and for attacking castles or forts built close to the sea. As a feudal superior, the Lord of the Isles required the service of a specified number and size of galleys from each holding of land. For examples the Isle of Man had to provide six galleys of 26 oars, and Sleat in Skye had to provide one 18-oar galley.
Carvings of galleys on tombstones from 1350 onward show the construction of these ships. From the 14th century they abandoned a steering-oar in favour of a stern rudder, with a straight stern to suit. From a document of 1624, a galley proper would have 18 to 24 oars, a birlinn 12 to 18 oars and a lymphad fewer still.
1 2 Elbl, Martin (1994). "The Caravel and the Galleon". In Gardiner, Robert; Unger, Richard W (eds.). Cogs, Caravels and Galleons: the sailing ship, 1000-1650. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN0851775608.
↑ Jones, Evan T.; Stone, Richard (2018). The world of the Newport medieval ship: trade, politics and shipping in the mid-fifteenth century. Cardiff. ISBN978-1-78683-263-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Flatman, Joe (2009). Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts. British Library Publishing, ISBN978-0-7123-4960-4
Hutchinson, Gillian (1994). Medieval Ships and Shipping. London: Leicester University Press, ISBN978-0-7185-0117-4
S. McGrail: "Medieval boats, ships, landing places" in Waterfront archeology in Britain and Northern Europe, pp.17–23, Council for British Archeology, 1981.
Gardiner, R & Unger, Richard W. (1994). Cogs, Caravels, and Galleons. Conway Maritime Press, ISBN1-55750-124-6
McGrail, Sean (2004). Boats of the world from the Stone Age to Medieval times. Oxford University Press (published March 28, 2002). pp.88–164. ISBN9780199271863. OCLC1120663729.
Viking ships were marine vessels of unique structure, used in Scandinavia from the Viking Age throughout the Middle Ages. The boat-types were quite varied, depending on what the ship was intended for, but they were generally characterized as being slender and flexible boats, with symmetrical ends with true keel. They were clinker built, which is the overlapping of planks riveted together. Some might have had a dragon's head or other circular object protruding from the bow and stern for design, although this is only inferred from historical sources. Viking ships were used both for military purposes and for long-distance trade, exploration and colonization.
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships developed in Spain and Portugal and first used as armed cargo carriers by Europeans from the 16th to 18th centuries during the Age of Sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the mid-17th century. Galleons generally carried three or more masts with a lateen fore-and-aft rig on the rear masts, were carvel built with a prominent squared off raised stern, and used square-rigged sail plans on their fore-mast and main-masts.
The caravel is a small sailing ship that uses both lateen and square sails and was known for its agility and speed and its capacity for sailing windward (beating). Caravels were used by the Portuguese and Spanish for the voyages of exploration during the 15th and 16th centuries, in the Age of Discovery.
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 cog was a type of ship that was used during the Middle Ages, mostly for trade and transport but also in war. It first appeared in the 10th century, and was widely used from around the 12th century onward. Cogs were clinker-built, generally of oak. Cogs were fitted with a single mast and a single square sail. They were used primarily for trade in north-west medieval Europe, especially by the Hanseatic League. Typical seagoing cogs were from 15 to 25 meters long, 5 to 8 meters wide, and were of 30–200 tons burthen. Cogs were rarely as large as 300 tons although a few were considerably larger, over 1,000 tons.
Carvel built or carvel planking is a method of boat building in which hull planks are laid edge to edge and fastened to a robust frame, thereby forming a smooth surface. Traditionally the planks are neither attached to, nor slotted into, each other, having only a caulking sealant between the planks to keep water out. Modern carvel builders may attach the planks to each other with glues and fixings. It is a "frame first" method of hull construction, where the shape is determined by the framework onto which the planks are fixed. This is in contrast to "plank first" or "shell first" methods, where the outer skin of the hull is made and then reinforced by the insertion of timbers that are fitted to that shape. The most common modern "plank first" method is clinker construction; in the classical period "plank first" involved joining the edges of planks with mortise and tenon joints within the thickness of the timbers, superficially giving the smooth-hull appearance of carvel construction, but achieved by entirely different means.
A carrack is a three- or four-masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal and Spain. Evolving from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade from the Mediterranean to the Baltic and quickly found use with the newly found wealth of the trade between Europe and Africa and then the trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas. In their most advanced forms, they were used by the Portuguese and Spaniards for trade between Europe, Africa and Asia starting in the late 15th century, before being gradually superseded in the late 16th and early 17th centuries by the galleon.
Clinker-built is a method of boat building in which 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.
A galley is a type of ship which relies mostly on oars for propulsion that was historically used for warfare, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during antiquity and continued to exist in various forms until the early 19th century. It typically had a long, slender hull, shallow draft, and often a low freeboard. Most types of galleys also had sails that could be used in favourable winds, but they relied primarily on oars to move independently of winds and currents. The term "galley" originated from a Greek term for a small type of galley and came in use in English from about 1300. It has occasionally been used for unrelated vessels with similar military functions as galley but which were not Mediterranean in origin, such as medieval Scandinavian longships, 16th-century Acehnese ghalis and 18th-century North American gunboats.
The birlinn or West Highland galley was a wooden vessel propelled by sail and oar, used extensively in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland from the Middle Ages on. Variants of the name in English and Lowland Scots include "berlin" and "birling". The Gaelic term may derive from the Norse byrðingr, a type of cargo vessel. It has been suggested that a local design lineage might also be traceable to vessels similar to the Broighter-type boat, equipped with oars and a square sail, without the need to assume a specific Viking design influence. It is uncertain, however, whether the Broighter model represents a wooden vessel or a skin-covered boat of the currach type. The majority of scholars emphasise the Viking influence on the birlinn.
A foresail is one of a few different types of sail set on the foremost mast (foremast) of a sailing vessel:
A knarr is a type of Norse merchant ship used by the Vikings for long sea voyages and during the Viking expansion. The knarr was a cargo ship; the hull was wider, deeper and shorter than a longship, and could take more cargo and be operated by smaller crews. It was primarily used to transport trading goods like walrus ivory, wool, timber, wheat, furs and pelts, armour, slaves, honey, and weapons. It was also used to supply food, drink, weapons and armour to warriors and traders along their journeys across the Baltic, the Mediterranean and other seas. Knarrs routinely crossed the North Atlantic carrying livestock such as sheep and horses, and stores to Norse settlements in Iceland, Greenland and Vinland as well as trading goods to trading posts in the British Isles, Continental Europe and possibly the Middle East. The knarr was constructed using the same clinker-built method as longships, karves, and faerings.
A hulk was a type of medieval ship used mostly for transports. The hulk appears to have remained a relatively minor type of sailing ship apparently peculiar to the Low Countries of Europe where it was probably used primarily as a river or canal boat, with limited potential for coastal cruising. The only evidence of hulks is from legal documents and iconography, though it is possible that a shipwreck found on the coast of Estonia in early 2022 might be the only known surviving example of a hulk.
Due to centuries of constant conflict, warfare and daily life in the Iberian Peninsula were interlinked. Small, lightly equipped armies were maintained at all times. The near-constant state of war resulted in a need for maritime experience, ship technology, power, and organization. This led the Crowns of Aragon, Portugal, and later Castile, to put their efforts into the sea.
The Irish galley was a vessel in use in the West of Ireland down to the seventeenth century, and was propelled both by oars and sail. In fundamental respects it resembled the Scottish galley or bìrlinn, their mutual ancestor being the Viking longship. Both the Irish and Scottish versions were colloquially known as "longa fada" (longships). The Irish galley was commonly an eight or twelve-oared vessel and was used for both warfare and trade. It was notable for its speed when rowed.
The square-rigged caravel, was a sailing ship created by the Portuguese in the second half of the fifteenth century. A much larger version of the caravel, its use was most notorious beginning in the end of that century. The square-rigged caravel held a notable role in the Portuguese expansion during the Age of Discovery, especially in the first half of the sixteenth century, for its exceptional maneuverability and combat capabilities. This ship was also sometimes adopted by other European powers. Its hull resembled the shape of the later galleon and some scholars have claimed that this vessel is a forerunner of the fighting galleon, by the name of caravela de armada.
A lancaran or lanchara is a type of sailing ship used in Maritime Southeast Asia. Although similar in shape to Mediterranean galleys, the lancaran was the backbone of the regional fleet of the western half of Nusantara before Mediterranean influence came. For their war fleet, the Malays prefer to use shallow draught, oared longships similar to the galley, such as lancaran, penjajap, and kelulus. This is very different from the Javanese who prefer long-range, deep-draught round ships such as jong and malangbang. The reason for this difference is that the Malays operated their ships in riverine water, sheltered straits zone, and archipelagic environment, while the Javanese are often active in the open and high sea. After contact with Iberian people, both the Javanese and Malay fleets began to use the ghurab and ghali more frequently.
Maritime travel experienced a large leap in the capabilities of seafaring vessels thanks to technological improvements in shipbuilding in the early modern era. Europe, Asia, and the Middle East all saw improvements on prior construction techniques, contributing to the Age of Discovery. As a result, the introduction of these technologies in the production of naval vessels was critical as they allowed nations that utilized these advancements to ascend to a state that could expand its influence at a far greater range. In military engagements, the exploration of new lands and potential colonies, or the transportation of goods for trade, better shipbuilding techniques coincided with prosperity. It is during this time that the practice of naval architecture appeared, as skilled designers could produce designs that had an enormous impact in ship performance and capabilities.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
