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VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
SCIENCE HANDBOOKS.
ANCIENT AND MODERN
SHIPS.
PART I.
[Illustration]
BOARD OF EDUCATION, SOUTH KENSINGTON.
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM.
ANCIENT AND MODERN
SHIPS.
PART I.
WOODEN SAILING-SHIPS.
BY
SIR GEORGE C. V. HOLMES, K.C.V.O., C.B.,
HON. MEMBER I.N.A., WHITWORTH SCHOLAR.
FORMERLY SECRETARY OF THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS
WITH SEVENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS.
[Illustration]
(_Revised._)
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE,
BY WYMAN AND SONS, Limited, Fetter Lane, E.C.
1906.
To be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller from
WYMAN & SONS, Ltd., Fetter Lane, London, E.C.; or
OLIVER AND BOYD, Edinburgh; or
E. PONSONBY, 116, Grafton Street, Dublin;
or on personal application
at the Catalogue Stall, Victoria and Albert Museum, S.W
Price One Shilling and Sixpence in Paper Wrapper, or
Two Shillings and Threepence in Cloth.
PREFACE.
An endeavour has been made in this handbook, as far as space and
scantiness of material would permit, to trace the history of the
development of wooden ships from the earliest times down to our own.
Unfortunately, the task has been exceedingly difficult; for the annals
of shipbuilding have been very badly kept down to a quite recent period,
and the statements made by old writers concerning ships are not only
meagre but often extremely inaccurate. Moreover, the drawings and
paintings of vessels which have survived from the classical period are
few and far between, and were made by artists who thought more of
pictorial effect than of accuracy of detail. Fortunately the carvings of
the ancient Egyptians were an exception to the above rule. Thanks to
their practice of recording and illustrating their history in one of the
most imperishable of materials we know more of their ships and maritime
expeditions than we do of those of any other people of antiquity. If
their draughtsmen were as conscientious in delineating their boats as
they were in their drawings of animals and buildings, we may accept the
illustrations of Egyptian vessels which have survived into our epoch as
being correct in their main features. The researches now being
systematically carried out in the Valley of the Nile add, year by year,
to our knowledge, and already we know enough to enable us to assert that
ship building is one of the oldest of human industries, and that there
probably existed a sea borne commerce in the Mediterranean long before
the building of the Pyramids.
Though the Phoenicians were the principal maritime people of antiquity
in the Mediterranean, we know next to nothing of their vessels. The same
may be said of the Greeks of the Archaic period. There is, however,
ground for hope that, with the progress of research, more may be
discovered concerning the earliest types of Greek vessels; for example,
during the past year, a vase of about the eighth century B.C. was found,
and on it is a representation of a bireme of the Archaic period of quite
exceptional interest. As the greater part of this handbook was already
in type when the vase was acquired by the British Museum, it has only
been possible to reproduce the representation in the Appendix. The
drawings of Greek merchant-ships and galleys on sixth and fifth-century
vases are merely pictures, which tell us but little that we really want
to know. If it had not been for the discovery, this century, that a
drain at the Piraeus was partly constructed of marble slabs, on which
were engraved the inventories of the Athenian dockyards, we should know
but little of the Greek triremes of as late a period as the third
century B.C. We do not possess a single illustration of a Greek or Roman
trireme, excepting only a small one from Trajan's Column, which must not
be taken too seriously, as it is obviously pictorial, and was made a
century and a half after many-banked ships had gone out of fashion.
In the first eight centuries of our era records and illustrations of
ships continue to be extremely meagre. Owing to a comparatively recent
discovery we know something of Scandinavian boats. When we consider the
way in which the Norsemen overran the seaboard of Europe, it seems
probable that their types of vessels were dominant, at any rate in
Northern and Western European waters, from the tenth to the twelfth
century. From the time of the Norman Conquest down to the reign of Henry
VIII. we have to rely, for information about ships, upon occasional
notes by the old chroniclers, helped out by a few illustrations taken
from ancient corporate seals and from manuscripts. From the time of
Henry VIII., onwards, information about warships is much more abundant;
but, unfortunately, little is known of the merchant vessels of the
Tudor, Stuart, and early Hanoverian periods, and it has not been found
possible to trace the origin and development of the various types of
merchant sailing-ships now in existence.
The names of the authorities consulted have generally been given in the
text, or in footnotes. The author is indebted to Dr. Warre's article on
ships, in the last edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," and to Mr.
Cecil Torr's work, "Ancient Ships," for much information concerning
Greek and Roman galleys, and further to "The Royal Navy," a history by
Mr. W. Laird Clowes, and the "History of Marine Architecture" by
Charnock, for much relating to British warships down to the end of the
eighteenth century.
5, ADELPHI TERRACE, W.C.,
_January, 1, 1900_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE.
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER II.
ANCIENT SHIPS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND RED SEAS 5
CHAPTER III.
ANCIENT SHIPS IN THE SEAS OF NORTHERN EUROPE 55
CHAPTER IV.
MEDIAEVAL SHIPS 65
CHAPTER V.
MODERN WOODEN SAILING-SHIPS 112
APPENDIX
DESCRIPTION OF AN ARCHAIC GREEK BIREME 157
INDEX 161
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. PAGE
*1. EGYPTIAN SHIP OF THE PUNT EXPEDITION. ABOUT 1600
B.C. _From Der-Bahari_ _Frontispiece_
2. THE OLDEST KNOWN SHIPS. ABOUT 6000 B.C. 10
3. EGYPTIAN BOAT OF THE TIME OF THE THIRD DYNASTY 11
+4. EGYPTIAN BOAT OF THE TIME OF THE FOURTH DYNASTY 13
*5. NILE BARGE CARRYING OBELISKS. ABOUT 1600 B.C. 20
6. BATTLESHIP OF RAMSES III. ABOUT 1200 B.C. 24
7. PORTION OF A PHOENICIAN GALLEY. ABOUT 700 B.C. _From
Kouyunjik (Nineveh)_ 27
8. GREEK UNIREME. ABOUT 500 B.C. 30
9. GREEK BIREME. ABOUT 500 B.C. 31
10. FRAGMENT OF A GREEK GALLEY SHOWING ABSENCE OF
DECK. ABOUT 550 B.C. 32
11. GALLEY SHOWING DECK AND SUPERSTRUCTURE. ABOUT
600 B.C. _From an Etruscan imitation of a
Greek vase_ 34
12. GREEK MERCHANT-SHIP. ABOUT 500 B.C. 39
13. ROMAN MERCHANT-SHIP 40
+14. PROBABLE ARRANGEMENT OF OAR-PORTS IN ANCIENT
GALLEYS 48
15. SUGGESTED ARRANGEMENT OF OAR-PORTS IN AN OCTOREME 48
16. ROMAN GALLEY. ABOUT 110 A.D. 49
17. LIBURNIAN GALLEY. CONJECTURAL RESTORATION 50
18. STEM AND STERN ORNAMENTS OF GALLEYS 52
19. BOW OF ANCIENT WAR-GALLEY 53
20. BOW OF ANCIENT WAR-GALLEY 54
21. ANGLO-SAXON SHIP. ABOUT 900 A.D. 57
22-26. VIKING SHIP 60
27. ONE OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR'S SHIPS. 1066 A.D. 66
*28. SANDWICH SEAL. 1238 71
*29. DOVER SEAL. 1284 72
*30. POOLE SEAL. 1325 75
31. VENETIAN GALLEY. FOURTEENTH CENTURY 78
32. CROSS-SECTION OF A VENETIAN GALLEON 79
33. VENETIAN GALLEON. 1564 80
34. ITALIAN SAILING-SHIP. FIFTEENTH CENTURY 81
35. ENGLISH SHIP. TIME OF RICHARD II. 81
36. ENGLISH SHIP. TIME OF HENRY VI. 83
37. ENGLISH SHIP. LATTER HALF OF FIFTEENTH CENTURY 86
38. COLUMBUS' SHIP, THE "SANTA MARIA." 1492 87
39. SAIL-PLAN OF THE "SANTA MARIA" 88
40. LINES OF THE "SANTA MARIA" 91
41. THE "HENRY GRACE A DIEU." 1514. _Pepysian Library,
Cambridge_ 93
42. THE "HENRY GRACE A DIEU." _After Allen_ 94
43. GENOESE CARRACK. 1542 96
44. SPANISH GALLEASS. 1588 97
45. ENGLISH MAN-OF-WAR. ABOUT 1588 102
46. VENETIAN GALLEASS. 1571 103
47. THE "PRINCE ROYAL." 1610 105
48. THE "SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS." 1637 109
49. THE "ROYAL CHARLES." 1673 113
50. THE "SOLEIL ROYAL." 1683 115
51. THE "HOLLANDIA." 1683 116
52. BRITISH SECOND-RATE. 1665 119
53. MIDSHIP SECTION OF A FOURTH-RATE. END OF SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY 120
54. THE "FALMOUTH." EAST INDIAMAN. LAUNCHED 1752 124
55. THE "ROYAL GEORGE." 1746 127
56. THE "COMMERCE DE MARSEILLE. 1792 130
57. BRITISH FIRST-RATE. 1794 132
58. " " " 133
59. HEAVY FRENCH FRIGATE OF 1780 134
60. " " " 135
61. THE "HOWE." 1815 136
62. SIR ROBERT SEPPINGS' SYSTEM OF CONSTRUCTION 138
63. " " " " " 139
64. " " " " " 140
65. THE "WATERLOO" 141
66. THE "QUEEN" 143
*67. THE "THAMES." EAST INDIAMAN. 1819 144
*68. THE "THETIS." WEST INDIAMAN 146
*69. FREE-TRADE BARQUE 148
++70. THE "BAZAAR." AMERICAN COTTON-SHIP. 1832 149
++71. THE "SIR JOHN FRANKLIN." AMERICAN TRANSATLANTIC
SAILING-PACKET. 1840 151
++72. THE "OCEAN HERALD." AMERICAN CLIPPER. 1855 152
++73. THE "GREAT REPUBLIC." AMERICAN CLIPPER. 1853 154
74. ARCHAIC GREEK BIREME. ABOUT 800 B.C. 158
The illustrations marked * are published by kind permission of the
Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund. Those marked + are taken from
"The History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce," and were kindly
lent by Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd. Those marked ++ are
reproduced from "La Marine Francaise de 1792 a nos jours," by l'Amiral
Paris.
ANCIENT AND MODERN SHIPS.
PART I.
_WOODEN SAILING-SHIPS._
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
A museum relating to Naval Architecture and Shipbuilding is of the
utmost interest to the people of Great Britain, on account of the
importance to them of everything that bears on the carrying of their
commerce. Every Englishman knows, in a general way, that the commerce of
the British Empire is more extensive than that of any other state in the
world, and that the British sea-going mercantile marine compares
favourably in point of size even with that of all the other countries of
the world put together; but few are probably aware of the immense
importance to us of these fleets of trading ships, and of the great part
which they play in the maintenance of the prosperity of these isles. The
shipping industry ranks, after agriculture, as the largest of our
national commercial pursuits. There is more capital locked up in it, and
more hands are employed in the navigation and construction of ships,
their engines and fittings, than in any other trade of the country
excepting the tillage of the soil.
The following Table gives the relative figures of the merchant navies of
the principal states of the civilised world in the year 1898, and proves
at a glance the immense interest to our fellow countrymen of all that
affects the technical advancement of the various industries connected
with shipping:--
NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF SAILING-VESSELS OF OVER 100 TONS NET,
AND NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF STEAMERS OF OVER 100 TONS
GROSS, BELONGING TO EACH OF THE COUNTRIES NAMED, AS RECORDED
IN LLOYDS' REGISTER BOOK.
------------------------------------------------------------------
| Total No. of | Total tonnage of
Flag. | steam and sailing | steam (gross) and of
| vessels. | sailing-vessels (net).
----------------------+-------------------+-----------------------
United Kingdom | 8,973 | 12,926,924
Colonies | 2,025 | 1,061,584
+-------------------+-----------------------
Total | 10,998 | 13,988,508
| |
United States of }| |
America, including }| 3,010 | 2,465,387
Great Lakes }| |
| |
Danish | 796 | 511,958
French | 1,182 | 1,242,091
German | 1,676 | 2,453,334
Italian | 1,150 | 875,851
Japanese | 841 | 533,381
Norwegian | 2,528 | 1,694,230
Russian | 1,218 | 643,527
Spanish | 701 | 608,885
Swedish | 1,408 | 605,991
All other | |
countries | 2,672 | 2,050,385
+-------------------+-----------------------
Total | 28,180 | 27,673,528
----------------------+-------------------+-----------------------
The part played by technical improvements in the maintenance of our
present position cannot be over-estimated; for that position, such as it
is, is not due to any inherent permanent advantages possessed by this
country. Time was when our mercantile marine was severely threatened by
competition from foreign states. To quote the most recent example, about
the middle of last century the United States of America fought a
well-contested struggle with us for the carrying trade of the world.
Shortly after the abolition of the navigation laws, the competition was
very severe, and United States ships had obtained almost exclusive
possession of the China trade, and of the trade between Europe and North
America, and in the year 1850 the total tonnage of the shipping of the
States was 3,535,434, against 4,232,960 tons owned by Great Britain. The
extraordinary progress in American mercantile shipbuilding was due, in
part, to special circumstances connected with their navigation laws, and
in part to the abundance and cheapness of excellent timber; but, even
with these advantages, the Americans would never have been able to run
such a close race with us for the carrying trade of the world, had it
not been for the great technical skill and intelligence of their
shipbuilders, who produced vessels which were the envy and admiration of
our own constructors. As a proof of this statement, it may be mentioned
that, the labour-saving mechanical contrivances adopted by the Americans
were such that, on board their famous liners and clippers, twenty men
could do the work which in a British ship of equal size required thirty,
and, in addition to this advantage, the American vessels could sail
faster and carry more cargo in proportion to their registered tonnage
than our own vessels. It was not till new life was infused into British
naval architecture that we were enabled to conquer the American
competition; and then it was only by producing still better examples of
the very class of ship which the Americans had been the means of
introducing, that we were eventually enabled to wrest from them the
China trade. Another triumph in the domain of technical shipbuilding,
viz., the introduction and successful development of the iron-screw
merchant steamer, eventually secured for the people of this country that
dominion of the seas which remains with them to this day.
Among the great means of advancing technical improvements, none takes
higher rank than a good educational museum; for it enables the student
to learn, as he otherwise cannot learn, the general course which
improvements have taken since the earliest times, and hence to
appreciate the direction which progress will inevitably take in the
future. Here he will learn, for instance, how difficulties have been
overcome in the past, and will be the better prepared to play his part
in overcoming those with which he, in his turn, will be confronted. In
such a museum he can study the advantages conferred upon the owner, by
the successive changes which have been effected in the materials,
construction, and the means of propulsion of ships. He can trace, for
instance, the effects of the change from wood to iron, and from iron to
steel, in the carrying capacity of ships, and he can note the effects of
successive improvements in the propelling machinery in saving weight and
space occupied by engines, boilers, and bunkers; and in conferring upon
a ship of a given size the power of making longer voyages. Here, too, he
can learn how it was that the American clipper supplanted the old
English sailing merchantman, and how the screw iron ship, fitted with
highly economical engines, has practically driven the clipper from the
seas. In fact, with the aid of a good museum the student is enabled to
take a bird's-eye view of the whole chain of progress, in which the
existing state of things constitutes but a link.
Signs are not wanting that the competition with which British shipowners
had to contend in the past will again become active in the near future.
The advantages conferred upon us by abundant supplies of iron and by
cheap labour will not last for ever. There are many who expect, not
without reason, that the abolition or even the diminution of protection
in the United States will, when it comes to pass, have the same
stimulating effect upon the American shipbuilding industry which the
abolition of the old navigation laws had upon our own; and when that day
comes Englishmen will find it an advantage to be able to enter the
contest equipped with the best attainable technical education and
experience.