Table of Contents
Galleys
THE galley was one of the earliest types of vessel. Its existence antedates all historical records. Oars were its principal dependence for…
An Egyptian Galley
1600 B.C.
A Greek Galley
500 B.C.
A Roman Trireme
MONSIEUR JAL had the satisfaction of visualizing his idea of the appearance of the ancient Roman galley. The French Government, of which…
The Viking Long Ship
SNORRI said, "Harold, seest thou this long ship? It is much like the Dragon which King Olaf Tryggvason (995-1000 A.D.) had built at…
The Seventeenth Century Galley
PROBABLY little change was manifest in the appearance of the galley during the latter centuries of its existence. It was one of those types…
The Galleass
JAL says that this name (galeasse in old French) was the name given first to a galley larger and stronger than the common galley, but…
Round Ships
IT HAS been seen that the proportion of breadth to length was greater in the round ships than in the galleys.
A Greek Merchantman
PHILOCROTES, the Athenian merchant, gazed at the busy scene about him. Timon, the Corinthian ship master, stood beside him, his keen eyes…
The Roman Corbita or Merchantman
THE steady increase in the foreign affairs of Rome, both military and civil, necessitated proportionate augmentations of both her navy and…
A Mediaeval Ship
IT IS indeed little we know of the ships of that dark period between the fall of the Roman power and the first re-awakenings of pictorial…
A Thirteenth Century English Warship
NO CONCRETE example of a north European ship of this period is known to have been preserved as have several Scandinavian vessels of a few…
An Early Fifteenth Century Merchant Ship
THE science of ship-building had made a very considerable advance by the middle of the 15th Century. Not only were there ships of large…
The Carrack
THE word employed to designate the larger ships of an indeterminate period, which certainly embraced the 14th, 15th, and part of the 16th…
Late Fifteenth Century Ship
2 pages
An Early Sixteenth Century Ship
OF ALL the sumptuous fabrics which the imagination and ingenuity of man have devised in which to wend his way in splendour across the great…
The Hulk
ONE of the most interesting subjects in the study of the English language is that which concerns itself with the changes wrought by time…
The Caravel
THE origin of the name of this type of vessel has elicited at various times considerable divergence of opinion. But the weight of modern…
The Galleon
ALMOST every untutored person who sees a model or picture of an old-time ship calls it a galleon. The reason probably is that the galleon…
An Elizabethan Ship of 1588
PROBABLY no episode in historic times is more replete with romance than that connected with the attempt of Philip II of Spain to invade…
The Cromster
IN THIS type, which enjoyed prominence in England during Elizabethan days and later in Holland, we find a vessel probably taking its name…
A Late Sixteenth Century English Ship
NO VESSEL, neither the Santa Maria, nor the Constitution, most noted and glorious of all the warships of the United States, can compare in…
An Early Seventeenth Century Dutch Merchant Ship
IT IS not to be wondered at that the Dutch owe much of their prosperity to the sea. Their country, once largely a part of the ocean's bed…
The Buss
AS WE have said elsewhere, the early sailing vessels were usually rotund. There is something compelling about this characteristic and…
The Dutch Galliot
For some unknown reason, probably for the same one that has attributed to Homer occasional somnolent qualities, Jal has failed to include…
An English Capital Ship of the Early Seventeenth Century
TRAGEDY may be called one of the children of romance. And the Sovereign of the Seas is part and parcel of one of the grimmest tragedies…
An English Sixty-Gun Ship of About the Year 1690
THE war vessels of two hundred and fifty years ago were rated according to the number of guns carried.
The Flute
DURING the 17th Century the flute was the high chieftainess of the round-sterned tribe. As a carrier, she seems to have replaced the hulk…
A Late Seventeenth Century French Ship of the First Rate
WHILE a considerable advance in size had been made during the latter part of the 17th Century in the French ships, owing to the…
A Dutch Ship of the End of the Seventeenth Century
IT MAY be of interest to make a few comparisons between the ships of the United Provinces with the contemporaneous vessels of other…
The Ketch
LIKE many variations from more or less fixed and permanent species, the evolution of the ketch also shows us marked changes from time to…
An Eighteenth Century Seventy-Four Gun Ship
The ship of seventy-four guns may be said to have been, during the "great period" of wooden sailing ships, the man-of-war par excellence…
An East Indiaman of 1750
"The Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading to the East Indies," as was the early official name of the Honourable East India…
The Lugger
Next to the galleon there is probably no old-time vessel which appears to appeal more strongly to the popular imagination than does the…
The Howker
Of the round-sterned genus and a near relation of the buss and the dogger, was the howker. This spelling is preferred to hooker, because…
The Bugalet
Another small square-rigged craft formerly in use along the coasts of Brittany was the bugalet. The name was known in the 17th Century. The…
An Eighteenth Century Frigate
While the word "frigate" is in itself not in anywise associated with the notion of decks, it is that portion of the ship's structure which…
The Felucca
The Mediterranean Sea has been one of the great mothers of ships. Her children have been quite as numerous as the proverbial old woman who…
The Barque Provencale
SMALL craft in great variety are to be found everywhere in the Mediterranean differing both in the form of hull and in apparel. Many of…
The Tartane
BAUGEAN says that the name of tartane is applied quite generally in the Mediterranean to medium-sized vessels having one large mast and a…
The Norwegian Cat
THE word "cat" has for many centuries had a wide application in marine terminology. First of all, it was applied in the 13th Century to a…
The Bilander
THE name of this vessel, also spelled be'landre and bylander, seems to have appeared in England as far back as the reign of Queen…
The Fire Ship
FROM the most remote times fire was resorted to in naval conflicts as a natural weapon. Bundles of blazing materials were hurled from…
The Pink
THE word "pink" is another instance of a name applied to several quite different kinds of hulls and rigs at different epochs. The origin of…
The Patache
THE patache was another south European vessel now practically extinct. Baugean said in the year 1826 that the type was then dying out. It…
The Polacre
THIS is primarily a Mediterranean form of vessel. Its sharp bow has caused M. Jal to suggest that this feature is responsible for its name…
The Xebec
NEARLY everyone has, at a tender age, read "Robinson Crusoe." So that no one need confess that he or she is not acquainted with the word…
The Saique
THE notions of many persons as to the appearance of the vessels of the Levant are necessarily vague. We like to think of the craft of the…
A Capital Ship of 1820
No BOOK about old ships, particularly none that would make a point of emphasizing the romance of ancient shipping, could justifiably omit…
A Frigate of 1820
WHEN we come to compare the frigate of the first quarter of the 19th Century with earlier examples of the same type, we find that, while…
The Brig
THE origin of this type of rig has been variously assigned by students of the evolution of sailing craft. Some would trace its ancestry to…
The Snow
IN OUR article upon the brig, we discuss its possible origin. What is there stated applies to a certain extent as well to the snow…
The Brigantine
3 pages
The Corvette
THE word "corvette" seems a hard etymological nut to crack. Jal and some of his followers claim its derivation from the latin corbis…
The Topsail Schooner
JUST why this term should be applied to schooners carrying square yards and square topsails is not apparent. A far greater number of…
The Goelette
IT IS sometimes difficult to differentiate between closely related types of vessels and perhaps no fine distinction need be drawn between…
The Packet Ship
AFTER the close of the War of 1812, the renewal of commercial relations between the United States and England demanded increased shipping…
A New Bedford Whaling Bark
"SHE blo-o-ws! An' sparm at that!" comes from the crow's nest high up on the foremast. "Where away?" " 'Bout three p'ints off the port…
The Barquentine
THE Dutch name for a vessel with a square-rigged foremast, with a mainmast devoid of square-rig features and carrying a fore and aft main…
The Clipper Ship of 1850
THE late Captain Arthur H. Clark, who probably knew as much as any one about American shipping, and about the clipper ship in particular…
The Modern Super Ship a Five-Masted Bark
IF A full-rigged ship of, say, one hundred and twenty-five years ago, could be placed alongside a modern steel sailing ship of similar…