Before discussing European vessels, we take a quick look at Chinese sailing ships [see also Wikipedia].
The typical vessel is the junk, an efficient design that is fast, easy to handle and able to sail upwind. Its most distinguishing feature are sails divided into a number of horizontal panels by bamboo slats (battens). These give the sail better aerodynamics and allow reducing the sail area for different wind conditions. Chinese ships also developped many other features before the west, for example: the stern mounted rudder, multiple masts, water-tight hull sections and the magnetic compass. China is not known as a seafaring nation and, for many centuries, it promoted a policy of isolation to the extent that China relied on the Portuguese then Dutch for trade with Japan. But during the 15th century (1405-1433), massive fleets under Admiral Cheng Ho (or Zheng He) went on voyages to India, Arabia and Africa.
The first trip (1405-1407) involved 63 ships and 39,000 men. Below, you can see a typical junk, a comparison of Cheng Ho's 400 ft flagship to Columbus' Santa Maria, and a modern sloop fitted with a updated junk rig.
| Note: Click on images to ZOOM; arrows to change; ESC to return ! |
On inland waterways and canals, boat were (and are still) often propelled by a single scull (Yuloh) over the stern. Feudal navies of Japan used galleys with multiple Yulohs, propelled by sculling rather than the rowing on european galleys. Such a galley is shown in the TV version of the Clavell book Shogun.
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Japanese Seki Bune (ca. 1600) [ Ref: Fighting Ships of the far East: Japan and Korea AD 612-1639 ] |
Venetian Galley |
Viking Drakkar |
COG typical dimensions: |
Cog on Paris Crest
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Northern Cog |
Mediterranean Cog |
Two types of ships were developped:
Caravela latina |
Caravela redonda |
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Large Caravel |
In 1492 Colombus's used 2 caravels, the Nina and the Pinta, and a larger carrack, the Santa Maria, as his flagship [More].
Large carracks had ample room for large crews, provisions and cargo required for east Indies trading. Their size and stability allowed mounting of cannons.
Typical Carrack |
Vespucci's ship 468 tons, 86 men |
Magellan's Victoria Replica |
Carrack |
Carracks for exploration like the Santa Maria or Magellan's Victoria were small, about 90 tons; but merchant ships would average 250-500 tons with a crew of 40-80 and some war ships went up to 1000 tons. The average speed was about 80 miles/day and the trip to India took 6 to 8 months each way.
Columbus ship Single hold |
A 600 ton India Nao (4 decks below) |
| Click images to enlarge | |
Note: modern sailboats with fore and aft rigs can sail about 40° to the wind but at best a square rig could only do 70°.
Galleons also started using portholes to allow guns to be mounted lower in the hull and not just on deck. This made it possible to have more powerful guns which would not capsize the ship when fired. The Galleon was a sound multi-purpose design. War ships would have cannons on all decks whereas a merchant might have one gun deck and use the others for cargo.
Whereas, carracks were usually very large ships (often over 1000 tons), galleons were mostly under 500 tons. The Manila galleons, were to reach up to 2000 tons, were the exception. From 1565 to 1815, these were Spanish trading ships that sailed once or twice per year across the Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and Acapulco in New Spain. Goods would then be taken overland to VeraCruz and hence to Spain.
The galleon continued to be used until the early 18th century, when better designed and purpose-built vessels such as the fluyt, brig and the ship of the line rendered it obsolete for trade and warfare respectively. In time, the long beak became curved and shorter, top sails were added, jibs were introduced and the lateen-rigged mizzenmast was replaced with a gaff rigged spanker sail.
Spanish Galleon |
Adler von Lübeck (1565) Hanseatic League warship 2500 tons, 138 cannons |
Drake's Golden Hind (1580) |
| a) Bowsprit Sail | b) Waterline | c) Bowsprit | d) Anchor | e) Rudder | f) Mizzen Mast | g) Mizzen Sail |
| h) Main Mast | i) Crowsnest | j) Top Sail | k) Main Sail | l) Foresail | m) Foremast | n) Bowsprit Mast |
Batavia (1628) |
Gotheborg (1740) |
Amsterdam (1750) |
Arniston (1794) |
The book China and Denmark (2001) gives a detailed description of a typical journey to China in 1742 by the Danish Indiaman, Dronningen af Danmark. The Dronningen was a 540 ton vessel with a crew of 150 including 10 traders and clerks. On the outward trip, the cargo, in terms of value, was 90% silver, 5% cloth and 5% lead ingots. The return cargo was tea and porcelain.
In order to catch favorable monsoon winds, ships had to leave Copenhagen in December-January and it might take up to 3 months to get out of the North Sea into the Atlantic. Thereafter, the ships took the usual sailing to the Cape. Then China vessels would go straight west pushed by the Trade winds before turning north to aim for Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra and on to Canton. The return journey would again pass by the Sunda Strait before aiming directly for the Cape. The passage from Copenhagen to Canton normally took 7-8 months at sea followed by 4-5 months in Canton obtaining cargo, repairing and refitting the ship. The return trip was faster: 6 months for a total round trip of 18-20 months.
In the 40 years from 1732 to 1772, 65 ships made the journey and only 6 were wrecked (4 on the North Sea leg). However, wear and tear was such that the useful life of a ship was 4-5 voyages (8-10 years).
The same route had been used by Europeans for over 100 years. In 1628, the skipper of the 650 ton Batavia [picture above] planned to hijack the ship on her maiden voyage. He steered off course, away from the rest of the fleet but went too far and struck a reef off the west coast of Australia.