Ships and Seamen in the Age of Discovery Author(s): John H. Parry Source: Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1951/1952), pp. 25-33 Published by: University of the West Indies and Caribbean Quarterly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40652493 . Accessed: 20/05/2013 12:39 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of the West Indies and Caribbean Quarterly are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Caribbean Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 148.206.40.98 on Mon, 20 May 2013 12:39:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Ships and Seamen in the Age of Discovery John H. Parry, Professorof Historyin the UniversityCollege of the West Indies One of the outstandingcharacteristics of Westerncivilization is its preoccupation with technicalproblems and its masteryof a wide range of mechanical devices. Technical skill and the ability to turn theoreticalknowledge to practical material ends have been major factorsin the extensionof European influenceround the world,and have forcibly,though not always favourably,impressed all the peoples with whom Europeans came into contact. Clearly one of the most important branchesof technicalability from the point of view of discoveryand expansion is the abilityto build and handle ships. In particularthe date, the method and the speed of settlementin the Americaswere determinedby the natureof the shipping available forthe purpose. Columbussailed to Americain 1492 withthree ships and ninetymen. In the years followinghis discoveryhundreds of ships and thousands of people crossedfrom Europe. Quite apart fromany question of Columbus's own knowledgeor determination,these events could not have taken place if therehad not been appropriateships forthe purpose. America mightconceivably, by some flukeof wind or fortune,have become known to Europeans in the thirteenthor fourteenthcentury. There was no lack of brave seamen and no lack of knowledge thatthe worldwas round; and the Norsemen,we know, had reachedNorth America long beforeColumbus, probably by way of Iceland and Greenland.But if by some chance America had been "discovered" in 1292 or 1392, it could not have been conqueredor settledby Europeans, because the ships of that time were not equal to regularvoyages across the Atlantic.The fifteenthand sixteenthcenturies were a periodof rapid developmentin ship design. This is an aspect of the historyof the Age of Discoverywhich is oftenoverlooked in the text books, but which is vitally important. The shippingof WesternEurope in the Middle Ages grewfrom two main stems, the one Mediterranean,the other Atlantic. The Celtic and Scandinavian coast- dwellersof NorthernEurope, very early in theirrecorded history, developed open ships or boats designedfor sailing, but fittedwith thwartsand tholes for rowing when the wind was wrong. The long-shipsof the Norsemen, of which several examples survive,must have been capable of withstandingconsiderable seas, and the same is probablytrue of the early ships of other North European peoples, of which much less is known. They were sailing ships built for ocean use. The Mediterraneanpeoples, on the other hand, at a far earlier date developed a type of ship- the galley- primarilydesigned for rowing, but capable of proceedingunder sail whenthe wind was right. A great deal of fifteenthcentury trade was carried in galleys. In the Mediterraneanthey were preferredfor their speed and reliabilityand for their independenceof the wind. Galleyswon thebattle of Lepanto. They did not disappear altogetheruntil the eighteenthcentury. But they were obviously unsuitable for 25 This content downloaded from 148.206.40.98 on Mon, 20 May 2013 12:39:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions explorationor for any kind of deep sea work. There is no analogy betweensteam propulsionand oar propulsion.The provisionof steam power greatlyreduced the numbersof the crewneeded to handle a ship; the provisionof oars greatlyincreased the numbers,and the accommodationof the oarsmenand the storesneeded to feed them occupied valuable space and reduced the operatingrange of the ship. Also thegalley's designwas unsuitablefor the open sea. Its greatbanks of oars demanded greatlength in proportionto beam and freeboard; and in wooden constructionthis made the ship too whippyto meethead seas withsafety. The contributionof galleys to the expansionof Europe was very small. The otherstream of shipbuildingdevelopment, descending from the boats of the Scandinavian fishermenand raiders, had produced by the fourteenthcentury a distinctivetype of sailing ship which used oars only in emergency,if at all, and which was common, with minor local variations, to all the Atlantic coasts of Europe. Much of our knowledgeof these late mediaeval ships is derived fromthe municipal seals of the ports of Western Europe, which often included ships in theirdesign; but thereare some writtenrecords too. In England, in particular,the compositionof the Navy is known from time to time fromlists of ships either owned, charteredor requisitionedby the King. Perhaps the most surprisingthing about some of these ships is theirsize. The steadyincrease in seabornetrade in the laterMiddle Ages had createda need forlarger ships. Ships of two or threehundred tons were not uncommon,and some of the biggestclass, the carrackswhich plied betwen the Italian cities and the ports of NorthernEurope, were as big as six hundredtons by theyear 1400. But one mustaccept all tonnagefigures with caution. Up to the seventeenthcentury a ship's tonnagemeant the numberof tuns of wine whichit could carryin cask. The tun was an internationallyaccepted measureand in most parts of Europe was about forty-two cubic feet of liquid; but casks are awkwardlyshaped objects forclose stowage.A tun of wine in cask in a ship's hold probablyoccupied somethinglike sixtycubic feetof hold space, and even so there must have been a good deal of waste space. The capacity ton used nowadays in measuringships is one hundredfeet of permanentlyenclosed space. Engine room space and the livingspace of the ship's companyis deductedfrom the gross figure in order to obtain the net or registertonnage. Permanentlyenclosed space is differentlydefined in differentcountries; its capacity is calculated from the dimensionsof the ship by an arbitraryformula, so that shape as well as size is a factorin a ship's tonnage.The registertonnage of a ship is thus by no means a certainguide to its actual size. Warshipsare not measuredin capacity tons at all, but by displacement.None of these modern methods of measurementbear any fixedrelation either to one anotheror to the old wine tun. Except in the few cases when actual dimensionsare recorded,we have no certainguide to the size of any ship beforethe seventeenthcentury. On the whole, it is probable that the ships of our period were considerablysmaller than theirrecorded tonnage figuressuggest. The European ship of 1400 was very beamy. There was no method of longitudinalbracing and the principalstiffening of the hull was the singletree trunk whichusually formed the keel. Every increasein size, therefore,involved an increase in the proportionof beam to length in order to prevent the hull becoming dangerouslywhippy. In large ships, the usual proportionwas threeto one, taking the extremeoverall length.The proportionof lengthof keel to overall lengthwas small,less than one half. The hull ratherresembled an elongatedsaucer; this shape, 26 This content downloaded from 148.206.40.98 on Mon, 20 May 2013 12:39:34 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions whileobviously not conduciveto weatherlysailing qualities, did make for stability. Ships so designed probably needed very little ballast, and their topsides could safelybe built up to a considerableheight. This was a very importantfactor in time of war, since the sea fightingof the time was mainly a matterof grappling and boarding. Additionalheight was given by fittingraised castles fore and aft for accommodatingcrossbowmen and the light artilleryof the time. These castles in the middle Ages had usually been temporarystructures, since there was as yet no clear distinctionbetween warships and merchantment.Shipbuilding towns often had guilds of castle-wrights,specialised craftsmenwhose trade was to convert requisitionedmerchant ships into men of war by fittingthem with castles. Already by 1400, however, the practice was growingof building a permanentlyraised foVsle and poop as part of the structureof big ships, a practicecarried to excess in the great ships of the sixteenthcentury. A few otherodd details of hull design are worthmentioning. By 1400 big European ships were fully decked. Many of themwere carvel-built- that is, with the strakesof the hull fittedflush instead of overlapping.Most of themwere steeredby a rudderslung on the sternpost instead of by an oar over the stern,as in earlier times. Copper sheathingwas unknown; barnaclesand boringwere discouragedby coatingthe hull with tallow. European ships of about 1400 were almost all square-rigged.The main characteristicof square