The Era Of Sailing Ships
By Jemma and Amber
Contents
• The Different Types of Sailing
Ships and Their Functions
• The Way Sailing Ships Operated
• Sailing Methods and Navigation
• The Day to Day life on Board the
Vessel
• Weapons and Sea Warfare
The Different Types of Sailing Ships and Their
Functions
• There were many types of ships
available to seamen during the
era of sailing ships.
• Some of them were:
• Argosy
• Balener
• Knorr
• Triereme
Argosy
• Argosy:
These ships were large trading vessels commonly
built in the Ragusea regions of Dalmatia and
Venice during the late 17th century.
Argosy is derived from a corruption of the
word Ragusea, most likely from the foreign sailors
mispronouncing the word.
This ship had a substantial cargo capacity. Due in
large part to their bulky dimensions and poor
navagational controls, the vessels were very
difficult to control in bad weather.
In result to this, their use was typically limited to
traveling the coastline of Europe
Balener
• Balener:
This ship was a very common whaling ship. This ship is
also known as: Baleinier & Ballenero. This ship was
equipped with square rigged sails and although there was
bit of variation depending on the individual vessels, this
ship was typically in the 150 to 200 ton range.
But in the later years when sailing became less popular
many of these ships took measure to make private trade.
The picture to your right might be hard to see but it fake
cannon holes, painted on the side to make it look like an
armed vessel.
Knorr
• Knorr:
This was the most common type of long ship.
This ship was the workhose of Viking cargo
ships, the mainstay of the Icelandic traders. A
Knorr could carry up to 20 tons of cargo. This
ship relied mostly upon it;s sails, having only
4-7 pairs of oars and a crew of 15-20 men.
All long ships used a single square rigged sails,
made of vathmal secured with ropes made
from seal or walrus skin. While they could
upstep the mast, it was fixed and could not be
removed.
This posed some danger in strom conditions
and lost alot of cargo each year.
If cared for properly, it can be kept in good
condition for 30-40 years
Triereme
• Triereme:
The early type of this ship had
three rows of ores on each side,
and 1 man per oar. They are best
known from the fleets of Ancient
Greece. The early Triereme was a
development of the Pentekonter
( an ancient warship with a single
row of 25 ores on each side. )
There is an outrigger above the
gunwale, shooting beyond it, kept
the third row of ores on deck out
of the way of the first two under
deck
The Way Sailing Ships Operated
• The Ropes, Sails and Rigging
• Steering at sea and docking at
busy harbours
• Parts of a ship
Steering at sea and docking at busy harbours
• Like other hazards on the water,
rough weather can generally be
avoided by obtaining a weather
forecast prior to setting out.
• A sudden unpredicted squall,
however, can catch even the
most careful boater, so you
should always prepare and plan
for the worst and keep a good
lookout for telltale clouds and
white cap waves.
Parts of a ship
(Some because I can’t fit a lot)
Parts of ships
• Abaft - Behind
• Abeam - Area on either side of a ship near the
mid section.
• About - Direction of travel opposite to that
being traveled. "Come About" is to change
course 180°.
• Aero-Beacon - A modern type of light
presently used in many lighthouses to
produce a characteristic. Also used in many
airport beacons.
• Aft - Toward the stern or back area of a
vessel.
• Ahead - In front of or forward of
Sailing Methods and Navigation
• Some navigational tools that
were used by sailors were:
• Sextant
• Compass
• Quadrant
Sextant
• Towards the end of the 1600s
and into the 1700s the sextant
became the navigator’s essential
tool.
• It was invented by two people at
the same time. John Hadley in
England and Thomas Godfrey in
1731.
Compass
• By the late 16th century the
mariner’s compass had evolved
into a compass with obvious
similarities to today’s compass.
• The stone that was used to
magnetise the compass was
called a lodestone.
Lodestone
Quadrant
• It is called a quadrant due it
looking like a quarter of a circle.
• It was originally used by
astrologers.
• It was used to determine
latitude
The day to day life on board an pirate ship
• The life of a pirate is often
portrayed in movies as a life of
luxury. But was it really like
that…?
Roles of The Crew
• The roles of the crew included:
• Ship’s captain
• Quarter master
• Sailing master
• Boatswain
• carpenter & surgeon
Ship’s captain
• Their authority was supreme at
all times
• Captains were voted out for not
being aggressive enough
• Others were abandoned for
being to bloodthirsty and brutal
• Expected to be bold and decisive
in battle
• Had to be skilled in navigation
Quarter Master
• They had unusual amounts of
authority
• Elected by the crew
• Had the authority to punish
minor offenses
Sailing Master
• In charge of navigation and
sailing
• Directed the course using maps
• Due to inaccurate maps, his job
was a difficult one
Boatswain
• Supervised the maintenance of
the ship
• In charge of supply stores
• In charge of all deck activities
Carpenter/Surgeon
• Responsible for maintenance
and repair of the wooden hull
• Duties included checking the hull
regularly
• More often than not the
carpenter would normally serve
as the surgeon as he had the
tools and the skills
Weapons and Sea Warfare
• Sailors and pirates had to
protect themselves so they
carried weapons. Some of them
were carried on board, others
were edged with sharp blades.
Weapons that were on board the ship
• A marlinspike was originally a
tool used to maintain the ship.
• It ended up being used as a
weapons for stabbing and
bashing the enemy as it had a
sharp end and was very heavy
Edged Weapons
• One edged weapons was a
buckler
• It was a shield type device with
sharp edges
Bibliography
http://www.thepirateking.com/shi
ps/ship_types.htm
http://www.maritime.nsw.gov.au/
sbh/safety_on_the_water/special
areas.html
http://www.macmillandictionary.c
om/thesauruscategory/british/Parts-of-boatsand-ships