Shipbuilding from its beginnings. Vol. 1 (of 3)Konijnenburg, E. van (Emile)
History
Shipbuilding from its beginnings. Vol. 1 (of 3)
Konijnenburg, E. van (Emile)
Shipbuilding -- History; Ships -- History
The “Barge” and the “Baertze” give, with vessels shown on other
reproductions, an idea of the Dutch ship of the XVth century.
No “Hulken” are met with among these vessels; they were clinker
built (~Witsen~, p. 496, col. 1, Caravelle), while all the
reproductions under consideration show only ships with smooth sides.
Besides the “Hulken”, there were “Razeilers” and “Krayers” which had
also clinker built sides. Here, then, is found the old way of building
“cogs”, and it may be stated that we are in the presence of vessels
which owe their origin to this type of ship, and only have a different
name because of certain changes of detail in the matter of their rig or
the construction of their castles.
A Flemish miniature of the XVth century gives a very remarkable
reproduction of a vessel of the time. A “cog” with overlapping planks
is seen here. In accordance with the custom of the Middle Ages, this
ship has three masts with tops, a castle at bow and stern, and guns;
there are no gun-ports.
[Sidenote: II 118]
The “cogs” which were in use in the XIIIth century, were replaced in
the XIVth by the “Krayers” and “Hulken” which had to give way, in their
turn in the XVth century, to the “Barges”, “Baertzen” etc. The clinker
built sides of large ships only disappeared in this last century,
to give room to the smooth sides, a mode of construction which took
root with us as the result of our relations with the peoples of the
Mediterranean.
An old Record of Hoorn, written by D. Velius, relates that the carvel
built side was first applied by “Juliaan” at Zierikzee, and adopted
at Hoorn in 1460. The ships built in this way were called “Karviel”,
“Kraweel” or “Karveel” (~Witsen~, p. 496, col. 1) and their type,
according to this author, would seem to have been copied from the Latin
vessel “Carabus”. ~M. de Jonge~, on his side (vol. I, p. 79, note)
remarks that “Juliaan” might well have been an Italian.
Witsen gives of these “Karviel” a description which is well worthy of
attention: these vessels were rather narrow at the bow, broader at the
stern, thus having the shape of a chisel. In other words, their lines
were finer, wherein they differed from the types of ships used in
Holland.
Hence we seem to have before us not only a given mode of construction,
but also a well determined type which has come from the Mediterranean.
~Jal~, in his _Glossaire Nautique_, pp. 419-420, tells us, as to that,
that caravels were already to be found on the Mediterranean in 1307;
their dimensions were, however, smaller than those of the ships used
by Vasco da Gama and Columbus. Here is what this author says about
this style of vessel: “The caravel was a small ship of the family
of round-stern vessels but with finer lines than the _nefs_ of its
time and more slender forward. It was also faster, more handy and
better fitted for all expeditions where speed in going ahead and great
quickness in coming about were required.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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