Ryu fastening on ships of the 17th century. Orazio Curti European shipbuilding in the 17th - early 18th centuries

Sailboats of the 17th century

Holland entered the ocean later than other powerful maritime powers. By that time, America had already been discovered and the entire New World was divided between Spain and Portugal.
England and France were already laying claim to the new lands, and Holland, under the heel of the Spaniards, still did not have its own shipbuilding industry.

The impetus for its creation was the revolt of the Dutch bourgeoisie, which the Spaniards imposed excessive taxes on.

In 1567, Spanish troops under the command of the Duke of Alba brutally dealt with the rebels. The Spaniards failed to contain the response wave of popular anger. The Guezs, the first fearless sailors of Holland, took to the waterways. They took one city after another, and their military successes contributed to the fact that in 1582 the Netherlands finally gained independence.

One of the first creations of the free republic was the East India Company, founded in 1602. Thanks to its own well-built and durable fleet, the company became one of the richest in the world. A new type of merchant ship appeared: this ship had three masts and was armed with 16-20 small cannons. The displacement of these East Indian ships was about 600 tons.

The frames placed at a short distance from each other gave the ship particular strength. In places where the masts were installed, the frames were even made double. The hull of the vessel itself was made of oak wood, the lower part of the hull was lined with thin elm boards. The nails that secured this “second skin” were placed so tightly together that their heads formed an almost continuous iron coating.

Many new technical devices appeared that made the team’s hard work easier. For example, they began to use a special cat-beam to lift the anchor. The pump helped sailors quickly pump out water that had leaked into the holds. To load goods on merchant ships, horizontal winches - windlass - began to be used.

Flutes

The Dutch ships - pinnaces and flutes - were in many ways superior to their southern competitors. The flute, 30-40 m long, had a rounded stern with a superstructure, the deck was very narrow, and the sides seemed to be piled inward.
This design decision was probably influenced by the duty, which was levied depending on the width of the ship's deck. Soon Holland established a monopoly on trade with Japan. For about a hundred years in a row, not a single European ship under a different flag entered Japanese ports.

England, which did not want to come to terms with the loss of the title of “Queen of the Seas,” began building military frigates. The ancestor of the first frigate, built in 1646 by the famous British shipbuilder Peter Pett, was a Dutch pinnace. More slender than the pinnace, the frigate's hull turned out to be much more seaworthy. In the 17th century this ship had the highest speed and was often used for cruising. Frigates were used by many fleets as messengers and reconnaissance ships.

During the battle, they supported other ships with the fire of their guns and participated in boardings. Frigates, at first inferior in size to battleships, gradually became more massive.

They were already equipped with up to 60 guns, the largest of which were mounted on four-wheeled carriages, which replaced the old two-wheeled ones.

Bronze guns began to be used more and more often, replacing iron cannons, which often exploded when fired. There were also attempts - not very successful at first - to cast guns from cast iron. Guns began to be unified depending on the weight of the cannonballs.

While England was improving its warships, the Dutch merchant fleet was growing rapidly. By 1643 there were already 34 thousand ships. The experience of Dutch shipbuilders was enormous.

It is not surprising that Peter the Great chose Holland to study shipbuilding art, where he worked for about a year in the shipyards of the East India Company under the name of Peter Mikhailov. By the way, the tsar also ordered the first 44-gun frigate from Holland.

By the end of the 17th century, the galleon finally gave way to ships that were more advanced in design. The forecastle and quarterdeck are reduced in height, heavy decorations are simplified so as not to overload the bow and stern. The sailing equipment has also improved significantly.

The descendants of the naves are universally armed with three masts with topsails and bramsails. On each mast, supported by shrouds and stays, its parts are already clearly distinguishable: the lower mast, the topmast and the topmast. Additional sails appear: foxes and under-foxes.

A lateen mizzen is firmly installed on the mizzen mast, and a straight blind sail is installed under the bowsprit. In the 17th century Battleships become the basis of all military fleets. This name was given to them by naval combat tactics.

English battleship. End of the 17th century

In battle, the ships lined up in one line (in a wake column) so that during shooting they would be turned sideways to the enemy fleet, and during the enemy’s return salvo they would have time to turn their stern towards it. The fact is that the greatest damage to the enemy was caused by a simultaneous salvo from all the onboard guns of a battleship. Battleships always had battery decks.

Depending on the displacement and number of decks, the British divided their ships into eight ranks. For example, a first-rank ship had three decks with 110 guns and a displacement of 5,000 tons. The lighter 3,500-ton ship of the second rank had 80 guns on two battery decks. Later, the English ship ranking system migrated almost unchanged to the rest of the European fleets.

In those days, people were still very interested in decor - decorating large warships. Sometimes this led to tragic consequences, especially if the ship's hull was built by eye. It is worth recalling the history of the famous Swedish “Vase”.

This ship, built by order of King Gustav II Adolf, was supposed to not only bear the honorary title of the royal flagship, but also surpass in size all other ships of the Swedish fleet.

Setting out on its first voyage in August 1628, the ship, overloaded with 700 various decorations and sculptures, scooped up water with its cannon ports and capsized due to poor stability. Although it happened only a mile from shore, not a single crew member was able to escape.

The Moscow state began to make its way to the seas in the first half of the 16th century. But at first these attempts were ineffective. The Muscovites, cut off from the Baltic shores, began to create their own merchant fleet on the Volga.

In 1636, the first Russian ship “Frederik” was built in Nizhny Novgorod. The ship had a length of 36.5 m, a width of 12 m and a draft of 2.1 m. The European-style ship had a flat bottom, a three-masted sail rig and 24 large galley oars.

To protect against attack, several cannons were installed on the ship. This ship sailed with an embassy to Persia, and the appearance of such an unusual ship for the Caspian waters greatly amazed eyewitnesses. Unfortunately, the life of the "Frederick" was short-lived: during a storm, it suffered an accident and was thrown ashore in the Derbent area.

Ship "Frederick". 1636

Rus' began to take the first steps towards creating a regular navy in 1668. That year, the large frigate “Eagle” was launched on the Oka River. This ship did not have rowing oars and was the first purely sailing warship built in Russia. The 24-meter "Eagle" had two decks, carried three masts and was armed with 22 arquebuses (six-pound cannons). The foremast and mainmast were equipped with straight sails, and the mizzen had a slanting sail.

At the same time as the Eagle, several small ships were built to guard caravans. After sailing for two years along the Volga and Caspian Sea, the “Eagle” was captured by Stenka Razin’s Cossacks, who eventually drove it into the Kutum Channel, where it stood for many years until it finally fell into disrepair.

At the time of “Frederik” and “Eagle”, the Cossacks had their own light fleet - the Zaporozhye “Seagulls” and the Don Plows. These were relatively small ships, up to 20 m long and up to 4 m wide. They were equipped with 20-40 oars and a straight sail, raised on a removable mast. Steering oars, located both at the bow and at the stern, allowed these ships to easily maneuver in narrow channels. There were no decks on these ships.

The Chaika could take up to a maintenance person on board and was armed with 4-5 falconets. The speed of the light "gulls" plus special combat tactics made the Cossacks invincible. At dusk or in poor visibility, the Cossacks quietly sailed up to the Turkish galleys, and then quickly boarded them, simply stunning the enemy with their sudden appearance. In 1637, almost 60 years before the campaigns of Peter the Great, the Cossacks took the Turkish fortress of Azov and held it for five whole years.

The first Russian frigate "Eagle". 1668

The real beginning of the regular Russian navy was the era of the reign of Peter the Great. In the fall of 1696, at the insistence of Peter, the Boyar Duma rendered a verdict: “There will be sea-going ships!” Enormous funds were required, so they decided to build the fleet “with the whole world.” The owners of the estates, having combined their efforts, had to provide one ship suitable for navigation for every 10 thousand peasant households.

Shnyava Swedish

Three years later, after examining the ships, Peter the Great recognized only nine of the 15 built ships as combat-ready, and even those, alas, needed significant alterations. Having begun to create a regular fleet, Peter introduced five ranks of Russian ships: ships, frigates, shnyavs, pramas and flutes. The first “serious” military ships were built under the direct leadership of Peter.

"Goto Predestination". 1698

On November 19, 1698, with his participation, the 58-gun ship “Goto Predestination” was laid down at the Voronezh shipyard. It became the first ship of the Peter the Great era, built “according to the English method.”
The ship resembled the ships of Northern Europe, but Peter introduced a number of interesting innovations into its design. For example, he improved the keel, which, in the event of damage to the lower part of the ship, still maintained the tightness of the ship's hull.

The 36-meter "Predestination" became famous not only for its combat power, but also as one of the first works of Russian decorative art in the Baroque style. The carvings and wreaths on the cannon ports were gilded, and the port shutters and bulwarks were painted a fiery red to contrast with the ship's white sails.

Voronezh shipyards were shallow, so on the threshold of the 18th century. Peter the Great moved his ship “workshop” to Arkhangelsk and the Solombala Islands. The yacht “St. Peter" and the ship "St. Paul". For the campaign of 1712, the 50-gun ships Gabriel and Raphael were built, then the Archangel Michael, and the following year three more battleships were launched.

Over time, the shipyards grew, because the scope of work was enormous. However, located near Lake Ladoga, they were too far from the Baltic waters. Therefore, Peter decided to create a shipyard on the banks of the Neva - and not just a shipyard, but an Admiralty - a shipyard-fortress that could protect the young city from enemy ships.

The first ship, the shnyava Nadezhda, was launched from the St. Petersburg shipyard in October 1706. By 1713, two large ships were leaving the Admiralty shipyards almost every year. Now Russian ships were in no way inferior to foreign ships: they had excellent maneuverability and excellent seaworthiness. It is not surprising that of the 646 rowing and sailing ships built for the Baltic Fleet, only 35 were purchased abroad.

"Poltava". 1714

Peter the Great often designed ships himself. It was he who developed and laid down the 54-gun ship Poltava, which later became his flagship during the assault on Helsingfors in 1713.

The efforts of the Russian shipbuilders were not in vain: in the largest naval battle of the Northern War at Gangut, the Russians already participated in 18 powerful battleships, 6 frigates and 99 rowing ships.

In honor of Peter's victory in 1714, a real giant, the 90-gun battleship Gangut, was launched from the Admiralty slipway. The pinnacle of Peter’s shipbuilding art was the first three-deck, 100-gun battleship “Peter I and II” that he designed. It was laid down in 1723. By the time of the death of the Tsar-shipbuilder in 1725, the Russian regular battle fleet united 1,104 ships and small vessels. It was the most organized and most advanced in the world. Russia became a great maritime power.

The Venetian galley remained a typical military rowing vessel for many centuries. On each side of it they placed from 26 to 30 cans - seats, on which three rowers with a single oar were placed.

In the 15th century The rowing system has changed somewhat. Banks began to be placed vertically on top of each other, and from three to six rowers were seated on one large oar. The oars were supported by a beam protruding over the side, on which a bulwark was placed to protect the rowers. The galley's deck was divided into three parts. At the bow there was a large platform - rambat, on which the guns were placed and where the soldiers were located before the battle.

In the rear part of the stern there was a “gazebo” covered with an openwork canopy - a tent. The middle of the galley, reserved for the rowers, was divided into two halves by a longitudinal platform - a Curonian, but on which zealous overseers walked.

Galleys usually had lateen sails. The bow of the ship turned into a long ram, which continued to be actively used along with firearms. A heavy cannon was installed in the bow, and two lighter guns were placed on either side of it.

Venetian one-masted galley

The Venetian rowing flotilla was very diverse in its composition. There were clumsy cargo bastard galleys and narrow combat galleys - zenzili - the fastest and most nimble. Galleys, very effective in calm weather, gradually gained recognition in the northern seas. Vessels of this type were in service with the fleets of Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Russia.

The Venetian galleas had larger dimensions than a galley. The length of this ship reached 70 m, and the crew included 1000-1200 sailors. These ships could safely enter into battle even with two dozen galleys. The galleas were significantly superior to the galleys in combat power, and at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 they brought the Christians victory over the Turkish fleet.

Nevertheless, galleasses, like galleys, were notable for their low seaworthiness. The main advantage of the galleasses manifested itself primarily during calm periods, when, while rowing, they could develop significant speed. But in stormy weather, sailing on both galleys and galleasses was very dangerous, and crossing the Atlantic was out of the question. Nevertheless, these ships existed safely until the 18th century.

Galleass

By the way, it was this type of ships that Peter the Great preferred when creating a squadron to prepare for the second Azov campaign. The galleys, which had good maneuverability and shallow draft, were ideally suited for operations at the mouth of the Don and the shallow Sea of ​​Azov. In addition, these ships had powerful artillery, which was capable of repelling any enemy ship.

The rowing fleet brought Peter victory at Azov. And in 1697, construction of 17 large galleys began in Voronezh. These ships reached a length of 40-53 m and carried on board from 21 to 27 cannons, among which three were necessarily heavy - six- and twelve-pounders. Among the Russian galleys there were also three-masted ones.

The galley fleet has also proven itself well in the Baltic. The basis of Peter's Baltic squadron consisted of 13 half-galleys with a length of 17.4 m, each having only 10-12 cans. The armament of half-galleys, as a rule, consisted of one twelve-pounder cannon and three-pounder guns. On the half-galleys, in addition to 24-40 sailors and oarsmen, there were 9-14 officers and up to 150 soldiers for boarding or landing.

The rigging of galleys of that time sailing in the northern seas became much more complicated. The mainmast was supported by up to ten pairs of shrouds, two masts supported lateen sails. When there was a fresh wind from the stern, the triangular sail on the foremast was replaced with a straight one. When it was necessary to row against the wind, the yards were turned along the hull of the galley, and the same was done during the battle, so as not to interfere with the sailors sitting at the oars manipulating the ship.

The large galleys of Peter the Great's fleet often served as flagships. So, on one of them - “Natalya” - Admiral General F. M. Apraksin held his flag. Among the representative ships of different eras, the Bucentaurs, the large galleys of the Venetian doges, deserve special mention. It was on these ships that the sacred rite of “the betrothal of Venice to the sea” was performed annually for six centuries.

On the morning of the holiday, the Doge, accompanied by the nobility and ambassadors of neighboring states, climbed onto the deck of the Bucentaur, which, accompanied by an escort of elegant gondolas, slowly went out into the middle of the lagoon and headed towards the island of St. Helena.

A boat was leaving the island to meet the Bucentaur. The prelate, who was on board the boat, blessed a large vessel of water and then poured it back into the sea. When the Bucentaur slowly sailed past the Lido Island, a window opened in the stern, and the hand of the highest-ranking person of Venice, betrothed to the sea, threw a massive golden ring into its quiet, but such treacherous waters.

Model of "Bucentaur"

During the existence of this beautiful custom, the Venetians managed to build and bury more than one “Bucentaur”. All these ships were extraordinarily beautiful. Thus, on the first of them, built in the 12th century, there were two rams with images of lion heads. The bow was decorated with images of laurel wreaths.

The galleries along the sides of the ship were fenced with a balustrade with carved floral patterns. The aft part of the open bridge, which was ascended along the front ladder, ended with sculptures of trumpeting geniuses and turrets with a flag. More than one book could be devoted to a detailed description of the decorations of all the “Bucentaurs” - suffice it to say that these were real floating palaces - works of art.

Along with the galley, the light xebec became the most famous type of Mediterranean vessel.

This ship, 25-35 m long, had a strongly extended stem and an upper deck that protruded far beyond the stern. Xebek was the favorite ship of the Algerian corsairs. It was the fastest sailing ship in the entire history of sea piracy. Quite soon the French adopted the Xebek into their fleet. They probably thought that it was better to fight the enemy with his own weapons.

In the 18th century The Algerian xebec carried three block masts. Depending on what kind of wind the wind was blowing, they were equipped with wide or lateen sails. The sailing rig of the French xebec, as a rule, was completely straight; in addition, it had jibs and four staysails. In case of complete calm, shebeks, like galleys, were equipped with oars, of which there were from eight to twelve pairs, the holes for them were located directly above the cannon ports.

Algerian xebec

The felucca was widely used for transporting goods and fishing. A small, about 15 m, felucca was very similar to a galley, but it had no stem, and the bow and stern were pointed.

It was exclusively a merchant ship, so it had no guns. The felucca had two masts: a forward-sloping foremast and a mainmast that stood vertically in the middle of the ship. There were very few oars: 6-7 on each side. It was impossible to develop decent speed on them, so triangular lateen sails were responsible for the speed of the ship.

Many other types of ships originated from galleys: a fast fusta with 18-22 banks for rowers on each side, a galliot with 14-20 banks, a brigantine with 8-12 banks and, finally, a saya - a light frigate with a straight sail on the foremast and lateen sails on the main and mizzen masts.

New trends of the 18th century

In the 18th century sailing ships reached a certain level of perfection, but, paradoxically, they continued to be built without any scientific research. Simply put - “by eye”. Even such skilled craftsmen as the Dutch practically did not resort to drawings when building ships. It is not for nothing that Peter the Great, who in his youth was an apprentice to the Dutchman Claes Paul, quickly became disillusioned with the knowledge of his teacher, and then began to consider the Dutch shipbuilders as artisans, relying only on natural intelligence and faithfulness of the eye.

Perhaps the only country where the theory of shipbuilding received adequate development at that time was the homeland of frigates - England. By the way, Peter went there to continue his training in shipbuilding. In the 18th century, wooden ship structures were improved so much that the construction of large warships (battleships and frigates) with a displacement of 2000 tons became the rule rather than an exception.

The shape of the ships' hulls began to more and more resemble a rectangle. This ensured that the ship could easily overcome waves (“climbing onto a wave”), reduce pitching and have good stability. The helm was firmly established on ships, which was quickly appreciated by sea captains.

It made it possible to control the ship from the quarterdeck - the aft section of the deck. Something has also changed in the sailing equipment. Around 1750, shipbuilders improved the design of the bowsprit, abandoning the blind topmast. The masts and spars began to be fastened with yokes - special iron hoops.

The number of frames was also increased, while every second frame was made of double thickness for greater strength, and in some cases, already at the end of the century, diagonal stripes were placed on them - readers, which were designed to protect the ship's frame from breakage during a strong storm. With such durable ships it was possible to go through fire and water.

Brander D.S. Ilyina

By the way, about fire! We mentioned it not by chance. It was in the fire that the old military fire ships - kamikaze ships loaded with flammable and explosive substances - ended their lives.

The fireship's task was to secretly, in fog or at night, get close to enemy ships and, at the cost of its own “life,” burn enemy ships. The fireship was equipped so that when it collided with an enemy ship, it would instantly burst into flames. The most desperate sailors and officers were recruited into the team. An example of a real triumph of fireships is the burning of the Turkish fleet in the Chesme naval battle of 1770.

For actions against the Turks, the Russians built as many as four fire ships. Only one, commanded by Lieutenant D.S. Ilyin, was able to achieve success. But he alone was enough for a whole squadron.

Despite the enemy's hurricane fire, Ilyin managed to get close to the 84-gun Turkish battleship, light the fire ship and, together with the crew, transfer to the boat.
The burning wreckage of the exploded ship caused explosions and fires on enemy ships. Because of one old fireship, 15 Turkish battleships, 6 frigates and 40 small ships were lost in fire.

18th century ship hull retained its strength because it was carefully painted and the paint protected the wood from rotting. The ship's ointment, which was usually used to paint the underwater part of the hull, was off-white in color. It was prepared from a mixture of sulfur, lard, white lead, vegetable and fish oils.

Later, the hull below the waterline began to be coated with black mineral compounds and copper plating was applied, which protected against stone burrs and ship worms. The sides of the ships were painted black, yellow or white, shading the battery decks with black stripes. The inside of the sides and gun ports were painted blood red.

This was no accident. Red paint was used to make the spilled blood of the dead less noticeable. During the battle, her appearance could demoralize the sailors. The stern of the ship was still decorated with intricate carvings and huge lanterns. By the way, the luxury and splendor of the decoration depended entirely on the rank of the ship. The higher the rank, the more pompous the decoration.

In the 18th century The English frigate not only took its rightful place in all Western European fleets, but also received wide recognition in Russia. By decree of Catherine II, the construction of the fortress city of Kherson began at the mouth of the Dnieper, which was supposed to protect the southern border of the empire from the Turks. A new admiralty was also erected there.
In 1778, Russia begins active military operations against the Turkish fleet, and the names of the invincible frigates of the Black Sea Flotilla built in Kherson - “Andrew the First-Called”, “Berislav”, “Strela”, “Kinburn”, “George the Victorious” - begin to sound like a threat to the enemy .

Gradually, Russian admirals, preferring this type of ship to other small ships, introduced 16- and 20-gun frigates instead of Shnivas, without which subsequent military operations against the Turkish fleet would have been simply impossible. They played a decisive role in many victories.

Thus, in the battle off the island of Fidonisi in 1778, the Sevastopol squadron, consisting of only 36 ships, including two battleships and 10 frigates, met the Turkish fleet of 49 ships, 17 of which were large battleships. The maneuverable Russian fleet under the command of captain-brigadier F.F. Ushakov, after a three-hour battle, sank one Turkish ship, then put the rest to flight.

Merchant ships of that time, which had a relatively small displacement, not exceeding 600 tons, were in no way inferior in design to military ships. The only advantage of warships due to the ratio of length and width was their speed.

Smaller than frigates were corvettes armed with 20-30 guns, two-masted brigantines with 10-20 guns, and tenders - small single-masted warships. Although brigantines have been built for a long time, in the 18th century this name was firmly assigned to ships that had straight sails on the foremast, and a single oblique sail was installed on the higher mainsail. Around 1760, brigs appeared - brigantines, in which, in addition to slanting sails, straight sails were also installed on the main mast.

Corvette

At the end of the century, another type of warship appeared - the bombard. It was equipped with only two masts, with the front one being a mainmast with straight sails, and the second - a mizzen - carrying oblique sails.

Instead of a foremast, a platform with powerful mortar cannons was installed. Bombards were often used by the French. During the siege of coastal cities, their bombardment galliots had no equal. In England, bombardment ships were somewhat different.

The British left all three masts, and made the platforms with mortars rotating and installed them directly between the masts.

Bomber ship "Jupiter". 1771

Design of ship guns in the 18th century. practically did not change, but the question of what to shoot with still remained burning. In 1784, the Englishman E. Shrapnel invented explosive shells filled with round bullets and very reminiscent of the bombs that were thrown by the mortars that came to the fleet from the ground forces. The bombs were used for firing with mounted fire and were hollow iron balls with a wick and a powder charge inside.

The fuse was set on fire, and the bomb was lowered into the mortar by special ears. The delay was like death.

Having reached the enemy ship, the core exploded, leaving holes in the hull and destroying the mast along the way. Later, cannonballs began to be lowered into the muzzle of a mortar without lighting the fuse: it was ignited when the gunpowder exploded in the gun’s charging chamber.

When preparing the ship for sailing, it was first equipped, loaded with various supplies and food. First of all, cast iron ballast was loaded in the form of bars weighing 8 and 2.4 pounds. The cast iron bars were laid, pressing tightly against each other, from one side to the other. The largest number of bars were placed in the center of gravity of the vessel - in the area of ​​the main mast.

Section of the hull of a military sailing ship. XVIII century

To prevent the ballast from rolling from side to side, small stones were poured on top of the cast iron ballast. Empty water barrels were then placed on the ballast. The bottom row of barrels, the largest in size, were buried up to half in stone ballast, tightly placed against each other. After the bottom layer (lag) of the barrels was laid, they, starting with the middle one, were filled with water from a hose.

The middle lag of smaller barrels was placed on the lower log. After filling these barrels, the smallest barrels of the upper log were laid. When laying the barrels, a space of about one meter was left so that the sailors could work in the hold.

The voids between the barrels of the middle and upper logs were not filled with ballast, but filled with firewood. This part of the hold was called the water hold. Provisions were stored in some barrels of the hold - wine, butter, corned beef.

Pumps were installed near the mainmast, which pumped overboard the water that had accumulated at the bottom of the hold. A special box was built around the mainmast, which was called a lyalo or vel. It went all the way to the bottom, to the lower deck, and protected the pumps from clogging and damage.

At a distance of 1.9 m below the lower deck, a platform was made, which was called a cockpit. It occupied the entire width of the ship. The cockpit housed all the dry provisions: coolies with flour, salt, and cereals. All the cook's household goods were stored there: pots, plates, cauldrons, glasses, scales.

The hold - the space under the cockpit - was divided by transverse bulkheads into a number of compartments. In the central part of the ship, as we have already mentioned, there was a water hold. In the bow and stern there were hook chambers for storing gunpowder. The bow hook chamber was called large, and the stern chamber was called small.

Barrels of gunpowder were stacked on racks. Inside the hook chamber there was a specially designated place for pouring gunpowder into caps. In front of the aft cruise chamber there were captain's and officer's cellars, in which provisions were stored. The bottom of these cellars was covered with sand, and the cellars themselves had special compartments for bombs and grenades. Artillery supplies were laid out above the crew chambers: horns, kokora, leather and incendiary pipes. Nearby, near the exit from the cruise chamber, the skippers' cabins were set up, where canvas, awnings, sail lines, lines, dumps, hammers and other ship supplies were stored.

Along the sides of the cockpit there were free passages - galleries. They were used by ship carpenters and caulkers to seal holes during battle. The middle part of the cockpit was intended for the sick and wounded. Sailors, gunners and soldiers lived on the lower deck, closer to the bow. The anchor fairleads were also located here, and in the place where the anchor ropes were retracted there was a hawse forecastle.

The haze bulkheads reached the lower edge of the fairlead. The forecastle was well caulked and tarred and had scuppers for draining water, and it was intended to prevent water from spreading throughout the vessel when hauling (raising) the anchor.

Behind the mainmast there was a cabin reserved for artillery officers and navigators. Adjacent to it was the ship's office, and boarding weapons were stored nearby: blunderbusses, pistols, pikes, etc. A special place was allocated for storing guns in front of the mizzen mast.

Between the main and mizzen masts there was usually a large spire. One drum of this spire was on the first, and the other on the second battery deck. On the upper deck between the fore and main masts there was a small spire. The large spire was intended for retrieving anchors, and the small one for lifting weights.

On the small deck, or opera deck, in the aft part of the ship there was a wardroom, which was occupied by lieutenant captains and lieutenants. Midshipmen and midshipmen lived under the quarterdeck. The cabin on the starboard side was reserved for the ship's chaplain - a position that is still preserved in the navies of some countries. In the bow, under the tank, there was a galley, in front of it on one side was the ship's infirmary, and on the other was a wick. Be sure to be near the wick - God protects those who are careful! - there was a barrel of water. During the voyage, on the upper deck between the small and large spiers there were fences and cages for living creatures, which brightened up the meager sailor diet: chickens, geese, pigs, calves.

The quarterdeck, or quarterdeck, began from the mainmast, extending all the way to the stern. A ship's compass - a binnacle - was installed on the quarterdeck. Between the foremast and mainmast on the upper deck there were rostras - stands for boats and a spare spars. On both sides there were passages - waists. The captain's cabin was located at the very stern.

Nets were stretched around the entire ship along the sides. They contained rolled up bunks and personal belongings of the team in chests. During the battle, they protected personnel from buckshot and enemy bullets.

Placing a gun on a ship

A little about how the artillery weapons were placed on the ship. The heaviest gun was mounted on the lower deck, or gondeck, medium-caliber guns on the upper deck, and the lightest guns were on the forecastle and quarterdeck. The guns were mounted on carriages and attached to the sides with thick tarred ropes connected to the side eyelets (rings). Under the gun carriages lay artillery supplies: crowbars and gun guns, and under the cannons there were bannikas, breakers and bast guns.

Mounting the gun in a traveling manner

Gunshpugs were wooden levers for changing the sight of guns when firing. The hammer served to send the charge, the wader (similar to a corkscrew) - to remove the remains of the wad, and the bannik (in the form of a ruff) - to clean the bores. Some of the cannonballs were placed next to the cannon in fenders - rings made of thick cable that prevented the cannonballs from rolling across the deck.

Cannon on carriage

To protect the deck from damage, wooden cushions with grooves were placed under the cannonballs. The other part of the cannonballs was located in the center of the deck and around the hatches, and the cannonballs were stored in boxes installed in the hold near the mainmast.

Along with three-masted ships that had full sailing weapons, in the 18th century. there were many small ships with simplified sailing equipment. One of them was Shnyava, who swam in the northern seas for two centuries. This small vessel, up to 24-26 m long, carried straight sails.

The main feature that distinguished it from many similar ships was its thin trysail mast (shnyav), which stood in a wooden block immediately behind the mainmast. The gaff of the new mast carried a mizzen, which was so large that it filled the entire free space to the stern.

The rest of the sailing rig was the same as that of a classic three-masted ship. Shnyavs enlisted in military service were called corvettes. These sloops of war did not carry a trysail mast, but instead, from the rear side of the top of the mainmast, there was a cable stuffed on the deck, to which the mizzen was attached.

The prototype of the military brig was two vessels - a small brigantine and a shnyava. The brig had an original mainmast: it did not have the usual straight mainsail - it was replaced by an oblique mainsail. So her sail rig was like a mizzen mast.

The bombardier ketch, first used by the French when shelling the Algerian coast, became popular in the navy. Instead of the front mast, one or two cannons were installed - bombards. In addition, the 20-25-meter vessel was armed with four powerful 68-pound and six 18-pound carronades. In addition to straight sails, a gaff was always installed on the mainmast.

The silhouette of the ketch was quite unusual: the bowsprit and huge staysails rising in the bow of the vessel stood out too much. The ketch, which later began to be used as a merchant ship, was called a hooker.

Another ship that became widespread in the Baltic was called a “one and a half mast” galliot. It was influenced by the Dutch shipbuilding culture. Its mainmast was noticeably curved forward in the Dutch manner.

She carried two topsails - a large one and a smaller one, and on the gaff - a spacious mainsail. The galleas, which resembled a galliot not only in name, mainly differed from its brother in its shorter bowsprit. In addition, its mainmast was only slightly curved and did not have a topsail. A single-masted sloop could have a variety of sailing equipment.

Unlike sloops with yards, gaff sloops did not carry straight sails, but there was a triangular gaff topsail above the gaff sail. Such vessels were often used for pleasure boat trips. They had only two sails on the bowsprit - a foresail and a flying jib. Large sloops were more heavily armed and could carry two more jibs.

Gaff sloop

Relatively large vessels with a single mast and a displacement of up to 200 tons were tenders. These were the favorite ships of smugglers. Ironically, exactly the same vessels were used to combat smuggling. The sailing rig resembled a sloop. The only difference was the horizontally protruding bowsprit, which, if necessary, could be pulled onto the deck, and the significant size of the sails.

Another merchant ship, the Dutch billander, had an unusual shape of the mainsail: this sail retained the outline of a 17th-century mizzen. But it was placed not along, but across the ship at an angle of 45°, which is why the lower luff almost touched the stern.

The schooner's rigging was designed for small, fast boats with a small crew. The schooner's masts were tilted back, and the bowsprit was almost horizontal. There were three sails on the front mast: a foresail, a topsail and a trysail on a gaff and boom.

The mainmast carried the topsail and trysail. Although a simplified version of the schooner was known to the Dutch and British back in the 17th century, the first real ship of this class returned to Europe as a trophy captured from the American flotilla.

It was America that became the country where schooner rigging received maximum development. The Dutch and German coasts of the North Sea were mainly operated by ships armed with sprint sails. First of all, this type of weapon was typical for a large two-masted boat.

It was a vessel with a round bow and stern, which often carried sideboards - devices in the form of wooden fins that were hung on the sides to reduce drift.

Tjalk

The most typical of all Dutch cargo ships was the tjalk, with a capacity of 30 to 80 tons. Thanks to its shallow draft and flat bottom, this vessel was able to maneuver well in rivers and coastal waters. Due to the fact that the vessel was flat-bottomed, it was equipped with sideboards.

In most cases, the tjalk had a single mast. Only in the 19th century. They began to install an additional small mizzen mast on them. The sailing rig was sprint. Later they began to replace it with a gaff one.

Another brainchild of the Dutch is a one-and-a-half-mast cargo ship, which often appeared off the German coasts of the North and Baltic Seas. The sprint-rigged Shmak had sideboards, and its small mizzen mast was located very close to the round stern.

The topmast of the mainmast, which carried only two sails, did not lower. A feature of this vessel was a high stern bulwark with a transverse beam - a beam, which formed an opening above the stern through which the steering tiller passed.

The collective name for numerous ships sailing along the Rhine became the word “aak”. The cargo aak, built by Cologne shipbuilders, was a small flat-bottomed vessel with a semicircular hatch deck. Aak had no fore and stern posts.

The main armament of the vessel consisted of a simple sprint sail and a foresail. A short bowsprit made it possible to carry a jib. Large aaks had two masts, with the mizzen mast located at the rear of the wheelhouse.

In different eras of shipbuilding, ships that were completely different from each other were often called by the same name. This is what happened with the bark. When pronouncing the word “bark,” the sailors involved in the transportation of coal meant a small three-masted cargo ship with a straight mainsail, a foresail and a mizzen mast without topsails. The cargo barque was also characterized by a wide stern.

James Cook's Bark Endeavor

Bark transport received. fame even then, when the Englishman James Cook made his first famous voyage around the world on a ship of this type, called the Endeavor. The Endeavor, along with Columbus's Santa Maria, can be considered one of the most famous ships in history.

At the end of the 18th century. In France, a large barque appears - an open boat with two masts and two simple straight sails. This ship confidently took its place in the navy. A large Spanish fishing boat with 2-3 masts and a lugger rig was also called a bark.

The typical Mediterranean barque was a three-masted merchant ship. It did not have a bowsprit. Instead, there was a small shot (a spar, strengthened outside the side of the ship next to the foremast), on which a small sail was fastened.

The front mast was short. Its top (top) was rectangular in the form of a block with pulleys. Because of this device, it was often called a “block mast.” The remaining masts could be very diverse - there was no need to talk about the unity of technical solutions. The sailing armament was just as varied.

On the western coast of the Mediterranean, the tartan, which carried one or two masts, enjoyed particular success. The simple sailing rig of this vessel remained unchanged for several centuries.

The ship carried one or two huge lateen sails and a flying jib almost as big as them. When there was wind from the stern, the triangular sail was replaced with a straight one. The high vertical mast of the tartan was commensurate with the length of the ship's deck.

The Neapolitans used the tartan as a gunboat, and after the United States Navy acquired several vessels of this type, tartans began to be built in the New World.

Half acre "Bella Aurora", 1801

The three-masted half-acres were primarily engaged in commercial shipping. The first Italian and French ships of this type carried exclusively straight sails. But in the second half of the 18th century. these ships have changed significantly.

Straight sails were left only on the main mast, and on the rest they were replaced with oblique ones. The creators of the later half-crowns, already at the end of the century, preferred to return to straight sailing equipment and left the lateen sail only on the mizzen mast. On such ships, so-called “pillar” masts (half-acre masts) were installed, which had neither a topmast, nor a saling, nor a topsail. The half-acre rigging was light. They tried to introduce similar sailing equipment on xebeks, but this made xebeks less maneuverable.

Trabaccolo

Off the coast of the Adriatic, not far from Venice, a new ship appeared, called the trabaccolo. The length of its hull reached 32 m, and its design allowed it to go far into the open sea.

The trabaccolo's foremast was tilted forward, and the mainmast was mounted vertically. Like most Mediterranean ships, this ship did not have stays - the ropes that hold the mast. The sails were lugger, that is, they could easily be thrown to another tack, and were easy to control.

Sakoleva

The Greeks used a one and a half mast sakolev as a cargo ship. It had a length of 12.5 m and a mast mounted at the side. The mainmast was tilted heavily forward, and the small mizzenmast was tilted at the same angle in the opposite direction.

In addition to the sprint equipment, the ship was equipped with other sails, but of a smaller size. The sakolev also had a bowsprit and a shot for stretching the sail, which protruded beyond the stern.

Syke

The Turkish saiq could boast of an extraordinary height of the mainmast, which was significantly longer than the hull. Rising in the center of the ship, it had two large straight sails with yards. A short mizzen mast, rigged with a Latin ru, carried a small trapezoidal sail, and a blind was stretched on the bowsprit. The sail, whose length did not exceed 30 m, had a good carrying capacity (200-300 tons), making it very convenient as a merchant ship.

Europe was far from the only place where shipbuilding flourished. The ancient masters of the East had their own view of ship craft, completely different from the traditions of the West.

Long before European sailors reached India and East Africa, the Arabs were already trading with them in full swing. In the seas of these latitudes, monsoon winds blow, which led to the creation of a special type of sailing equipment and ships called Arabian, or dhows.

For centuries, Arab ships successfully competed with the large sailing ships of Europeans, and later even with steam ships. They have survived to this day almost unchanged. The largest dhows included baggals; the Arabs themselves called them mules. These ships were the main carriers of cargo.

Their displacement usually ranged from 150 to 500 tons. Baggala had two and sometimes three masts, a solid deck and a straight, strongly protruding stem with carved pillar-like decoration. These ships were built from teak, a wood that was not worn away by shipworms and stone cutters.

The stern of the baggala was flat and had side galleries. The skipper, helmsman and wealthy passengers were located there. On the main deck there were rooms for valuable cargo. The ship's masts were inclined forward, and the mainmast was lashed (tied) to a pole placed in front of it with the same inclination.

At the top of the masts there were top blocks for the halyard of a huge yard, which often consisted of two or three parts - tree trunks. The mast was supported on the side by 2-3 pairs of cables, and in front by stays placed on the hoist. The rigging of the baggall was very simple and did not require a large crew to operate it.

Baggala

Another typical Arabian vessel, whose homeland is the Persian Gulf, was boom. This type of vessel retained the original shape of Arab ships - a pointed stern. However, later, under European influence, it was replaced with a flat transom. The boom did not have a curved stem, the lines of the hull were very simple, and instead of carved decorations there were brightly colored stripes along the trim. Boom had the same sailing equipment as the baggaly. Its displacement was small, only 60-200 tons, but nevertheless the Arabs made long-distance sea voyages on it.

If in the Persian Gulf it was mainly baggals and booms that sailed, then the typical ship of the Red Sea was the sambuk. Ships of this type made trade voyages to the east coast of Africa and to India.

In design, the sambucus resembled a baggalu, but instead of carved decorations, there were geometric patterns on its stern. Sambucas were small and large, with a displacement from 30 to 200 tons, while the large ones had a solid deck, and the small ones only on the poop. Large and medium sambucas each carried two masts, while small ones often lacked a mizzen mast.

If the Europeans christened all Arab ships with the name “dhow”, then they called all the ships of Malaysia and Indonesia with the name “proa”. The silhouette of the proa was very distinctive. Its stems bent inside the ship. On the high aft superstructure there was a place for the helmsman, for which the rudder stock, attached to the side of the hull, had to be made very long - up to 4.5 m!

The proa was characterized by a very long rectangular sail of irregular shape, mounted on two yards and held on the mast by the first third of the upper yard. The sail, slightly skewed in height, was heavy and cumbersome. The mizzen mast was strongly moved towards the stern and carried a small rectangular gaff sail. Most likely, this sail and flying jib were copied from European ships that often visited the colonies.

By the 13th century. China's maritime merchant shipping boomed. And yet, the famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who visited Chinese lands, was mistaken in his homeland for an inventor when he wrote in his books that the Chinese junks he saw took 300-400 people on board.

However, the existence of such large ships was also confirmed by an Arab geographer of the 14th century. Ibn Battuta, who reported that he saw ships in China carrying up to a thousand people.

Chinese junk

The distrust of Europeans is quite understandable. At that time, in what considered itself a civilized Europe, there were only small naves and claws, while the navy of Nanjing numbered more than 2,000 ships and was the largest in the world!

It also included the nine-masted junk “Zheng He” with a displacement of 3100 tons and a length of 164 m. Obviously, it was the longest sailing ship in the world. The existence of such wooden giants is beyond doubt.

Ancient chronicles mention the construction of a floating fortress measuring 180x180 m for the Yangtze River, and when excavating Nanjing shipyards, archaeologists discovered a rudder stock as much as 11 m long! The Chinese junks had a very beautiful hull, distinguished by a high stern, a sharp bow and a flat bottom.

Much earlier than in Europe, the hulls of these ships began to be divided by watertight bulkheads. The steering wheel was located in a hole that looked like a well. In strong winds and rough seas, water entered here, weighing down the stern and preventing the bow from sinking.

Chinese shipbuilders knew that the absence of a keel could cause the ship to drift, so junks had a wide rudder. Large junks were built with a deck. The foremast was set forward with a slight slope forward, and the mizzenmast stood behind the rudder at the very rear of the stern. In this case, the masts were moved to the left side and the sails formed some kind of nozzles, accelerating the passage of air and thereby increasing the speed of the vessel.

The sailing equipment of the junks was of the lugger type, but the rigging, despite its simplicity, reached perfection: shingle sails, tied with horizontal bamboo slats, were easily picked up from the deck when taking reefs.

In contrast to the Chinese, Japanese junks had only straight sails and carried one, two or three masts. The largest mainmast was shifted to the stern and had an almost quadrangular cross-section. At the top of the mast there were special blocks with which the yard was controlled. The top itself had a fork, with a forestay attached to both horns. The foremast was strongly inclined forward and was half as long as the mainmast.

The sail on it was four times smaller than the sail on the mainmast. Accordingly, the third mast (if present) was half the size of the foremast and was placed in front of it on the stem.

Japanese junk

Junks have not undergone any significant changes over the past centuries. And now in China, along with modern ships, almost the same junks that Marco Polo saw sail. The following fact speaks about the high seaworthiness of these vessels.

In 1848, the English captain Kellett bought the Chinese junk "Keying", which had three masts, a length of 49 m, a width of 7.6 m and a mainmast height of 29 m. A feature of the junk was a huge rudder with holes, lowered by 3.5 m below the bottom of the ship. So, this junk with honor survived the passage from China to London across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans!

By the beginning of the 19th century. Several main types of warships remained in the fleets of European maritime powers. Battleships with a displacement of 1000-2000 tons carried from 70 to 130 guns, which were mainly located on closed battery decks (decks). Depending on the number of decks, two- and three-deck ships were distinguished. The crew of such ships could reach 1000 people.

In the Russian fleet, battleships were further divided into four ranks: 1st rank - 120 guns, 2nd rank - 110 guns, 3rd rank - 84 guns, 4th rank - 74 guns. In the fifth and sixth ranks were frigates that had one closed battery deck and from 25 to 50 guns. The frigate's crew consisted of 500 sailors.

American frigates, of which the most famous ship is the Constitution, which has remained in Boston to this day, were both larger and more powerful than European ones. The latest of them were only half sailing ships - next to the full sailing equipment there was a real miracle of 19th century technology. - Steam engine. Smaller three-masted corvettes had an open battery deck with 20-30 guns.

As a rule, corvettes were equipped with the sailing equipment of a frigate. A type of corvette were sloops, which had fewer guns and a displacement of 300-900 tons. Two-masted brigs were used for messenger and guard duty. They had up to 22 guns and a displacement of 200 to 400 tons. But despite its small size, the maneuverable brig could withstand battle with much larger ships.

An example of this is the Russian patrol brig Mercury. On May 14, 1829, this ship entered into battle with two Turkish battleships, which had 184 guns. Skillfully maneuvering, the Mercury inflicted significant damage on the enemy. The two giants were forced to drift, giving up pursuit.

Although sloops were relatively small vessels, sailors preferred them on long voyages. On the sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny”, captains F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev reached the shores of Antarctica for the first time on January 16, 1820. The expedition was crowned not only with the discovery of a new continent - 29 previously unknown islands were mapped and complex oceanographic work was completed.

Sloop Vostok

Ships of the first half of the 19th century. gradually acquired a pointed bow shape and began to be equipped with a low stern superstructure. The poop began to be connected to the forecastle by a continuous deck. Shipbuilding technology itself has not stood still. Many wooden ship structures were replaced with metal ones.

Since 1815, anchor chains took the place of anchor ropes. A little later, standing rigging began to be made from wire ropes, and wooden davits - beams used to lower boats into the water - were replaced with iron ones.

Naval artillery also took a step forward. Small, large-caliber carronades appeared. The Scottish company Carron tried to ensure that the new gun, despite its large caliber, remained short-barreled, lightweight and did not require a powerful powder charge. The carronade received universal recognition, although it had a shorter combat range than previous guns.

At first they were installed only on merchant ships, but very soon they were adopted by warships. Along with the general design of the guns, the fuse system was also improved. So, at the beginning of the 19th century. a capsule tube appeared - a close analogue of a powder cartridge case. The flammable mixture in it ignited from friction or impact.

Carronade

The sailboats of those times owed much of their improvement to their design to the Russian school of shipbuilding. It was the Russian shipbuilders who modernized the spar and rigging, introduced turning frames and a new cut of sails, and instead of staysails they installed trysails on the mainmast.

The shipbuilder I. A. Kurochkin left a noticeable mark on the history of shipbuilding. It is he who owns many new products in the field of large-tonnage shipbuilding. For the ship “Strong”, which left the stocks in May 1804, Emperor Alexander the First granted him a diamond ring.

The most impressive technical innovation, firmly established on Russian ships, was the round stern. It strengthened the strength of the hull, and the guns mounted on it had a good field of fire.

For the design of ships of the first quarter of the 19th century. - the period of classicism - very clear and simple lines were characteristic. The pretentiousness of the decor was replaced by solemnity and monumentality. Few carved decorations now did not hide the details of the vessel's design.

If the stern was flat, this was often emphasized by a closed balcony that closed the space of the interior. Usually it had a metal grille with a simple pattern. Small Dutch glazing was used for the windows. Thanks to this, even in strong rolling conditions there was no need to worry about the safety of the glass. The decoration of the stern was no longer given much attention - the main emphasis was placed on the bow figure.

Usually it was a sculpture of the ancient deity who gave the name to the ship. The ships were mostly painted in a strict black color, and the hull was decorated with white stripes above the cannon ports. The carving was usually gilded or covered with ocher, close to the color of gold.

In order to protect them from pirates, merchant ships preferred to be disguised as military ships. To do this, false gun ports (losports) were painted on the sides. They can still be seen on sailing ships that have survived to this day.

One of the most beautiful 74-gun battleships was the Azov. He became famous in 1827 in Navarino Bay, when he single-handedly sank five Turkish and Egyptian ships: two frigates, one corvette, an 80-gun battleship and the flagship frigate of the Tunisian admiral Tahir Pasha. For this feat, for the first time in Russian naval history, the Azov was awarded the highest military honor - the stern St. George flag.

And yet, despite the skill of master shipbuilders, the Russian fleet gradually fell into decay. This was probably due to the policy of Alexander the First, who allocated too small sums from the budget for the construction of new ships and the repair of dilapidated ones.

74-gun battleship "Azov"

Thus, in 1825, the Baltic Fleet included only 15 battleships and 12 frigates, many of which needed significant repairs. Only 5 ships and 10 frigates were more or less ready for battle. Some hundred years have passed, and practically nothing remains of the greatness of the legendary Peter the Great’s fleet.

The condition of the Russian military ships inherited from the era of Alexander the First was so deplorable that in the very first month of his reign, Emperor Nicholas I was forced to create a Committee for the Formation of the Fleet, “in order to extract naval forces from oblivion and insignificance.” In 1826, the Committee presented the Emperor with a project for a new naval staff - the last in the history of the Russian sailing fleet. The basis of the fleet continued to be battleships, frigates, corvettes and clippers, and the steamships that appeared not so long ago were intended to be their assistants.

Wooden sailing ships from different countries differed from each other only in size. They served for a long time - as long as the body, built from selected types of wood, retained its strength. In battles, sailboats had amazing survivability. The hits of two or three hundred cast iron cannonballs for multi-layer oak sides, the thickness of which sometimes reached a meter, turned out to be “like pellets to an elephant.”

Only a fire could lead to the death of a large ship in battle. Due to the impenetrability of wooden ships by cannonballs, the use of metal in shipbuilding was delayed. The iron body was lighter and stronger, but cast iron cores easily pierced it. And the fate of such a ship in battle would be unenviable. Therefore, reconnaissance steamers made of iron could not withstand serious naval battles.

Frigates continued to improve their appearance and seaworthiness. The Russian frigate Pallada was considered one of the best ships of this type. It was launched in September 1832. The talented shipwright V.F. Stoke took into account the latest technical developments in the design of the hull and sailing equipment. The ship was distinguished by its emphasized strict lines, elegant decor and, most importantly, excellent seaworthiness.

The frigate's speed exceeded 12 knots. P. S. Nakhimov, Vice Admiral Putyatin and even the Russian writer I. A. Goncharov sailed on this ship. However, fate prepared a sad end for the Pallada: in 1856, out of fear that the frigate might be captured by the Anglo-French squadron, it was sunk in Konstantinovskaya Bay of the Imperial Harbor. Now this bay is called Postovaya, and on its shore there is a monument to the legendary frigate, erected in our time.

Frigate "Pallada"

In the 30s XIX century Russian shipbuilding is acquiring unprecedented proportions. In six years, 22 battleships were built. The new large ships were built to a very high quality. The strength of the hulls increased due to the fact that the diagonal connections of the sides began to be replaced with iron readers and braces. Copper scuppers were introduced on ships to drain water overboard.

Several iron stoves were installed to dry the interior. Kruyt chambers began to be lined with lead sheets, and barrels for drinking water were replaced with tanks. To better preserve the underwater part, tarred felt began to be placed under the copper sheathing.

The long-term world domination of wooden sailing ships was ended by the French major Henri Peksan. In 1824, he proposed using a new type of shell with a bombing force that was enormous at that time - high-explosive.

Before the new weapons, the wooden ships were completely helpless. The hole from a single shell reached several meters in diameter, in addition, many fires arose. But conservative admirals in almost all the world's navies were in no hurry to introduce new weapons.

Peksan managed to become a general when this finally happened. The first requiem for wooden battleships sounded in 1849. Only ten guns of the Prussian coastal battery burned Danish ships with explosive bombs: the 84-gun ship Christian III and the 48-gun frigate Gefion. Only an iron ship could resist the new weapon.

By the beginning of the Crimean War, the Russian Baltic Fleet included 218 pennants, 26 of them were battleships. The Black Sea squadron consisted of 43 ships, of which only 14 were battleships. Russian wooden ships were the height of perfection.

The most powerful sailing ships in the Black Sea Fleet were the 120-gun battleships “Twelve Apostles”, “Paris” and “Grand Duke Konstantin”. These were huge sailing ships with a displacement of more than 5,500 tons, a length of 63 m and a width of 18 m.

This did not prevent them from having graceful hull lines and reaching speeds of up to 10 knots. And yet, sailing ships, no matter how perfect they were, did not represent a serious fighting force.

120 gun battleship "Twelve Apostles"

In the very first battles of the Crimean War, steam ships with an iron hull showed a clear advantage over the sailing fleet. The last victorious battle of Russian sailing ships was the Battle of Sinop. In November 1853, the Black Sea squadron under the command of Admiral P. S. Nakhimov blocked large forces of the Turkish fleet in the Turkish port of Sinop.

The battle ended with the complete triumph of Russian weapons. The Turkish squadron ceased to exist, and among the prisoners was the commander-in-chief Osman Pasha himself. The Russian fleet did not lose a single ship! The secret of the Russian victory lay not only in the strategic genius of Admiral Nakhimov and the courage of the Russian sailors.

Perhaps its main reason was the quality of the new artillery installed on Russian ships. The Turkish ships were armed with ordinary cannons that fired solid cast-iron cannonballs, while the Russian ships were equipped with 68-pound guns of a new type. They fired explosive bombs, causing terrible damage to enemy ships.

The Battle of Sinop was the last battle of sailing ships and the first in which ship bombing guns were successfully used.

In the middle of the 19th century. all technical innovations were put at the service of the rapid development of capitalism. The sailing fleet reached its peak during this period. The shipbuilders worked hard, trying to increase the speed of the ships as much as possible.

Two powerful naval powers entered into a dispute for first place in this competition: England and the USA. At first, the priority in creating high-speed ships belonged to the Americans, but the British literally followed on their heels. Sponsors were found to push technological progress. Every year, large trading companies gave a special prize to the ship that would be the first to bring new harvest tea from China.

This is how a new type of sailing ship arose - which quickly gained fame as the fastest ships. With a very sharp hull shape, they carried a huge number of sails, thanks to which they developed simply fabulous speed.

Many of the clippers have gained worldwide fame. Like, for example, the famous English clipper Cutty Sark. Built in 1869, she remained in service until 1922. She is now in dry dock at the National Maritime Museum in London.

Military technology also did not stand still. In 1859, the French created an armored ship with sails and a steam engine - the ship Glory. The British, in turn, created a sailing ship with a length of 116 m and a displacement of 9,100 tons. Its hull was made of iron, and the sides were covered with reliable armor 11 cm thick.

This vessel had the sailing rig of a barque. For a couple of years it was considered an exemplary military vessel, but the armored sailing ships did not reign for long. During the American Civil War, a completely new type of ship appeared: fully armored, without masts, with rotating gun turrets. The first of them was the Monitor, built in 1861. Ten years later, the same ships were in all the strongest fleets in the world.

If steam engines in the navy quickly replaced the sail, then in the merchant fleet it existed until the beginning of the 20th century. They continued to build brigs, schooners and barques. Thanks to the use of auxiliary mechanisms and improvements in rigging, the crew of these ships was significantly reduced, which was beneficial to the shipowners. At the end of the 19th century, large sailing ships were built from iron. Their length was 100-200 m.

They had 4-5 masts, and the sail area reached 10,000 square meters. m. One of the last and largest sailing ships in the world was the Preissen ship, launched in 1902. This ship, built by German craftsmen from Hamburg, had five masts, its length was 132 m, and its width was 16.5 m.

With a huge displacement of 11,000 tons, it could reach a speed of 17 knots. This giant ship marked the last point in the world history of the development of the sailing fleet.

Five-masted ship "Preissen". 1902

The first clippers - the fastest sailing ships - appeared in the first half of the 19th century. The sharp shape of their low, long and narrow hulls, huge sails and slightly reduced cargo capacity gave a striking effect: not a single sailing ship could compare with the clipper in terms of speed. The maximum speed of many clippers with a tailwind reached 18-20 knots. For this, the ship got its name, which translated from English means “cutting the tops of the waves.” The displacement of clippers could be different - from 500 to 4000 tons.

The very first clipper ships were small in size and, as a rule, were used on local lines. They appeared on the east coast of America. The Rainbow ship, designed by the American D. W. Griffith, is considered the first real “tea” clipper.

It is difficult to say whether this was actually the case, since the evolution of the hull lines of these ships was rather slow. Nevertheless, the Rainbow had rather sharp bow contours, and in the deck area its sides were less rounded and fuller than previously expected.

Surprisingly, the clippers borrowed their characteristic lines from iron steamships. The fact that the first steamships were ahead of the sailing ships of their time in terms of hull design is easily explained.

It’s just that the creators of new ships preferred to make corner-shaped metal hulls rather than go through the trouble of bending thick steel sheets. In addition, the steam ship, unlike a sailing ship, did not have a list on one of the sides, so calculating its sharp contours was not particularly difficult.

The sharp hull of the clipper required more rigorous calculations. Shipbuilders even had to create clippers for specific transoceanic lines. Only then could they take into account all the factors, even, perhaps, the vagaries of the weather.

Hulls of ships: a - East India Company, around 1820; b - tea clipper, 1869

The traditional route of clippers to the Indian Ocean from the ports of China ran along the South China Sea - past the coast of Vietnam, along the Sunda Strait. In the unfamiliar waters of the South China Sea, clipper ships often suffered disasters.

Many sea shoals and reefs bear the names of ships that died here: Rifleman Bank, Lizzie Weber Reef and others. The tea clipper was in danger from the moment it weighed anchor. In addition to shoals and reefs, a lost or damaged ship could become easy prey for Chinese pirates.

The British merchant fleet initially had advantages over the American one: each English transport ship was intended for a specific type of cargo. In the early 1840s. At the shipyards of Aberdeen, small merchant schooners were built with a new type of bow, intended for coastal navigation. But English merchants were more interested in the huge clipper ships from the New World.

They chartered the magnificent American clipper Oriental to transport tea, which managed to make the London-Hong Kong voyage in just 97 days. Clever Englishmen took measurements from the clipper and made its drawings.

In 1850-1851 At the Hall shipyards, the clippers Stornaway and Criselight were built according to these drawings. Since then, the British have tried to keep up with the Americans.
Gold Rush 1848-1849 contributed to the further improvement of American clipper ships. Their cargo capacity began to be given even less importance. Customers were interested in one thing: speed, and as fast as possible.

The clipper took about 80 days to deliver gold miners to the shores of California from the northeastern United States - almost two times less than a regular sailing ship. The owners of clipper ships built for the Golden Line earned more than the cost of the ship in one voyage, at the same time paying for its maintenance, including the crew's salary.

Wood and metal are closely intertwined in the design of clipper ships. So, if the keel and frames of the hull were iron, then its plating still remained wooden. True, it was covered with copper sheets on top.

Iron lower masts were responsible for the strength of the spar, and standing wire rigging made it possible to achieve maximum speed while withstanding enormous loads. The clipper had a ship or barque sailing equipment, the area of ​​which increased significantly. Thus, the legendary “Cutty Sark” carried no less than 3350 sq. m of sailing material.

The three or four masts of the clipper were quite low, but the yards were very long, even longer than those of military frigates of the same size. English and American clipper ships differed most in their sails. American sails made of cotton looked snow-white, while English sails made of linen were grayish or yellowish.

American sails were considered the best. Clipper ships were usually painted as follows: the bottom was copper-colored, the sides were black with a thin gold or yellow stripe at deck level and scrollwork at the ends of the vessel. The bow figures of English clipper ships were usually painted white, while on American ships the gilded figure of an eagle with its wings spread on both sides of the stem was especially popular.

The masts were painted in pastel colors and varnished, which gave the ship an elegant look. The decks of clipper ships were usually sanded down to a natural wood color, sometimes also using a varnish coating. In the middle of the century, the square windows on clipper ships were replaced by round portholes with copper or iron frames.

The sailors' living quarters were located on the forecastle. In the aft deckhouses, often there were two of them, there was a galley - kitchen, as well as several small cabins for officers and crew members. By the way, the height of the living decks on American ships was higher than on English ones.

The average American clipper ship could race even in hurricane-force winds, carrying all kinds of sails. But when the wind was weak or moderate, the speed of this ship dropped sharply, and it was easily bypassed by maneuverable English clippers, well adapted to such winds.

That is why the British, although they did not set absolute speed records, often spent less time on the transoceanic crossing than the Americans. However, the Americans took in quantity. Their merchant fleet was still larger than England's. Therefore, in the 50s. In the 19th century, the best tea was supplied by the Americans.

Seven clipper ships took part in the 1867 race. It is significant in that they all returned to London on the same day. A fierce rivalry developed between the two fastest clippers: the Cutty Sark and Thermopylae.

In the 1872 race, the Cutty Sark was seven days behind its competitor due to a broken rudder. And yet, this clipper once set an absolute speed record, although not on the tea line.

In 1887, this clipper ship, loaded with wool, sailed from Sydney, Australia, to London in just 70 days. The record was never broken, and since then the Cutty Sark has been called the queen of the oceans.

Clipper "Cutty Sark"

What speed did a ship of those times have to have in order to count on winning the race? The fastest American clippers, James Baines and Lightning, built by Donald McKay, reached speeds of up to 21 and 18.5 knots, respectively.

But the main advantage of tea clippers was not that they could show fantastic speed over a short distance with a tailwind, but a consistently high average speed, regardless of weather conditions. With proper control, the average speed of the clipper was 9-10 knots.

In terms of their strength, clippers even tried to compete with steamships. If the clipper was not built from hard wood, it was salted. Salt was poured between the frames and the hull of the ship.

Salting protected the wooden hull from rotting so reliably that Lloyd's Insurance Company even extended the validity of the insurance certificate for “salted” ships by a year.

In the 1860s. the salted wood was replaced by iron cladding. True, the underwater part of iron clippers quickly became overgrown with algae and mollusks, which caused the speed of the ship to drop.

Clippers competed with steamships for a long time because they had greater speed and cruising range. In addition, the sailing ship could take much more goods, so the captains agreed to a moderate tariff for transportation. Even a small steamship consumed a huge amount of coal and was uneconomical, and the sailing ship used free wind.

In addition to the “tea” and “gold” ones, “woolen”, “silk” and even “fruit” clippers appear. The mighty East India Company could not withstand the onslaught of numerous competitors and soon ceased to exist. Following America, England and France, Russia also began building ships.

In the Russian navy, these ships, although already sail-screw ships, were quite popular. They served as patrol vessels and carried, as a rule, 8-10 guns.
Clipper ships could have competed with steam ships - coal eaters for a long time, if the Suez Canal had not been opened in 1869, which almost halved the route from Europe to Asia and Australia.

The main advantage of sailing ships - speed and cruising range - has lost its former importance. But the clippers did not want to give up. Immediately after the opening of the short route to the East, several clipper ships with a propeller and a steam engine were built, the last of which was the Halloween ship.

Such ships sometimes overtook their screw-driven rivals along the way, even though their sail power was significantly less than in the heyday of tea clippers. And yet the steamships won. One of their advantages over clippers was that they were equipped with their own cargo booms and steam winches. This speeded up loading and unloading, especially in open roadsteads.

Very little time passed and the British stopped chartering clipper ships to transport tea. For several more years, these ships carried tea leaves to New York, but then the American clipper ships disappeared into oblivion. “The Last of the Mohicans” - the Golden State clipper - delivered a cargo of tea to the New York port until 1875.

At the end of the 16th century. After liberation from Spanish rule, the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands arose on the site of the former colonies, which from the 17th century. was named Holland. In a short time after gaining independence, the Netherlands became a powerful maritime country, whose fleet carried more than two-thirds of Europe's maritime traffic.

Working only on imported timber, the Dutch launched up to a thousand ships every year. In addition to excellent seaworthiness, their ships were famous for their simplicity of design and ease of operation.

It was the Dutch, not the British, who were the first to sail for their own pleasure and sporting interest. Foreigners visiting Holland paid attention to small, elegant single-masted ships with cozy and comfortable cabins.

They belonged to rich people and were intended for recreation and boat trips, which was greatly facilitated by the waterways that literally approached the threshold of every house. Sailing for fun arose from a love of the sea and, undoubtedly, from the desire not to lose face in front of others.

The first yachts traced their ancestry to small, shallow-draft merchant ships from Holland. At first, they mainly played the role of pleasure and representative ships for the nobility. The protracted skirmishes between Prince William of Orange and Spain put the entire Dutch fleet “under arms.” Yachts of this time were often armed with light cannons and proved their advantages in battle.

One of the first military yachts of the late 16th century. became Prince Moritz's yacht "Neptune", the construction of which greatly influenced the development of public and private vessels of this type. Due to their shallow draft and flat bottom, the yachts were equipped with sideboards and had a long, low superstructure - a pavilion, used as an official premises.

Dutch yacht from the early 17th century.

History has brought to us who, when, where and how they opened the first page of the history of amateur sailing. It was the Dutch surgeon Henry de Vogg, who on April 19, 1601 received written permission to sail from Vlissingen to London “in a small open boat, completely independently, relying only on Providence,” as he wrote in his petition.

The permit noted that de Vogg had the right to enter ports of refuge in order to avoid encounters with pirates and warships that could capture or detain his ship. We do not know for what purpose the Dutchman went to England, but the fact of a single long sea voyage under sail allows us to consider de Vogg the first yachtsman in history.

As you know, the distance between Vlissingen and London is about 130 nautical miles, of which 100 miles are on the high seas. Under favorable conditions, this route should not present any particular difficulties.

At first, yachting was a privilege only for royalty. It receives widespread development in England with the light hand of the monarch. Crowned in 1651, Charles II Stuart, having been defeated by Cromwell, was forced to seek refuge on the continent, where he spent 9 long years.

During this time, he learned a lot, and during his stay in Holland he managed to learn not only the intricacies of shipbuilding and the art of naval battles, but also the charm of yachting. Upon Charles II's return to the throne in 1660, the East India Company, taking into account the monarch's new hobby, presented him with a truly royal gift: the superbly decorated yacht Mary and a slightly smaller yacht, the Mizan.

"Mary" was built very well. (It was this that Sir A. Dean took as a model when, in 1674, Charles II commissioned him to build two yachts for the King of France, Louis XIV.) The English king, however, decided not to limit himself to the first-born yachts, and literally a few months after launching A new pleasure yacht was laid down on the waters of the "Bizzany" and "Mary" in Deptford. And on May 21, 1661, Charles II himself was personally present at the trials of this ship, later named “Catherine” - in honor of the Queen of England.

The very first races between sailing ships, about which the memories of contemporaries have been preserved, took place in England on yachts of their own construction. The race with the participation of Charles II's yacht Catherine and the yacht Anna, owned by his brother, the Duke of York, took place on October 1, 1661 on the Thames.

According to eyewitnesses, among whom were many lords and courtiers, the race route ran from Greenwich to Gravesend, and the bet was a hundred golden guineas. The king initially lost to the duke, having walked the first part of the route against the wind, but took revenge on the way back. At times, Karl personally managed his yacht.

The yachts of high-ranking persons served not only for recreation and entertainment, but also performed more responsible functions - they were representative vessels. Owning a luxury yacht was a sign of power and wealth. So, the English king had a flotilla of as many as 18 yachts! Often, the yachts conducted maneuvers or joint exercises as part of squadrons, imitating the warships of the fleet. This allowed the British Admiralty to accumulate valuable experience, which played an important role in the improvement of warships.

Monarchs of other European countries also built their own yachts. For example, the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick I, had a yacht richly decorated with carvings and sculptures, which was armed with eight 3-pounder cannons and was modeled after the sea yacht of William III of Orange.

Later, having managed, thanks to political intrigue, to receive the crown of the King of Prussia in Königsberg, Frederick decides to celebrate his new title by purchasing an even more pompous yacht.

For a fabulous sum of 100,000 thalers at that time, he ordered a yacht from Holland, which he “modestly” named “Crown”. His son, Frederick William I, went even further than his father, making the same “Crown” a means of political bribery. The king did not spare money only on the army.

The costs of maintaining a luxurious pleasure boat were unbearable for the stingy Hohenzollern, and he gave the yacht to Peter I, hoping to win the favor of the Russian Tsar.

Yacht "Golden" of Frederick William I, 1678

Let us note that Peter I was lucky to receive gifts of this kind - back in 1698, while staying in London, he received from William III of Orange as a sign of friendship the 20-gun yacht Royal Transport, built according to the drawings of Admiral Lord Carmarthen.

This ship stood out not only for its beautiful silhouette and truly royal decoration and decoration, but also for its excellent seaworthiness. In the same year, the yacht arrived in Arkhangelsk.

Initially, Peter I wanted to include her in the Azov Fleet, but due to shallow waters it was not possible to navigate the yacht along the rivers into the Sea of ​​Azov. In 1715, the Russian Tsar ordered the ship to be transferred to the Baltic Fleet. Unfortunately, while crossing by sea, the Royal Transport was caught in a storm and crashed off the coast of Norway.

Originally intended for entertainment and recreation, yachts very soon made their way into the merchant and military fleets. The mast of yachts could be different: in addition to single-mast ones, there are one-and-a-half mast ships of this class.

Based on the type of rigging, one and a half mast yachts were divided into hooker yachts, galliot yachts and galleas yachts. The hooker yacht had a long bowsprit, a mainmast with two topmasts and three straight sails. Behind the mainsail there was a mainsail trysail. The mizzenmast also carried a topmast and a sail with a gaff and boom.

Single-masted yachts usually had a very long mast without a topmast. Just like on galliots and galleasses, the topmast was cut into the mast itself and formed part of it. The topmast, sometimes curved forward, carried only a weather vane and a flag with the name of the ship.

Until about 1670, yachts had sprint rigs, which were widespread in Holland, but later they were replaced by gaff rigs. In addition to the gaff sail, the mast also carried a topsail. On the bowsprit, often elongated, 1-2 flying jibs were installed.

Hooker yacht

The century between the entry of Peter I onto the world stage and the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo was marked by incessant battles and revolutions, and lively piracy on the seas. In such troubled times, amateur sailing could not be safe and carefree. But nevertheless, the number of yachts continued to grow, as, due to dire necessity, an increasing number of people used small, fast and armed sailing boats.

The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars created particularly favorable conditions for the growth of the number of small, fast sailing ships. The flight of French aristocrats to England, Napoleon's attempt to invade the British Isles, the intrigues of the British in Spain and Portugal, and then the continental blockade created conditions in which coastal residents on both sides of the English Channel lived exclusively by illegal maritime craft, which reached unprecedented proportions.

This dangerous occupation required such speed and maneuverability from ships that only skilled craftsmen could build such sailing ships. Subsequently, these vessels became models for racing yachts.

18th century yacht

Residents of the small village of Wyvenhoe, near Colchester in England, have long been involved in sea robbery and smuggling. Philippe Sainty was considered the best shipbuilder among them. In 1820, the Marquess of England, Henry W. Paget, ordered his new yacht from him. This was the famous tender “Pearl”, which contemporaries rightfully considered the best in the kingdom. The construction of this magnificent yacht opened a new page in the history of the village of Wyvenhoe, which later became a center for the construction of elegant yachts.

As shipbuilding developed, shipyards further specialized. A special sign of skill in the construction of yachts was considered to be almost jewelry-like care in finishing, which was beyond the power of ordinary ship carpenters.

In England, which had become rich after the Napoleonic wars, by 1850 the number of yachts had increased from 50 to 500. After the hardships of the war years, the popularity of yachting grew not only in the British Isles. In France, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries, many new lovers of sailing and travel have appeared. The French were no less valiant and glorious sailors and shipbuilders.

In any case, the speed of the ships of French smugglers of the early 19th century. significantly exceeded the speed of the English customs guards, and only thanks to chance one of the Breton tenders, caught off the Isle of Wight, fell into the hands of the British.

The hull shape of this tender served as a prototype for an English shipbuilder in 1830. This is how one of the fastest yachts was built - the famous tender "Alarm" for Joseph Weld. French pilot tenders were also famous for their speed; they were very stable and adapted to sailing in the ocean.