In the sailing fleet (late 17th - mid 19th centuries), the largest warship was the battleship? a three-masted ship with strong artillery armament (from 60 to 130 guns).
Depending on displacement, dimensions and, first of all, on the number of guns, in accordance with the “Table of Ranks of Ships” (XVII century), ships were divided into six ranks. By the middle of the 19th century, the displacement of battleships reached 5000 tons, weapons? 130 guns, crew? 800 people.
The trends in the development of warships from galleon to linear are illustrated by the English warship built in 1637, “Sovereign of the Seas” (“Lord of the Seas”)? Figure 9.1. Its displacement is 1530 tons, maximum length 71 m, width 14.2 m, hold depth 5.9 m, maximum draft 6.75 m. Further crushing (compared to galleys) up to the fourth tier received a general windage. For the first time in the history of shipbuilding, artillery guns were placed on three decks.
This ship is considered the first sailing battleship in the history of shipbuilding. On three continuous battery decks and the battery occupying the fourth tier, a battery was installed on the quarterdeck
126 guns, of which 20 were heavy 60-pounders, eight? 38-lb. Crew? 800 people. The ship was decorated with numerous sculptures and wood carvings in the Baroque style. The cost of the ship was enormous: for it it was possible to build ten ordinary 40-gun ships. The English king Charles I, on whose orders this ship was built, was accused of unjustified wastefulness in financing the construction of the navy. The political passions of those years led to the king being executed (in 1649) on the orders of Oliver Cromwell. Did the ship live a long life? rebuilt three times and was afloat
60 years. He repeatedly took part in naval battles, but did not die in a naval battle, but was burned in a parking lot in Chatham (near London) from the fire of an overturned candle.
The first third of the 17th century saw the entry of France into the great maritime powers. This is connected with the name of the Duke of Richelieu, on whose initiative the reconstruction of the sea ports of France began; several sailing ships were purchased from Holland, which became the first large warships of the navy. In 1636, the first battleship of its own construction, Le
Korona” (Crown) (displacement? 2100 t, length along the waterline? 50.7 m, side height? 10.5 m, mast-mast from keel to keel? 57.6 m, armament? 72 guns on three decks, crew ? 604 people). The ship was built by Charles Maurier.
An example of a 1st rank battleship perfect for that time is the French three-deck, 120-gun Soleil Royal (“Sun King”), built in 1690 (Fig. 9.2). Its dimensions were close to the table of ranks and were: length? 55 m, width? 15.5 m, deepening of the hold? 6.7 m; crew? 875 people. For a long period, “Soleil Royal” was considered the best among the battleships of the leading naval powers of the world in terms of its performance, firepower, and decor. Another famous battleship of the 1st rank was the Spanish Santisima Trinidad (Fig. 9.3), built in 1769 at the Spanish naval shipyard in Havana (Cuba). The hull and deck are Cuban mahogany, mast and yard? from Mexican pine. Side thickness? 0.6 m. For the first time, a ship of this class had four gun decks, on which 144 guns were installed, 30 of them of 32 pound caliber were located on the lower deck. What is the firing range of these guns? 1.5 miles. Two 18-pounder and twenty-six 8-pounder guns and mortars were installed on the second deck. The remaining guns occupied the third and fourth decks. Despite numerous hits on this battleship from English ships at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, it
was not sunk. During the battle, there were 1,200 sailors and Marines on the ship.
The English battleship Victory, which took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, has survived to this day (Fig. 9.4). She became a monument ship and has been in Portsmouth dry dock since 1922 in honor of the victory of the English fleet over the combined navies of Spain and France. The spot on deck where the mortally wounded Admiral Nelson fell is marked with a memorial plaque. The battleship was built by shipwrights D. Lock and E. Allan back in 1765 in Chatham near London. It had three decks and three masts. To build Victory, 2.5 thousand trees, mainly oak, were used. The keel is made of several elm trunks; the frames were hewn with an ax according to drawings that were made to full size. The sides, 0.6 m thick, consisted of outer and inner cladding, fastened with steel bolts and oak dowels. Displacement? about 3.5 thousand tons, length? 57 m, width? about 16 m, crew? 850 people. Was armed with 104 cannons, more than half of which were heavy? 32- and 24-pounders.
Since the end of the 17th century, a new type of ship has appeared in the navies of different countries for long-range reconnaissance and cruising service (independent combat operations on sea and ocean communications with the aim of capturing and destroying enemy merchant ships). frigate? with fairly powerful artillery weapons, but faster than battleships. It differed from the latter in its smaller size (displacement 700?-1000 tons and more) and fewer guns. Among the frigates there were also large ones, with up to 60 guns, which were included in the battle line and were called linear frigates. Here are some typical ships of this type. The French frigate Flora (Fig. 9.5), built in 1780, had the greatest length? 
47 m, along the keel? 38 m, maximum width? 11.6 m, draft? 5 m, weapons? 30 9-pounder guns, crew: about 300 people. The American frigate Constitution (Fig. 9.6), built in Boston in 1797, was intended to protect American shipping routes from pirates in the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas. Its length is 62.2 m, width 13.6 m, side height 6.85 m. Armament reached 55 guns, twenty-eight of which were 24-pounders, and ten were 12-pounders. Crew? 400 people. The frigate was afloat for 150 years, it was restored several times, and since 1947 it has been permanently moored in Boston as a monument ship.
The history of the development of frigates is interesting. Initially, in 
XIII?-XVI centuries, a frigate (a sailing-rowing vessel with galleys) had 4-5 pairs of oars and a slanting sail. On long voyages it was towed by the flagship galley. The largest sailing-rowing ship of the skerry fleet was also called a frigate; in addition to sails, it had 12...18 pairs of oars, and was armed with up to 38 guns. Having gone through a number of changes, frigates as a class of ships have been revived in modern navies of different countries (the name was given during the Second World War). Now their combat mission is to search and destroy enemy submarines, 
anti-submarine and anti-missile defense of ships and transports when operating as part of search groups and security forces.
Corvettes of the XVII-?XVIII centuries? ships with a displacement of 460 tons or more; they had the same direct sails as frigates and 18–30 guns on the upper deck and were mainly used
for reconnaissance and messenger services (Fig. 9.7, a). The corvette Astrolabe (France, 1811) had a length of 101.04 feet (30.08 m), a deck beam of 28.54 feet (8.7 m), a draft of 11.97 feet (3.65 m), displacement 380 tons.
Brigs were significantly smaller than frigates, their displacement? 200?400 t, length? up to 32 m, width? 8...9 m, straight rigged on two masts; on the second mainmast, in addition to straight sails, another scythe was installed. Crew? up to 120 people, artillery weapons? up to 24 guns. They appeared in the 18th century and were used not only as cruising ships, patrol ships, but also as messengers (Fig. 9.7, b).
The total area of the sails raised on a 120-gun battleship reached 3140 m2, on frigates? 2500 m2, on brigs? 760 m2, which per ton of displacement gave, respectively, 0.65;
1.0; 1.9 m2. The specific sailing armament also determined the speed qualities of the ships. Brigs and frigates, the speed of which reached 10 knots, and the mass of the sails? 4 tons, were faster than battleships. The desire to limit the diversity of the navy and introduce proven ship designs led to the establishment of the practice of compiling ship staffs (the table of ranks mentioned above) in all navies of the world. The states were most fully developed and repeatedly updated in England and France, and then in Russia. They determined the hierarchy of warships, as well as the main characteristics and specifications for construction. An idea of such states at the beginning of the 18th century is given in Table. 9.1, borrowed from the work of R.M. Melnikov). The information relates to the armament and equipment of English ships according to the Admiralty rules of 1709–1727. The military sailing fleet survived until the first half of the 19th century. The last war in which sailing ships took part as the main armed force of the warring parties was the Crimean War. It also showed that the long age of sailing warships was over.
It's better to see once than to hear a hundred times)
so let's start with the video =)
The royal ship Vasa, launched on August 10, 1628, sailed only 1,300 meters and sank when leaving Stockholm in the sea bay. The cause of the disaster was design errors - the tilted ship scooped up water with its cannon ports and slowly sank to the bottom. About 50 people from the crew and those on board died…
On September 13, 1956, the Expressen newspaper published a short article: “An old ship was found near the island of Bäckholmen in the middle of Stockholm. This is probably the royal ship Vasa, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. A private citizen carried out research for five years to find the ship."
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Ships of the 15th-16th centuries
At the beginning of the 15th century, two-masted coggs began to be built. The further development of world shipbuilding was marked by the transition to three-masted ships in the mid-15th century. This type of vessel first appeared in northern Europe in 1475. Its foremast and mizzen masts were borrowed from Mediterranean Venetian ships.
The first three-masted ship to enter the Baltic Sea was the French ship La Rochelle. The plating of this ship, which had a length of 43 m and a width of 12 m, was not laid face to face, like tiles on the roof of a house, as was done before, but smoothly: one board close to the other. And although this method of plating was known before, nevertheless, the merit of its invention is attributed to a shipbuilder from Brittany named Julian, who called this method “carvel” or “craveel”. The name of the casing later became the name of the type of ship - “caravel”. Caravels were more elegant than coggs and had better sailing equipment, so it was no coincidence that medieval discoverers chose these durable, fast-moving and capacious ships for overseas campaigns. Characteristic features of caravels are high sides, deep sheer decks in the middle part of the ship and mixed sailing equipment. Only the foremast carried a quadrangular straight sail. The lateen sails on the slanting yards of the main and mizzen masts allowed the ships to sail steeply to the wind.
In the first half of the 15th century, the largest cargo ship (possibly up to 2000 tons) was a three-masted, double-decker carrack, probably of Portuguese origin. In the 15th-16th centuries, composite masts appeared on sailing ships, which carried several sails at once. The area of the topsails and cruises (upper sails) was increased, making it easier to control and maneuver the vessel. The ratio of body length to width ranged from 2:1 to 2.5:1. As a result, the seaworthiness of these so-called “round” ships improved, which made it possible to make safer long-distance voyages to America and India and even around the world.
There was no clear distinction between sailing merchant ships and military ships at that time; For a number of centuries, the typical military vessel was only a rowing galley. The galleys were built with one or two masts and carried lateen sails. Galleasses were much larger ships than galleys: they had three masts with lateen sails, two large steering oars in the stern, two decks (the lower one for oarsmen, the upper one for soldiers and cannons), and a surface ram in the bow. These warships turned out to be durable: even in the 18th century, almost all maritime powers continued to replenish their fleets with galleys and galleasses. During the 16th century, the appearance of the sailing ship as a whole was formed and preserved until the mid-19th century. Ships increased significantly in size; if in the 15th century ships over 200 tons were rare, then by the end of the 16th century single giants appeared reaching 2000 tons, and ships with a displacement of 700-800 tons ceased to be rare. From the beginning of the 16th century, oblique sails began to be used more and more often in European shipbuilding, at first in their pure form, as was done in Asia, but by the end of the century mixed sailing equipment had spread. Artillery was improved - the bombards of the 15th and the culverins of the early 16th centuries were still unsuitable for arming ships, but by the end of the 16th century the problems associated with casting were largely resolved and a naval cannon of the usual type appeared. Around 1500, cannon ports were invented; it became possible to place cannons in several tiers, and the upper deck was freed from them, which had a positive effect on the stability of the ship. The sides of the ship began to roll inward, so the guns on the upper tiers were closer to the axis of symmetry of the ship. Finally, in the 16th century, regular navies appeared in many European countries. All these innovations gravitate towards the beginning of the 16th century, but, given the time required for implementation, they spread only towards the end. Again, the shipbuilders also needed to gain experience, because at first ships of the new type had the annoying habit of capsizing immediately upon leaving the slipway.
During the 16th century, the appearance of the sailing ship as a whole was formed and preserved until the mid-19th century. Ships increased significantly in size; if in the 15th century ships over 200 tons were rare, then by the end of the 16th century single giants appeared reaching 2000 tons, and ships with a displacement of 700-800 tons ceased to be rare. From the beginning of the 16th century, oblique sails began to be used more and more often in European shipbuilding, at first in their pure form, as was done in Asia, but by the end of the century mixed sailing equipment had spread. Artillery was improved - the bombards of the 15th and the culverins of the early 16th centuries were still unsuitable for arming ships, but by the end of the 16th century the problems associated with casting were largely resolved and a naval cannon of the usual type appeared. Around 1500, cannon ports were invented; it became possible to place cannons in several tiers, and the upper deck was freed from them, which had a positive effect on the stability of the ship. The sides of the ship began to roll inward, so the guns on the upper tiers were closer to the axis of symmetry of the ship. Finally, in the 16th century, regular navies appeared in many European countries. All these innovations gravitate towards the beginning of the 16th century, but, given the time required for implementation, they spread only towards the end. Again, the shipbuilders also needed to gain experience, because at first ships of the new type had the annoying habit of capsizing immediately upon leaving the slipway.
In the first half of the 16th century, a ship appeared with fundamentally new properties and a completely different purpose than the ships that existed before. This ship was intended to fight for supremacy at sea by destroying enemy warships on the high seas with artillery fire and combined significant autonomy at that time with powerful weapons. The rowing ships that existed up to this point could only dominate over a narrow strait, and even then if they were based in a port on the shore of this strait, in addition, their power was determined by the number of troops on board, and artillery ships could act independently of infantry. The new type of ships began to be called linear - that is, main (like "linear infantry", "linear tanks", the name "battleship" has nothing to do with lining up in a line - if they were built, it was in a column).
The first battleships that appeared on the northern seas, and later on the Mediterranean Sea, were small - 500-800 tons, which approximately corresponded to the displacement of large transports of that period. Not even the biggest ones. But the largest transports were built for themselves by wealthy merchant companies, and battleships were ordered by states that were not rich at that time. These ships were armed with 50 - 90 guns, but these were not very strong guns - mostly 12-pounders, with a small admixture of 24-pounders and a very large admixture of small-caliber guns and culverins. Seaworthiness did not stand up to any criticism - even in the 18th century, ships were still built without drawings (they were replaced by a mock-up), and the number of guns was calculated based on the width of the ship measured in steps - that is, it varied depending on the length of the legs of the shipyard's chief engineer. But this was in the 18th, and in the 16th the correlation between the width of the ship and the weight of the guns was not known (especially since it does not exist). Simply put, ships were built without a theoretical basis, only on the basis of experience, which was almost non-existent in the 16th and early 17th centuries. But the main trend was clearly visible - guns in such numbers could no longer be considered as auxiliary weapons, and a purely sailing design indicated the desire to obtain an ocean-going ship. Even then, battleships were characterized by armament at the level of 1.5 pounds per ton of displacement.
The faster the ship was, the fewer guns it could have in relation to its displacement, since the more the engine and masts weighed. Not only did the masts themselves, with a mass of ropes and sails, weigh a fair amount, but they also shifted the center of gravity upward, therefore they had to be balanced by placing more cast-iron ballast in the hold.
Battleships of the 16th century still had insufficiently advanced sailing equipment for sailing in the Mediterranean Sea (especially in its eastern part) and the Baltic. The storm playfully blew the Spanish squadron out of the English Channel.
Already in the 16th century, Spain, England and France together had about 60 battleships, with Spain more than half of this number. In the 17th century, Sweden, Denmark, Türkiye and Portugal joined this trio.
Ships of the 17th and 18th centuries
In northern Europe, at the beginning of the 17th century, a new type of vessel appeared, similar to a flute - a three-masted pinnace (pinnace). The same type of ship includes the galion, which appeared in the mid-16th century - a warship of Portuguese origin, which later became the basis of the fleets of the Spaniards and the British. On a galleon, for the first time, guns were mounted both above and below the main deck, leading to the construction of battery decks; the guns stood on the sides and fired through the ports. The displacement of the largest Spanish galleons of 1580-1590 was 1000 tons, and the ratio of hull length to width was 4:1. The absence of high superstructures and a long hull allowed these ships to sail faster and steeper to the wind than “round” ships. To increase speed, the number and area of sails were increased, and additional sails appeared - foxes and underlisels. At that time, decorations were considered a symbol of wealth and power - all state and royal ships were luxuriously decorated. The distinction between warships and merchant ships became more distinct. In the middle of the 17th century, frigates with up to 60 guns on two decks, and smaller warships such as a corvette, sloop, bombard and others began to be built in England.
By the middle of the 17th century, battleships had grown significantly, some already up to 1500 tons. The number of guns remained the same - 50-80 pieces, but 12-pounder guns remained only on the bow, stern and upper deck; guns of 24 and 48 pounds were placed on the other decks. Accordingly, the hull became stronger - it could withstand 24-pound shells. In general, the 17th century is characterized by a low level of confrontation at sea. England throughout almost its entire period could not deal with internal troubles. Holland preferred small ships, relying more on their numbers and the experience of the crews. France, powerful at that time, tried to impose its hegemony on Europe through wars on land; the French were of little interest in the sea. Sweden reigned supreme in the Baltic Sea and did not lay claim to other bodies of water. Spain and Portugal were ruined and often found themselves dependent on France. Venice and Genoa quickly turned into third-rate states. The Mediterranean Sea was divided - the western part went to Europe, the eastern part to Turkey. Neither side sought to upset the balance. However, the Maghreb found itself within the European sphere of influence - English, French and Dutch squadrons put an end to piracy during the 17th century. The greatest naval powers of the 17th century had 20-30 battleships, the rest had only a few.
Türkiye also began building battleships from the end of the 16th century. But they were still significantly different from European models. Especially the shape of the hull and sailing equipment. Turkish battleships were significantly faster than European ones (this was especially true in Mediterranean conditions), carried 36 - 60 guns of 12-24 pound caliber and were weaker armored - only 12 pound cannonballs. Armament was pound per ton. The displacement was 750 -1100 tons. In the 18th century, Türkiye began to lag significantly behind in terms of technology. Turkish battleships of the 18th century resembled European ones of the 17th century.
During the 18th century, the growth in the size of battleships continued unabated. By the end of this century, battleships had reached a displacement of 5,000 tons (the limit for wooden ships), armor had been strengthened to an incredible degree - even 96-pound bombs did not harm them enough - and 12-pound half-guns were no longer used on them. Only 24 lbs for the upper deck, 48 lbs for the middle two and 96 lbs for the lower deck. The number of guns reached 130. There were, however, smaller battleships with 60-80 guns, with a displacement of about 2000 tons. They were often limited to the 48-pound caliber, and were protected from it. The number of battleships has also increased incredibly. England, France, Russia, Turkey, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Portugal had linear fleets. By the middle of the 18th century, England seized almost undivided dominance at sea. By the end of the century, it had almost a hundred battleships (including those that were not in active use). France scored 60-70, but they were weaker than the English. Russia under Peter churned out 60 battleships, but they were made in a hurry, somehow, carelessly. In a rich way, only the preparation of wood - so that it would turn into armor - should have taken 30 years (in fact, Russian ships later were built not from bog oak, but from larch, it was heavy, relatively soft, but did not rot and lasted 10 times longer than oak). But their sheer number forced Sweden (and all of Europe) to recognize the Baltic Sea as Russian internal. By the end of the century, the size of the Russian battle fleet even decreased, but the ships were brought up to European standards. Holland, Sweden, Denmark and Portugal each had 10-20 ships, Spain - 30, Turkey - also about that, but these were not ships of the European level. 
Even then, the property of battleships was evident that they were created most of all for numbers - to be there, and not for war. It was expensive to build and maintain them, and even more so to staff them with a crew, all kinds of supplies and send them on campaigns. This is where they saved money - they didn’t send it. So even England used only a small part of its battlefleet at a time. Equipping 20-30 battleships for a voyage was also a task on a national scale for England. Russia kept only a few battleships in combat readiness. Most battleships spent their entire lives in port with only a minimal crew on board (capable of moving the ship to another port if urgently needed) and unloaded guns.
The ship next in rank to the battleship was a frigate, designed to capture water space. With the accompanying destruction of everything (except for battleships) that existed in this space. Formally, the frigate was an auxiliary ship for the battle fleet, but given that the latter was used extremely sluggishly, frigates turned out to be the most popular of the ships of that period. Frigates, like cruisers later, could be divided into light and heavy, although such a gradation was not formally carried out. A heavy frigate appeared in the 17th century; it was a ship with 32-40 guns, including falconets, and displacing 600-900 tons of water. The guns were 12-24 pounds, with a predominance of the latter. The armor could withstand 12-pound cannonballs, the armament was 1.2-1.5 tons per pound, and the speed was greater than that of a battleship. The displacement of the latest modifications of the 18th century reached 1,500 tons, there were up to 60 guns, but usually there were no 48-pounders.
Light frigates were already common in the 16th century, and in the 17th they made up the vast majority of all warships. Their production required wood of significantly lower quality than for the construction of heavy frigates. Larch and oak were considered strategic resources, and pine trees suitable for making masts in Europe and the European part of Russia were counted and registered. Light frigates did not carry armor, in the sense that their hulls could withstand wave impacts and mechanical loads, but did not pretend to be more, the thickness of the plating was 5-7 centimeters. The number of guns did not exceed 30, and only on the largest frigates of this class there were 4 24-pounders on the lower deck - they did not even occupy the entire floor. The displacement was 350-500 tons.
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, light frigates were simply the cheapest warships, ships that could be made in a whole bunch and quickly. Including by re-equipping merchant ships. By the middle of the 18th century, similar ships began to be specially produced, but with an emphasis on maximum speed - corvettes. There were even fewer guns on the corvettes, from 10 to 20 (on 10-gun ships there were actually 12-14 guns, but those that looked at the bow and stern were classified as falconets). The displacement was 250-450 tons.
The number of frigates in the 18th century was significant. England had little more of them than ships of the line, but it still amounted to a lot. Countries with small battle fleets had several times more frigates than battleships. The exception was Russia; it had one frigate for every three battleships. The fact was that the frigate was intended to capture space, and with it (space) in the Black and Baltic Seas it was a little tight. At the very bottom of the hierarchy were sloops - ships intended for patrol service, reconnaissance, anti-piracy, and so on. That is, not for fighting other warships. The smallest of them were ordinary schooners weighing 50-100 tons with several guns less than 12 pounds in caliber. The largest had up to 20 12-pounder guns and a displacement of up to 350-400 tons. There could be any number of sloops and other auxiliary ships. For example, Holland in the mid-16th century had 6,000 merchant ships, most of which were armed. By installing additional guns, 300-400 of them could be converted into light frigates. The rest are in sloops. Another question is that the merchant ship brought profit to the Dutch treasury, and the frigate or sloop consumed this profit. England at that time had 600 merchant ships. How many people could there be on these ships? A - in different ways. In principle, a sailing ship could have one crew member for every ton of displacement. But this worsened living conditions and reduced autonomy. On the other hand, the larger the crew, the more combat-ready the ship was. In principle, 20 people could control the sails of a large frigate. But only in good weather. They could do the same thing in a storm, while simultaneously working on the pumps and battening down the port covers knocked out by the waves, for a short time. Most likely, their strength would have run out earlier than the wind. To conduct a battle on a 40-gun ship, a minimum of 80 people were required - 70 loaded the guns on one side, and another 10 ran around the deck and directed. But if the ship performs such a complex maneuver as a turn, all the gunners will have to rush from the lower decks to the masts - when turning, the ship will certainly have to tack against the wind for some time, but for this, all straight sails will need to be tightly reefed, and then, naturally, open them again. If the gunners have to either climb the masts or run into the hold for cannonballs, they won’t shoot much. Typically, sailing ships intended for long passages or long cruising had one person on board for 4 tons. This was enough to control the ship and for combat. If the ship was used for landing operations or boarding, the crew size could reach one person per ton. How did they fight? If two approximately equal ships under the flags of warring powers met at sea, then both of them began to maneuver in order to take a more advantageous position from the wind. One tried to get behind the other - this way it was possible to take away the wind from the enemy at the most interesting moment. Considering that the guns were aimed by the hull, and the maneuverability of the ship was proportional to its speed, no one wanted to move against the wind at the time of the collision. On the other hand, if there was too much wind in the sails, it was possible to rush forward and let the enemy into the rear. All these dances were original in the sense that it was practically possible to maneuver only by direction. The speed maneuver was carried out indirectly - by occupying a more or less advantageous position in relation to the wind. It took a long time to maneuver, lowering and raising the sails, but it was necessary. Each ship tried to aim its guns at the enemy, but in such a way as to avoid a retaliatory salvo. Or expose your ship to this salvo in the smallest projection. In the simplest case, the ships simply moved in parallel courses, occasionally firing salvos from a great distance. The winner was the one who maneuvered better, or who had more guns. But often such a confrontation turned out to be fruitless - after several hours of battle, either the cannonballs ran out, or one of the ships got tired of everything and sailed away. It was more interesting if the ships converged at 100-150 meters. The number of hits and their strength increased many times over. The loading speed of the guns began to play a role. From such a distance, buckshot and chains could be used to destroy the rigging. If one of the opponents lost the masts (especially the bowsprit) and sails (especially the slanting ones on the bowsprit), he found himself completely at the mercy of the other, who, for example, could walk along the stern almost end-to-end and unload the guns at point-blank range. The ship, which had no speed, could only hope that the enemy would get under its guns. At a distance of 100-150 meters, falconets were also used. Since from such a distance one salvo could decide the outcome of the battle, the one who managed to fire it first won. If you hit it, of course. The battle was especially brutal if the ships came together within a pistol shot, that is, just so as not to get caught by the rigging. In this case, each gun acted for itself. As soon as an enemy port appeared a few meters from her muzzle, she fired. Well, since there was also a cannon in that port, the gunner had every chance of getting a cannonball right in the eye. Although from such a distance no projectile was required - one shock wave from the shot was enough. It's all about who wins the point first. In addition, the fact that the hull of such and such a ship could withstand such and such cannonballs did not mean that it would withstand them at point blank range. From terrible blows, the masts became loose, the yards collapsed, the sides cracked and leaked, the ladders and decks collapsed, and the cannons were torn from their mountings. It happened that from a powerful point-blank salvo the ship literally fell apart. It also happened that it fell apart from its own volley. In short, when the ships came together at pistol shot, the stronger one with a more courageous crew won. Or the one who kept his guns loaded by the time he approached point-blank. Naturally, guns at such a distance from the enemy were not loaded. The ships could not keep up with each other for a long time - their speed could not be the same. In order not to overtake, the faster one had to turn away from the wind from time to time, that is, change the direction of movement. The ships came closer and then diverged. If squadrons fought against squadrons, then each ship protected the one in front from being outflanked from behind. But no one was covering the rear player. Therefore, if the infantry was afraid of envelopment from the flanks, then the ships avoided envelopment from the head and tail of the column, especially the tail, since this was easier to do. A column breakthrough was also dangerous, when some part of it was cut off by the enemy. The trick was that when the tail was cut off, the head of the squadron could not turn around to help it - the returning ships would be forced to tack against the wind, and in such a position they would be as vulnerable as nailed down. The cut off ships were forced to slow down - the wind was taken away from them from behind, they were blocked from the front - literally blocked, exposing the side. These galleys tried to hit the enemy with their bows, and the sailing ship was afraid of breaking the bowsprit with such a blow and turning into scrap. By the way, there was no danger of a further collision. The speeds were low, and the construction of the ships was strong, so the dishes in the galley would break, and that’s all. The ships that lost speed (and therefore the ability to maneuver their guns while maneuvering) were shot at point-blank range. Such naval combat techniques were first used in the 17th century by the Dutch against the British. To the great humiliation of the latter, De Rieter destroyed the strongest British squadrons with a crowd of light frigates and a few heavy ones. The Dutch even broke into the Thames. However, later, the British realized what the trick was, and besides, the Dutch could no longer take away the wind from them, block them, or shoot the lifting cannon for their ships with a cannonball. The shipyards of the Dutch themselves were located in the depths of their country and the maximum tonnage of ships was limited by the depth of the canals. Another way to achieve a great victory at sea was to catch the enemy fleet in the parking lot. Especially if most of the crews were on shore. It was possible to destroy stationary ships with impunity. So Nelson destroyed the French fleet at Aboukir. The French not only sent most of the crews ashore, but also blithely positioned themselves so that the British could freely pass between the shore and the French line. Two or four English ships outflanked the French one and anchored outside its firing range.
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/9/sasha3311.7/0_515d_2eaff2c1_XL
When a ship fought at anchor, a pair of longboats were always on duty next to it, in order to change the orientation of its hull if necessary. For the same reason, it was relatively easy for Peter and Menshikov to capture a pair of Swedish light frigates at anchorage. The Swedes could not raise the anchor, since they would have been carried aground by the current, and apparently there was no wind. So the Swedes could only fight back with falconets. Another question is that climbing from the plow on board the frigate was problematic. In addition to artillery fire, boarding was a common method of attacking one ship on another. In battles between battleships and heavy frigates, however, it had almost no use. Firstly, these ships were created for artillery combat. Such ships were often captured, but this happened differently - having exhausted the possibilities of resistance, the ship simply surrendered - then a boarding team landed on it. Or they collided while maneuvering and got entangled with the rigging - the situation turned out to be stupid, but somehow the battle had to be continued. Secondly, large frigates and battleships were too large to make boarding physically feasible. Even if two battleships were end-to-end, their sides were piled inward, and there was a gap between the decks that was too large to be overcome by a jump. Jumping onto an enemy ship by swinging from the dangling end, or crawling from port to port, or throwing a grapple and climbing while walking along the outside of the side was feasible. But it was possible to attack in this way only if there was an overwhelming numerical superiority and a strong connection of ships. And there were also problems with the coupling - ships weighing 200 tons were easy to pull together with crampons, large ships with enormous inertia and windage were unrealistic. It would not have been easy to moor them firmly to one another even with the efforts of both teams, and if this had not been done, it could have turned out like Prince Hamlet. Who remembers: during the boarding, he jumped on board an enemy ship, and, since he was the only psycho with a certificate on the ship, he found himself there alone. But the pirates decided that one - with a certificate - was too much. And they left. I mean, anyone who got on board an enemy ship in this way had every chance of ending up naked on the shores of some crappy kingdom. This is the best case scenario. Boarding a peer ship had to be carried out in such a way as to keep the defenders' bonuses to a minimum. Otherwise, there is no point. A 16th-century galley had a wide raised platform at the bow that extended onto the low side of another galley. In such a situation, the attackers even had an advantage, since the enemy forces were cut in half. In the 18th century, scampaways no longer had such a platform, since they were not intended to fight other galleys as flat as a flounder. 16th-century naves and coggs also had a raised platform at the bow. It was located higher and could be pushed onto the high side of a ship in the northern seas. If you remember, the Romans, like civilized people, crossed onto the enemy ship via the bridge. But on the ships of the 17th and 18th centuries there were no devices for boarding - they became irrelevant. Small sailing ships of the 17th and 18th centuries, down to light frigates, operated differently. The firefight between them was not as effective as between large ships, since they had fewer guns and themselves represented a smaller and more mobile target. Although if they hit, the nuclei caused more damage. This was even more true for merchant and pirate ships. Here boarding was quite applicable and possible - the ships came close together and were pulled side by side by crampons. They jumped from deck to deck, if not stepped over. It was more difficult to board a taller ship from a lower one. Here it was impossible to think of anything other than throwing the crampons onto the high side and climbing with a cutlass in your teeth. Plus, a special anti-boarding net was often stretched along the side of the ship - it had to be cut through, which, with a dirk in your teeth, was quite difficult to do. Such boarding was resorted to only in case of a large numerical superiority of the crew. Or with equal forces, but in a state of hopeless heroism. So, by the way, the unreasonably high side of ships of that era, piled inside, did not arise by chance. In general, boarding was more of a pirate than a military technique. A battleship or a large frigate could be boarded only after a thorough artillery barrage, which destroyed most of its crew or deprived it of the will to resist. Or, if he was surrounded by a solid mass of bustling scamps. But let’s say a close fight began. As the ships approached, new weapons were used - muskets. The musketeers tried to hit the officers on the bridge and, in general, any people on the deck of the enemy ship with volleys. How many of these musketeers there could be is a separate question. The ship's crew in battle was too busy with guns and sails. The Marines fired, the number of which could vary greatly. It could be four times less than the sailors, or four times more. 16th century ships may have had archers and crossbowmen instead of musketeers. It was considered the coolest thing to put the musketeers on the yards - one would shoot, and another four or five would load the muskets and hand them over to the shooter. This way it was possible to fire at the enemy deck from above, which was especially useful if the enemy was going to board, and his ship was no less tall. In particular, Nelson was killed by a bullet when his ship was separated from the enemy. But small arms could play a noticeable role only in a battle between weakly armed ships. When events took a boarding turn, muskets lost their importance - they were not dragged onto the deck of an enemy ship. The Marine was armed in such a way that he might have to first climb along the side like a fly on glass, and then fight in the cramped interior of the ship. The gun and bayonet were too long and inconvenient for such use. The Marine's weapon was a sword, or a saber, or a dagger. Pistols were widely used in the 18th century. The fight was individual. In the 17th century, pistols were still rare. For example, according to Dumas, four musketeers did not have a single pistol (in the film they have pistols, and flintlock ones). A pair of wheeled pistols cost the same as 4 muskets - at least. Cuirasses were used only by marines and officers - it would be difficult to climb the yards in armor. But the Marine Corps did not put much emphasis on armor - boarding was associated with the risk of falling into the water. A special form of naval combat was the support of ground operations. Supporting the infantry with fire was difficult, since the cores of naval guns only ricocheted when fired at 500-600 meters. During the battle on the Kinburn Spit, Turkish ships fired on the flank of Suvorov's infantry, but this was a rare case when the ships managed to get so close to the enemy infantry. During the pacification of the Maghreb, British and French ships entered the harbor of Algiers and fired at the city - up to 1500 meters cannonballs could destroy not very strong buildings. During the assault on the island of Corfu, Russian ships anchored near the French fortress and showered it with cannonballs. This way it was possible to suppress the fortress artillery, but if the fortress was solid, at least 10 naval guns were required against one fortress one (counting only one side of the ship and not counting the fortress falconets). In addition, the ship still had to approach the fortress at a minimum distance. In general, 24-pounder guns were quite dangerous for fortifications, but only up close. Sometimes, during landing operations, part of the artillery from the ship could be removed. These were mainly falconets, since there were no horses on the ship to tow heavy guns. A 3-6 pound falconet could well pass for a regimental cannon if it had a wheeled carriage, but most often it did not have one; collapsible carriages were then a rarity. Usually, sailors, if they wanted to use a cannon on land, made an improvised carriage for it, similar to the bombard carriages of the 15th century - a wooden block to which the falconet was attached with staples. It was quite possible to remove a 12-pound cannon from the ship and transport it to shore, but its “sea” carriage did not provide for the possibility of transportation by land. It was impossible to drag her far into the interior of the mainland. When firing from an anchorage, it became especially clear why black powder is also called smoky - the cast-iron cannons emitted smoke in incredible quantities - after two or three salvos the ship was completely hidden in it - only the masts stuck out. Visibility dropped to zero. Even when shooting on the move, and therefore in the presence of wind, this was a problem. Land artillery also suffered from smoke as a result of frequent firing, but on land the battery could have an observation post as far away as possible, and at sea the captain's bridge was several meters from the nearest barrel. In addition, at sea the target was mobile and small. For this reason, the bridge ended up at the stern of the ship (from where, by the way, not a damn thing was visible towards the bow - that’s why lookouts were required). The wind in battle usually blew towards the stern and the bridge was cleared of it first of all. What is the most incredible thing about modern ideas about naval battles of that era?
At the beginning of the 15th century. One of the largest cargo ships was the karakka. It was distinguished by a high forecastle, the presence of several longitudinal fastenings, and two or more decks on the quarterdeck. Compared to contemporary ships, the carrying capacity of the karakka was truly impressive: the largest of them could accommodate up to 2,000 tons. Moreover, the ship was well armed: there were usually from 30 to 40 guns on board. The ship had three masts: in the middle there was a mainmast with a large yard on which a straight sail was attached, at the stern there was a mizzen mast equipped with a lateen sail, at the bow there was a foremast with a straight sail, and on the forecastle there was a bowsprit.
Advantages of a medieval galley
In this era, there was no clear differentiation between merchant and military ships: for centuries, only a rowing galley was considered an exclusively military vessel. For example, a Venetian galley had the following dimensions: width - 5 m, length - 40-50 m, distance from deck to keel - approximately 1.8 m. On each side of the galley there were 26-30 cans, which were installed at a certain angle to the side. The bank could accommodate 3 oarsmen, each of whom had his own oar. As a rule, two masts were made on a galley: a foremast at the bow of the ship and a mainmast, located at a distance of a third of the length of the ship, starting from the bow. Latin sails were attached to both masts.
Medieval galley
The ships are direct descendants of the galley
The successors of the galley were the high-speed fusta, each boat of which had 18-22 cans for rowers, the galliot (14-20 cans), the brigantine (8-12 cans), the light frigate saya - the direct predecessor of the three-masted merchant ship, distinguished by the presence of lateen sails on the mizzen - both the mainmast and straight sails on the foremast, and the well-known frigate (6-20 cans).
Galleass
Galleasses were even longer than galleys: they could reach 70 m. Their features include the presence of three masts and 32 cans on each side, located below the deck. The upper part of the deck was reserved for.
Construction of ships in the 16th century.
By the middle of the 16th century. a large sailing ship with 3 or 4 masts is now simply called a ship. In this class, one of the most famous was the ship of Henry VIII called "Henry Grace e" Dew. This ship had a carrying capacity of about 1,000 tons, and its hull was made overlapping. The ship could easily accommodate 900 crew members who served 195 Its guns were distinguished by four masts equipped with topmasts; there was only one topmast on the aft mast.
"Henry Grace e"Dew"
In Northern Europe in the 16th century. a pinnace appeared - a new type of ship, a little like a galleas. Its displacement ranged from 150 to 800 tons, the ship had three masts, but only the mainmast was equipped with a topsail. The galion, a Portuguese warship, can also be classified in this class. Later, it was from galleons that the English and Spanish fleets were equipped. The ship was distinguished by a rather sharp hull, and its length along the keel was three times its width. For the first time on a ship of this model, guns were installed not only above, but also below the main deck and fired through the ports. The long hull and low superstructures provided the galleon with greater speed and the ability to sail at a greater angle to the wind than “round” ships.
According to sailors, ghost ships or phantoms that appear on the horizon and disappear, portend trouble. The same goes for ships abandoned by their crews. Mysterious circumstances and an unusual flair of eerie romance accompany these stories. The ocean hides its secrets, and we decided to remember all these legends - from the Flying Dutchman and the Mary Celeste, to lesser-known ghost ships. You may not have known about many of them.
The ocean is one of the largest and most unexplored areas of the Earth. In fact, the ocean covers up to 70% of the globe's surface. The ocean is so little explored that, according to Scientific American, humans have mapped less than 0.05% of the ocean floor.
In this situation, all these stories do not seem so incredible. And there are a great many of them - stories about ships that are lost in the seas, and all these empty ships, drifting without a purpose and a crew on board... They are called ghost ships. The entire crew died, or disappeared for unknown reasons...there were many such finds. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the death or disappearance of these teams, even today, with all the technological advances and research methods, remain mysterious. And no one can still explain the disappearance of people on board. Why did the entire crew leave the ship, which is left to drift, and where did they all go? Storms, pirates, disease...maybe they sailed away on boats...one way or another, many crews mysteriously disappeared without explanation. The sea knows how to keep secrets, and is reluctant to part with them. Many disasters that occurred in the sea will remain a mystery to everyone.
15. "Ourang Medan" (Orang Medan, or Orange Medan)
This Dutch merchant ship became known as a ghost ship in the late 1940s. In 1947, the Orang Medan was shipwrecked in the Dutch East Indies, and an SOS signal was received by two American ships, the City of Baltimore and the Silver Star, sailing through the Strait of Malacca.
And the sailors of two American ships received an SOS signal from the cargo ship Orang Medan. The signal was transmitted by a crew member who was extremely frightened and reported that the rest of his crew were dead. After this the connection was interrupted. Arriving on the ship, the entire crew was found dead - the bodies of the sailors froze, as if in an attempt to defend themselves, but the source of the threat was never discovered.
An article written in the late 1960s by the US Coast Guard said the bodies showed no visible signs of damage. The cargo ship was reportedly transporting sulfuric acid that was improperly packaged. After the Silver Star's crew quickly evacuated and the Americans abandoned the ship, they hoped to tow it to shore. But a fire suddenly broke out on the ship, followed by an explosion and the ship sank, which led to the final death of the merchant ship. The widow of one of the sailors who died on Ourang Medan has a photograph of the ship and crew.
14. "Copenhagen"
One of the maritime mysteries is the disappearance without a trace of one of the newest and most reliable ships of the 20th century, the five-masted Copenhagen. In the entire history of the sailing fleet, only six ships similar to the Copenhagen were built, and she was the third largest in the world in the year of construction - in 1921. She was built for the Danish East Asia Company in Scotland - at the shipyard of Romeage and Fergusson in the small town of Leith near Aberdeen. The hull was made of high-quality steel, there was a ship's own power plant on board, all deck winches were equipped with electric drives, which significantly saved time on sailing operations, and even a ship's radio station. The double-deck steel Copenhagen was a training and production vessel that made regular voyages and carried cargo. The last radio communication session with Copenhagen took place on December 21, 1928. There was no reliable information about the fate of the huge sailing ship and the 61 people on board.
A reward was offered to anyone who could indicate the location of the missing ship. Requests were sent to all ports: to report possible contacts with Copenhagen. But the captains of only two ships responded to this call - the Norwegian and English ships. Both stated that, while passing through the southern part of the Atlantic, they contacted the Danes, and they were all right. The East Asian Company first sent the Ducalien ship to search for the missing ship (but it returned empty-handed), and then the Mexico, which also found nothing. In 1929 in Copenhagen, a commission to investigate the disappearance of the ship concluded that “a training sailing ship, the five-masted barque “Copenhagen”, with 61 people on board, died due to the action of irresistible forces of nature... the ship suffered a disaster so quickly that its crew was unable to broadcast an SOS distress signal or launch lifeboats or rafts.”
At the end of 1932, in southwest Africa, in the Namib Desert, one of the British expeditions discovered seven withered skeletons dressed in tattered sea jackets. Based on the structure of the skulls, researchers determined that they were Europeans. Based on the pattern on the copper buttons of the peacoats, experts determined that they belonged to the uniform of the Danish Merchant Navy cadets. However, this time the owners of the East Asian Company no longer had any doubts, because before 1932, only one Danish training ship, the Copenhagen, suffered a disaster. And 25 years later, on October 8, 1959, the captain of the cargo ship from the Netherlands “Straat Magelhes” Piet Agler, while near the southern coast of Africa, saw a sailboat with five masts. It appeared out of nowhere, as if it had emerged from the depths of the ocean, and with all sails was heading straight towards the Dutch... The crew managed to prevent a collision, after which the sailing ship disappeared, but the crew managed to read the inscription on board the ghost ship - “København”.
13. "Baychimo"
The Baychimo was built in Sweden in 1911 by order of a German trading company. After World War I it was taken over by Great Britain and transported furs for the next fourteen years. In early October 1931, the weather deteriorated sharply, and a few miles off the coast near the town of Barrow, the ship became stuck in the ice. The team temporarily abandoned the ship and found shelter on the mainland. A week later the weather cleared, the sailors returned on board and continued sailing, but already on October 15, Baychimo again fell into an ice trap.
This time it was impossible to get to the nearest city - the crew had to arrange a temporary shelter on the shore, far from the ship, and here they were forced to spend a whole month. In mid-November there was a snowstorm that lasted for several days. And when the weather cleared on November 24, Baychimo was no longer in its original place. The sailors believed that the ship had been lost in a storm, but a few days later a local seal hunter reported seeing Baychimo about 45 miles from their camp. The team found the ship, removed its precious cargo and left it forever.
This is not the end of the Baychimo story. For the next 40 years, it was occasionally seen drifting along the northern coast of Canada. Attempts were made to get on board the ship, some were quite successful, but due to weather conditions and the poor condition of the hull, the ship was abandoned again. The last time Baychimo was seen was in 1969, that is, 38 years after its crew abandoned it - at that time the frozen ship was part of an ice massif. In 2006, the Alaska government made an attempt to determine the location of the "Ghost Ship of the Arctic", but in vain. Where Baychimo is now - whether it lies at the bottom or is covered with ice beyond recognition - is a mystery.
12. Valencia
The Valencia was built in 1882 by William Cramp and Sons. The steamboat was most often used on the California-Alaska route. In 1906, the Valencia sailed from San Francisco to Seattle. A terrible disaster occurred on the night of January 21-22, 1906, when Valencia was near Vancouver. The steamer ran into reefs and received large holes through which water began to flow. The captain decided to run the ship aground. 6 out of 7 boats were launched, but they became victims of a powerful storm; only a few people managed to get to the shore and report the disaster. The rescue operation was unsuccessful and most of the crew and passengers died. According to official information, 136 people became victims of the shipwreck; according to unofficial information, even more - 181. 37 people survived.
In 1933, lifeboat No. 5 was found near Barclay. Its condition was good, the boat retained most of its original paint. The lifeboat was found 27 years after the disaster! After this, local fishermen began to talk about the appearance of a ghost ship, which in outline resembled the Valencia.
11. Yacht SAYO; Manfred Fritz Bayorath
The 12-meter yacht SAYO, which disappeared seven years ago, was found drifting 40 miles from Barobo by Filipino fishermen. The boat's mast was broken and most of the interior was filled with water. When they got on board, they saw a mummified body near the radiotelephone. Based on photographs and documents found on board, it was quickly possible to identify the deceased. It turned out to be the owner of the yacht, yachtsman from Germany Manfred Fritz Bayorat. Bayorat's body was mummified under the influence of salt and high temperatures.
A drifting ship with the captain's mummy discovered off the coast of the Philippines surprised many. German traveler Manfred Fritz Bayorath was an experienced sailor who traveled on this yacht for 20 years. Judging by the pose in which the captain's mummy froze, in the last hours of his life he tried to contact rescuers. The cause of his death still remains a mystery.
10. "Lunatic"
In 2007, 70-year-old Jure Sterk from Slovenia set off on a trip around the world on his “Lunatic”. To communicate with the shore, he used a radio he assembled with his own hands, but on January 1, 2009, he stopped communicating. A month later, his boat washed up on the coast of Australia, but there was no one on board.
Those who saw the ship believe it was approximately 1,000 nautical miles off the coast.
The sailboat was in excellent shape and appeared undamaged. There was no sign of Sterk there. No note or journal entry about the reasons for his disappearance. Although the last entry in the journal dates back to January 2, 2009. And at the end of April 2019, “Lunatic” was spotted at sea by the crew of the research vessel “Roger Revelle”. It was drifting about 500 miles off the coast of Australia. His exact coordinates at that time were Latitude 32-18.0S, Longitude 091-07.0E.
9. "The Flying Dutchman"
The "Flying Dutchman" refers to several different ghost ships from different centuries. One of them is the real owner of the brand. The one with whom the trouble happened at the Cape of Good Hope.
This is a legendary ghost sailing ship that cannot land on the shore and is doomed to forever roam the seas. Usually people observe such a ship from afar, sometimes surrounded by a luminous halo. According to legend, when the Flying Dutchman encounters another ship, its crew tries to send messages ashore to people who have long been dead. In maritime beliefs, an encounter with the Flying Dutchman was considered a bad omen.
Legend has it that in the 1700s, Dutch captain Philip Van Straaten was returning from the East Indies with a young couple on board. The captain liked the girl; he killed her betrothed, and proposed to her to become his wife, but the girl threw herself overboard. While trying to round the Cape of Good Hope, the ship encountered a severe storm. The navigator offered to wait out the bad weather in some bay, but the captain shot him and several dissatisfied people, and then swore by his mother that none of the crew would go ashore until they rounded the cape, even if it took forever. The captain, a foul-mouthed and blasphemous man, brought a curse upon his ship. Now he, immortal, invulnerable, but unable to go ashore, is doomed to plow the waves of the world's oceans until the second coming.
The first printed mention of the Flying Dutchman appeared in 1795 in the book A Voyage to Botany Bay.
8. “High Em 6”
This ghost ship was reported to have left a port in southern Taiwan on October 31, 2002. Subsequently, on January 8, 2003, the Indonesian fishing schooner Hi Em 6 was found adrift without a crew near New Zealand. Despite a thorough search, no trace of the 14 team members could be found. The captain reportedly last contacted the ship's owner, Tsai Huan Chue-er, in late 2002.
Oddly enough, the only crew member who showed up later reported that the captain had been killed. Whether there was a rebellion and its reasons are unclear. Initially, the entire crew was missing, and when the ship was discovered, no one was found. According to the results of the investigation, there were no signs of distress or fire on the ship. However, it was said that the ship could be carrying illegal immigrants. Which also doesn't explain anything...
7. Phantom Galleon
Legends about this ship began in the late 1800s when it was built. The ship was going to be built from wood. Once at sea, among the ice, the wooden ship froze into part of the iceberg. Eventually, the water began to warm up, the weather changed, it became warmer, and the iceberg sank the ship. The White Fleet searched for its ship throughout the winter, each time returning to port empty-handed, under cover of fog. At some point, it became so warm that the ship thawed and separated from the iceberg, and rose to the surface, where it was discovered by the crew of the White Fleet. Unfortunately, the crew of the galleon was killed; the remains of the ship were towed to the port.
6. "Octavius"
One of the first ghost ships, the Octavius became one because its crew froze to death in 1762, and the ship drifted for another 13 years with the dead on board. The captain tried to find a short route from China to England through the Northwest Passage (a sea route through the Arctic Ocean), but the ship was covered in ice. Octavius left England and headed for America in 1761. Trying to save time, the captain decided to follow the then-unexplored Northwest Passage, which was first successfully completed only in 1906. The ship got stuck in the Arctic ice, the unprepared crew froze to death - the discovered remains indicate that this happened quite quickly. It is assumed that some time later Octavius was freed from the ice and, with its dead crew, drifted on the open sea. After an encounter with whalers in 1775, the ship was never seen again.
The English merchant ship Octavius was discovered drifting west of Greenland on October 11, 1775. A crew from the whaler Whaler Herald boarded and found the entire crew frozen. The captain's body was in his cabin; he died while writing in the logbook; he remained sitting at the table with a pen in his hand. There were three more frozen bodies in the cabin: a woman, a child wrapped in a blanket, and a sailor. The whaler's boarding crew left Octavius in a hurry, taking with them only the logbook. Unfortunately, the document was so damaged by cold and water that only the first and last pages could be read. The journal ended with an entry from 1762. This meant that the ship had been drifting with the dead on board for 13 years.
5. Corsair "Duc de Dantzig"
This ship was launched in the early 1800s in Nantes, France, and soon became a corsair. Corsairs are private individuals who, with the permission of the supreme power of a warring state, used an armed vessel to capture merchant ships of the enemy, and sometimes even neutral powers. The same title applies to their team members. The concept of “corsair” in the narrow sense is used to characterize specifically French and Ottoman captains and ships.
The corsair captured several ships, some were plundered, and some were set free. After capturing small ships, most often the corsair abandoned the captured ships, sometimes setting them on fire. Mysteriously, this ship disappeared in 1812. Since then he has become a legend. It is believed that shortly after her mysterious disappearance, this corsair may have been a cruiser in the Atlantic Ocean or perhaps in the Caribbean. There are rumors that it may have been captured by a British frigate. Napoleonic Gallego reported the discovery of this ship, drifting at sea completely aimlessly, with the deck covered in blood and covered with the corpses of the crew. However, there were no visible signs of damage to the vessel. The frigate's crew allegedly found and took the logbook, covered in the captain's blood, and then set the ship on fire.
4. Schooner "Jenny"
It is stated that the schooner Jenny, originally English, left port on the Isle of Wight in 1822 for the Antarctic regatta. The voyage was supposed to take place along the ice barrier in 1823, then it was planned to enter the ice in southern waters, and reach Drake Passage.
But a British schooner got stuck in the ice of the Drake Passage in 1823. But it was discovered only 17 years later: in 1840, a whaling ship called Nadezhda stumbled upon it. The bodies of the Jenny crew members were well preserved due to the low temperatures. The ship took its place in the history of ghost ships, and in 1862 it was included in the list of Globus, a popular German geographical magazine of those times.
3. Sea Bird
Most “encounters” with ghost ships are pure fiction, but there were also very real stories. Losing a vessel or ship in the infinity of the world's oceans is not so difficult. And it's even easier to lose people.
In the 1750s, Sea Bird was a trading brig under the command of John Huxham. A merchant ship ran aground off Easton Beach, Rhode Island. The crew disappeared to an unknown location - the ship was abandoned by them without any explanation, and the lifeboats were missing. It was reported that the ship was returning from a voyage from Honduras, carrying goods from the southern to the northern hemisphere, and was expected to arrive in the city of Newport. Upon further investigation, coffee was found boiling on the stove on the abandoned ship... The only living creatures that were found on board were a cat and a dog. The crew mysteriously disappeared. An account of the ship's history was recorded in Wilmington, Delaware and made news in the Sunday Morning Star in 1885.
2. "Mary Celeste" (or Celeste)
The second most popular ghost ship after the Flying Dutchman - however, unlike it, it really existed. “Amazon” (as the ship was originally called) was notorious. The ship changed owners many times, the first captain died during the first voyage, then the ship ran aground during a storm, and finally it was bought by an enterprising American. He renamed the Amazon the Mary Celeste, believing that the new name would save the ship from trouble.
When the ship left the port of New York on November 7, 1872, there were 13 people on board: Captain Briggs, his wife, their daughter and 10 sailors. In 1872, a ship traveling from New York to Genoa with a cargo of alcohol on board was discovered by the Dei Grazia without a single person on board. All the personal belongings of the crew were in their places; in the captain’s cabin there was a box with his wife’s jewelry and her own sewing machine with unfinished sewing. True, the sextant and one of the boats disappeared, which suggests that the crew abandoned the ship. The ship was in good condition, the holds were filled with food, the cargo (the ship was carrying alcohol) was intact, but no traces of the crew were found. The fate of all crew members and passengers is completely shrouded in darkness. Subsequently, several impostors appeared and were exposed, posing as crew members and trying to profit from the tragedy. Most often, the impostor posed as the ship's cook.
The British Admiralty conducted a thorough investigation with a detailed examination of the ship (including below the waterline, by divers) and a thorough interview with eyewitnesses. It is the materials of this investigation that are the main and most reliable source of information. Plausible explanations of what happened boil down to the fact that the crew and passengers left the ship of their own free will, differing only in the interpretation of the reasons that prompted them to such a decision. There are many hypotheses, but they are all just assumptions.
1. Cruiser USS Salem (CA-139)
The cruiser USS Salem was laid down in July 1945 at Bethlehem Steel Company's Quincy Yard, launched in March 1947, and entered service on May 14, 1949. For ten years, the ship served as the flagship of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, and the Second Fleet in Atlantic. In 1959, the ship was withdrawn from the fleet, and in 1995 it opened to visitors as a museum. Now the USS Salem is docked in Boston, Massachusetts in Quincy Harbor.
Boston, one of the oldest cities in the United States, has several spooky historic ships and buildings on display. This ship, being an old warship, is a bundle of stories - from the dark sights of war to the loss of life, if you get a chance to take a tour there, you will be able to experience the thrill and chills of all the ghosts of this ship. He's been nicknamed the "Sea Witch" and is rumored to be so creepy that you can feel the chill just by looking at his photo online.
Ships of Jean Colomb
Don't yawn, historian, write a book,
observe the rotation of the Earth.
Every century, year, day, moment,
give as much as is necessary.
The wind rises, the star fades.
Caesar sleeps and groans in his sleep.
Tomorrow it will be clear who will overthrow whom,
and they will kill me in the war...
Mikhail Shcherbakov Ad Levconoen
When examining the design of 15th-century sailing ships using the example of a Flemish carrack from Master W's engraving with a key, we should not limit ourselves to just this image.
An excellent illustration of our notes will be miniatures from the French manuscript 5594, stored in the National Library of France. Not only is looking at them a great pleasure in itself, but these miniatures are also very informative for fans of the history of the 15th century fleet.
The history of this manuscript is as follows. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Pope hatched the idea of a new crusade to liberate the Holy Land. This project was never carried out, but its preparation revived interest in the history of the past Crusades. The ruler of Champagne and adviser to King Louis XI, Louis de Laval, in 1472 ordered his chaplain Sébastien Mamerot ( Sebastien Mamerot) chronicle of the Crusades. To produce illustrations for this chronicle, Mamero invited the famous miniaturist Jean Colombe. As a result of their joint work, the famous chronicle “The Campaigns of the French Overseas against the Turks and Other Overseas Saracens and Moors” appeared in 1474 ( Passages faiz oultre mer par les François contre les Turcqs et autres Sarrazins et Mores oultre marins). Since the campaigns were “overseas”, the miniatures for the chronicle depict many ships. Now, naturally, we will be interested only in some of these images associated with our main object of study - the Flemish carrack.
Jean Colomb cannot be considered an expert in maritime affairs. He lacked knowledge of the technical details of the ships, so the scales are not always observed, rigging elements appear in the images that do not make sense, and so on. Almost all miniatures depict one type of ship, which can be schematically represented as follows:
Some illustrations show a fleet of such ships manned by large groups of armed men in protective armor.
Apparently, it would not be a mistake to consider them military transports, one of the types of “round ships” of the 15th, and perhaps even the 14th, century. Their main characteristic features are their short length, strong longitudinal sheerness of the deck, a long bow platform ending with a pointed end, and massive external beams on the aft side of the ship. At the stern there is a superstructure with four longitudinally elongated openings, loopholes or ports. The stepped rudder looks strange, but perhaps the artist simply does not separate the rudder from the sternpost in his image.
On the very nose there is a certain gadget of unknown purpose, reminiscent of a harpoon used by fishermen or a hook with a hook at the end. We can see this item in many images from that era. Here's another example:
However, we can see something similar in the engraving of Master WA
At a short distance from this gadget there is apparently a rope anchor, which was carried forward on a boat along the course of the ship and then pulled towards it using a capstan. This maneuver was extremely important when operating in the coastal zone, when mooring to the shore and entering river mouths, since the sailing armament of ships was not yet sufficiently developed and did not allow such maneuvers.
We will study the bow part of the Flemish karakka in more detail next time.
