Text | History of Hakuju Qing
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Introduction: What was the role of medieval ships? What role did it play in promoting the development of European civilization? What were the implications for future generations?
The composition of the vessel
The inland river was a highway in the early Middle Ages, when roads were in poor condition and unsuitable for travel.
Many villages and towns sit by creeks that flow into larger rivers, and in the Mediterranean there is a long, uninterrupted tradition of shipbuilding that continues to this day.
Entering the Middle Ages, their fishing boats resembled open plank boats in Roman times, however in Northern Europe, the tradition of boats was not very long, and at first they were very primitive.
The simplest boats are canoes made of a large log and are more common in the north because of the tall wooded forests there, these boats are the most common river boats for individuals and families, and they are still used throughout the medieval period.
These boats are 6 to 12 feet long, they sit low in the water, but are very stable, and they are often pushed with a pole.
Another type of primitive northern vessel was made of animal skins, which were sewn together and then stretched on a wooden frame, and in order to make the water impervious to the water, these animal skin strips were stacked along the sides of the boats, which were sturdy cargo carriers capable of carrying several cattle or a small flock of sheep.
Fishing boats in estuaries and along the coast require larger and deeper ones, and standard fishing boats in Northern Europe use structures with curved planks, most of which are rowed with double oars, and some are single-sail.
They are open, usually filled with cargo or fishing nets, and their structure is not much different from traditional Mediterranean fishing vessels.
With the increase in navigation along the river, there were barges carrying goods and ferries carrying passengers, barges and ferries were usually wider and flatter than other vessels, some rectangular rather than pointing to the bow.
On small rivers, ferries at the ferry port are usually tied to a rope that is rowed from one bank to the other so that boatmen and passengers can paddle through on their own without going down the river.
In towns along the river, the coast and beaches were initially well suited to docking early shallow boats, and as ships got bigger and went down the river to city harbors, a better system was needed.
The earliest wharves appear to have been causeways made of mud, jutting out into the water and supported by planks, with wharves jutting into the water with space in the middle for ships to moor and unload, and the port also allowed royal officials to inspect, manage and tax incoming goods.
Gates, shops and warehouses were always built on the piers, and new ones were not built until the piers were overcrowded, and in a large city, the banks of the river were no longer inclined, but walled.
The classic Viking ship of Baltic and North Atlantic ships, longships, was built using the same basic methods as gooseberries, but using long, overlapping oak planks instead of skin.
The builders divided the trunk into long planks with iron axes or iron axes and shaped them to build the hull, they laid a flat keel board, added a plasterboard on both sides of the keel, and began to cover it.
Overall, Nordic vessels are relatively light, and sailors can move boats at speeds of up to 3 knots per hour (about 3.5 miles per hour).
The oldest boats were found in the marshes of Denmark with flat bottoms so they could be easily towed to the beach, and these boats date back to Roman times.
By 700, near the center of the Viking Age, some new construction techniques made the ship stronger, the hull reinforced so that the ship could carry masts and rigging, they had deeper hulls and huge keels for better stability in rough seas.
Shortly before 800 AD, Charlemagne chose this ship as the best ship against pirates, who continued to plunder the wealthy ports and monasteries on the Baltic coast, he ordered the creation of a complete fleet, and also brought an army from land that built bridges as it crossed some rivers, which were the inland transportation system under Charlemagne.
Ships sailed in the Baltic, North and Atlantic Oceans, also inland the Rhine, and some sailed south, trading with people along the English Channel and even with cities along the Mediterranean coast.
Mediterranean vessels
The Romans used two basic types of ships, one was a warship and the other was a cargo ship.
In the Middle Ages, both types were adopted and improved for centuries, and the dominance of early Byzantium was challenged by new Arab navies in the 7th century.
The Arabs had been sailing the Indian Ocean, they used ships in the Indian style, but when the battle began, their Mediterranean fleet was in the same style as the ships of Rome and Byzantium, they bought surplus ships, and hired local crews.
Roman warships were warships that moved by the power of sails and the power of dozens of men, and the basic Roman galleys had evolved into larger versions, namely double and triple galleys.
A real dhow carries about 200 crew members, with 150 handmen and 50 Marines on two rows, where Marines can stand shooting arrows or throwing spears and other projectiles.
Most Dzolmons also carried a powerful catapult that could throw a 20- or 25-pound object over 250 feet, or a pressurized siphon flamethrower that could spray Greek liquid flames onto the decks of enemy ships, a incendiary substance that continued to burn even when it touched water.
Ships in the Mediterranean, starting with Greek fishing boats, developed a new type of sail in the Byzantine period, Roman sails have always been square, but square sails can only make the boat move in the direction of the wind, although it is possible to adjust the direction of small angles, but not very large.
The jibs were triangular, not square, and they were hung from one of the crosslogs of the mast, which was inserted diagonally, and a narrow triangular canvas hung almost down to the deck.
This shape creates the lower part of a loose sail that captures the wind and blows it to the narrow top, creating a lot of lift when the boat sails downwind.
By the ninth century, Mediterranean ships were generally maneuvered and able to sail against the wind, triangular sails were large, and square sails eventually made a comeback around the 1300s, partly because it required a lot of manpower to fiddle with the slings, and the square sails were able to blow more wind, making the ship move faster.
Ships in the Mediterranean not only differ from oars and spinnakers, but they are built in a way that is completely different from ships in the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic.
A ship hull built in the seventh century found in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Turkey, the basic construction method appears in the data.
The builders first laid the keel, then added tall curved end posts, reinforced planks next to their keels, and secured by grooved nails (wooden nails that expand in wet to tighten the structure).
They added planks to the waterline, nailed to the frame, and set beams from side to side to tie the hull together, which protruded out of the hull, and in the stern the beam was a good place to hang rudders on both sides of the hull.
In the middle of the boat, the beam helps to support the mast. The ship is about 67 feet long, can carry more than 65 tons of cargo, and when it sinks, it is also loaded with 900 cases of wine, as well as 1 anchor.
Another shipwreck off the coast of Turkey was discovered in the 11th century, the cargo on board was mostly glassware, and a large number of anchors were installed on board, and by the eleventh century the building structure was more advanced, first the frame was laid out, then curved wooden ribs were added, and then nailed to the planks with iron nails.
The third wreckage from the mouth of the Po River dates back to around 1300 and is 65 feet long, a new method that made the boat strong enough to support two masts.
The frame they used was attached to the floor, passed through the keel, and then fixed to a piece of wood that was bolted to the keel, which allowed for additional strength.
In the years 1000 years later, the role of ships changed dramatically, merchants became rich, ships increased in size to transport more goods, and Christian pilgrims who wanted to go to Jerusalem after the Crusaders established a Christian kingdom in Jerusalem, all of which created the demand for larger ships.
The Crusades stimulated a large shipbuilding industry, transporting knights and horses from Marseille or Venice to the Holy Land at first, the Crusaders rented whatever ships they could find, and by the Third Crusade in the 13th century, more ships were needed.
King Louis IX of France signed contracts in Genoa, Venice and Marseille to supply custom-built ships for his two crusades from 1248 to 1254. The boats were sturdy, with several having three decks and were brought to the ship through a gate that was blocked when the ship went out to sea, preventing water from entering.
In the 15th century, the Baltic and Mediterranean traditions began to mix, the Hanseatic League had extended its sphere of influence to the ports of the Middle continent, and Venetian warships traded directly in Flanders.
The ultimate round ship of the late Middle Ages was the three-masted fully equipped ocean-going sailing ship, the Hanseatic cargo ship built with iron hammers, and in the Mediterranean ship Walde, the ship had been modified and perfected, and its sails also blended the best of north and south.
Massive ribs formed the hull and supported multiple decks, like a tall castle, and the ship's tiller moved the stern rudder through a port.
The ship's side-to-side planks were stuffed with oak, tar or asphalt to prevent the ingress of seawater, and for the same reason, the ship was built with few hatches and no ladders (stairs leading from the deck to the lower part of the cabin).
Its three masts were the main mast and the front mast, all square, while the mast of the aft mast was conjoined and rose from the back, and later versions included a different small sailboat - a jib on the slash, after improving the management of the ropes, the large sail was easier to maneuver, and the multiple sails made the course of the ship more flexible.
A large commercial cargo hold can carry 1,000 tons of cargo, it sails mainly between the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea, and its huge size makes it an expensive ship that requires a large crew, in addition to smaller racks such as the 100-ton Santa Maria, which carried Christopher Columbus to the islands of Central America.
The caravan was a fast sailing ship developed in Tura around 1440 with two or three masts, some light sails, some square and a mixture of light colors.
This caravan had excellent sailing characteristics, it did not require a large crew on the frame, and it could move at a relatively fast speed, sailing ships were often the ship of choice in expeditions that marked the end of the 15th century and continued into the 16th century.
Combat at sea
Ships were sometimes used in direct warfare, not just for military transport.
In the Mediterranean, Egypt, Constantinople, Venice, Genoa and other regional powers maintained fleets of rowboats and spinnakers.
On the battleship there was a platform the length of the platform that coincided with the length of the ship so that one could easily go from one end to the other, as well as separate parapets (shields) and crossbows, some had a sailor's cabin, perhaps equipped with small catapult weapons.
Naval battles usually began with long-range shooting, and crossbows increasingly became the most important part of naval warfare, with each crew member trying to board another as the ship rowed closer.
The ship usually had a boarding platform, a protruding thing that allowed access to another ship, and they also threw out grappling hooks tied to iron chains, and long-handled axes that cut the enemy's rigging.
Some crew members threw soap on the deck of another ship, allowing the enemy to slip, others threw lime at the enemy, leaving them temporarily blind.
In the 14th century, the countries of the North Atlantic built up their warship reserves, both France and England made some sailing ships, and during the Hundred Years' War, French warships harassed British ships, attacking British ports and British-owned ports in France, such as Bordeaux.
Author's interpretation
The development history of ships in the Middle Ages is also the evolutionary history of human commercial trade, from the evolution of ships can be seen people's growing material and cultural needs, these ships profoundly affect people's daily life, as well as the prosperity of the country, the update and iteration of ships is a history of the evolution of human civilization, is one of the precious materials for the study of ancient humanities.
bibliography
Angus Morlock, A History of European Navigation
Nicholas Savom, Ships and Ocean Trade in Europe
Green Mertens, Medieval Sea Legends