The Sailing Ships History

history of sailing ships

Replica of the Viking ships

The history of the sailing ships goes back to the Viking era when the ships were built to conquer new worlds. The sailing ships then were pretty basic consisting of only a clinker-built hull, a side oar for steering, and several oars on either side for propelling. They were a far cry from today’s sailing ships propelled by the wind blowing on sails and steered by ship wheels that can be operated by one person. Nonetheless, the early sailing ships serve their purpose, which was mainly to conquer new worlds to colonize.

the Viking ships history

Although the Vikings were not the first to build sailing ships, the Vikings came up with the significant change in early sailing ships, and they were the first to extensively use sailing ships. According to ships history, the earliest Viking sailing ships called Knorrs were clinker-built. The ships resemble more like a canoe: two pointy ends making it difficult to distinguish the bow from the stern and with long, narrow, shallow hull. About the 13th century, the Vikings design castles mounted on the bow and stern mainly for fighting. Sometimes the Knorrs would also carry a castle on the mast for bowmen to take good aim from. And in the middle of the 14th century, the Vikings designed a larger sailing ship with high hull, and the rudder was used for steering.

the Mediterranean ships history

About the same time the Vikings experimented on the sailing ships design, the merchants in the Mediterranean were also making their own ships history. The traders used to sail on single-masted lanteen rigged ship on calmer Mediterranean waters. These lanteeners were bigger compared to the Viking’s Knorrs, but they sailed fast on Mediterranean waters even when heavy with cargo because the waters are calmer and the winds are pretty steady being closed to Africa and Asia.

Ships history leading to Columbus fleet

In Southern Europe particularly Spain, the dominating sailing ships was carvel-built. Carvel ships were built by fitting two smooth-sided wood planks nailed on a frame; the seams were sealed by caulking. The design allowed the southerners to build big ships with tall mast; however, the calver-built ships were very slow and water constantly seeps in. The sailing ships were also pretty open exposing the sailors and the cargo on it. The breakthrough came when the Northern, Mediterranean, and Southern sailing ships design were combined. The combination ushered the Columbus ships era making possible the discovery of new worlds including the Americas.

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