400 



SHII'BlIl.niNO 



and Atlantic swells to fight with : their ships 

 differed much from the stately galleys of the 

 empire. A viking war-ship, unearthed in 1880 from 

 a sepulchral mound at Sandefjord in Norway, and 

 now preserved at Cbristiania, U clinker-built, 78 

 feet long, 17 wide amidships, and 5j deep, drawing 

 less than 4 feet of water ; she hud 32 oan and one 

 mast, 40 feet high, which probably carried a single 

 square sail. The introduction of galleys by A If ml , 

 pulled by forty and sixty ours, kept tin- viking 

 war-ships in check; but these galley were only 

 lit for shore-service. Canute undertook his final 

 invasion with ships of but moderate size, the 

 average complement of each consisting of eighty 

 men only lens than can be carried by many of 

 the small boats now used as part of the equipment 

 of sea-going ships. The 'large ships' in which 

 Richard Coeur de I. ion in 1190 conveyed his 

 forces to the Crusades were of but small dimen- 

 sions, but depended chiefly for propulsion not on 

 rowers but on sails. The voyage to the Mediter- 

 raneanlonger than those ordinarily undertaken 

 previously was of itself the source of enlarged 

 experience to the sailors, and led to the improve- 

 ment and increase of British shipping. The 

 medueval galley of the Mediterranean is described 

 at Galley (q.v.). Henry V. during the early 

 part of the 15th century ordered the construc- 

 tion of several large ships, the wonder of their 

 time, one of which is recorded to have been about 

 165 feet extreme length, 112 feet length of keel, 

 and 46 feet beam. Henry VII., and still more 

 Henry VIII., did much to encourage ship-con- 

 struction both for war and commerce, the latter 

 building the Great Harry (see NAVY, Vol. VII. 

 p 415). The year 1511 saw the construction in 

 Scotland of the Great Michael, ' ane varie mon- 

 strous great schip,' 240 feet in length, said to have 

 cost about 20,000 Scots. Columbus made his 

 first voyage to the New World in the Santa 

 M'iria, of 90 feet keel and 29 feet wide, with 

 two small undecked caravels (see also the articles 

 on the navigators (lama, Gilbert, Frobisher, Drake, 

 Magellan, Dampier, Anson, &c., and those on 

 Geography and Polar Exploration). 



At this period in the history of shipbuilding 

 the main principle* of wood HXHtnMMB were 

 already clearly established, and subsequent develop- 

 ment in size, down at least till the beginning 

 of iron shipbuilding, was mainly characterised by 

 such modifications in individual parts or in struc- 

 tural arrangements as made such development 

 possible. Scarcely any advance in the size of ships 

 was made during the reign of Eliznlieth, notwith- 

 standing that this w:us pre-eminently the period 

 of daring navigation. Much was done by her 

 successor to develop Uith the royal navy and the 

 mercantile marine, lie ap|Miint<>d aatUaUkuml 

 inquiry into naval affairs, granted a new charter 

 to the East India Company, and endeavoured 

 to raise the standard of knowledge and practice 

 amongst shipbuilders by granting a charter in 

 1612 t<> the Shipwright*' Company, and endow- 

 ing it with jurisdiction over all shipbuilders in 

 t he kingdom. The first president of this body was 

 1'liineas Pett.maater-shipwrightof Woolwich Dock- 

 yard. To this eminent shipwright, and to his son 

 Peter and Sir Anthony Deane, naval architecture 

 owed much during the 17th century. This period 

 of progress, however, was followed by a century 

 of almost utter stagnation in respect of the 

 application <>f science to shipbuilding. Skill and 

 thoroughness in ship-carpentry as a craft were 

 indeed not wanting; but there was nothing 

 like adequate application of scientific principles 

 to the evolution and improvement of naval archi- 

 tecture. The best scientific talent during this 

 period and well on into the 19th century was 



to be found in other countries than England 

 l-'ranee, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark ; while the 

 British ships produced particularly ships of war, 

 but also merchant ships were, as regards speed, 

 size, and sea-behaviour, for surpassed by the ships 

 of the countries naincil. 'System' had become 

 so stereotyped that glaring imperfections such 

 as the lack of both longitudinal and transverse 

 strength were permitted and jwrpciuated. At 

 length came a shipbuilder who had courage to 

 break away from established practice, ami intro- 

 duce improved methods of construction. This was 

 Sir Robert Seppings, who began as an apprentice. 

 shipwright in the dockyards, and msc to the 

 position of surveyor of the navy, which he held 

 till 1832. To counteract the effect of ' hogging '-- 

 i.e. the dropping of the ends of the ship relatively to 

 the middle he associated with the transverse ' ribs' 

 or frames (see the section of u wuod ship shown 

 by fig. 1) an inner framework of ties* or 'riders' 

 arranged diagonally. A more important modifica- 

 tion still was the introduction of ' fillings' between 

 the frames up to some distance above the bilges. 

 These fillings, occupying as they did the whole 

 space between the rius, were of great value, both 

 as safeguards in the event of damage to the outside 

 planking and as affording immense assistance to 



Fig. 1. Midship Section of Wooden Vessel 

 A, kwl; B, keelnon; C, ntlne kiwi; D, floor; ER, rutUvkn 

 F, top-Umber; O, lengthening piece; HH, wle* ; I, ilimin 

 lulling plank*; K, bottom blink*; L, garboird *tniki>n 

 M, beam ; N, deck ; O, helf ; P, *try ; Q, ipfrkattlBg 

 R, clamp*; a, knee*; T, "We keolnons; V, Umber strmken 

 W, rough-tree nil ; X, nuut. 



the resistance offered by the lower parts of the 

 ship to bogging. A third important change was 

 in the mode of attaching the deck-beams to tho 

 frames at the sides of the ship. This bold ship- 

 wright suggested and ultimately effected the reduc- 

 tion of the long 'teak-heads' and lofty square 

 sterns which had for centuries characterised Itritish 

 war ships. With Seppings' improvement" the way- 

 wan made thoroughly clear for increase in the size 

 and power of wood ships, and the results were ex- 

 emplified in those towering three-deckers long the 

 pride and glory of the navy, and in the staunch 



