Reconstruction of a XVI century boat

I had always regarded with wonder and perplexity the old paintings representing “Naus”, the huge Portuguese cargo and simultaneously, man of war ships that brought to Europe the Indian Spices, in the XVI century. I have some difficulty in understanding how they managed to control those huge sails, and how the boat could have enough stability to carry them.

I am relieved to see that I am not the only one that has some difficulty in understanding the concept of those boats. J. Richard Steffy, one of the founders of the Archeological Nautical Program, Texas A&M University, says:

“The ideas and conceptions that ruled “Naus” design and construction are almost completely unknown to us, even if those were, probably, the most complex and sophisticated machines created by men in the XVI century”

“The study of the Iberian expansion of the 15th and 16th centuries has been the subject of perhaps thousands of books. ...However, their ships are almost completely unknown to us. There is no solid knowledge about these ships besides the countless amateur reconstructions that have populated our imagination since the late 19th century. “
.......... http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/index-iberian.htm

Perhaps I can take my doubts away, because a team of that university, working with the UETN is going to make a Laboratory Reconstruction of one of those boats. After that, UETN is going to make a complete computer simulated study of the stability, with different loads on board (cargo), sea and wind situations.
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/index.htm
http://www.mar.ist.utl.pt/uetne/design.asp

“A team from the Ship Reconstruction Laboratory (ShipLab), in the Nautical Archaeology Program (NAP) at Texas A&M University, is trying to build a comprehensive image of these ships, the way they evolved in time and the environment in which they were designed and built. “

That reconstruction is now possible because we have found a well preserved boat (relatively) in the Tagus river, and the measurements of that boat are almost coincident (to the inch) with the ones in a 1580 Portuguese Codex that explains how such a boat should be built, including all measurements.

With the information taken from the Codex, matched with the information taken from the wreck, it will be possible to do that reconstruction.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/index-00alex.htm

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01alexhazlett/Scantling List of a 600-ton Nao.pdf


If you like old boats and naval history, take a good look at this site and at the links. I have found it very entertaining and interesting.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/index-projects.htm
http://www.subarch.com/
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/randall/Randall Index 002.htm
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01George/index.htm

 

This looks good with a capital 'G'. But it will take a bit of getting into! So more later - this is dangerous the 'Walrus' likes something (he has been known to, without taking the pee, honest)

 

I think those things were pretty tubby, and of course ballast was internal. The best guess I can come up with is if the bottom has a fair amount of deadrise and the bilges aren't too soft, then there's a combination of gravitational and form stablity to make the things not too dangerous in the hands of professional crew. They also pulled down the upper mast sections in rough weather, lowering the CG.

 

Weell Skippy that is nice to know - not to dangerous in the hands of a professional crew!

What do you think they were doing choosing between one of these or a cruise liner? Tell you what why don't you chuck some fancy math in to show how you can tell us the square root of an egg but haven't yet figured out how to get the lid of the jar!

 

grumpywalrus: why don't you chuck some fancy math in to show how you can tell us the square root of an egg

gw, I didn't even know eggs HAD a square root!
How did they keep those things upright with those high fore&sterncastles? No lead keel, no carbon masts, and it's not like the weather was likely to have been any better back then :?:

 

Lots of Gold in the Hold, why d'you think mine and Bergalia's ancestors kept plundering them (trouble is the buggers spent it instead of leaving it to us to spend, most sad!) (hey have you noticed this little fella <<< has a beautiful 'walrus' mustache - must be related!)

 

Not gold...but wine. They found out that if they carried all the way to India and back some large barrels of port wine, the wine would mature a lot faster.It was called "vinho da torna" and it was the best.

I guess the French invented the water ballast but Portuguese have invented first the Wine ballast.

 

Which had they been English (er. sorry Bergalia, British) would soon have been Water Ballast - honest

 

Ah Walrus old friend (good to be back by the way) that's the difference between the English sailor and the Scots sailor. The English might soon have converted the ballast to water... but we Scots have enough sense to piss over the side and not into the bilge...

 

Very interesting links Vega! Here are few Dutch links:

http://www.bataviawerf.nl/en/index.html
http://www.kamper-kogge.nl/
http://www.vocshipwrecks.nl/

 

Yes Bergalia they would! then the bloody beeg ship would roll over and beg - just like a scottish 'shoulder' at Drumossie Moor (a fine old English Victory by the way! in which we used scottish soldiers to fill in scottish soldiers one way or another we got rid of scottish shoulders!) (which I hate to say is bludy short sighted cos whilst they may not be hot at the gentle arts they are bloody good in the old melee!)

 

Thanks Milan, your links are also very interesting, specially this one:

http://www.vocshipwrecks.nl/
Look at this story:
http://www.vocshipwrecks.nl/out_voyages/blijde_boodschap.html

...fantastic stuff...
I am going to have fun reading all those stories, thanks.
As you can imagine, from that age, we also have lots of interesting stories, some in the internet, but unfortunately, only in Portuguese

About reconstruction of old boats, we have some Caravelas (3), but the best one is not a reconstruction, but a recovered boat, that was built in Portuguese Colonial India (Damão) in 1843. It is a Frigate, a warship, the last one of the "carreira das Índias". It is now a museum, and can be seen at the Lisbon Docks.

http://www.museumarinha.pt/museu/eng/templates/canal.aspx?idc=135
http://www.cidadevirtual.pt/fragata/caracteristicas.html

 

Milan, Vega Some good stuff there gentlemen, thank you for finding it!

 

For once, Milan, Vega, I am forced to agree with that sassenach Walrus. Excellent stuff on those pages.
As for his nonsense about Drummosie Muir... well, a slight hiccup. We allowed ourselves to be led by an Italian midget (no offence to any sea-going Italian midgets) who was working to a battle plan designed by an Irish man (Sullivan) and a passing Cornish Pastie seller who'd called by on the off chance of casual trade. However, in the return match.....