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20 December 1999 Welcome! This site is prepared as a presentation of the development of the western square-rigged sailing ship after the Middle Ages. The study covers the period of four hundred years, from the first two-masted Mediterranean square-riggers of the early 15th Century to the three-masted, full-rigged ships of the Napoleonic era. To reduce the workload and focus the study on the abovementioned, personally the most interesting period, the subsequent development in the 19th and early 20th Centuries has been omitted. As an avid enthusiast of the Era of Development in (western) shipbuilding in the abovementioned period, I have been amazed (for many years now) that there does seem to have been no orchestrated, single presentation of the square-rigger history. (And, apart from the Napoleonic period, rather little info on the 'Net about the shipbuilding development during the era anyway.) So, as with the other subsites, the old "when others won't, I will" adage had to be used again... First planned (very seriously) as early as in 1996, the 15th-to-19th-C sailing ship history site was, however, delayed until I finally took a grip and set to write the text and prepare the site over three years later. One of the original problems had been the acquisition of suitable images for presentation. Finally, I decided to use my own drawings of the subjects -- that would also allow me to show just what is needed in every image and concentrate on the essential. BTW, the ship drawings are presented in approximate scale in relation to each other, so if the first ship images seem small, wait 'til the last ones (big files) arrive, you'll see the reason -- especially if you have a "small"-resolution screen... Some of the numerous terms have been somewhat explained to the uninitiated, but for further explanations and more comprehensive info check the (Glossary of Tall Ship Terms) (the links inside parethensis on this site lead to external sites) and the links on the Study Sources page. (The Maritime History Virtual Archives) offers a wealth of links for further study. With Frames | No Frames

1 THE EARLY 15TH CENTURY: THE TWO-MASTED SHIP The beginning: the addition of the mizzenmast as an aid in steering. 2 THE MID-15TH CENTURY: THE CARRACK The development of the rigging, addition of new masts. 3 THE MID-16TH CENTURY: THE GALLEON New forms, new mobility. 4 THE MID-17TH CENTURY: THE SHIP-OF-THE-LINE The design refinements and new tactics. 5 THE 18TH CENTURY: THE FULL-RIGGED SHIP The emergence of the full-rigged ship and the definitive sail man-of-war. 6 STUDY SOURCES H O M E P A G E text and drawings © e t dankwa 6 December 2000