Cogs, Caravels and Galleons: The Sailing Ship 1000-1650

Conway's History of the Ship #3

by Robert Gardiner (Editor), Richard W. Unger (Editor)

The ship is probably the most influential tool in human history and it continues to exert a widespread and persistent fascination. This comprehensive and authoritative series explores every significant ship type, from the dawn of seafaring to the present day, and is analyzed in detailed and coherent essays. Each volume adopts a strong theme that allows it to stand on its own, but throughout the series a strict chronological sequence has been maintained.

Genres: History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 1999

Reviews

[S. D. Howarth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covers the basics with general and detailed descriptions and a solid starting place for reference on vessels of the period.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, ok, that explains a lot. Seeing the design of medieval ships clears up a lot about descriptions of / from the era of people constantly being in fear for their lives when they crossed back and forth between England and Europe. These boats are bathtub toys! No, actually, I’ve seen bathtub toys with better buoyancy and keel designs.

Archeologists speculate the ability to make something that moves round on water was one of the tools that gave us a leg up (so to speak) over the other humanoids running around at the dawn of human history. However, it seems to have then taken tens of thousands of years to perfect that design into something that would tip over in a stiff breeze. Seriously, why did it take about 30 millennia to go from “boat” to “seaworthy”?

Gardiner puts together an excellent examination of boats from the 10th to 17th century from an archeological, historical and engineering viewpoint.