The ships that headed north - an archaeological perspective

Mike Belasus

doi:10.31265/ams-skrifter.v0i27.272

Abstract

Information on ships that were used for the North Atlantic trade, mainly from Hamburg and Bremen, is scarce and, to date, has been completely derived from historical documents. This is problematic because the terms used for ship types do not represent technical definitions. As there is currently no direct archaeological evidence for the ships that headed north, finds of ships and ship timbers from other areas had been considered to offer a first glance into shipbuilding and the mechanisms of change in building methods. Two main building methods can be distinguished in the medieval period for sea-going and coastal craft: the bottom-based Bremen-type shipbuilding method and clinker shipbuilding methods. The new carvel shipbuilding method was established in the late fifteenth century in north-west Europe. The archaeological evidence shows that there was no immediate change over but that in many cases, there was instead a convergence to achieve flush carvel-built hulls. Considering the Bremen-type with its flat bottom and limited sailing abilities and the fact that the German merchants only started to participate in the North Atlantic trade in the late fifteenth century, the question arises of whether there were other technical issues that prevented them from this enterprise until they managed to gain the knowledge required to build ocean-going vessels that could withstand a journey of several weeks across the North Sea and Norwegian Sea.

Highlights

Information on ships that were used for the North Atlantic trade, mainly from Hamburg and Bremen, is scarce and, to date, has been completely derived from historical documents
Considering the Bremen-type with its flat bottom and limited sailing abilities and the fact that the German merchants only started to participate in the North Atlantic trade in the late fifteenth century, the question arises of whether there were other technical issues that prevented them from this enterprise until they managed to gain the knowledge required to build ocean-going vessels that could withstand a journey of several weeks across the North Sea and Norwegian Sea
Carvel-built ship types very rapidly replaced the ‘hulk’ by the end of the century, having emerged from the fusion of ‘cogs’ with ‘other’ ship types in southern Europe towards the end of that century.[1]. This hypothesis was suggested by German historians on the basis of an evolutionary attempt to evaluate the written indications for ship types from historical documents and contemporary depictions during the first half of the twentieth century.[2]. This hypothesis suggested that the change of the main ship type used in northwest Europe was indicated by the change of the main terms used for large cargo vessels in the documents and equated the word with a technical definition

Summary

Introduction

Information on ships that were used for the North Atlantic trade, mainly from Hamburg and Bremen, is scarce and, to date, has been completely derived from historical documents.

Results

Conclusion