What is a schooner? A schooner is a sailing vessel equipped with at least two masts and slanting sails. It is easy to manage, does not require a large crew. A small draft allows the schooner to quickly move even in shallow water.
Over its history, the schooner has been modernized many times in order to increase maneuverability and resistance to the wave. It was used not only for traveling across the seas and oceans, but also as a merchant ship, and even as a naval ship.
What is a schooner and how is it arranged
This is a small ship operated by several people. The main feature of a double mast from other types of sails is the location of the highest mast of the ship or main mast. On the schooner, it is located near the stern, so as not to interfere with the pole (hafel) of the fore mast.
What is a schooner sailing weapons. The main types of rigging are divided into:
- hafelny or Bermuda - with slanting sails;
- Marseille and bramsel - the schooner is equipped with an additional direct sail, bramsel;
- staysail - a staysail or a triangular sail is placed on the front mast as an additionally guided sail;
- sails on schooners are controlled from the deck; you don’t need to climb the mast, as on other sailing ships.
The narrow hull and large sails made the schooners high-speed, they developed with a fair wind speed of more than 11 knots. The schooner is especially good at crosswinds or at an acute angle to the wind. However, with a fair wind, a schooner becomes poorly managed or yawning when it wags from side to side, reducing the speed of movement.
Pearl for a pirate
In the first half of the 18th century, schooners became widespread in England. They were used by fishermen, traders and adventurers - pirates. Such a schooner is described in Stevenson’s novel “Treasure Island” - the famous “Hispaniola”.
It was quite large - with a displacement of 200 tons. Decks were divided into upper and lower. What is a schooner lower deck? It is divided into compartments:
- in the central was a cargo hold;
- in the bow was a team;
- the aft compartment of the lower deck included a galley, the captain’s cabins and crew foremen;
- the upper deck was flat, towering 1.6-1.7 m above the lower;
- schooners were popular with pirates because of their speed, maneuverability and low draft.
The usual pirate schooner in the 18th century was a displacement of 100 tons and carried 8 guns on board. The crew recruited up to 75 people. The disadvantage is the short sailing range, so I had to go to the port to replenish food and water. Filibusters often abandoned old ships, flooded them and mined new ones.
In war, as in war
Starting from the 19th century, the number of masts and sails began to increase on schooners. The largest seven-masted schooner was built by the Americans at the Quincy shipyard and launched in 1902, it was called "Thomas W. Lawson."
By the way, schooners received the greatest distribution in America. They were used for trade, passenger traffic, for military purposes.
The first schooner, created by the Americans in the 1750s for the English navy, was called "Barbados". It was used in the war with the French and Indians. The ship had 14 guns and as many rotating guns.
The legendary James Cook traveled on military schooners, exploring the shores of Canada.
In the photo: Sea of Japan and schooners at the eastern borders of Russia.
Clipper History in Russia
In 1834, von Shants — adjutant to the chief of the Naval Staff of Russia, Prince Menshikov — traveled to the Northern States to receive the Kamchatka frigate steamboat ordered there. There, the future rear admiral first saw the Baltimore schooners and fell in love with them completely and irrevocably. They differed from other schooners by their high masts and large sails, which could be only three, strongly tilted to the sides of the stern.
Later, having received service in Kronstadt and further to the shipyard in Abo (now Turku), where ships were built for the Russian emperor according to the drawings of von Schantz, the Baltimore schooner "Experience" was built. It was intended for service in the Caspian Sea.
Despite the skeptical opinion of others, the schooner showed herself excellently, revealing all the positive qualities. Later, in 1847, another such schooner was laid for service in the Baltic Fleet (“Experience”).
Schooner "Experience" during the service worked hard and made iconic voyages.
- Participation in the sailing races of 1848. These races were held by the Imperial Yacht Club of St. Petersburg.
- Constantly patrolling, while swimming, the waters of the Gulf of Finland.
- She took part in several expeditions with the participation of the Navy.
- It has been off the coast of Denmark.
- She stopped serving in the Baltic Fleet in 1863.
Equipment schooner "Experience"
The new built sailing vessel “Experience” had the following parameters:
- length - 21.6 meters;
- width about six meters;
- draft - only 2.2 meters.
The displacement of the schooner was 82 tons, while in its hold ballast was laid for stability on a strong wave of about 9.6 tons of cast iron.
Schooner - smooth-deck ship. This deprives the ship of the usual hold, so the water and provisions were not located in the center, but along the edges of the ship.
"Experience", armed with two gaffle masts, carried only three sails with a total area of 346 square meters. meters (fock, mainsail and jib). A detailed description of the schooner "Experience" was published in the journal "Marine Collection" in 1949. It was from these drawings that the Russian sailors who suffered a disaster on the frigate "Diana" off the coast of Japan, built the famous "Kheda".
The creation of the Kheda not only returned the Russian sailors to their homeland, but also opened up the world of European shipbuilding to Japan.
The development of shipbuilding and the role of schooners
Schooners played a favorable role in the development of shipbuilding in many countries. The Dutch developed the main lines of the sailing ship, the British were the first to use them for military purposes, the Americans modernized and multiplied, and the Russians adjusted to the needs of their fleet, giving impetus to new research in shipbuilding. Pilot ships that adopted the best Baltimore properties were used until the 20th century. It is difficult to overestimate the role of schooners in the development of trade and political relations between countries.