Ship Of The Line Her Long Reign

"Ship Of The Line" is a continuation of Naval History following after "Sail Of The Line"

So the Sailing "Line" Ship won the day, and became the unchallenged instrument of naval warfare. So true is this that little more space need be given to its developement. Material changes were few.

Ships tended once more to grow in size, first reaching again earlier standards set in such ships as the "Regent" and the "Grace a Dieu" and then going a long way beyond them.

But there was always a definite limit to the dimentions of the Round-wooden ships, especially regards their length, where the danger of "hogging" or dropping at the ends, was never fully overcome.

To the last a ship with a gun-deck length of 200 feet and a tonnage of 2,500 was considered an outsize. H.M.S. Victory was 186 feet long and of 2,162 tons burden.

The arrangement of guns, too, was greatly improved as time went on; room was found for more of them. And this led to faily considerable structual changes-the most considerable which the "Line" Ship ever knew. it can be briefly explained in terms of "gun-decks."

If we assume that a ship of the "Revenge" class was the first one-gun-deck ship-the first, that is, with one deck specially built, and exclusively used, for firing a broadside of guns.

Then James I's "Princess Royal" launched in 1610, may be described as the first two-decker, in that sense; and the famous "Sovereign of the Seas," queen of the ill-fated Charles I's ship-money fleets 1637 will be the first three-decker.

Sail of the Line

England would be the first to deploy the Gun

Then it was-where shall we put these Guns

This can only be an assumption, for the representation of so early a ship as the "Henry Grace a Dieu" in its later state 1545 clearly shows two rows of ports in the ships hull, with two tiers of guns protruding; while Vroom's and Willaert's beautiful portrayals of the "Prince Royal" show three tiers of guns.

The "Sovereign," on the other hand, certainly only had three tiers, as her picture shows; yet she carried very nearly twice as many pieces as the "Prince Royal"-105 to 56.

So it is at least arguable that, in the earlier ships, the decks from which some of the guns protrude in the pictures were not gun-decks in the above-named sense-not running uninterrupted, from bow to stern, and not given over exclusively to guns.

But the question to which ship was, or was not, the first two-or three-decker is largely academic. The important point is that the introduction of the "gun-deck" principle gradually enabled more and more and more gun-platforms.

Their appearance, and their multiplication, were the results of men's-and especially of Englishmen's-decision to make the gun the main weapon of naval warfare.

Beyond the three-gun-deck mark we never went, Nelson's "Victory" is only a "three-decker" in this sense, though, she possessed many more decks than that-seven different levels. Nor did any other nation achieve a real "four-decker."

Santissima Trinidad was not a real four-decker

Even the often-quoted "Santissima Trinidad," generally described as such, was not really one. She was built as an ordinary three-decker, but, when already twenty-six years old, she was provided with a complete set of guns along her gangways, so that she showed four tiers from the outside.

The incorporation from time to time of an extra gun-deck constitutes the biggest change that was made in wooden ships as they journeyed through time from the "Revenge" to the "Victory."

There were a great many other changes, of course, in shape of hull, armaments, masts, yards and sail-plan, as well as in the internal living arrangements on board. But they amounted to nothing revolutionary.

So far as the construction of wooden ships and their accessories is concerned, there were two improvements that need mentioning, small in themselves, yet contributing enormously to the fighting efficiency of ships, both tactically by giving them increased mobility and manoeuvrability, and strategically by increasing their sea-worthiness and sea-endurance.

Steering was of the highest importance

The first of these improvements concerned the steering of the ship-a matter whose importance needs no emphasizing. In primitive times the ship's course was controlled by means of an oar, freely wielded by hand over the side of a ship and near the stern.

This, at a very early date, gave place to a "side-rudder," which was, at first, little more than a rather wide-bladed oar, fixed into a more or less position on the ship's side so that, though it could be twisted by the helmsnan, and it could not easily be swept away.

It developed later, into a true, though crude rudder, when it was fitted with a horizontal bar or tiller. This is almost always to be seen, in early representations of ships, on the right hand side of the helmsman as he faces the direction in which the ship is moving. The right side of the ship became the "steer-board side" eventually to be called the "starboard."

These early steering arrangements gave way to the stern rudder, at some date about A.D. 1200. This new and most important invention was first fitted with a tiller, detachable from the early days. The reason needs no description, and can be found in small boats that we may own today.

It held the field alone, so long as ships were small enough for one or more men to be able to control it, and, the helmsman could obtain a view of where he was going. But when ships grew too big, and especially when new decks and castles began to grow up over his head, some change became necessary.

For the helmsman must see what he is doing. This meant that he must stay somewhere on deck, and must be connected with his tiller by some direct device. Northern ships, that is. Southern ships often had two rudders, one on each side.

The most widely accepted explanation for the name "larboard" is: in approaching a pier or wharf, one naturally tried if possible to bring the ship in so that the steering oar or rudder ran no risk of being crushed against the quay-by keeping, the left side agaist the docking.

Hence one used the left side for loading and unloading the ship, this was called the "Lade-Board" or "larboard." The modern name of "port" side has, of course the same basic idea underlying it.

The Whip-Staff was a long thin pole

The device connected to the tiller was called the "whip-staff"-a thin pole, of considerable length if necessary. This had at the furthest point to be attached to the tiller-end, this came up one or more decks in such a way that it was free to work up and down as well as sideways.

The helmsman manipulted the top extremity, and by pushing or pulling he could throw the tiller over one way or the other, and bring it back at will. It was primitive but convenient and practicle although possibly improper, and to the modern mind it does not seem to be over-efficient; yet it lasted for a surisingly long time.

It began to come in about 1500, or a little earlier, just when the castles were developing, so that the "Great Harry" may have had one. The "Revenge" almost certainly had; so had the "Prince Royal" and, probably, the "Sovereign of the Seas" and all seventeenth-century ships.

It was not until about 1700 that this type of steering began to be replaced by the steering wheel, a device whose principle is as well known as it is simple and efficient, and one which allowed of an enormous improvement in the whole business of steering.

Underwater Protection was indispensable

The second improvement to the "Line" Ship, which contributed to her strategic merit of sea-endurance and to her tacticle efficiency as a better mover, concerns the attempts to protect her underwater parts from the ravages of that great ship-enemy "Teredo Navalis," the most persistant of sea-worms, and from the accumulation on her bottom of sea flora and fauna in general.

Teredo was, the scourge of wooden ships, and from very early times those who were in charge of them had been experimenting with all sorts of materials in the hope of overcoming it or reducing its effects.

The first really successful remedy was that of Sir John Hawkins, who was not a mariner of long and varied experience, during one of those critical periods of our history, had the responsibility for the efficiency of the Queen's ships.

His idea was to cover the below-water timbers with a layer of felt, made of a mixture of tar and hair; over this he had a sheathing of elm boards, tightly nailed on. The scheme was successful in that it lengthened considerably the life of the oak bottom, but the process of protection was laborious and expensive.

At much the same time the Spaniards were experimenting with lead sheathing. This was fairly successful too, but it was even more expensive than Hawkins's method, and was exceedingly heavy.

For a century and a half after Hawkins time, his idea, remained on the whole, the most popular, though many other experiments were made; a complete sheathing of deal, the "Teredo Navalis" found it far less palitable than oak-or a packing of lime, or a mixture of tar and tallow, or even hides soaked in various chemicals.

All of these were reasonably effective but expensive to place in position and difficult to replace in the event of an accident. None was completely satisfactory; nor did any of these furnish an answer to the wider problem of keeping a ship clean underwater, for a foul bottom made all of the difference to her speed and mobility.

Copper plating was partially successful

The eventual answer, both to the Teredo and a barnacle, was copper. It was not until 1758 that a frigate was sheathed underwater with a complete set of thin plates of this metal.

And even this did not prove a complete success, because it was found that the iron bolts were constantly corroded by the contact with the copper. Eventually the bolts were either given copper heads or made of copper.

The success of ships treated were soon to receive startling statements of support. In January 1780 "Rodney" fought, off the Spanish coast, his famous action known as "The Moonlight Battle," and he was able to report that those ships of his which were coppered were largly instrumental in bringing the enemy to close and decisive action.

Three years later, in 1783, the new method was adopted throughout the Navy. It was not perfect-nothing could be that-and the neglect of wooden bottoms; would always demand its own retribution.

In August 1782, the "Royal George" sank at her moorings, because her bottom fell off out her. She had a copper sheathing, but the timbers to which it was fastened had rotted through

Because the "Old Superb" was barnacled and green as grass below, when Captain Keats tried desperately to keep up with Nelson's daring thrust to the West Indies in 1805 he was left trailing. Yet she was coppered too, but she was long overdue for the docking and scraping which, her involvement in the war had prevented.

The next part of this Naval History is called: "Typical "Line" Ship"

Ship of the Line Typical Line Ship

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