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Thanas wrote:^And the Ubena von Bremen, of course.

Frank Hipper wrote:

Thanas wrote:^And the Ubena von Bremen, of course.

I've read she's very wet in all but very calm conditions.

Thanas wrote:
Hmm. This is surprising considering that ships of her type sailed all the way to Norway/Spain and often carried such non water-friendly cargo like silk/spices.

Might I trouble you for your source?

Dr. Guilmartin wrote:...The Bremen cog also formed the basis for a full-sized reconstruction that proved to have surpringly good sailing qualities, though the vessel was wet in all but the gentlest seas.

In Conway's History Of The Ship volume [u]Cogs, Caravels, and Galleons[/u], Professor Dr. Detlev Ellmers, Director of the Deutches Schiffartsmuseum wrote: Cogs had one further quality which would today appear unpleasant. The deck planks were laid at right angles to the sides, rather than longitudinally as they would on modern vessels, and did not form a watertight join with the sides of the ship.

This meant that sea spray and rain water falling on to the deck did not collect on the surface. As a result the vessel was much more stable when at sea.

Even when when the ship was heeling, the water on deck did not form a pond on the lower side, weighing it down still further, but instead flowed straight into the bilges, where it acted as additional ballast and provided a counterbalance.

This meant that the risk of capsizing in bad weather was substantially reduced. However, when the reconstruction of the Bremen cog was being designed at Bremerhaven, it was considered important to have a water-tight deck, which meant that it was necessary to cut several large scuppers into the sides of the ship, at deck level, so that any water on the deck would flow overboard.

These scuppers, of course, reduced the very height of freeboard which had given the Hanseatic cogs their seaworthiness. The crew found that they had to reach for the pumps not only when leaks occured, but also after every shower of rain or splash of sea spray, as the ship's high sides meant that it was impossible to remove the water by means of the bailer.

Fragments of a wooden pump have been found on the Kalmar cog (Wreck V), which had an outlet channel in the upper edge of the aft crossbeam. The Bremen cog had not been supplied with a pump, but a chamber with the outlet leading overboard had been built under the sterncastle, so it seems logical that the intention was to install a pump.

That the hold was water logged had far-reaching implications for the method by which cargo was stowed on cogs. All goods which could be damaged by water or which might rot in damp conditions had to be transported in water-tight containers, which, at that time, meant barrels.

erik_t wrote:Are there other pictures of the screw and rudder? The obviously extemporized screw-blade improvements fascinate me, as well as the hinge line of the rudder being far forward of the rudder proper, perhaps even ahead of the plane of the screw!

Big Orange wrote:How many recreations of the Santa Maria are there? I can vaguely remember going onboard one in Bristol many years ago and it was not as inspired as the Matthew.

I've taken some more photos of the Bristol harbour.