What is a schooner: history, specifications, photos

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

What is a schooner? A schooner is a sailing vessel equipped with at least two masts and slanting sails. It is easy to operate, does not require a large crew. A small draft allows the schooner to move quickly even in shallow water.

During its history, the schooner has been modernized many times in order to increase maneuverability and resistance to waves. She was used not only to travel the seas and oceans, but also as a merchant ship, and even as a naval ship.

What is a schooner and how does it work

This is a small ship operated by a few people. The main feature of a two-masted sail from other types of sails is the location of the highest mast of the vessel or the main mast. On a schooner, it is located close to the stern, so as not to interfere with the pole (gaff) of the foremast.

What are schooners' rigging. The main types of rigging are divided into:

• hafel or Bermuda - with slanting sails;
• topsail and topsail - the schooner is equipped with an additional direct sail, topsail;
• staysail - a staysail or triangular sail is placed on the forward mast as an additional steerable sail;
• sails on schooners are controlled from the deck, you do not need to climb the mast, as on other sailing ships.

The narrow hull and large sails made the schooners fast, they developed speeds of more than 11 knots with a fair wind. The schooner goes especially well with side winds or at an acute angle to the wind. However, with a tailwind, the schooner becomes ill-handled or yaws when it sways from side to side, reducing its speed.

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".

She was quite large - with a displacement of 200 tons. The decks were divided into upper and lower. What is the lower deck of a schooner? It is divided into compartments:

• there was a cargo hold in the central hold;
• the command was placed in the bow;
• aft compartment of the lower deck included a galley, cabins for the captain and crew chiefs;
• the upper deck was flat, rising 1.6-1.7 m above the lower one;
• schooners were popular with pirates because of their speed, maneuverability and shallow draft.

An ordinary pirate schooner in the 18th century had a displacement of 100 tons and carried 8 guns on board. The crew was recruited up to 75 people. The disadvantage is the short cruising range, so you had to go to the port to replenish food and water. filibustersoften abandoned old ships, scuttled them and mined new ones.

In war, as in war

Starting from the 19th century, schooners began to increase the number of masts and sails. The largest seven-masted schooner was built by the Americans at the Quincy shipyard and launched in 1902, she was called "Thomas W. Lawson".

By the way, schooners are most widely used in America. They were used for trade, passenger transportation, military purposes.

The first schooner, created by the Americans in the 1750s for the British Navy, was called "Barbados". It was used in the French and Indian War. The ship had 14 guns and the same number of rotating cannons.

The legendary James Cook traveled on military schooners exploring the coast of Canada.

On the photo: the Sea of Japan and schooners near the eastern borders of Russia.

The history of the clipper ship in Russia

In 1834, von Schantz, adjutant of the Chief of the Naval Staff of Russia, Prince Menshikov, went to the Northern States to receive the Kamchatka steamer-frigate ordered there. There, the future rear admiral first saw the B altimore schooners and fell in love with them completely and irrevocably. They differed from other schooners with high masts and large sails, which could be only three.

Later, having received service in Kronstadt and further to the shipyard in Abo (now Turku), where ships were built for the Russianemperor according to the drawings of von Shantz, the B altimore schooner "Experience" was built. It was intended for service in the Caspian Sea.

Despite the skeptical opinion of others, the schooner proved to be excellent, revealing all the positive qualities. Later, in 1847, another such schooner was laid down for service in the B altic Fleet ("Experience").

The schooner "Experience" worked hard during her service and made significant voyages.

1. Participation in the 1848 sailing race. These races were held by the Imperial Yacht Club of St. Petersburg.
2. Constantly patrolled the waters of the Gulf of Finland while at sea.
3. She took part in several expeditions with the participation of the Navy.
4. Been off the coast of Denmark.
5. Ceased service in the B altic Fleet in 1863.

Equipment of the schooner "Experience"

The new built sailboat "Experience" had the following parameters:

1. length - 21.6 meters;
2. about six meters wide;
3. draft is only 2.2 meters.

The displacement of the schooner was 82 tons, while ballast was laid in her hold for stability in 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 placed not in the center, but along the edges of the ship.

"Experience", armed with two gaff masts, carried only three sails with a total area of 346 square meters. meters (foreground, grotto andjib). A detailed description of the schooner "Experience" was published in the journal "Sea Collection" in 1949. It was according to these drawings that the famous Kheda was built by Russian sailors who were in distress on the Diana frigate off the coast of Japan.

The creation of the Kheda not only returned Russian sailors to their homeland, but also opened the world of European shipbuilding to Japan.

The development of shipbuilding and the role of schooners

Schoons have played a favorable role in the development of shipbuilding in many countries. The Dutch developed the main lines of the sailboat, the British were the first to use them for military purposes, the Americans modernized and increased them, and the Russians adjusted them to the needs of their fleet, giving impetus to new research in shipbuilding. Pilot ships, which adopted the best properties of the B altimore ones, 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.