# Do you know anything about ships?



## Marky Lazer (Jan 7, 2006)

If you do, you might be able to help me out... What type of ship is "The Batavia"?

It looks like this:






Thank you in advance if you can help me out.


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## Culhwch (Jan 7, 2006)

Looks like a sailing ship, to me. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Actually, something I'm starting off on at the moment is going to focus heavily around ships, so I'd be keen if anyone could post some good links or point me towards some books that discuss ships and sailing, and have an nice, easy beginner's feel about them.


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## HieroGlyph (Jan 7, 2006)

lol - Cul beat me to it.

But... its not a ... yeah, long list of what he thinks he knows about ship types. I dont know Marky. Havent you tried a NET search through ship types, yet?

Its a gorgous looking vessel, whatever it may be...


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## Culhwch (Jan 7, 2006)

Well, Wikipedia has a brief article, but judging by your pic you've already been there and discovered that it does not, helpfully, list the type of ship the _Batavia_ was. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it was a clipper. Why? Well, that's the only ship type that comes to mind....


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## Marky Lazer (Jan 7, 2006)

I read the article on Wikipedia, but couldn't really find out the type of the ship. I need an enormous sailing ship...


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## Omega (Jan 7, 2006)

Try this site:

The Batavia


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## Brian G Turner (Jan 7, 2006)

That's a pretty interesting story.


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## Marky Lazer (Jan 7, 2006)

I opted for 'schooner' (for now), though I don't know it that's correct. I'll have a look later on that site, thank you Omega.


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## Teresa Edgerton (Jan 7, 2006)

Leafing through some books, that picture looks a lot like any number of unnamed war ships and trading ships from the late 16th - early 17th century.  It also looks quite a bit like some period line-drawings of ships identified as galleons.  I can safely say that it is _not_ a schooner or a clipper with that high castle at the back.

My own reference books (because I picked them up cheap at Half-Price books, and because they have lots of pictures and give the names of many sorts of ships, and explain some things in relatively simple terms, and not that they're necessarily the best books out there -- because how would I know?) are:

_The Book of Old Ships: From Egyptian Galleys to Clipper Ships_ by Henry Culver (it's a Dover paperback, so probably easy to find)

_Cogs, Caravels, and Galleons: The Sailing Ship 1000-1650_ (which is part of a series called "Conways History of the Ship"), Robert Gardiner, editor

_The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ships, Boats, Vessels, and Other Water-borne Craft_, written and illustrated by Graham Blackburn

More than this I cannot say, so I hope it's of some use.


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## Marky Lazer (Jan 7, 2006)

Hmmm... I had a look at what a clipper exactly is, and that's the one I really want! Thanks a ton, Kelpie!


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## Paradox 99 (Jan 7, 2006)

I'm reliably informed by my wife (who has a massive store of Alexander Kent novels) that this ship is in fact a schooner!


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## Teresa Edgerton (Jan 7, 2006)

It's not rigged the same way as a schooner and the whole shape of the hull is different.  Your wife has probably been led astray by cover artists, a thing that could happen to anyone.

Which is a subject I can speak to from personal experience.  The ship in my own book is a caravel -- I said so many times -- but the artist, no doubt for aesthetic reasons, painted a gorgeous and much more elaborate ship from a later period instead.  (Not that I'm complaining.  It's a beautiful picture. <-------  See my avatar to the left.)


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## Teir (Jan 8, 2006)

My family on my dad's side is dutch and a person on the ship had the same name as ours. Odd thing is that he used the name as a first name when, to our knowledge it has always only ever been a surname..hmmmm...interesting.
So there is a possibility we might be connected...i doubt it, but it is possible and cool to think about....

Just thought Id throw that out there 

An interesting but very sad story the Batavia...


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## GOLLUM (Jan 8, 2006)

Here's an interesting article from the maritime museuem of australia I myself visited 6 months ago that assisted in building a replica of the Batavia. I don't know much about ships but they seem to be saying it was a three-masted merchant ship designed on the fly by the Dutch who used no formal plans to build the ship but rather drew upon their own knowledge and experience.

http://www.anmm.gov.au/batavia3.htm


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## SukiTrek (Jan 10, 2006)

It's either a Dutch fluyt or a Dutch east indiaman.


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## dreamwalker (Jan 10, 2006)

Ship classes are usualy discribed by there size and fuction and not necessary by the actual design.

It's too big to be a frigate, and it's too small to be a clipper.
if it was made for war (between 1400's and 1700's) it'd be a galleaon or cutter. utility or other wise and i'd say schooner. This really only applies to british ships though.


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## Rane Longfox (Jan 10, 2006)

Well, I believe I raced against something very very similar to this beastie in the Tall Ships race last summer, across the North Sea. And I like to think I know a little bit about ships
Its an East India Company ship, and that means it wasn't built in the style of really anything else, so it doesn't have a "type", as such. These vague names given as guidlines to the ships are more recent than the East India Company and the Batavia. (Very interesting and disturbing story attached to the ship, easily availiable with a short, yet concentrated burst of Googleing)

As for what you should call it, a galleon is probably the best bet. In modern terms it would likely just be called a sqaure-rigger, or a barque.
It's almost like the Jean de la Lune, which is a Brigantine, but the Jib sails aren't right.
The ship I remember looking like it was the "Shtandart", which is a modern replica of Peter the Great's flagship, by the same name. All it describes that as is a "Full-rigged ship".

So its up to you, but there are a few names you could get away with


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## Teresa Edgerton (Jan 10, 2006)

So you've actually sailed and seen some of these ships in action, Rane?

I think you can figure that sooner or later some of us will back you into a corner and mercilessly squeeze you for every last ounce of information we can extract ...


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## Rane Longfox (Jan 10, 2006)

I have, aye. Been in the Tall Ships race twice. Came 7th overall this year out of a fleet of 100 ships. But only about 20 managed to finish anyway, due to the appauling conditions. I've never been so consistantly wet for so long in my life
I know more about the slightly smaller ships. The class B and C ones. The ship I sailed on was _Jolie Brise_, a Gaff Cutter. (http://www.tallshipsraces.com/Vessels/Vessel.asp?vessID=50615, for more info)

Feel free to squeeze, I have thick skin Just don't take everything I say as cast-in-stone fact. I'm no expert


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