# Mediaeval Merchant Ships



## Dragonlady (Dec 30, 2019)

I've managed to end up with a subplot in my story regarding a merchant ship, and realise how little I know about them. The main character is the daughter of the owner. Can anyone recommend a good resource as a starting point, to give me some of the basics about how they were run and managed and the roles and any rules/regulations? Does such a thing even exist? I'm looking at ~15th century. Thanks!


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## The Judge (Dec 30, 2019)

Michael of Rhodes Michael of Rhodes

Caravels  History of the caravel and this has other links which might be of interest.

And the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard will be invaluable.  It's a tad later than perhaps you want, and it's a warship, but the artefacts and explanations will help give a feel of what it's like that reading alone might not do.


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## Dragonlady (Dec 30, 2019)

Thanks! If only Portsmouth was closer!


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## Pyan (Dec 30, 2019)

The Naval Encyclopedia has some pretty good illustrations on the subject:
Naval Encyclopedia


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## Pemry Janes (Dec 31, 2019)

You should look up the Cog ship and the Hanseatic League. Doing a bit of looking around I found this site: The Hanseatic story. 400 years of exciting past

I think that should help with the basics.


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## Tirellan (Dec 31, 2019)

Rather depends on the seas the ships are sailing. Are they following coastlines like a lot of the Mediterranean trade, or are they crossing large bodies of water like Norway - Iceland?


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## sknox (Dec 31, 2019)

_European Naval and Maritime History, 300–1500_ by Archibald Lewis is a decent survey. Philippe Dollinger's book on _The Hansa_ will serve as an introduction there. Both these are quite old. There really wasn't much difference between naval and mercantile ships, so you could look also at Charles Stanton, _Medieval Maritime Warfare._ And, finally, Fred Lane for Venice.

You'll find there are two main directions to follow. One will be more about ship construction and sea worthiness. The other will be more about merchants and trade, with the ships themselves being secondary.

I agree with others, your biggest question will be: north or south? North Sea/Baltic or Mediterranean?


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## Margaret Note Spelling (Dec 31, 2019)

Not exactly what you were asking for, but Wikipedia (and at least one book I can't remember the exact title of) has an interesting and pretty comprehensive glossary of nautical terminology. Might be useful if, like me, you know next to nothing about what's what on a boat, and find yourself wondering at times what on _earth_ your research tome is talking about.






						Glossary of nautical terms (A-L) - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## Dragonlady (Jan 1, 2020)

Thanks all! The ships are a minor part of the story,  in my current scene I have questions like how would you appoint a new captain, where would the captain snuggle stuff on board ship, would the merchant have some sort of agent. I need to revisit my map and attempt to work out ocean sizes/depths. I will work my way through all these links, thanks!


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## Pyan (Jan 1, 2020)

Dragonlady said:


> I need to revisit my map and attempt to work out ocean sizes/depths.



As Tirellan says above, the type of sea/ocean is important. Basically, though, short trips/shallow seas/coastal trade/light winds: oars. Long trips/deep water/transoceanic trade/rough weather: sails.


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## sknox (Jan 1, 2020)

>how would you appoint a new captain, where would the captain snuggle stuff on board ship, would the merchant have some sort of agent. 
Well, I don't know about snuggling, but for smuggling there are chests. The captain's is the largest, but even sailors might have (depending on type of ship and type of sailor) some sort of box. I know this because there are accounts of captain and crew alike doing personal business in ports all along the pilgrim route to the Holy Land in the later Middle Ages. In any case, the captain's quarters are pretty much sacred and no one is going to look there.

But smuggling is rather a modern notion. The point of control is not at the ship but at the market. As foreigners (I'm assuming a foreign port), all business transpires at a city-controlled market, usually right down on the docks. The smuggling would happen when an individual either bribed local officials to look the other way, or managed to evade them somehow. Think of it more like getting through airport security, except not as efficient.

Merchants usually operated through agents. Sea travel was chancy, and you didn't want the head of the firm to drown. In fact, very often it was the case that the captain himself was the agent. He did the buying and selling, being given a share (along with the crew) in all proceeds, so it was in his own interest to cut good deals. And not to get busted for smuggling.

The investors invested not merely in the goods but in the ship itself, which came with the captain, who in turn was responsible for recruiting the crew. As investors, the merchants determined the goods and also could put passengers aboard. The charge from the merchants would be general: take these goods and sell them as best you can, and return with the following items, at best prices. When the items came back and were sold, the proceeds were divided.

A ship's captain typically went with the ship, but the merchants were essentially shareholders and could decide on someone different. There were exceptions. Some of the Italian towns--Genoa and Venice are specific cases I know--the ships were under the authority of the city council and so it was the city that selected captains. If a military operation were in hand, they would choose an admiral from the nobility. He commanded the fleet, but even on his own ship there might be a captain to run it. The admiral chose when to engage or retreat, and in consultation with the captains chose battle plans.

hth!


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## Dragonlady (Jan 1, 2020)

Thanks @sknox that's very helpful. It's not smuggling as such but cheating/theft I suppose, siphoning off goods for themselves. If this proves unlikely and difficult to write I can always swap for another situation, and I suppose the culprit doesn't have to be the captain, but I'm looking for a situation where the protagonist can use their new found special skills (feline senses) and stop the blame being laid on a group who are obvious scapegoats.


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## sknox (Jan 2, 2020)

Well, the place where the action happens is either where the goods are weighed--the city owns the scales--or if it's not a bulk item, it's where the inspectors look over the goods. I'm speaking here of historical precedent; obviously you can architect other scenarios, but maybe those will give you some ideas.


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