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18th Century Ship of the Line

Aldarion

Archmage

18th century was a century of sailing and naval expansion in Europe. Major discoveries had been made in previous centuries, such as reaching Americas in the late 15th and early 16th centuries (discovery of Americas – 1492, discovery of the Pacific Ocean – 1513, discovery of Peru – 1528). But the advancement in sailing techniques, especially in the second half of the 18th century, had made sailing far less dangerous than it used to be.

Despite all the advances, bad living and sanitary conditions on ships still took many lives. Hunger, thirst, dysentery, scurvy and tuberculosis were a permanent company, and there was always the possibility of contracting one of exotic diseases such as the yellow fever. Deaths due to disease far exceeded deaths due to battle or shipwreck, with scorbut being the primary killer, followed by various fevers. Large number of people living in crowded and unsanitary conditions made epidemics a regular occurence.

Discipline was harsh, with many punishments being physical. Still, unnecessary cruelty was rare.

To protect the trade routes and outposts, powerful navy was necessary. Most wars in fact were won or lost on the sea. Three 18th century battles basically decided outcome of wars:

Autumn 1781: Saviors of Independence

By winning the battle in the Chesapeake Bay, French squadron commander de Grasse forced the English to capitulate in Yorktown and accept negotiations which would lead to ultimate recognition of the US independence. On the 28th August 1781, English Admiral Hood arrived to Chesapeake to reinforce general Cornwallis who had fortified himself in Yorktown. Having not found the French Fleet, he left for New York.

De Grasse, reinforced by Ternay’s squadron, landed his expeditionary corps and anchored his 36 warships in the Chesapeake Bay. English squadron under command of Admiral Graves arrived on 5th September, but the 21-ship strong squadron was overwhelmed by De Grasse’s fleet. Cornwallis, unable to resupply due to French naval blockade, capitulated in early October.

It is not wrong to say that De Grasse and his 36 ships changed the world forever.

Spring 1794: Saving the Revolution

France was at the border of starvation. Revolution and the currency crash meant that it could not buy food abroad. To solve the problem, Committee gave Rear Admiral Van Stabel the ministarial powers and sends him to buy wheat in the United States. In the Chesapeake Bay, Van Stabel managed to collect a fleet of 138 ships which had cargo of 240 000 cents (1 cent = 100 kg) of flour, rice, sugar etc. English were aware of the mission, and so convoy had to be protected. Admiral Villaret has only one task: protect the convoy.

Villaret set sail and on 28th May engaged the English squadron of Admiral Howe. In the battle which lasted until 1st June, French fleet was soundly beaten. English celebrated the victory which was later called “Glorious First of June” – but the joke is on the English. Villaret had achieved his goal, and Van Stabel’s convoy reached France. His convoy may have saved the revolution.

1798: Battle of the Aboukir Bay and End of a Campaign

Napoleon Bonaparte won a victory in Egypt – but this victory was quickly made irrelevant by British control of sea lanes. With 13 ships, Nelson destroyed French fleet at Aboukir and with it, Napoleon’s eastern dream.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Unfortuntatly, the ships in my story are prior to the 18th century, but I appreciate anyone who posts this stuff up. One day I am going to write a resource on ships of various cultures and time periods for all us writer types.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
Definitely need to plug Patrick O'Brian here.

As for a ship resource, that'd be awesome. Also, gargantuan. The vocabulary surrounding water-borne vessels is immense, even for one place and time. Even naming the types of vessels themselves would amount to a small encyclopedia. But so useful! I find myself needing to research every time I want to get someone from A to B by water. Just researching ferry boats alone consumed hours--it's not so straightforward as you might think to get back and forth across a river and return to your starting point.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Definitely need to plug Patrick O'Brian here.

As for a ship resource, that'd be awesome. Also, gargantuan. The vocabulary surrounding water-borne vessels is immense, even for one place and time. Even naming the types of vessels themselves would amount to a small encyclopedia. But so useful! I find myself needing to research every time I want to get someone from A to B by water. Just researching ferry boats alone consumed hours--it's not so straightforward as you might think to get back and forth across a river and return to your starting point.

Thats me.... I find I am always looking for how long, how many sails, how fast, how deep, how much crew, how much cargo.... And I just scour and scour and sometimes I have to make it up. I hate to have all this stuff I already gained, and have it be of no use to anyone. But....takes energy, and I am story creating.

And nautical terms...Ugh...makes my head spin.
 

Aldarion

Archmage
Unfortuntatly, the ships in my story are prior to the 18th century, but I appreciate anyone who posts this stuff up. One day I am going to write a resource on ships of various cultures and time periods for all us writer types.
You may be interested in these, then:
 

Jason

Scribe
Thanks for putting up the War at Sea articles, Aldarion. It was interesting to read them (and the Fantasy Avoids Gunpowder article) having written about Renaissance-era sailing ships and galleys in my debut. I'm pleased to say that many of my intuitions seem to fit with the facts as you present them. This includes the development of bow-mounted cannon on galleys, where I introduce Blastsalt as an alternative gunpowder amongst other fantasy elements.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
I have three or four books on ships that range from primitive to triremes to the glory days of the Age of Sail. Is it an easy resource for writers? Ummm, no. They are very technical and OOP, I think, but damn are they awesome. Written by Robert Gardiner. The Earliest Ships: The Evolution of Boats into Ships was good fun, but I used the later works more, Age of the Galley and onward, but I refer to them often for ideas even when just referencing construction.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
I have three or four books on ships that range from primitive to triremes to the glory days of the Age of Sail. Is it an easy resource for writers? Ummm, no. They are very technical and OOP, I think, but damn are they awesome. Written by Robert Gardiner. The Earliest Ships: The Evolution of Boats into Ships was good fun, but I used the later works more, Age of the Galley and onward, but I refer to them often for ideas even when just referencing construction.
I am going to find those.
 
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