Looking for references: 16th, 17th and 18th century docks, dockyards, ports...

[Sperry]

Hello everyone.

 

I'm interested in how docks, ports (merchant, fishing, military...), dockyards, shipyards, dry docks, (or the equivalent) took shape throughout the 16th to the 18th centuries. I'd like to better understand how docks functioned before the industrial revolution (how the docks were organised spacially, speaking of urban planning, or how the different ships were moored, sorted and organised).

 

References, visual (paintings, maps, illustrations, sketches) or written (books, articles, passages in fiction or non-fiction), would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Sperry
made paragraphs

[bruce d]

Hello Sperry, welcome to MSW.

Don't know if you are interested in any particular country or region, but here is a good place to start:

 

https://navaldockyards.org/deptford/

 

HTH

Bruce

[allanyed]

NMM had a beautiful model of a British shipyard on display some years back, but may very well be in storage.  It was quite detailed and would answer a lot of questions to be sure.    Maybe do a search on their website in the collections section.  (https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections)  I did a quick look and there are a lot of paintings with worded descriptions to go with them.   One example follows, including their written description.  You also try Googling the name of an individual yard.  I was able to find a lot of information on Buckler's Hard that way including a Google Earth shot of what she looks like today.

 

Allan

 

The exact location of the shipyard in this painting is unclear but it may be on the south bank of the Thames at Rotherhithe. The ship in the foreground ready for launching is a 24-gun sloop of war, much in use by the Navy for patrolling around coasts in peace and war, and there is another ship in dry-dock to the left under repair with only the lower masts standing. In the foreground to the right some tree trunks are piled ready for use for shipbuilding and behind them two figures sit on ready-sawn planks. In the right forergound there is a small capstan-powered crane overhanging the edge of the wharf. The inclusion of many figures informs the painting and the artist has chosen to include a variety of social types and activities at the dockyard. Several workmen can be seen working on scaffolding under the ship, and there are a number of figures on its deck. A small figure to the far right, which may be a child, appears to be balancing precariously on the rail, one hand on the ensign staff while the other waves a hat. A man to the left holds out his hand in a gesture of warning. Figures appear at all the upstairs windows of the building to the centre left, which may be the master shipwright's house. The sixth-rate is probably about to be launched and flies a Union jack at the bow, a naval pendant on a temporary midships flagmast and a red ensign at the stern. John Cleveley's principal profession was as a shipwright in the Royal Dockyard at Deptford. He did not become a professional painter until the late 1740s. He was an early exhibitor at the Free Society of Artists in London and two of his three sons, John Cleveley the Younger and his twin brother, Robert Cleveley also became painters after working in Deptford's Royal Dockyard. The painting has been signed by the artist and is dated 1758.

Date made 1758

1758

[trippwj]

2 hours ago, Sperry said:

Hello everyone.

 

I'm interested in how docks, ports (merchant, fishing, military...), dockyards, shipyards, dry docks, (or the equivalent) took shape throughout the 16th to the 18th centuries. I'd like to better understand how docks functioned before the industrial revolution (how the docks were organised spacially, speaking of urban planning, or how the different ships were moored, sorted and organised).

 

References, visual (paintings, maps, illustrations, sketches) or written (books, articles, passages in fiction or non-fiction), would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to MSW.  I have recently been reading

Friel, Ian. 1995. The Good Ship: Ships, Shipbuilding and Technology in England, 1200-1520. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

 

While it is slightly before the period of interest, he offers some wonderful information that you may find useful.

 

Also see the research guide here for a brief introduction to Royal Naval Dockyards and the records of each dockyard held by the National Maritime Museum, followed by a selected bibliography of books in the Museum Library.

 

I will need to do some further digging to see what I have for later periods.

 

All the best -

 

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by trippwj

[jchbeiner]

Hello Sperry,

 

(Another new member here, though I've been lurking for a while.  Going to introduce myself soon!)

You might be interested in the visual references on the MOLA Deptford archaeology reports.  The online versions include almost only technical talk, save a short historical background at the beginning, but there's a wealth of image references at the end: 

https://www.mola.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/Convoys%20Wharf%20post-ex%20assessment%20Part1.pdf

That's the one which I think would be most useful for what you're after, but the other parts can be accessed through this page: https://www.mola.org.uk/blog/archaeological-investigation-deptford-royal-dockyard.

 

As Allan and Wayne suggested, the NMM has plenty of resources that may interest you.  They have some great late-Georgian models as well: https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=dockyard_model

There's also YouTube video showing different angles (with larger pictures) of the NMM Deptford model: 

 

 

 

It could be too detailed or too focused on a single yard for your purposes, but I can't help highly recommending the full MOLA publication on the royal yard at Deptford: https://www.mola.org.uk/deptford-royal-dockyard-and-manor-sayes-court-london-excavations-2000–12.  It's pricey, but cheap in truth for what it is.  It's an excellent book all around, well-written and extraordinarily informative.  

 

I apologize if these pictures are hard to read, but here is what the ToC looks like, in case you or anyone else is interested in buying it:

 

Spoiler

 

I hope these help!

 

John

Edited November 18, 2020 by John Beiner
Forgot to credit Wayne too!

[Roger Pellett]

Back in the 1970’s the Nautical Research Journal published a series of articles by Robert Caro describing the boats used to service ships in naval dockyards.  While this may not be exactly what you are looking for it at least it illustrates the variety of services that were provided.

 

I am less sure but I seem to remember that a past issue of the Journal also included an article about the Royal Navy’s system to mass produce blocks.

 

Old NRJ articles can be researched on the Guild’s website.  They are inexpensive if sent to you electronically for download.  Better yet buy the Guild’s 2 CD or Flashdrive set of back issues.  You’ll be surprised at what you’ll find.

 

The museum at the ex Royal Dockyard in Chatham, UK has extensive exhibits about wooden shipbuilding in the dockyards.  Also included here is an operating rope walk.  There is a very large mast crane that still exists in the Danish Dockyard in Copenhagen.  

 

Roger

Edited November 18, 2020 by Roger Pellett

[popeye2sea]

Check out The Command of the Ocean, A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 by N.A.M Rodger.  While it does not go very heavily into the layout or operation of the shipyards themselves, it does talk about the development of the infrastructure necessary to build, supply and finance Britain's growing navy. It also touches on some aspects of personnel and pay management for the shipyards and ship builders as well as impressment policies within and outside of England.

 

Regards,

[Louie da fly]

Here are a bunch of contemporary pictures of various docks from the late 15th and the 16th centuries. Sometimes it appears there really aren't any docks as such - you just walk down a gangplank and hope for the best.

 

View of Venice 1500 - Barbari 

 

 

 

Venice 1500 - Barbari

  

 

Venice 1500 - Barbari

 

 

1460–1475, Bruges, Flanders. Scenes from the Legend of Saint Ursula, by the Master of the Legend of St Ursula

 

 

1465 Tavola Strozzi. Italy/Spain. return of the Aragonese fleet from the battle of Ischia 

 

 

1474-1475 France Philip II embarking for 3rd crusade

 

 

1487 Pietro del Donzello departure of the argonauts

 

 

1490 Carpaccio from the Legend of St Ursula (Venice) - next 5 pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

1515 Antwerp, Holland

 

 

 

1515 Antwerp Roadstead - close-ups in following pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

1510 approx. detail from Aeneas at the court of Dido, attributed to Bernardino de Donati Italy

 Cristoforo de Grassi Port of Genoa - dated 1481 but ships look later

 

1493 Genoa - from the Nuremberg_chronicles_f_58v_1

 

 

1544 bird's eye view map of Amsterdam, by Cornelis Anthoniszoon

 

 

 

Altarpiece of Sant Jordi by Pere Nicart. Detail. Palma's Port. 15th century. Diocesan Museum. Palma. Mallorja. Balearic Islands. Spain

 

 

Calais and fortifications - 16th century

 

 

Unknown port - looks Dutch or German, probably late 15th-early 16th  century by the clothing.

 

 

Danzig (that's the coat of arms on the stern of the ship and the flag of the other ship)  - 1st half 16th century, judging by the clothes and the ships.

 

 

1526 livre des fontaines de Rouen, France 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by Louie da fly

[mtaylor]

A small resource to be sure, but "Building the Wooden Fighting Ship" by Dobbs and Moore has some good info on shipyards and the process of building a ship. 

[Roger Pellett]

And I totally forgot-  The Arsenal of Venice, an example of an early production line studied by scholars of manufacturing technology as well as management history.

 

Galleys were held in reserve, stripped of all movable fittings, rigging, armament, and supplies.  When called up they moved along a series of stations each of which provided a specialized task like stepping masts or providing oars.  When the galleyreached The end of the line it was ready for sea.

 

The Arsenal buildings still exist housing the maritime museum.

 

Roger

[iMustBeCrazy]

1 hour ago, Roger Pellett said:

And I totally forgot-  The Arsenal of Venice

 

Some time after 1660.

 

 

And 1797:

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by iMustBeCrazy

[druxey]

There are also many dockyard plans and details in the Danish archives:

 

https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/billedviser?epid=17149179#207914,39521395

 

Start here. There are many, many plans of all kinds, mainly 18th and early 19th century to enjoy.

[Thunder]

Or if in the UK go and take a look at the place below:

 

https://www.bucklershard.co.uk/

 

Well worth a visit

[wefalck]

From my memory:

 

Yes, I was going to comment, that on the first Venice bird's eye view the Arsenale is discernible on the right and can be recognised by the galley building and storage sheds that face the Canale di Arsenale. The merchant port, Il Bacino, is in the centre and stretches from the Doge's Palace to the canal that leads up to the Arsenale. The stretches of embankment in between are named by the nations who had their warehouses behind, say the Riva degli Schiavoni refers to slavonic traders from further south in the Adriatic.

The Arsenale still is military territory and cannot normally be visited. For some years a waterbus line ran through it, but caused too much damage to the historical slipways and was discontinued. The boat collection of the Naval Museum is in an annex building just in front of the entrance of the Arsenale.

For 18th century paintings of Venice check out Canaletto, he painted dozens of very detailed ones.

 

The French Government commissioned in the middle of the 18th century a series of very large canvasses of French arsenals and naval ports. They were on display in the Naval Museum in Paris. The painter's name escapes me right now. May be it was one of the Vernets. There have been several NEPTUNIA articles on naval ports, their history and organisation in recent years.

 

Also in NEPTUNIA there was a two part article on the Turkish naval port in Istanbul, I think last year or the year before.

 

From my bibliographic reference list:

 

COAD, J.G. (1989): The Royal Dockyards 1690-1850. Architecture and Engineering Works of the Sailing Navy.- Studies in Naval History No. 1: XXVI+2+ 399 pp., Aldershot (Scolar Press).

DEGGIM, C. (2005): Hafenleben in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit.- Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseum, 62: 416 p., Hamburg (Convent Verlag).

DICKER, G. (1969): A Short History of the Devonport Royal Dockyard.- 69 p., ? (?).

MACDOUGALL, P. (1989): Royal Dockyards.-Shire Album 231: 32 p., Aylesbury (Shire Publications Ltd.).

Nevell, M., George, D. [Eds.] (2017): Recapturing the Past of Salford Quays. The Industrial Archaeology of the Manchester and Salford Docks.- University of Salford Archaeological Monographs, 5: 140 p., Salford (University of Salford).

Peters, D.J. (2009): The Use of Brickwork for Dry-Docks in Germany.- in: 400 Years Anniversary Symposium on Historic Dockyards in Japan and the Netherlands, 28-29 November 2009, Tokyo: 51-56.

RITCHIE-NOAKES, N. (1987): Old Docks.- Shire Album 199, 32 p., Aylesbury, Bucks. (Shire Publications).

WILLIAMS,  . (1984): Docks and Ports 1: Southampton.- 96 p.