What sails did a ship like Vasa have set in severe weather?

[ubjs]

What sails did a ship like Vasa have set in severe weather?

[Ian_Grant]

We don't know; she didn't last long enough to see any severe weather 😁

 

How severe do you mean?  As wind increased ships took in sail aloft. In a gale they might be hove to under a single staysail aft to keep her head to the wind. Are you setting her in a seascape in a storm? That would be cool!

[amateur]

Try a google pic seatch on sailing ship in a gale (add Willem van de Velde when too much shows up).

most pics of ships ofthat era show main fore, main sail and sometimes a mizzen.

 

the yard of the main and the fore are quite often lowered to abouthalf height of the mast. Looks impressive on a painting. Glad I wasn't there  

 

 

Jan

[catopower]

Wouldn't it also depend on what direction you're trying to travel, in relation to the wind?

[michaelpsutton2]

The superstructures of the hulls of these "galleon" like ships were a sail unto themselves. Drifting downwind in gale almost provided steerageway.  A lee shore was death in a bottle as there is no way to take a reef in a poop deck.

[Louie da fly]

14 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

In a gale they might be hove to under a single staysail aft to keep her head to the wind.

 

Yes - interesting question comes up here - what did they do in the Vasa's time, before staysails came into use?

 

Steven

[Ab Hoving]

One solid advice: Buy Seamanship in the Age of Sail by John Harland. Everything you wanted to (and should) know about sailing period ships.

 

[Martocticvs]

Also depends on period, and possibly also nation. Earlier British/English ships would reduce to courses in strong winds. Later that practice changed to close reefed topsails, and no courses.

 

[Edit] looks like that's covered in the image above!

Edited June 15, 2021 by Martocticvs

[Bob Cleek]

On 5/16/2021 at 11:19 PM, Ab Hoving said:

One solid advice: Buy Seamanship in the Age of Sail by John Harland. Everything you wanted to (and should) know about sailing period ships.

 

Many thanks for the tip, Ab! I just scored a copy for $43! Not an inexpensive volume, but I got lucky. I'm looking forward to it.

 

As one good turn deserves another, let me offer my highest recommendation for your great book, Message in a Model, which I purchased recently from Seawatch Books here in the USA. (https://www.seawatchbooks.com/ItemDisplay.php?sku=113004) It's a beautifully illustrated collection of "model porn" and chock full of fascinating information. It's a great read. One of the great disappointments of my life was arriving in Amsterdam only to find that the Rijksmuseum's ship model collection had been taken down during the renovation in the late nineties. The wonders of the Scheepvaartmuseum came close to making up for it, though, and Message in a Model went a long way to making up for what I missed at the Rijksmuseum. (I did get to see the Rembrandts and van de Veldes, though, so I can't complain!)

 

Keep well!