Rigging Chronology
This is a basic rigging chronology that is currently under construction.
| Date | Event | Image | Comment | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50,000 BC | Colonization of Australia | Archaeological finds | Bellwood 1979, 38-43. | |
| 11,000 BC | Sailing in the Mediterranean | Obsidian from Melos in SE Peloponnese Franchthi Cave | Cherry 1990, 193. | |
| 3500 c. BC | First depiction of a sail (square) | Egypt - Pot from the Gerzean period. Probably not Egyptian, as the ship has high prow and stern, looking more like Mesopotamian | Bass 1972, 12-13 | |
| 3000 c. BC | Stone buildings and plank boats | Egypt | Casson 1994, 15 | |
| 2500 c. BC | Rowing and tiller bar | Egypt | Casson 1994, 19 | |
| 2450 c. BC | Seagoing ships with hogging trusses and bipod masts | Egypt - Relief in Sahure pyramid. | Casson 1994, 22 | |
| 2000 c. BC | Low aspect sail | Egypt | Casson 1994, 36 | |
| 1900 c. BC | Pole mast stepped amidships | Egypt | Casson 1994, 20 | |
| 1500 c. BC | Seagoing ships with pole masts | Egypt - Hatshepsut tomb relief | Casson 1994, 24 | |
| 1400 c. BC | Round ships. Sails still have booms. | Egypt - Painting in tomb in Thebes | Casson 1994, 37 | |
| 1190 c. BC | Loose-footed square sail | Relief on the temple of Ramses III. | Casson 1994, 24 | |
| 510 c. BC | Brails | Athenian cup in the British Museum | Casson 1994, 44-46 | |
| 480 c. BC | Artemon mast | 480BC_Casson46-38.jpg | Etruscan tomb in Tarquinia | Casson 1994, 44-46 |
| 400's BC | Large merchantmen: ten-thousenders | Greece | Casson 1994, 121 | |
| 230 c. BC | Syracuse: three masts | Description by Atheneus | Casson 1994, 122 | |
| Sails (leather): ships of the Veneti | ||||
| 100's | Lateen rig | Tombstone found in the Piraeus, now in Athens, dated to the 2nd century. | Casson 1994, 118 | |
| 200 c. | Sprit rig | Tombstone, Istanbul | Casson 1994, 116 | |
| 200 c. | Leather sail? | Relief in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier, Germany. Battens suggest a leather sail. | Casson 1994, 135 | |
| 400 c. | Yassiada II Shipwreck | |||
| 500 c. | Tantura A Shipwreck | |||
| 510 c. | Square sail | Last representation of a square sail in the Mediterranean. Dated to 504-526. Church of Sant Apollinare Nuovo. Ravena. | Casson 1994 | |
| 600-625 | St. Gervais II Shipwreck | |||
| 625 c | Yassiada I | |||
| sec IX | Two-masted lateener | Representation in Greek manuscript | Carbonell Relat s/d, 28 | |
| 800 c. | Tantura F Shipwreck | |||
| 850 c. | Sails (square) in Viking ships: Gokstad Ship | Casson 1994, 147 | ||
| 850 c. | Square sails in the Mediterranean? | Representations of a square sails in Carolingian manuscripts. | Haywood 1999, 180 and Cassagnes-Brouquet 2003, 28-29.(1) | |
| 874 c. | Bozburun Shipwreck | |||
| 900 c. | Agay A Shipwreck | |||
| 900 c. | Agay B Shipwreck | |||
| 900 c. | Bateguier Shipwreck | |||
| 115... | Central rudder: Kolerup cog | |||
| 1025 c. | Serçe Limani Shipwreck | |||
| 1150-1200 | Central rudder: iconography | Relief Winchester Cathedral | Casson 1994, 153 | |
| Earliest representation of a square sail in the Mediterranean after the 5th century. Church in Pec. | Bellabarba | |||
| First mention of a caravel - Genoa | Ciciliot 2005 | |||
| Carracks with two masts | Alfonso X, Las siete partidas | Carbonell Relat s/d, 28 | ||
| FIRST COCCHE iconography? | ||||
| 1200's | three-masted lateener | "St. Mark approaching Egypt", mosaic, Basilica of St. Mark, Venice. | Casson 1964, 78 | |
| 1226 | Mention of a caravel in Portugal | Foral de Gaia? | Elb 1986, 546 | |
| 1438 | Caravels built for the king of Burgundy | Paviot 1989, 309 | ||
| 1300 c. | Contarina I Ship | |||
| 1310-1350 | Painting by Paolo Veneziano w/ skeleton first | Bash 1972, fig. 12 | ||
| 1300-1325 | Culip VI Shipwreck | |||
| 1336-1338 | Quadra-latina | Painting "dal Buon Governo" by Ambrosio Lorenzetti, in the Pinacoteca di Siena. | Bellabarba 1999, 85 | |
| c. 1350 | The word carrack appears in the North, referring to the cocche. | Friel 1995, 159 | ||
| 1353 | Catalonian contract mentioning a quadra-latina | Friel 1995, 158 | ||
| 1367 | Iconography of a quadra-latina | Friel 1995, 158 | ||
| 1300-1350 | Bonnets | Friel 1995, 159 | ||
| 1350 c. | Les Sorres X shipwreck | |||
| 1400 | Flanders: coca with three rudders (1 central and 2 lateral ones) | Carbonell Relat s/d, 29 | ||
| 1400 c. | Logonovo Ship | |||
| 1409 | Foremast in Catalonian drawing: first representation of a three-masted, ship-rigged ship | Mott 1997, 146 | ||
| 1410 | First quadra-latina in England: a Genoese carrack captured by pirates, Sancta Maria & Sancta Brigida | Friel 1995, 159 | ||
| 1416 | Balinger Anne, built w/ two masts in England | Friel 1995, 159 | ||
| 1416-1418 | Grace Dieu built (w/ 3 masts?) | Friel 1995, 159 | ||
| Carvel in England | ||||
| 1425 | Northern ship with two masts | Salterio? Of Henry V of England | ||
| 1425 c. | Portuguese three-masted ship | Deep plate, possibly made in Spain. Victoria and Albert Museum. | Landstrom | |
| 1435 | Foremast in N. Europe | Friel 1995, 160 | ||
| 1441 | Flanders: two Llenys with three rudders (1 central and 2 lateral ones) | Carbonell Relat s/d, 29 | ||
| 1450 | Flanders: Caravel with three rudders (1 central and 2 lateral ones) | Carbonell Relat s/d, 29 | ||
| 1453 | Flanders: Caravel with three rudders (1 central and 2 lateral ones) | Carbonell Relat s/d, 29 | ||
| 1459 | Flanders: Caravel with three rudders (1 central and 2 lateral ones) | Carbonell Relat s/d, 29 | ||
| 1463 | Flanders: one Barca with three rudders (1 central and 2 lateral ones) | Carbonell Relat s/d, 29 | ||
| 1465 | Flanders: Lleny with three rudders (1 central and 2 lateral ones) | Carbonell Relat s/d, 29 | ||
| 1465 c. | Main Topmast | Italian engraving dated to 1470-1480. | Friel 1995, 160 | |
| 1465 c. | Spritsail yard | Friel 1995, 160 | ||
| 1470 's, late | Bonaventure mast and outrigger | Friel 1995, 160 | ||
| 1475 c. | Stern panel in painting in Catalonia | Church of San Pedro de Zumaia | Casado Soto 1995, 40 | |
| 1492 | Columbus arrives in America | |||
| 1495 c. | Foretopmast - Regent | Friel 1995, 170 | ||
| 1495 c | Main topgallant - Regent | Friel 1995, 170 | ||
| 1498 | Vasco da Gama arrives in India | |||
| 1500 c. | Gun ports | Bass 1972, | ||
| 1510 | Mary Rose built | Friel 1995, 170 | ||
| 1514 c. | Mizzen topmast | Henry Grace a Dieu | Friel 1995, 170 | |
| 1514 c. | Mizzen topgallant | Henry Grace a Dieu | Friel 1995, 170 | |
| 1514 c. | Bonaventure topmast | Henry Grace a Dieu | Friel 1995, 170 | |
| 1550 c. | Contarina I ship | |||
| 1600 c. | Mast on bowsprit |
References
Created by
Original table created by Filipe Castro and Mark Polzer, 2007, Rigging Chronology, World Wide Web, URL, http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/, Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University. They state "(1) I am greatly indebted to Furio Ciciliot for showing me the original color image published by Haywood in Sophie Cassagnes-Brouquet's work."
Bash, Lucien, "Ancient wrecks and archaeology of ships," International Journal of Underwater Archaeology (1972) 1.1:1-58.
Bass, George, A History of Seafaring based on Underwater Technology, London: Thames and Hudson, 1972.
Bellabarba, Sergio, "Note sull'origine della nave a tre alberi" in Archeologia delle Acque, Nucleo Archaeologia Subacquea del Veneto, (Jul-Dec 1999) 1.2.: 81-93.
Carbonell Relat, Laureano, "La navegacion pel mediterrani en el segle XV, epoca de la coca de Mataro" in Jose Maria Martinez-Hidalgo y Teran, Laureano Carbonell Relat, y Xavier Pastor Quijada, Evocaciones a l'entorn de la Coca de Mataro, Cambra Oficial de Comerc, Industria I Navegacio de Barcelona, s/d.
Casado-Soto, Jose Luis, El Pais Vasco y el mar. Desde los origines hasta el siglo XVIII, San Sebastian: Diputacion Foral de Guipuzkoa, Departamiento de Cultura y Turismo, 1995.
Cassagnes-Brouquet, Sophie, 2003, La passion du livre au Moyen Age, Rennes : Editions Ouest-France.
Casson, Lionel, Ships and seafaring in ancient times, Austin, Texas : Universisty of Texas Press, 1994.
Ciciliot, Furio, Le superbe navi. Cantieri e tipologie navali liguri medievali, Savona: Società Savonese di Storia Patria, 2005.
Elbl, Martin Malcolm, The Portuguese Caravel and European Shipbuilding: Phases of Development and Diversity, RUC, Coimbra: BGUC, 1985, vol. XXXIII, 543-572 (reed. Lisboa: CEHCA, 1985, sep. 183).
Friel, Ian, The Good Ship, Avon: British Museum Press, 1995.
Haywood, John, Dark Age Naval Power, Norfolk: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1999. Landstrom, Bjorn
Mott, Larry, The Development of the Rudder, College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997.
Paviot, Jacques, La politique navale des ducs de Bourgogne, 1384-1482, Lille: Presses Universitaires de Lille, 1989.














