Pirate ships.

The sailing fleet is one of the founders of the modern maritime fleet. Around 3000 BC, rowing ships already had primitive sails, with which people used the power of the wind. The first sailing rig was a rectangular piece of cloth or animal skin tied to the yard of a short mast. Such a “sail” was used only in favorable winds and served as an auxiliary propulsion device for the vessel. However, with the development of society, the fleet also improved.

During the period of the feudal system, large rowing ships with two masts and several sails appeared, and the sails had already taken more than perfect forms. However, ships with sails were not widely used in that period, since the development of the fleet in a slave-owning society was determined by the use of slave labor and the ships of that time still remained rowing. With the fall of feudalism, free labor force. Operation of large ships with a large number rowers became unacceptable. In addition, with the development of international maritime trade, the sailing areas of ships have also changed - sea voyages have become longer. There was a need for vessels of a new design capable of making long sea voyages. Such ships were sailing ships - naves, which had a length of up to 40 m and a carrying capacity of up to 500 tons of cargo. Later, three-masted sailing ships - carracks - appeared in Portugal, with straight sails on the first two masts and triangular lateen sails on the third mast. Subsequently, both types of ships merged into one type of more advanced sailing vessel, which served as a prototype for ships and frigates.

At the end of the 16th century, sailing ships - galleons - began to be built in Spain. These had a long bowsprit and four masts. The bow mast of the galleon carried two or three straight sails, and the stern mast carried oblique lateen sails.

At the end of the 18th century, due to new geographical discoveries and the subsequent growth of trade, the sailing fleet began to improve. began to build depending on their purpose. New types of cargo sailing ships have appeared that are suitable for long-distance travel. The most common among them were barques, brigs, and later two-masted schooners. With the continuous development of shipping at the end of the 18th century, the design and armament sailing ships has improved significantly. During this period, a unified classification of sailing ships and ships was established. Warships, depending on the number of guns and type of weapons, will be divided into battleships, frigates, corvettes and sloops. Depending on the sailing equipment, merchant ships were divided into ships, barques, brigs, schooners, brigantines and barquentines.

Currently, it is customary to classify according to their sailing equipment. Depending on the type of sails, all sailing ships are divided into ships with direct sails, ships with oblique sails sailing equipment and vessels with mixed sailing equipment.

square-rigged ships

The first group of classification of sailing ships includes ships whose main sails are straight. In turn, this group, based on the number of masts armed with straight sails, is divided into the following types:

a) five-masted ship (five masts, with straight sails);

b) four-masted ship (four masts with straight sails)

ship (three masts with straight sails)

a) a five-masted barque (four masts with straight sails, one at the stern with slanting sails);

b) four-masted barque (three masts with straight sails, one with oblique sails)

a) barque (two masts with straight sails, one with oblique sails);

b) brig (two masts with straight sails)

ships with oblique sails

To the second group sailing ship classifications include vessels whose main sails are oblique sails. The predominant type of ships in this group are schooners, divided into gaff, topsail and Bermuda-rigged schooners. In gaff schooners, the main sails are trysails. Topsail schooners, unlike gaff schooners, have topsails and topsails on the foremast, and sometimes on the mainmast.

b) two-masted topsail schooner (masts with forward sails and several upper square sails on the foremast) ;

V) three-masted topsail schooner - Jekas (all masts with oblique sails and several upper straight sails on the foremast);

On a Bermuda-rigged schooner, the main sails are triangular in shape, the luff of which is attached along the mast, and the lower one - to the boom.

Bermuda-rigged schooner

In addition to schooners, this group includes small seagoing single-masted vessels - tender and sloop, as well as two-masted vessels - ketch and iol. A tender is usually called a single-masted vessel with a horizontal retractable bowsprit.

Unlike a tender, a sloop has a short, permanently installed bowsprit. On the masts of both types of sailing ships, oblique sails (trisails and topsails) are installed.

a) tender (one mast with slanting sails);

b) sloop (one mast with slanting sails)

On ketch and lol type vessels, the forward mast is rigged in the same way as on a tender or sloop. The second mast, located closer to the stern, is small in size compared to the first, which is what distinguishes these ships from two-masted schooners.

a) ketch (two masts with slanting sails, with the mizzen - the mast is located in front of the helm);

b) iol (two masts with oblique sails, the smaller one - mizzen - is located behind the steering wheel)

mixed-rigged vessels

The third group of sailing ships uses straight and oblique sails as their main ones. Vessels in this group include:

a) brigantine (schooner-brig; one mast with straight sails and one with oblique sails);

b) barquentine (barque schooner; three- or more-masted vessels with straight sails on the front mast and slant sails on the rest)

a) bombard (one mast almost in the middle of the ship with straight sails and one shifted to the stern - with oblique sails);

b) caravel (three masts; the foremast with straight sails, the rest with lateen sails);

c) trabacollo (Italian: trabacollo; two masts with lugger, i.e., raked sails)

A ) shebek (three masts; fore and main masts with lateen sails, and a mizzen mast with slanting sails);

b) felucca (two masts inclined towards the bow, with lateen sails);

c) tartan (one mast with a large lateen sail)

a) bovo (Italian bovo; two masts: the front one with a lateen sail, the rear one with a gaff or lateen sail);

b) navisello (Italian navicello; two masts: the first is in the bow, strongly inclined forward, carries a trapezoidal sail,

attached to the mainmast; mainmast - with a lateen or other oblique sail);

c) balancella (Italian: biancella; one mast with a lateen sail)

cat (one mast with a gaff sail is strongly offset towards the bow)

lugger (three masts with raked sails, used in France for coastal navigation)

In addition to the listed sailing ships, there were also large seven-, five- and four-masted schooners, mostly of American origin, carrying only oblique sails.

In the middle of the 19th century, the sailing fleet reached its perfection. By improving designs and sailing weapons, shipbuilders created the most advanced type of ocean sailing ship -. This class was distinguished by speed and good seaworthiness.

clipper

Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bulgarian Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Detect language Dutch English Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician Georgian German Greek Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Latin Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish ⇄ Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bulgarian Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician Georgian German Greek Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Latin Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish

English (auto-detected) » Russian

The sail-motor brigantine “Polar Odyssey” was built over ten years according to ancient drawings by the Maritime Historical and Cultural Center (MICC) (Petrozavodsk) and launched in June 2010. This event coincided with two holidays: the 90th anniversary of Karelia and the 20th anniversary of the first international expeditions of the maritime club.

The ceremony was very solemn. A whole performance was staged: the founder of Petrozavodsk, Emperor Peter I, and Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna greeted the brigantine and presented “Admiral” V. Dmitriev (director of the MICC) with the ship’s standard. The "admiral's" wife broke a bottle of champagne on the side of the ship. A participant in the theatrical action, the mayor of Petrozavodsk, Nikolai Levin (also a former sailor), cut the rope securing the ship to the shore and delivered seafaring instructions.

Brigantine (Italian brigantino - brig schooner, brigantina - mizzen) is a two-masted sailing vessel with a mixed sailing rig - straight sails on the front mast (foremast) and slanting sails on the rear (mainmast). Initially, brigantines were also equipped with oars.

In past centuries, such ships were used for patrol and reconnaissance, and were also loved by pirates for their ease of operation, ease of movement and maneuverability. They had two (sometimes three) masts with sails and from eight to fifteen pairs of oars. Up to ten small-caliber guns were installed on the upper deck. There are still guns today. If desired, you can fire a shot.

They were distributed in all regions - from the Mediterranean Sea to Pacific Ocean. Brigantines are not alien to Karelia, as they were built and used on the White Sea.

Due to their good seaworthiness, these ships are still built in some countries today as sports and pleasure ships.

Brigantines are traditionally surrounded by an aura of maritime romance and are sung in many songs as a symbol of a classic sailboat.

"Polar Odyssey" together with the Pomeranian boat "St. Nicholas" annually participates:

In celebration of the day of the city of Petrozavodsk;

In the Marine Festival “Blue Onego”, where a naval battle with cannon fire and boarding is reenacted;

At the Kizhi Regatta.

And also on numerous expeditions and hikes.

There is a sanitary facility.

The vessel is equipped with the necessary modern life-saving equipment.


The sloop differed from the schooner in its smaller size and the presence of only one mast. Both types were popular among pirates for their speed and shallow draft.

Pirate ship performed several functions at once. It was a barracks for the crew, as well as a warehouse for trophies. Since pirate crews usually outnumbered ordinary ships, there was often not enough space on the ships. The pirate ship was a warship, so it had to carry powerful cannon weapons. In addition, the pirates not only attacked, but they often had to evade pursuit, so the ship had to have increased speed. In order for a pirate ship to meet all the requirements for it, pirates had to rebuild ordinary merchant or warships they captured. Strictly speaking, in maritime terminology the word “ship” means a three-masted vessel with a full set of straight sails. Such “ships” were very rare among pirates

Pirates obtained their ships as a result of capture at sea or mutiny of the crew. If a ship captured in this way turned out to be completely unsuitable for pirate activities, it was abandoned as soon as something more suitable could be obtained. Former privateers also often became pirates. Privateer ships were originally adapted for pirate activities. Upon expiration of the contract, privateers who did not want to stop their fishing turned into pirates. Some pirates spent their entire (usually short) career sailing on one ship, while others changed ships several times. So, Bartholomew Roberts changed the ship six times, each time giving the new ship the name “Royal Fortune”. The pirates either sunk the captured ships, sold them, or used them themselves.

Privateering, which flourished during the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714), led to the construction of many ships originally intended for privateering. After the end of the war, English privateers almost all took up privateering. Privateering was legal piracy. Privateer ships were equally suitable for pirate activities, without requiring any modification. Those privateers who managed to overcome the temptation to become pirates entered the service of local authorities and began to fight pirates. Pirates preferred small but fast ships like sloops, brigantines or schooners. Caribbean sloops were perfect for the role of a pirate ship. Some pirate crews preferred to use larger, more spacious ships. Not big ships in addition to speed, they had an advantage over larger ones in draft. This allowed them to operate in shallow waters where large ships did not risk sailing. Smaller ships were easier to repair and clean their hulls to maintain speed. To clean the bottom, the ship was pulled ashore and the algae and shells that had grown during the voyage were peeled off.

When remodeling, unnecessary bulkheads between the decks of the ship were usually removed. This made it possible to free up space on the gun deck. Usually the forecastle was cut off and the quarterdeck was lowered so that the upper deck ran from bow to stern. Thanks to this measure, an open combat platform was created. Additional ports for guns were made in the sides, and the load-bearing elements of the hull were strengthened to compensate for the increased load. Swivel guns were installed on the gunwale.
Upon learning of Steed Bonnet's close presence, the governor of the South Carolina colony sent Colonel William Rhett to hunt the pirate. The chase ended in a battle, as a result of which Bonnet capitulated, was captured and later hanged

Types of pirate ships

Sloops

At the beginning of the 18th century, sloop meant various ships built in the Caribbean islands. Sloops were usually small, single-masted ships carrying disproportionately powerful sails. This made them fast and maneuverable, which, combined with shallow draft turned them into the perfect pirate ship. Typically, sloops were equipped with a slanting main sail and a jib at the bow. Sloops could also be called two- and three-masted ships with similar sailing weapons
Behind him is a fleet of slave trading ships he captured. The "Royal Fortune" and "Great Reinder" - Roberts' ships - are also located there. Images of two flags are clearly visible

Schooners

Throughout the 18th century, schooners became an increasingly common type of ship. Typically, schooners are defined as two-masted ships with forward sails on both masts. Narrow body and large area The sails made them fast; the usual speed of the schooner with a tailwind exceeded 11 knots. The schooner's draft was also shallow, allowing them to sail freely among the shallows and close to the shore. With a displacement of up to 100 tons, the pirate schooner carried 8 cannons and a crew of about 75 people. The disadvantage of the schooner was its insufficient cruising range. It was necessary to frequently call at ports to replenish water and food supplies. However, with sufficient knowledge and skill, the pirates took everything they needed into the sea.

Brigantines

Another type of ship often found along the American coast was the brigantine. A brigantine is a two-masted ship, with straight sails on the foremast, and a slanting lower sail and straight topsails on the mainmast. Such sailing rig allows the brigantine to effectively sail both jibe and close-hauled. The length of the brigandine is about 24 m, displacement is about 150 tons, crew of 100 people, armament of 12 guns.

A variant of the brigantine was the brig, but this type of ship was quite rare in American waters. The brig carried straight sails on both masts, although slanting sails were sometimes installed between the masts. Sometimes a slanting gaff sail was placed on the mainmast. In this form the ship was called shnyava. The Royal Navy used shniavs as patrol ships in Caribbean waters.

Three-masted ships (straight sail)

Pirate ships at sea

Three-masted ships with direct sails could be considered ships in the full sense of the word. Although three-masted ships were slower than pirate schooners and sloops, they still had a number of undeniable advantages. First of all, they were distinguished by better seaworthiness, carried heavier weapons and could accommodate a large crew. Many pirates, including Bartholomew Robert and Charles Vane, preferred three-masted ships.

Three-masted merchant ships were actively used during that period. Edward Teach's Queen's Revenge was a converted slave trading ship, equipped to carry 40 cannons. Typically, a merchant ship with a displacement of 300 tons carried more than 16 guns. Three-masted warships were divided into several ranks. A ship of the 6th rank carried from 12 to 24 guns. The 5th rank ship already carried up to 40 guns. These weapons were usually more than enough to defeat any pirate in an artillery battle. The only exceptions were “Royal Fortune” by Roberts and “Queen N Revenge” by Teach, as well as several others pirate ships, carrying comparable weapons.

Having decided to dilute the conversation about the intricacies of the modeling business with “billetrists,” I am opening a periodic series of stories about ships that are especially popular among ship modellers. As a rule, few of those who build a model of HMS Victory or the Black Pearl are familiar with real story prototype. But this story is often full of such mysterious twists and turns that it’s time to write an adventure novel, or even a detective story.

The starting series - “Mysteries of legendary sailing ships” will acquaint the reader with facts from the structure and history of famous ships.


Few tourists walking along the Yalta embankment know that the Hispaniola cafe, stylized as a sailboat, was once a real ship. In the 60s of the last century, it bore the proud name of the first Soviet Marshal Voroshilov and transported cargo along Black Sea coast. And in the 70s he became an old two-masted sailing ship and went to “Treasure Island” for Flint’s gold, and then was shipwrecked off desert island with Robinson Crusoe on board.

In 1970, at the Yalta Film Studio, director E. Friedman filmed another film adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel "Treasure Island".
Wanting to achieve realism on the screen, Friedman requested a real sailboat, corresponding to the one described in the novel (before this, films had either filmed any sailing ship, or models in a special pool and scenery in a pavilion).
To build the schooner Hispaniola, the film studio purchased an old motor-sailing schooner Klim Voroshilov (1953) from the Kherson winery. The project for the re-equipment of the ship and the general management of the work at the initial stage were carried out by A. Larionov, a researcher at the Leningrad Naval Museum. The sailboat was finally completed under the supervision of the film studio design engineer V. Pavlotos.

On the old Black Sea “oak”, the bulwark was increased, the central hold and stern part were converted to look like antiques, the ship was equipped with two masts with oblique gaff sails and straight sails on the front mast, which corresponded to the sailing rig of the schooner (although V. Pavlotos called “Hispaniola” a brigantine). The sailboat turned out to be successful and starred in several more films, including “The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe” by S. Govorukhin (1972).

In another domestic film adaptation of Stevenson’s novel, filmed in 1982 at Lenfilm by director Vorobiev, the “role” of “Hispaniola” was assigned to the three-masted Jackass schooner “Kodor” (which viewers later saw in the “role” of “Duncan” in the film by S. Govorukhin's "In Search of Captain Grant" (1985). Episodes were filmed on "Kodor", and the entire "Hispaniola" appeared in the frame only in the form of a model.

Foreign films based on the novel “Treasure Island” are also not distinguished by their originality. In the 1990 American film adaptation, an expedition for Flint's treasure sets off on a three-masted sloop (a remake of the historical sailing ship Bounty, built in 1961, was used for the film). The three-masted ship was also featured in the 2012 English mini-series...

Illustrators also do not clarify the question of the appearance of “Hispaniola”. Louis John Reid (Louis Rhead)


Zdeněk Burian and Geoff Hunt show a three-masted sailboat in their drawings. Robert Ingpen, Henry Matthew Brock, Igor Ilyinsky depict a two-masted schooner.
But the greatest confusion was caused by the first illustrator of the novel, Georges Roux. In his drawings, the Hispaniola appears... as a brig!


So, to what class of sailing ships should the famous Stevenson “Hispaniola” be classified? Let's try to figure it out.

Perhaps we should start with the fact that R. Stevenson himself clearly outlined in the novel the type of sailing ship chosen for the treasure voyage. Squire Trelawney describes the acquired ship in a letter to Dr. Livesey as follows:

"You never imagined a sweeter schooner—a child might sail her—two hundred tons; name, Hispaniola."

"You will never imagine a more beautiful schooner - a baby can control the sails. Displacement - two hundred tons. Name - Hispaniola."

Commenting on the first edition of his book with illustrations by Georges Roy, Stevenson writes in a letter to his father on October 28, 1885:

"... The illustrated edition of "Treasure Island" will be published next month. I received an advance copy; these French drawings are delightful. The artist understood the book exactly as I intended it, but made one or two small errors - so he did "Hispaniola" "brig..."

Considering the fact that the brig is a two-masted sailing ship, and this does not bother Stevenson, we can conclude that it is a two-masted schooner that is described in the novel.

In the essay “My First Book: Treasure Island” (1894), Stevenson, who had practical experience of sailing the 16-ton schooner Heron, reveals the background to the novel:

"... This will be a story for young readers - which means I won’t need either psychology or a refined style; there’s a boy living in the house - he’ll be the expert. Women are excluded. I won’t be able to cope with the brig (and the Hispaniole, to tell the truth, you're supposed to be a brig), but I think I can get by with a schooner without public disgrace..." .
For the reader for whom “schooner”, “brig”, “brigantine” are just romantic names, let us explain the difference between these sailing ships.
All three types of ships can be classified as small and medium-sized sailing ships with two or more masts.
The main difference lies in the features of the sailing armament, i.e. in the shape and number of sails raised on the masts of a particular vessel.

Brigantine- a two-masted ship with a front mast (fore mast) having a full straight (i.e. two to three rectangular sails located transverse to the axis of the ship, one above the other) sailing rig and with a rear mast (main mast) having a longitudinal a gaff (i.e. placed on yards located behind the mast along the axis of the ship) lower sail (mainsail) and straight sails (topsail and, possibly, topmast) on the topmast (an additional element of the mast).
Brigantines were widely developed in the 17th century. Somewhat later, on the lower yard of the mainmast of the brigantine, which was called “dry”, since it was not used to set the sail, but served as a support for the rigging, the sail - the topsail - stood above it, they began to install a straight sail - the mainsail. Retrofitting the brigantine with a full sail rig on the mainmast increased the windage of the ship and the power of its sails.

A sailboat with full square rigging on both masts and a gaff mainsail began to be called brig. In the second half of the 18th century, when brigs began to be widely used in the navy, brigantines began to be called brigs, which was greatly facilitated by writers who confused these ships.

Schooners, originate from small ships with longitudinal sails, which in the 16th - 17th centuries were widely used by Dutch and North American traders, fishermen, privateers and freebooters. The schooner, as a specific type of sailing ship with two masts and a gaff sailing rig, appears off the coast of the Netherlands in late 17th century. In 1695, the Royal Yacht "The Transport Royal" was built in England, equipped as a schooner. The Admiralty model of this ship is the earliest documentary depiction of the schooner today.

However, the schooner received greater development in the North American colonies. Rumor has it that a certain Andrew Robinson from Gloucester in Massachusetts built such a successful sailing ship that spectators who watched the ship's trials compared it to a flat stone sliding over the water with a skillful throw, exclaiming: “Scoon! Scoon!” Other researchers refer to the laudatory Dutch "schoone Schip" (beautiful ship). One way or another, already in 1716 the name “schooner” appears in the records of the Boston port. And in 1769, William Falconer described the schooner in his maritime dictionary, A New Universal Dictionary of the Marine.

Thus, in the first half of the 18th century, to which the novel “Treasure Island” dates, schooners were already quite common in England, while the brig was just beginning to be used as a warship. And it is quite natural that the miser Trelawney purchased a cheap, most likely fishing schooner, which was converted into the Hispaniola.


Another argument in favor of the schooner is the smaller requirement for a crew than for a brig or brigantine (recall that the crew of the Hispaniola was 26 people, of which 19 were sailors).

Researchers of the novel consider the route of the expedition to be the most significant objection to using a schooner to travel for the “Flint chests”.
This route ran from Bristol to Martinique at the latitude of Lisbon under the backstay (the trade wind blowing astern) along the North Trade Wind Current. Next, the ascent to the north, to Treasure Island and the return journey along the Atlantic to the north, along the Bahamas and Florida to Cape Hatteras and further along the Antilles Current and the Gulf Stream... Thanks to the Atlantic carousel of winds and currents, the Hispaniola, having made a clockwise turn, returned home.
This is where, the researchers believe, an unpleasant surprise would await the schooner - to sail under the powerful, steady winds of the Atlantic, the schooner, adapted for efficient tacking and sailing steeply to the wind, would be forced to yaw full courses, losing speed and, accordingly, increasing the duration of the flight. In addition, the Hispaniola, according to Squire Trelawney, was threatened by “pirates and the damned Frenchman,” and the schooner’s armament was a single small-caliber swivel cannon (the cannon will be discussed later). The brig Hispaniola could have escaped from the brig (private or pirate), but the schooner had no chance.
But researchers again lose sight of the fact that there were not so many brigs at the time of the Hispaniola, and pirates preferred sloops (Charles Johnson writes about this in “A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Famous Pirates”, published in London in 1724). The author of "Treasure Island" was well acquainted with Jones' book and even (it seems) "copied" Flint from Edward Teach, who bore the formidable nickname "Blackbeard".
In addition, by 1720 piracy was in severe decline. Former “gentlemen of fortune” either transferred to serve in the state fleet, or drank themselves to death without work in port taverns where, by the way, they were recruited into the Hispaniola crew.

So Stevenson's Hispaniola was a schooner. Moreover, most likely Marseille, i.e. which had a straight sail (topsail) on the topmast of the front (fore) mast. The presence of topmasts on the masts of the Hispaniola is indirectly indicated by the mast salingas, which are mentioned several times in the text of the novel. Saling provides fixation of the topmast and spacing of the topmasts and shrouds for more effective strengthening of the topmasts. A special platform was installed on the salings of the lower masts - the mars.
In addition, the straight sail made it possible to slightly reduce yaw when moving into the backstay (i.e., with a tailwind on the wind), as mentioned earlier.
By the way, one of the main arguments of researchers of the novel who adhere to the “three masts” version is connected with the salings.
Sailboat masts have their own names, determined by their placement on the ship. The front mast is called the foresail (German) or fore (English), i.e. "first". The middle mast is called the main (German) or main (English), which means “main”. There can be several mainmasts if the ship has more than three masts. The rear mast is called mizzen (German) or mizzen (English) - “small, last”. The mizzen is sometimes called a cruising mast, but this name refers to masts with a full yardarm.

Two-masted ships most often have a fore and a main mast. At the same time, the mainmast is located closer to the middle of the hull and has a greater height than the foremast. The exception is two-masted ketches and iols, the front mast of which is higher than the rear one, located approximately in the middle of the hull and, as a result, is called the mainmast. The second, rear mast of such sailboats is called a mizzen mast.

In the text of the novel, Stevenson calls the rear mast of the Hispaniola a mizzen a couple of times:
"...It became light in the barrel. Looking up, I saw that the moon had risen, silvering the mizzen mars and the swollen foresail..."

"...The shrouds of the mizzen mast hung over my head. I grabbed onto them, climbed up and never took a breath until I sat down on the salinga...".

Most likely, in this case, Stevenson made a mistake, confusing the sailing rig of a schooner with an iol.
The decisive argument in determining the number of masts on the Hispaniola should, however, be considered that in the period described in the novel, schooners, as a rule, were two-masted, as well as brigs, which never had a third mast at all (and Stevenson, like us already said, I believed that the Hispaniola should have been a brig). Another quote from the novel speaks in favor of the two-masted option:

"... The mainsail hid part of the stern from me... At the same instant the main boom leaned to the side, the sheet creaked against the blocks, and I saw the stern...".

Those. At the rear, closest to the stern, there was, nevertheless, a mainmast. And Hispaniola was two-masted topsail schooner.

Large fishing schooners (and the Hispaniola, let me remind you, had a displacement of 200 tons) had two decks, the lower of which was divided into three compartments: the bow, where the crew members were located; the central one was a cargo hold, which had a hatch into the below-deck space, which was also a hold; the stern, where the galley and foremen of the crew, including the captain, were located. The upper deck, rising above the lower deck by about 1.6 - 1.7 meters, was level (sometimes it had low stepped elevations in the bow (forecastle) and in the stern (half-deck)). The deck had three or more hatches (in each of the compartments of the lower deck) with ladders, which were covered with ruster gratings. The hatches in the bow and stern compartments could have so-called “similar vestibules” - small booths above the hatch.

During the reconstruction of the schooner purchased for the trip, similar vestibules, judging by the text of the novel, were expanded to the size of deck superstructures, slightly raising the deck. The crew and galley were placed in the forward superstructure - the forecastle, and in the rear, which was a similar vestibule extended to the sides - two hammocks for the captain and Mr. Arrow. In addition, the aft compartment of the lower deck was expanded due to the hold and cabins (three on each side) were enclosed in it for passengers of the Hispaniola. In the stern, due to the enclosure and raising the deck, a fairly large room was formed for the wardroom. Finally, in the middle part of the lower deck, a separate room for storing treasures was fenced off, leaving a passage on the left side connecting the aft compartment with the bow.

Studying the structure of the ship built by Yalta filmmakers for the 1971 film, it is not difficult to notice that its appearance largely corresponds to that described in the novel. We see the spars and rigging corresponding to the sailing rig of a two-masted topsail schooner, superstructures in the bow and stern...
As a complaint, one could point to the dimensions being too small (for a 200-ton ship) and the cannon mounted on a carriage.
But the issue with the gun is controversial. And it seems that the Yalta shipbuilders are closer to the truth.
The fact is that Stevenson described in the novel a “9-pounder swivel cannon,” the cannonball for which gunner Israel Hands “rolled along the deck.” After a successful shot at the nimble skiff with the heroes of the novel, the cannonball, whistling over the fragile boat, raised such a wind that it capsized the skiff with passengers! Apparently, Stevenson had little understanding of artillery.
There are no nine-pounders on a swivel! A swivel is a metal pin with a “horn” at the upper end, in the fork of which a cannon was attached. The swivel was installed in a special socket on the gunwale (a handrail along the top of the bulwark) or in the deck. With this installation method, a heavy cannon with a heavy core (and a 9-pound core weighed about four kilograms) and a powerful powder charge would break the swivel and fly off when fired. Therefore, the maximum caliber of swivel guns was 4 pounds. Most often, 1-2 pound cannons were used to fire grapeshot (small balls, akin to a musket bullet) at the enemy crew and boarding crew.
The nine-pound cannons were mounted on a wheeled carriage and, when it was necessary to fire a shot, their barrel was pushed into a special opening in the side - the cannon port. In addition, the carriage was equipped with a special cable fastening to the side - trousers and hoists, which made it easier to roll the gun away from the side for maintenance and roll it into the port for firing.
Such guns were aimed at the target, as a rule, in a vertical plane using a special wedge placed under the breech of the gun. So, Hands could only have gotten into the skiff maneuvering on the waves by accident.
On the other hand, a nine-pound cannonball would not be able to raise such a powerful air wave as to capsize the boat. To do this, the gun would have to have a caliber of 32 pounds. But such a cannon would be difficult to place on a relatively small schooner, and even if fired, it could easily capsize the ship.
Most likely, the Hispaniola was also armed with light swivel guns with a caliber of 1 - 2 pounds,


and a nine-pounder gun. True, it is not clear - why roll a relatively light cannonball along the deck, which a child could carry in his hands?

One way or another, the Yalta shipbuilders installed a small (between 2 and 4 pounds) gun monitor on their Hispaniola. The same one was present in the frame during the filming of episodes on board the schooner "Kodor" in 1982.

Unfortunately, time, bureaucratic bureaucracy and business interests did not spare this interesting ship, which confidently plowed the waves of the Black Sea under full sail. In addition, the Hispaniola was the first sailing ship specifically built for filming, and the Yalta Film Studio became a pioneer in film shipbuilding.
In 1972, the Crimean Maritime Register Inspectorate, which did not have a column in its instructions regarding the operation of wooden sailing ships, demanded that the hull be sheathed with metal with asbestos gaskets (to avoid fire) and that radar equipment be installed on the masts, which would be incompatible with appearance old sailboat.
Not wanting to disfigure the beautiful Hispaniola, the film studio transferred it to the balance of Intourist, which installed the schooner on the Yalta embankment near the Oreanda Hotel and converted it into a cafe.

A similar fate befell the training sailing ship Kodor.
The Canadian "Bounty", who starred in several films, died with the captain and one of the crew in October 2012 off the coast of North Carolina during Hurricane Sandy.


BRIGS AND BRIGANTINES

In Sevastopol, on Matrossky Boulevard there is a monument with a laconic inscription: “Kazarsky. An example for posterity"

For many years now, hundreds of people have been coming here every day - Sevastopol residents and guests of the city of Russian maritime glory. This is a monument to the commander of the Russian brig "Mercury" Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky. What did Kazarsky and the ship’s crew do to earn the right to become an example to posterity?

On May 14, 1829, the 20-gun brig Mercury took on an unequal battle with two Turkish battleships armed with a total of 184 guns, and emerged victorious. Until then, the history of naval art had never known anything like this. A small brig - and two battleships. The courage and brilliant skill of the commander, multiplied by the heroism of the sailors and officers, negated the enemy's multiple fire superiority. "Mercury" with the cannonballs of its carronades inflicted heavy damage on the battleships and forced them to abandon the battle. On July 19, 1829, Russian Vice-Chancellor Nesselrode forwarded to Admiral A. Greig a letter from a Turkish navigator who participated in the battle with the brig Mercury.

Turk wrote:

“On Tuesday, approaching the Bosphorus, we saw at dawn three Russian ships, a frigate and two brigs, and we chased them; but not before, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we succeeded in overtaking one of the brigs. Captain Pasha's ship and ours entered into a heated battle with him, and - an unheard of and incredible thing - we could not force him to surrender. He fought, retreating and maneuvering with all the art of war so that we, ashamed to admit, stopped the battle, while he, triumphant, continued on his way. Without a doubt, he lost almost half of his crew, because for some time he was a pistol shot away from us and was getting more and more damaged every minute.

If ancient and modern chronicles show us experiences of courage, then this last one will eclipse all others, and the testimony of it deserves to be inscribed in golden letters in the temple of glory. This captain was Kazarsky, and the name of the brig was “MERCURY”.

It is no coincidence that the outstanding Russian naval commander Admiral V. Istomin had every reason to say about the Mercury sailors:

“Let them look for such selflessness, such heroic value in other nations with a candle...”

Soon after the battle, the Mercury officers were awarded orders and promoted, the sailors received St. George's crosses and pensions. By a special decree, the brig was awarded the stern St. George flag - the most honorable distinction for a ship. In memory of the legendary brig, one of the ships of the Russian fleet began to be called “Memory of Mercury”.

What was a military brig of the early 19th century? First of all, this is a two-masted ship with a straight rig. Brigs are the smallest seaworthy vessels that had naval rigging on two masts. Their tonnage did not exceed 350 tons, length - 30 m, width - 9 m and hold depth - no more than 6 m. The armament of the brigs consisted of 6 - 24 small cannons or carronades placed on the open deck.

The brigs were mainly used for cruising and messenger service. Figure 46 shows the brig Mercury.

Rice. 46 Legendary brig "Mercury"

The ship shown in Figure 47 is very similar to the brig. It is designated by the term brigantine.

Rice. 47 "True Brigantine"

It might seem logical that the word comes from "brig." But this is not entirely true. In the history of shipbuilding, there were two types of brigantines, two completely different sailing ships. For clarity, let’s look at the second volume of “The History of the Ship,” published in 1880 by the Russian naval historian Nikolai Bogolyubov:

“Brigantines” in sailing times were the same brigs, only smaller in size and with weaker artillery. The brigantines of the Mediterranean Sea had two or three single-tree masts with lateen sails and were used mainly by pirates.”

A clearer formulation of the term “brigantine” is given by the Soviet admiral K. Samoilov in his “Naval Dictionary” (1939):

"Brigantine" (brigandtine):

1. Small or medium-sized brig. A vessel with two masts (foresail and mainsail). The foremast is rigged like a brig, and the mainmast is rigged like a schooner. Generally speaking, such brigantine armament is non-standard and can be slightly modified.

2. In the early era of the sailing fleet, from the 16th century, this was the name given to light, fast pirate ships (from the word brigand - robber, pirate) with Latin weapons; later these ships became part of the fleet as messengers and scout ships.

We can conclude that the earlier brigantine got its name from the word “brigand” - robber, the second, later one - from the word “brig”.

However, contrary to established tradition, sophisticated experts on the history of the sailing fleet divide brigantines of the second type into two categories: “true brigantines” and “schooner brigs” (Fig. 48).

Rice. 48 Schooner-brig, or late brigantine

They classify small brigs as “true brigantines”. On their second mast, the large lower rectangular sail - the mainsail - is replaced by a gaff sail, above which there are three rectangular sails of a smaller area on the topmast. Over time, sailors began to classify two-masted ships carrying exclusively oblique sails on the mainmast into the same category.

At first glance, the sailboat shown in Figure 49 looks similar in rigging to a brigantine. But it belongs to the category of schooners. Its sails are slanting. Because of the two straight sails raised on the topmast of the foremast (topsail), the ship is called a topsail schooner.

Rice. 49 Marseille schooner