The meaning of the word schooner. Types of ships: names with photos What is a schooner
English A ship with two masts tilted back. Explanation of 25,000 foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language, with the meaning of their roots. Mikhelson A.D., 1865. SCHOONER see SCHOON. A complete dictionary of foreign words that came into use in... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
- (Schooner) a sailing ship with two or more masts and predominantly slanting sails. Sh. has two types of weapons: one for transport ships, the second for yachts; both have two masts (foresail and mainsail). Transportnaya Sh. (Marseille Sh. or ... ... Maritime Dictionary
Golet Dictionary of Russian synonyms. schooner noun, number of synonyms: 4 balau (1) Germanism ... Synonym dictionary
- (from the English schooner) a sailing ship (from 2 to 7 masts) with oblique sails. In the 19th century so-called topsail and topsail schooners with 2-3 straight sails (usually on the foremast) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
And schooner, schooner, wives. (Dutch. schoener) (mor.). A sailing wooden ship with two or more masts. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
SCHOONER, s, female. A sea vessel with slanting sails. Two-masted, multi-masted highway. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
schooner- (obsolete shuna), pl. schooners, kind. schooner... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language
schooner- a sailing ship with two or more masts, armed with oblique sails. In the 18th and 19th centuries they were part of sailing fleets as messenger ships and had up to 16 cannons. Modern schooners have a length of 22-28 m, equipped with an internal combustion engine... Marine Biographical Dictionary
SCHOONER- a sailing ship with from 2 to 7 masts with slanting sails on all masts. Modern sailboats are equipped, in addition to sails, with an internal combustion engine; The wooden million steel body has a length of 20 to 30 m... Big Polytechnic Encyclopedia
1) a sea-going sailing vessel with 2–7 masts carrying only forward sails (gaff schooner) or forward sails on all masts and straight top sails (topsails) on the bow mast (topsail schooner). 2) Self-propelled sailing or motorized fishing vessel... ... Encyclopedia of technology
Books
- Schooner, . In order for a child to grow up diversified, he needs to constantly acquire new knowledge. It is common knowledge that children learn best through play. Toys of the company "VGA"…
- Schooner "Zora", Yu. Usychenko. Schooner "Zora"…
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 the real history of the 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 introduce the reader to 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 the 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 on a 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 that, films 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).
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 a full square rig of 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 Flint's 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 at full courses, losing speed and, accordingly, increasing the duration of the voyage . 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, a straight sail made it possible to somewhat reduce yaw when moving into the backstay (i.e., with a tailwind on the course), 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 hold for cargo, which had a hatch into the space below deck, which was also a hold; the stern, where the galley and the 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 flat (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-pound 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.
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 a wave of air powerful enough 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 cannons with a caliber of 1 - 2 pounds,
and a nine-pounder gun. True, it is not clear - why roll along the deck a relatively light cannonball that 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 in metal with asbestos gaskets (to avoid fire) and that radar equipment be installed on the masts, which would be incompatible with the appearance of the 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, which starred in several films, perished with its captain and one of the crew in October 2012 off the coast of North Carolina during Hurricane Sandy.
Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
After World War I, when there was a shortage of merchant ships, the Americans, possessing excellent timber, built many wooden schooners of various sizes, having from three to five masts.
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Literature
- Lovyagin R. M.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
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Excerpt characterizing the Schooner
- I, Count, am from headquarters. Have you heard of Raevsky's feat? - And the officer told the details of the Saltanovsky battle, which he heard at headquarters.Rostov, shaking his neck, behind which water was flowing, smoked his pipe and listened inattentively, occasionally glancing at the young officer Ilyin, who was huddling next to him. This officer, a sixteen-year-old boy who had recently joined the regiment, was now in relation to Nikolai what Nikolai was in relation to Denisov seven years ago. Ilyin tried to imitate Rostov in everything and, like a woman, was in love with him.
An officer with a double mustache, Zdrzhinsky, talked pompously about how the Saltanov Dam was the Thermopylae of the Russians, how on this dam General Raevsky committed an act worthy of antiquity. Zdrzhinsky told the story of Raevsky, who led his two sons to the dam under terrible fire and went on the attack next to them. Rostov listened to the story and not only did not say anything to confirm Zdrzhinsky’s delight, but, on the contrary, had the appearance of a man who was ashamed of what was being told to him, although he did not intend to object. Rostov, after the Austerlitz and 1807 campaigns, knew from his own experience that when telling military incidents, people always lie, just as he himself lied when telling them; secondly, he was so experienced that he knew how everything happens in war, not at all the way we can imagine and tell. And therefore he did not like Zdrzhinsky’s story, and he did not like Zdrzhinsky himself, who, with his mustache from his cheeks, according to his habit, bent low over the face of the one to whom he was telling, and crowded him into a cramped hut. Rostov looked at him silently. “Firstly, at the dam that was attacked, there must have been such confusion and crowding that even if Raevsky brought his sons out, it could not have affected anyone except about ten people who were near him, - thought Rostov, - the rest could not see how and with whom Raevsky walked along the dam. But even those who saw this could not be very inspired, because what did they care about Raevsky’s tender parental feelings when it was about their own skin? Then, the fate of the fatherland did not depend on whether the Saltanov Dam was taken or not, as they describe it to us about Thermopylae. And therefore, why was it necessary to make such a sacrifice? And then, why bother your children here, during the war? Not only would I not take Petya with my brother, I would not even take Ilyin, even this stranger to me, but a good boy, I would try to put him somewhere under protection,” Rostov continued to think, listening to Zdrzhinsky. But he did not say his thoughts: he already had experience in this. He knew that this story contributed to the glorification of our weapons, and therefore he had to pretend that he did not doubt him. That's what he did.
“However, there is no urine,” said Ilyin, who noticed that Rostov did not like Zdrzhinsky’s conversation. - And the stockings, and the shirt, and it leaked under me. I'll go look for shelter. The rain seems to be lighter. – Ilyin came out, and Zdrzhinsky left.
Five minutes later, Ilyin, splashing through the mud, ran to the hut.
- Hooray! Rostov, let's go quickly. Found! There’s a tavern about two hundred paces away, and our guys got there. At least we’ll dry off, and Marya Genrikhovna will be there.
Marya Genrikhovna was the wife of the regimental doctor, a young, pretty German woman, whom the doctor married in Poland. The doctor, either because he did not have the means, or because he did not want to be separated from his young wife at first during his marriage, took her everywhere with him in the hussar regiment, and the doctor’s jealousy became a common subject of jokes between the hussar officers.
Rostov threw on his cloak, called Lavrushka with his things behind him and walked with Ilyin, sometimes rolling through the mud, sometimes splashing in the subsiding rain, in the darkness of the evening, occasionally broken by distant lightning.
- Rostov, where are you?
- Here. What lightning! - they were talking.
In the abandoned tavern, in front of which stood the doctor’s tent, there were already about five officers. Marya Genrikhovna, a plump, fair-haired German woman in a blouse and nightcap, was sitting in the front corner on a wide bench. Her husband, a doctor, was sleeping behind her. Rostov and Ilyin, greeted with cheerful exclamations and laughter, entered the room.
This type of vessel originated in Northern Europe. The first image of a schooner dates back to 1628. Interest was shown in it in the 17th century. English and Dutch shipbuilders, and in the 18th century. American masters. During hostilities, the British used the schooner as a messenger ship.
The schooner was a small ship. It was usually operated by a crew of several people. The schooner had two or three masts. The sailing rig was gaff. The bowsprit carried two triangular sails - a jib and a boom jib. The fork staysail was the third sail. In the event that two topsails were built on the foremast instead of a topsail, the schooner was called a topsail. These ships were mainly used in the merchant fleet. In the 19th century the number of masts on schooners was increased, and sails were installed only in oblique shape.
In the history of shipbuilding, the schooner "Thomas W. Lawson", named after the famous American writer, became famous for its original design. It was created in 1902 at the Ford River and Engineering Company shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.
The ship had a steel hull and 7 masts. Its parameters were as follows: length 112.5 m, width 15 m; full draft 10.5 m; gross tonnage 5,218 register tons (1 register ton equals 2.83 m3); lifting capacity 7,500 t; sail area 4000 m3.
The schooner's cargo spaces were divided into tweendecks by three decks. Six of the ship's holds had large watertight cargo hatches. Each hold space was equipped with a steam winch located on the main deck. With the help of winches, sailors set and lowered topsails and stacks - small sails.
The bow and stern of the schooner were equipped with three high-power steam winches. They were used when setting up and launching large heavy trysails. It should be noted that the sailing rig of the Thomas W. Lawson was a rather impressive picture. Each mast rose 40.5 m above the deck. The metal structure was additionally equipped with a pine topmast 17.5 m long.
The schooner's crew consisted of only 18 people. American shipbuilders equipped the ship with another new feature. The rudder blade, which was enormous in size, was shifted from one side to the other using a steering machine. Thanks to this, the schooner's helm could be controlled by one person.
Unfortunately, the fate of the Thomas W. Lawson was very sad. The schooner belonged to the Couswise Transporation Company and brought considerable income to its owners. But its construction also cost the tycoons a tidy sum, equal to a quarter of a million dollars.
On November 19, 1907, the ship was loaded with 6,000 tons of kerosene in tin containers and sailed from Philadelphia to London. From the very beginning of the journey, the schooner was pursued by stormy winds. However, Captain Georg Dow was a professional in his field and confidently led the Thomas W. Lawson to its intended goal. The smooth operation of all mechanisms was ensured by mechanic Edward Rowe.
8 For many weeks, the harsh Atlantic Ocean battered the beautiful schooner. All life-saving equipment (rafts, boats) were broken, 19 sails were damaged. Despite everything, the ship moved forward along the set course.
The fateful day was Friday, December 13th. A north-westerly force of 9 on the Beauford scale brought the schooner dangerously close to the Bishop Rock rocks of the Scilly Archipelago (the distance was no more than one mile).
Later, experts calculated that the captain would have been able to avoid the dangerous place if the sailing rig had been in order, but six sails, unfortunately, did not provide the schooner with the required speed. Fearing that the ship would be thrown onto the rocks, George Dow ordered the sails to be removed and the Thomas W. Lawson was placed on two anchors. As a result, he turned his nose towards the wave.
The ship in distress was spotted from the St. Mary's and St. Agnes lighthouses, and flares were used to signal the crew that help was on the way. Lifeboats were able to approach the ship only at noon, but one of them soon returned to shore due to damage caused by storm winds.
The captain and his crew refused to leave the schooner, as they were sure that the position of their ship was still far from critical. On the advice of the boat commander, Georg Dou took local pilot William Hicks on board.
In the evening, tugboats approached the schooner. The lifeboat was forced to return to shore due to increasing winds. However, the commander previously agreed with the captain that in the event of a break in the anchors of the Thomas V. Lawson, he would definitely give a signal with a rocket.
On the shore they watched the condition of the ship with alarm. At about three o'clock in the morning, all the lights on the schooner suddenly went out, but the signal was not followed. Trying not to assume the worst, everyone decided that the rescue ships that had arrived during the day were towing the Thomas W. Lawson to a port of refuge. However, the pungent smell of kerosene carried by the wind cast doubt on this. Pilot Hicks's son quickly assembled a crew of eight and took a six-oar boat out into the stormy sea. On a small rocky island they discovered the bodies of three dead sailors. Soon they found the schooner's chief sailor, George Allen. Fortunately, he was alive and told about what happened on the ship.
From him, the rescuers also learned that Captain Doe and mechanic Rowe should be nearby. They were discovered on Hellweathers Rocks. Having recovered from the shock, the sailors said the following. At night, the anchor chains holding the ship suddenly broke one after another, and the schooner quickly drifted onto the rocks. Realizing that the situation had become hopeless, the captain ordered to put on rescue bibs and climb the masts.
Soon the ship hit the reefs, and the entire cargo from the destroyed cans began to flow overboard. The hull of the schooner broke under the action of the raging waves, and the sailors found themselves in the depths of the sea. As a result, out of 18 crew members, only three survived. Among the dead was pilot William Hicks. Senior Seaman George Allen died of his wounds two days after the wreck of the giant schooner Thomas W. Lawson.
The sinking of the ship was widely covered by the media. Journalists even drew a parallel between the title of Thomas Lawson's book “Friday the Thirteenth” and the time of the disaster that occurred in December 1907 of the same date, on the same day of the week.
Such large schooners were never built again. Three-masted ships became widespread.
It should be noted that at the end of the 19th century. schooners were not driven out of the sea by power-driven vessels. Shipowners preferred to send cargo that did not require urgent delivery on sailing vehicles on water, since they did not require fuel and were, accordingly, more economical than steamships.
SchoonerThe former librarian of the British Admiralty, L. G. Carr Lufton, pointed out in his work that the characteristic rigging of a schooner is two gaff sails and a headsail. In addition, he notes that already in 1630 prototypes of schooners without a headsail were used in Holland. In 1780, Falconer's Universal Nautical Dictionary defined a schooner as "a small two-masted vessel, the main sail and foresail being suspended from gaffs passing under the booms, the stern ends of which are attached to the iron surrounding the mast so as to rotate about an axis, the rear the ends move first to one side or the other of the ship." The word probably comes from the Scottish schoon, meaning to slide on water. The word "schooner" was first recorded in February 1717 in a Boston newsletter.
The schooner was a small ship. It was usually operated by a crew of several people. The schooner had two or three masts. The sailing rig was gaff. The bowsprit carried two triangular sails - a jib and a boom jib. The fork staysail was the third sail. In the event that two topsails were built on the foremast instead of a topsail, the schooner was called a topsail. These ships were mainly used in the merchant fleet. In the 19th century the number of masts on schooners was increased, and sails were installed only in oblique shape.
The narrow hull and large sail area made them fast; the typical schooner speed with a tailwind exceeded 11 knots. The schooner's draft was also shallow, which allowed 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 drawback 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.
Most schooners were two-masted. But at the end of the 18th century there was a version of three-masted schooners, which were often called "Tern Schooners". The first such schooner used in the navy was the Revenge. Built in Baltimore in 1805, this schooner was later renamed Flying Fish by the Admiralty. Its characteristics are: length - 79 feet (24 m), width - 22 feet (7 m) and weight - 150 tons. Armament: 10 twelve-pound carronades.
Schooners were first used as warships during the Seven Years' War of 1755 - 1763 (the period of the wars with the French and Indians). The first schooner built by the Americans for the Royal Navy was a ship called Barbadoes. On 15 March 1757, she was acquired by a flotilla under Moore, stationed at English Harbour, Antigua. Barbadoes was 80 feet long, 22 feet wide, had a draft of 9 feet, and weighed 130 tons. The ship carried fourteen 3-pounder guns and probably approximately the same number of rotary cannons. The important role that schooners played in coastal waters is confirmed by the following fact. In 1763, Captain James Cook (later famous for being the first known European to land in Australia) was given command of the war schooner Grenville, in which he was to explore the eastern shores of what is now Canada. He did this for four years, and every winter he had to cross the North Atlantic Ocean. Schooners were not included in the fleets of other European powers until the 1760s.
Undoubtedly, the most famous class of schooners is the Baltimore Clippers. Built in the early 1800s, these ships had a number of features that set them apart from other schooners. All of them were about 100 feet in length, their mainmast was offset to the stern, and the foremast was almost equal in height to the mainmast. All of these schooners had a heart-shaped midsection and a sloped rear. The first known Baltimore clipper was the British schooner Berbice, built in Virginia in 1798. It was shorter than its later-built relatives, reaching a length of only 73 feet. Her beam was 21 feet, her draft was 9 feet, and her weight was 100 tons. Armament consisted of eight 4-pounder guns and four rotary cannons. The heyday of the American version of the Baltimore clipper dates back to the War of 1812, when ships of this class managed to capture over 500 British ships.
The most famous American schooner used as a privateer (private armed vessel) was the Prince de Neufchatel. Built in New York in 1812, she had the following characteristics: length - 110 feet (34 m), beam - 26 feet (8 m), draft - 12 feet (4 m) and weight - 328 tons. Armament - 2 six-pounder pursuit guns and 16 twelve-pounder carronades (short-barreled guns, named from the Scottish "Carron"). She was not converted into a merchant ship, but was created as a privateer. The project turned out to be successful - the Prince De Neufchatel was superior to at least 17 British warships. The schooner turned out to be so successful that on October 11, 1812, its valiant crew disabled the British 40-gun frigate Endymion in a naval battle.
In 1902, the Americans managed to build a seven-masted schooner with a metal hull, the Thomas W. Lawson. Her characteristics: length - 370 feet (113 m), beam - 50 feet (15 m), draft - 35 feet (11 m) and weight 5218 tons. The schooner was so horribly poorly handled that someone once described her handling as “like a beached whale.”
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