Virginia pinnace

= Pinnace Virginia - Earliest Sailing Ship Built in America =

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/User:Merlynne6

The first recorded ship of noteworthy size built in America is the
Pinnace 'Virginia'. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20060813220652/http://www.mainesfirstship.org/cfm/maineship/virginia.cfm 'Virginia'.] Retrieved on Aug.31, 2008] As plans of early 17th century sailing vessels have not yet been found, reconstructing Virginia is a challenge. [ [http://www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org/shipbldg.html reconstructing Virginia] Retrieved on Sept.1, 2008] There is a very small sketch of the Virginia [ [http://www.penobscotbayhistory.org/image_popup/show/1767 very small sketch of the Virginia] Retrieved on Sept.1, 2008] on J. Hunt's 1607 map of Ft. St. George in Popham, Maine, showed a sketch of a pinnace, thought to be the Virginia that was built at the Popham colony in 1607-1608. Built at Fort St. George and the Popham Beach Colony (Sagadahoc), a locality now in southern Maine, Virginia was launched in 1608 and is the first ocean going ship built in the New World. After this date, the Virginia made two voyages that brought settlers to the Jamestown colony in Virginia [ [http://www.wayfaring.com/maps/show/2526 and she continued active travel until 1610.] Retrieved on Sept.22, 2008] How her coastal rigging would have been changed for a cross Atlantic voyage is not yet understood. Plans with rigging for a plausible reconstriction of Virginia [ [http://www.mainemaritimemuseum.org/research/MMMvesselplanscatalog.pdf with a plausible rigging] Retrieved on Sept.1, 2008] are available for purchase at the Maine Maritime Museum.

Likely, Virginia was less than 50' with a beam of 14'6", a flush main deck that drew approximately 6'6" fully loaded, and a free board of less than 2'. For [ [http://www.mainesfirstship.org/Resources/outboardprofile.jpgcoastal sailing, Virginia] Retrieved on Sept.3, 2008] would likely have been rigged as a modified barque with a square rigged main mast, a much smaller second mast that was gaff rigged, and a small square sail under the bowsprit. The main mast on many pinnaces may have been large enough to carry a small topsail. An aft-rigged mizzen mast carries a sail that in John Walker's drawing of the Virginia when rigged for a trans Atlantic voyage resembles a lateen sail more closely than a spanker. "For coastal work, Virginia would have used a fore and aft rig with a spirit mainsail and one headsail."For comparison, the [ [http://www.virginiasdescendants.com/historyandfamilies/1606-1607vavoyage.htm pinnaces Godspeed and Discovery] Retrieved on Sept.2, 2008] were two of the three ships in a small fleet that brought 105 settlers to Virginia in 1606-1607 and they weighed 40 and 20 tons respectively. (The third ship was the 100 ton barque Susan Constant.)

Possible Origins for Pinnace Design

There are some resemblances between the pinnace and the much larger Fluyt, a three-masted, square-rigged merchant ship of the 17th century. Fluyts were built by the Dutch to be economical in operation, carrying the largest cargo and smallest crew possible. Fluyt's could be 80' long and weigh in excess of 200 tons. They had a wide, box-like hull and a very narrow, high stern. Lightly armed with perhaps a dozen cannon, they were not ideally suited for dealing with pirates and privateers or any other armed conflict but there are journal records of pinnaces in early America involved in small sea battles.

There are also some general resemblances to the rig used on the [ [http://website.lineone.net/~dee.ord/Golden.htm Hooker] Retrieved on Sept.1, 2008] The "Howker"as it was often called in England was also called by the French a "Houcre" or "Hourque "and by the Dutch "Hoecker", was another type of small merchant vessel used in the coastal waters of Northern Europe. The hooker was a vessel that varied according to locality or time and some had pole masts, while others had the more usual separate mainmast and topmast, with tops, shrouds and the rest. All of the hookers had bluff rounded bows and sterns, with a high rudder and tiller fitted over the bulwarks. Length could be 85' or less, tonnage as much as 120 tons. It seem possible that both the fluyt and hooker influenced the design of the pinnace which was a common ship, and usually present in the small fleets that brought colonists to the earliest English colonies in the New World. A pinnace is frequently mentioned in the records of such voyages which have often been uncovered by genealogical research and published as such on the web, see External Links below.

16th and 17th Century Pinnaces and English Shipbuilding

* [http://www.penobscotbayhistory.org/content/show/527 The pinnace Virginia page at the Penobscot Marine Museum]

* [http://www.mainesfirstship.org/virginia1.html Building a replica of the Virginia]

* [http://www.mainemaritimemuseum.org/research/MMMvesselplanscatalog.pdf Plans catalog of historic boats and ships at Maine Maritime Museum]

* [http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/361/361-19.htm 16th century English pinnace]

* [http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/sundry/sundry.htm The pinnace Lions Whelp, Duke of Rochester's privateer, 1628]

* [http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/staff/saj/thesis/baker.htm Mathew Baker and the Art of the Shipwright (in German). Baker was royal ship builder under Elizabeth I. "His Fragments of Ancient Shipbuilding' (1586) is considered a ground breaking work and invaluable for the study of 16th century shipbuilding.]

* [http://www.pilgrimhall.org/PSNote28.htm 17th century English ships]

* [http://www.pilgrimjohnhowlandsociety.org/shallop_elizabeth_tilley.shtml 'Whole Moulding', shallops and small ship building in the 17th century] _____

Early Voyages to New England, Maryland and Virginia in which a pinnace is mentioned

* [http://davisbeantrees.home.comcast.net/~davisbeantrees/id35.htm 'Relation' concerning Captain James Davis (1580 - 1623) and the early settlement of New England & Virginia.]

* [http://www.angelfire.com/pe/shirleyspage/ashmore.html 'Relations' and tales about early colonists in the mid-Atlantic Colonies and sea battles between the adventurers of Maryland and Virginia Colony. Four pinnaces are mentioned by name.]

Footnotes