Ship Types in the Age of Sail - Sloops, Brigs, Frigates and Ships of the Line

Today we look at the classifications of ships in the Age of Sail in the Royal Navy, a system that has become shorthand for the whole era, at least in the English speaking world.

Sources:

[Backwardlooking]

As a teenager in the sixties I read C.S. Forester’s Hornblower and other historical novels which featured all of those vessels. They are still relevant and enjoyable today. 👍🏻

[Big_E_Soul_Fragment]

"Ship designations could be incredibly confusing"
*looks at modern navies* Ah, nothing changed then

[Cbabilon]

Very enjoyable video but it was also so confusing I don't think I could ever remember all of the terminology for all the ships even if I tried😅😅. That's why I'm glad we have such a professional that does this channel😊

[alanlawson]

A masterful summary indeed! This is almost a YouTube version of reading the first Aubrey/Maturin novel, which gently draws you in to the arcana of living and working in the great age of sail - and I can't be more complimentary than that.

[yourstruly]

"Ships sail on water, mylord."

[michaelsnyder]

An interesting side story. In the 1790s, in order to get more hulls in service, the RN bought about a dozen East India merchantman on the stocks and modified them into two deckers. The East Indiamen were usually built with an armed quarterdeck and a gun deck. In the more insecure times, the gun deck could be armed instead of used for cargo or passenger cabins. This meant that they could be converted by putting gun ports into their main deck in place of cargo. But even though the decks were reinforced, these ships suffered from hogging and sagging decks. This was countered by putting carronades on the original gun deck. One of these ships was armed with all carronades and the story is that coming into action with a French frigate and firing a broadside from the gun deck only, the French captain surrendered after seeing the size of the shot coming from the gun deck and didn't wait to see what would come from the main deck. What made these ships further interesting was their size. They ranged from the size of the standard RN 64-gun ship of the line to being fully equal in size to the largest French frigates and the American "big three" 44s. Armed as 64s and 56s, they would have made a formidable opponent to these frigates, but as East Indiamen, their fuller lines as merchant ships reduced their speed such that they would have found it hard to bring these frigates to battle. As it was, because of their merchant build and the quality of wood used to finish them to meet the emergency of the RN having to fight the French, Spanish and Dutch navies at the same time. Still, they formed a significant part of Duncan's fleet at Camperdown.

[LoganShmogan]

Was pondering the origin of "frigate" recently. Quite a convenient video for such questions, and far more as usual!

[waynemayo]

The amount of research you had to do is impressive. Thank you.

[baalzeebub]

I KNOW I’m one off who’s asked you this question over the years, Drach. Thanks so much for answering it!!! Now I’ll have to watch it 3-4 times to get it straight.

[larsdejong]

To add; the easiest way to distinguish a carrack from a galleon, is by the bow: a carrack has the forecastle extending beyond the bow, a galleon does not. Instead, a galleon has a separate platform sticking out. (Which is also called a galleon, confusingly enough)

[transvestosaurus]

Note that ships with oars could move against the wind, were extremely manoeuvrable and capable of turning on the spot (where turning a sailing ship was a much more difficult and ponderous operation, with a turning circle in the hundreds of metres) and could even outspeed sailing ships in a sprint (when naval wisdom held that larger ships capable of spreading more sail were faster than smaller ones).

[DrivermanO]

At 32.52 you show a picture of HMS Pickle. This was the vessel that brought the news of Nelson's death at Trafalgar back to England, because she was fast. Incidentally, she was purchased into service in 1801 from private, previously known as Sting. wrecked in 1808. You may also find the books of Richard Woodman enjoyable. The principal character, Nathaniel Drinkwater, commanded a bonb vessel at Nelson's battle of Copenhagen. They are very well written and based on fact, rather like Sharpe and Flashman!

[crazyeyez]

"It's not a schooner, it's a sail boat!"
Lol. Sorry, couldn't resist 😂

[scott]

Very useful video, Drach. The visuals were very helpful in displaying the changes to the various rates in terms of size, crew, and standard armaments (hoping that spreadsheet will be available for download…). The increases in broadside weight were impressive, especially for the “smaller” rated ships, which helped those ships punch above their weight when necessary.

[Captain_Tumbleweed]

I'm currently reading 'Post Captain' from Patrick O' Brian, so this video is very informative :)

[Self-replicating_whatnot]

"This is my pinnace. It is long, hard and full of english seamen" - Francis Drake, probably.

[watcherzero]

Probably worth adding the 3rd rate was the main workhorse ship undertaking many scouting and combat patrol missions detached from the fleet while the 1st and 2nd rates tended to either be mothballed between conflicts or stick together in the battle fleet either offensively or defensively deployed against the main enemy fleet concentration.

[dmkiovy]

that was good. But you do a follow up about the ship's boats? Such as gigs, cutters and launches. That would be very much appreiciated thanks.

[crackmuppet]

I think this might be my favorite intro music yet! I think it fits the rythm of the video intro very well!

[troo_]

The new opening themes are goddamn epic