She Was Too Large For The Lateen Rig, So Prevalent In
The Mediterranean, Except Upon Her Mizzenmast, Where It Was No Doubt
Employed.
The chief differences which appear in the several "counterfeit
presentments" of the historic ship are in the number of her masts and
the height of her poop and her forecastle.
A few make her a brig or
"snow" of the oldest pattern, while others depict her as a full-rigged
ship, sometimes having the auxiliary rig of a small "jigger" or
"dandy-mast," with square or lateen sail, on peak of stern, or on the
bow sprit, or both, though usually her mizzenmast is set well aft upon
the poop. There is no reason for thinking that the former of these
auxiliaries existed upon the MAY-FLOWER, though quite possible. Her 180
tons measurement indicates, by the general rule of the nautical
construction of that period, a length of from 90 to 100 feet, "from
taffrail to knighthead," with about 24 feet beam, and with such a hull
as this, three masts would be far more likely than two. The fact that
she is always called a "ship" - to which name, as indicating a class,
three masts technically attach - is also somewhat significant, though the
term is often generically used. Mrs. Jane G. Austin calls the
MAY-FLOWER a "brig," but there does not appear anywhere any warrant
for so doing.
At the Smithsonian Institution (National Museum) at Washington, D. C.,
there is exhibited a model of the MAY-FLOWER, constructed from the ratio
of measurements given in connection with the sketch and working plans of
a British ship of the merchant MAY-FLOWER class of the seventeenth
century, as laid down by Admiral Francois Edmond Paris, of France, in his
"Souvenirs de Marine." The hull and rigging of this model were carefully
worked out by, and under the supervision of Captain Joseph W. Collins
(long in the service of the Smithsonian Institution, in nautical and
kindred matters, and now a member of the Massachusetts Commission of
Inland Fisheries and Game), but were calculated on the erroneous basis of
a ship of 120 instead of 180 tons measurement. This model, which is upon
a scale of 1/2 inch to 1 foot, bears a label designating it as "The
'MAYFLOWER' of the Puritans" [sic], and giving the following description
(written by Captain Collins) of such a vessel as the Pilgrim ship, if of
120 tons burthen, as figured from such data as that given by Admiral
Paris, must, approximately, have been. (See photographs of the model
presented herewith.) "A wooden, carvel-built, keel vessel, with full
bluff bow, strongly raking below water line; raking curved stem; large
open head; long round (nearly log-shaped) bottom; tumble in top side;
short run; very large and high square stern; quarter galleries; high
forecastle, square on forward end, with open rails on each side; open
bulwarks to main [spar] and quarter-decks; a succession of three
quarter-decks or poops, the after one being nearly 9 feet above main
[spar] deck; two boats stowed on deck; ship-rigged, with pole masts
[i.e. masts in one piece]; without jibs; square sprit sail (or water
sail under bowsprit); two square sails on fore and main masts, and
lateen sail on mizzenmast."
Dimensions of Vessel. Length, over all, knightheads to taffrail, 82
feet; beam, 22 feet; depth, 14 feet; tonnage, 120; bowsprit, outboard, 40
feet 6 inches; spritsail yard, 34 feet 6 inches; foremast, main deck to
top, 39 feet; total length, main [spar] deck to truck, 67 feet 6 inches;
fore-yard, 47 feet 6 inches; foretopsail yard, 34 feet 1 2 inches;
mainmast, deck to top, 46 feet; total, deck to truck, 81 feet; main yard,
53 feet; maintopsail yard, 38 feet 6 inches; mizzen mast, deck to top, 34
feet; total, deck to truck, 60 feet 6 inches; spanker yard, 54 feet 6
inches; boats, one on port side of deck, 17 feet long by 5 feet 2 inches
wide; one on starboard side, 13 feet 6 inches long by 4 feet 9 inches
wide. The above description "worked out" by Captain Collins, and in
conformity to which his putative model of the "MAY FLOWER" was
constructed, rests, of course, for its correctness, primarily, upon the
assumptions (which there is no reason to question) that the "plates" of
Admiral Paris, his sketches, working plans, dimensions, etc., are
reliable, and that Captain Collins's mathematics are correct, in reducing
and applying the Admiral's data to a ship of 120 tons. That there would
be some considerable variance from the description given, in applying
these data to a ship of 60 tons greater measurement (i.e. of 180 tons),
goes without saying, though the changes would appear more largely in the
hull dimensions than in the rigging. That the description given, and its
expression in the model depicted, present, with considerable fidelity, a
ship of the MAY-FLOWER'S class and type, in her day, - though of sixty
tons less register, and amenable to changes otherwise, - is altogether
probable, and taken together, they afford a fairly accurate idea of the
general appearance of such a craft.
In addition to mention of the enlargements which the increased tonnage
certainly entails, the following features of the description seem to call
for remark.
It is doubtful whether the vessels of this class had "open bulwarks to
the main [spar] deck," or "a succession of three quarter-decks or poops."
Many models and prints of ships of that period and class show but two.
It is probable that if the jib was absent, as Captain Collins believes
(though it was evidently in use upon some of the pinnaces and shallops of
the time, and its utility therefore appreciated), there was a small
squaresail on a "dandy" mast on the bowsprit, and very possibly the
"sprit" or "water-sail" he describes. The length of the vessel as given
by Captain Collins, as well as her beam, being based on a measurement of
but 120 tons, are both doubtless less than they should be, the depth
probably also varying slightly, though there would very likely be but few
and slight departures otherwise from his proximate figures.
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