On August 21st in the year of our Lord 1607, a
group of Englishmen began construction on the first vessel built by Europeans
in the New World. She would make her maiden
voyage on the Kennebec River in what was then Massachusetts
Territory and is now the sovereign
state of Maine.
Her builders would name her Virginia,
after Elizabeth I, and her type would be recorded as a pinnace. Exactly what sort
of pinnace, for there were several over the course of history, is open to
debate. Two possibilities stand out in particular, so let us explore them both.
The first type of pinnace built by Europeans would probably
be more recognizable to modern historians as a small galleon. This sturdy,
useful vessel was originally built by the Dutch, who called her a pinas. These ships were used mostly for
the merchant round from the British Isles, around the Iberian Peninsula into
the Mediterranean and back. You can see a
modern replica here.
According to the Chatham Dockyard website, the first pinnace
of the galleon class built in England
was named Sunne and launched in 1586.
Shipwrecked evidence leads to the conclusion that the British may have been the
first country to use the galleon-built pinnace as a warship. An English
pinnace, probably from the early 17th century and carrying 12 matching
cannon, was found in 2009.
This type of ship-rigged, three masted vessel was also
popular with the buccaneers of the Caribbean
during the age of Laurens de Graff and Henry Morgan. Its shallow draft and
light construction – the ships were often made of pine, which may be the origin
of their name – made them ideal from men who were more interested in plundering
on land than sailing on wave.
Another type of pinnace was being built in the same era, and
its small frame and ease of design make it a more likely candidate as a
descendant of Virginia. These were a sturdy ship that
must more properly be called a boat and resembled the illustration at the
header. Rowed with eight oars or propelled by sails on one or sometimes two
masts, this pinnace would become a staple among large ship’s boats in the Great
Age of Sail.
These smaller pinnaces were most often used as a tender by
larger ships. They were utilized for provisioning, as mail packets, to run men
or messages between ships at sea and to carry parties of men ashore when
necessary. They were extremely popular with smugglers in Europe
and their construction may in part have influenced the pirogue, built in the
American south and used for much the same purpose.
This second type of pinnace, a smaller, lighter, less cumbersome
invention, was probably what the Puritans at the mouth of the Kennebec River
put together in 1607. It was only a matter of time, however, until larger ships
were turned out from dockyards along the Atlantic coast. Still, the small but
mighty pinnace continued and is still in use today.
Header: An American
Pinnace in Virginia
1584 by Seth Eastman c 1850 via Wikipedia
2 comments:
I think you are probably right about which type of pinnace they built, Pauline. Not that I would know, but it does seem to make more sense that it would be the "smaller, lighter, less cumbersome" version than the galleon type for sailing on the river.
That's my thought, too. I could be totally off base, however. I certainly have been before...
Post a Comment