May 10, 1800: The experimental five-masted schooner Transit was launched to some acclaim at Chichester, England. It would be another quarter of a century before the multiple masted ships would catch on.Though I could not find a painting of Transit proper, the lovely schooners above (from Annapolis Marine Art Gallery) give a nice feel for the potential power behind so many sails.
Ahoy, Pauline! Interesting post and a beautiful picture... Transit must have been a very large ship, Pirate Queen.
ReplyDeleteAhoy, Timmy! You'd have to think so on the face of it, but schooners tended to be surprisingly light. The other surprising thing is how little information there is available on Transit. I believe she just wasn't taken seriously at the time of her launch.
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