What kind of ships were used to travel in the british islands and channel?

[brachy-pride]

How did they cross the channel , or from Britain to Ireland, before the age of oceanic travel in the XVI century....in celtic times roman times, medieval times ?

What kind of ships were used?

 

[BEHIND_THE_MASK]

How did they cross the channel , or from Britain to Ireland, before the age of oceanic travel in the XVI century....in celtic times roman times, medieval times ?

What kind of ships were used?

Boats... Galleys and such, just make-shift stuff Im betting.

 

[ParkCungHee]

The distance across the Channel really isn't much. In many places you can litterally see the opposite shore when standing on the beach. The distance between Ireland and England is even less. Its not really that surprising, less then the distance across the mediteranian.

 

[Plotinus]

There would have been flat-bottomed coracle-type things for river travel. The descendants of these are still used, in the form of punts, although punts are now used almost exclusively for leisure (the pleasure-punt was invented in the nineteenth century, and working punts hardly exist now).

For sea travel they would have used boats that were essentially less advanced versions of Viking ships. The same basic building principle, with wooden ribs supporting a slatted wooden skin, but smaller and less sturdy.

The idea of large ships with wide keels and deep drafts developed only in Renaissance times.

 

[Dragonlord]

How did they cross the channel , or from Britain to Ireland, before the age of oceanic travel in the XVI century....in celtic times roman times, medieval times ?

What kind of ships were used?

The Celts had coracles - think leather over wooden frames - which were seaworthy enough for such short voyages. In Roman and Medieval times there were seagoing ships - where do you get the idea that oceanic travel only started in the XVI century? The Phoenicians explored down the west coast of Africa, the Vikings travelled all the way to America in the XI century...
And, BTW, most of the voyages of discovery you are probably thinking of were in the XV century, not the XVI. Columbus 'discovered' America in 1492, De Gama and others were earlier.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

this
thread
is
worthless
without
pics

Some pics would be nice.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

Here is a database of european shipwrecks. Some of them are Roman found along the coast of the United Kingdom, Guernsey, etc... there are some Bronze Age boats too.

http://www2.rgzm.de/Navis/Home/Frames.htm

 

[soul_warrior]

this
thread
is
worthless
without
pics

Some pics would be nice.

corracle.
i wouldnt want to cross the channel in one of these....

galley:
now this is more like it.
available since early times (pre roman)
those oars enable control of direction, thus MUCH safer passage across the pond.

better now?

 

[Heretic_Cata]

better now?

Much beter.

Now that's really scarry.

 

[1889]

How about a picture of the English Channel then? It looks really small so I can guess the current is pretty strong, but as long as you don't have enemy war ships trying to stop you is crossing it really a big deal?

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

How about a picture of the English Channel then? It looks really small so I can guess the current is pretty strong, but as long as you don't have enemy war ships trying to stop you is crossing it really a big deal?

Well people swim across the channel...

 

[TrailblazingScot]

With a support team to pick them up if things go wrong

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

With a support team to pick them up if things go wrong

Wimps

 

[soul_warrior]

the English channel map.
notice how wide it is over at the Atlantic side, AND the North Sea Side

Spoiler for large pic :

More info:

The Strait of Dover is the narrowest part of the channel, being only 34 km (21 mi) from Dover to Cap Gris Nez

that Sir, is quite narrow for a sea.

WIKI LINK

cant find solid statistics, but i recall the channel's (and i lived near it for a few years) weather to be darn bad.
thats wet, cold, and VERY WINDY.
as in force 7-10 gales.
thats HURRICANE FORCE....

 

[Plotinus]

The English Channel hardly ever has winds of hurricane force. Certainly the wind is very strong up on the cliffs of Dover (which I was almost blown off, on a horribly wet and windy dawn last December) but that's because they are high. The weather in the Channel is no worse than that over any sea in the area, and in summer it's perfectly fine. If it were really that bad, the Straits of Dover wouldn't be the busiest stretch of sea in the world!

 

[Mirc]

Seen that from the plane!

 

[Plotinus]

Blimey, what was your cruising altitude?

 

[Mirc]

Blimey, what was your cruising altitude?

Well, it was... umm... a bit lower. But you could easily see both sides.

 

[soul_warrior]

The English Channel hardly ever has winds of hurricane force. Certainly the wind is very strong up on the cliffs of Dover (which I was almost blown off, on a horribly wet and windy dawn last December) but that's because they are high. The weather in the Channel is no worse than that over any sea in the area, and in summer it's perfectly fine. If it were really that bad, the Straits of Dover wouldn't be the busiest stretch of sea in the world!

true, true,
but it does get that bad in winter.
gale winds of a force 6+ are not that rare. (in winter)
and that is more than enough to sink your galley.

its a very good thing that us Britons always (yes,i am excluding the 1066 debacle, as well as the roman invasion) had a proper navy, and load of luck.
otherwise we'd all be French

back on topic, its still rather hard to make a any kind of crossing, unless its in good weather.
and that is rare enough out there.
notice how many successful invasions of britain have been effective.
and its not for lack of trying.

as far as i know, the only people to actually managed a sustained invasion were the Scandinavian (Danes, Norwegians and some Germans)
but they had killer boats!
and were mostly non hostile (demanding tribute once in a while is not aggressive. sacking your town is)

 

[ParkCungHee]

If I recall correctly, only three cross channel invasions in History.