Warships and their story

by R. A. Fletcher

Photograph by special permission of the Japanese Imperial Naval Commissioners.

The Japanese, who pursued a policy of isolation until they were forced to admit Western influences, were as conservative in their shipping as in everything else. Their trading junks were all built to pattern, externally and internally, decreed by the authorities, and no deviation from it was permitted. In their warships, however, a greater variety of design was allowed. As early as the fifteenth century they had sea-going ships carrying cannon, a weapon derived at some time, perhaps, in the unrevealed past, from the Chinese after the latter conferred upon the Japanese the Chinese system of writing, a religious system, and other evidences of Celestial superiority. There were several types of these war galleys, some of which are here illustrated. The vessels shown were generally very strongly built with a displacement of about 200 tons. They were propelled by over one hundred and fifty oars, and their gun positions had bulwarks about 4 feet high, protected by thick wooden shields. A smaller type of vessel, also in use at that time, may be called a protected galley. They were very small vessels, displacing only about 25 tons each. They were nearly flat-bottomed, but had a top covering, or hood, made of metal sheets, which extended from side to side and almost from end to end, like a turtle back. Their guns were mounted inside the cover and fired through small ports cut through the sides of the vessel itself. These boats were two-ended; that is, of similar shape at either end, so that they could travel either end foremost, and they had a curious tunnel constructed along their bottoms in which a peculiarly shaped paddle-wheel was revolved by manual power for the propulsion of each vessel. The Japanese warships increased in size and ornamentation until the Ataka Maru was built. She is of more than ordinary interest, as she was the last and the largest of the old native warships built for the Japanese Government before the adoption of Western methods. She was 180 feet long by 63 feet beam and 22 feet depth, and was propelled by one hundred and thirty oars. Her armament consisted of five heavy guns and a number of smaller weapons, and her vital parts were protected by copper sheathing. The Japanese, as already stated, probably obtained their knowledge of explosives and firearms from the Chinese, and a few years ago repaid the obligation by giving the Chinese most instructive lessons in the superiority of modern methods and weapons.

One of the oldest vessels, and at the same time one possessing characteristics supposed to be essentially modern, is the Arab dhow. It is as old as the days of Alexander the Great in its chief features, and in the fineness of the lines of its hull, its seaworthiness, and its general handiness is not unlike the Viking ships, and is equal to anything of similar size that the average modern builder could produce with the same materials. They are employed in gun-running, smuggling, and the slave trade, when, more legitimate cargoes are lacking or not sufficiently remunerative.

The Siamese were among the Eastern nations who took kindly to the sea, and were able to use their warships to some effect. Thus, about two hundred and fifty years ago, when a European power, depending upon its superior strength, took forcible possession of the island of Junk Seylon, the King of Siam of that day ordered the “immediate building of six warships, each carrying ten guns with pattaroes, and well manned and fitted with small arms.” These vessels were built in one month, and this emergency mobilisation and the fighting orders were all to be obeyed under penalty of death and forfeiting of estates, the latter penalty being added no doubt to prevent the expectant heirs of a warrior depriving his majesty of the latter’s services.

CHAPTER III

THE INTRODUCTION OF ARTILLERY, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF
WARSHIPS TO THE APPLICATION OF STEAM FOR NAVIGATION

Sails having proved their superiority over oars as a means of propulsion, and sailing ships with seaworthy qualities being fairly numerous, the world was ready for a great revolution in naval warfare. The warriors also were about equally divided in the matter of attack and defence in hand-to-hand encounter. When man first became dissatisfied with his own strength for hurling weapons at his foes he set to work to devise a means of overcoming this difficulty. His earliest weapon for this purpose was most likely the sling. Bows and arrows held their own in land and sea warfare for many centuries. Various forms of catapults were introduced by the Romans and others, and remained in use for some hundreds of years for hurling heavy stones into the partly decked ships of their opponents to sink them. The mysterious liquid known as Greek fire, the use of which has already been explained, was, in the method of its employment, a form of artillery. It was to the naval warfare of those days what the explosive shell is to modern warfare.

The Moors are credited with having introduced firearms into Western Europe at the siege of Saragossa in 1118 A.D., when they had artillery of some sort; and they are stated to have used the agency of fire to throw stones and darts in their defence of Niebla at a later date. The nature and origin of the firearms and fire machine have not been ascertained definitely. Did the Moors derive their knowledge from the East? They had Eastern connections. Mortars were used in China in the eighth century, which fired large stone balls, and by the twelfth century the Chinese had “wall pieces” or siege guns. They employed explosives in war before the Christian era. These events were certainly long before Western Europe discovered how to make gunpowder.

Cannon, as the term is now understood, was introduced about 1330. Edward III. is credited with having possessed cannon in 1338, but historians differ as to whether he employed cannon of any kind at the battle of Sluys, in 1340, or in any of his later naval engagements. Arrows and stones were the chief missiles; the English relied on their famous cross-bows, and the French upon machines for hurling stones. The latter sent several English ships to the bottom.

The battle of La Rochelle, in 1372, when a combined Spanish and French force defeated the English, is probably the first naval battle in which cannon were used, as some of the Spanish vessels are said to have carried a few. Artillery was certainly used at sea shortly after the middle of the fourteenth century by the Mediterranean countries. The Venetians found it effective against the Genoese in 1377, and its use became very rapidly general from the Levant to Spain.