Two attempts have been made recently by distinguished officers of the Portuguese Navy, Captains Joào Braz d’Oliveira[405] and A. A. Baldaque da Silva,[406] to reconstruct Vasco da Gama’s flagship, or rather to design a ship of a type existing at the close of the fifteenth century, and answering as nearly as possible to the scanty indications to be found within the pages of the historians of this memorable voyage. In this reconstruction good use has been made of an early manuscript on shipbuilding by Fernando Oliveira (O livro da fabrica das Nãos), which Captain Lopez de Mendonça proposes to publish.
The designs produced by the two naval officers differ widely in several respects, and more especially as regards the relation between the total length of the ship and the breadth of beam. In Captain B. da Silva’s ship the beam is equal to one-third of the length, whilst the proportion in Captain J. Braz d’Oliveira’s ship is as one to five. The former of these ships is broad-beamed, as befits the period, whilst the latter is almost as slim as a modern clipper. It must be remembered that, until comparatively recent times, it was held that the length of a sailing ship should not exceed four times the breadth of beam; and this maxim was undoubtedly acted upon by the shipbuilders of the fifteenth century.
Captain Baldaque da Silva’s design of the S. Gabriel has been embodied in a model, and from a photograph of this model Mr. Herbert Johnson has produced the illustration placed in front of this Appendix.
The dimensions of the ship designed by Captain Baldaque da Silvia are as follows:—[407]
Length over all 84.1 feet. Water-line (when laden) 64.0 fi”et Keel 56.7 fi”et Breadth of beam 27.9 fi”et Depth 17.1 fi”et Draught, abaft 7.5 fi”et Dra”ught forward 5.6 fi”et Metocentric height above the water-line (laden) 7.4 fi”et Displacement 178 tons. Tonnage 4,130 cubic feet, or 103 ti”ns
| Length over all | 84.1 feet. |
| Water-line (when laden) | 64.0 fi”et |
| Keel | 56.7 fi”et |
| Breadth of beam | 27.9 fi”et |
| Depth | 17.1 fi”et |
| Draught, abaft | 7.5 fi”et |
| Dra”ught forward | 5.6 fi”et |
| Metocentric height above the water-line (laden) | 7.4 fi”et |
| Displacement | 178 tons. |
| Tonnage | 4,130 cubic feet, or 103 ti”ns |
This, as I learn from a private letter of Captain B. da Silva, is supposed to be the gross under-deck tonnage, but on calculating the tonnage according to the Builders’ Old Measurement Rule, I find it to amount to 230 tons of 40 cubic feet each, whilst the “expeditive” method practised at Venice[408] during the fifteenth century yields 896 botte of 28 gallons, or about 250 toneladas.
The ship was flat-bottomed, with a square stern and bluff bow, the latter ornamented with a figure of her patron saint. Wales were placed along the sides to reduce her rolling when going before the wind. Formidable “castles” rose fore and aft, having a deep waist between them. These “castles,” however, had not then grown to the portentous height attained at a subsequent period, when they rendered it difficult to govern the ship in a gale, and it often became necessary to cut down the foremast and dismantle the forecastle to enable them to keep her head to the wind.
These “castles” were in reality citadels, and enabled the crew to make a last stand after the vessel had been boarded. A notable instance of this occurred in the course of the fight with the Meri in 1502.[409]
The captain was lodged in the castle rising upon the quarter-deck, the officers were accommodated in the room below his and in the forecastle, whilst the men had their quarters beneath the gang boards which ran along the top-sides from castle to castle. The men were each allowed a locker, to contain such goods as they might obtain by barter with the natives. Ladders led from the main deck up to the fighting decks (chapitéo de ré and de vante) of the two castles, and these were defended against boarders by nettings. The tiller of the rudder entered the battery abaft the captain’s apartments, where also stood the binnacle. The armament consisted of twenty guns. The lower battery of the “castle” rising on the quarter-deck was armed with eight breech-loaders made of wrought-iron staves, held together by hoops and mounted on forked props. The upper battery held six bombards, and the forecastle the same number.[410] We may at once state that the men carried no firearms. Their arms included cross-bows, spears, axes, swords, javelins, and boarding-pikes. Some of the officers were clad in steel armour, whilst the men had to be content with leather jerkins and breast-plates.