In the XIII XV centuries, a new type of vessel spread in the north of Europe - kog. It was a high-sided vessel with straight fores and sterns and one deck. Cog carried one mast with a straight sail. A distinctive feature of the koga was the hinged rudder, the most important achievement in shipbuilding.

At the stern and bow there were high platforms with crenellated railings - warriors were placed on them if necessary. Later, the space under the aft platform was sewn up from the sides, forming a room where the first cabins were located, sometimes with windows in the walls.

Kog was the main type of merchant ship of the Hanseatic League. The emergence and development of the kog, capable of sailing on the high seas, had a strong influence on the further development of ships.

The proposed model of the kog bears the insignia of the Polish city of Elbląg (1350).

The dimensions of the ship are:
overall length 27 m
waterline length 20.5 m
width 7.5 m
draft 3.0 m

Before starting work, carefully examine the drawings and understand the design of all the details. Decide on scale. To obtain a scale of 1:100, the side of the square in Figure 1 should be 2 cm, and for a scale of 1:50 4 cm. If the model is floating, it is better to take a scale of 1:50.

For the body, pick up two bars of dry wood future halves of the body. Cut them off from the side and cut them in plan according to Figure 1. Glue the keel, stem and stern made from planks between the blocks obtained. Work with a knife and a chisel on the sides in accordance with figures 2 and 3. Remember that the hull is made only up to the deck, without a bulwark.

Hollow out the body of the floating model from the inside, soak it with hot drying oil, draw a patter line after drying. After placing the model on the floor, load it with lead or other ballast so that it sits 2-2.5 cm above the waterline, and fix the ballast.

Cut out the deck from two pieces of 3mm plywood and fix it on the hull with glue and nails. Cut the bulwark out of plywood or cardboard and attach it to the sides with glue and nails so that its lower edge covers the junction of the hull and deck (see Fig. 3). After that, proceed to the final painting of the hull and bulwark inside and out, lacquer the deck, make a hatch and windlass out of wood blocks (Fig. 5).

While the model dries out, make the bow and stern platforms from plywood along with their railings: make the steering wheel with tiller, as well as the vertical bars on the sides, from scraps of planks, support the rear platform from wood blocks. After preparing these parts, assemble them on the body according to figures 1, 4 and 7.

Make a mast, yard, bowsprit and flagpoles, lacquer and install in place according to Figures 1 and 7. Attaching the yard to the mast is shown in Figure 6. Make shrouds, stays and other gear from thick threads, twisted if necessary , several times.

Sew a sail, flags, a pennant and lace them in place.

Model coloring:
underwater part of the hull black-brown or black
freeboard brown
bulwark outside green-white
bulwark from inside red
feed platform support brown
platform railings red
decks, masts, yards, flagpoles natural wood color under lacquer
flagpole tips gold

The sail is white or yellowish, the flags and pennant are red and white (a red cross on a white background and a white cross on a red one).

Y. KAZAKOV, Odessa

This is the rarest case when a copy ship built today exactly repeats (at least in terms of hull) the original, no less, but 600 years ago.

In 1962, during earthworks on the banks of the Weser River, not far from Bremen, the relatively well-preserved remains of the hull of a medieval ship were discovered. Experts at first glance determined that this was a single-mast cargo cog of the Hanseatic League, built no later than the 14th century. Conventionally, it was dated 1380. The find was of great interest, since neither descriptions nor any reliable images of this classic for its time and widespread in Northern Europe seaworthy sailboat were at the disposal of scientists.

Archaeologists separately removed 550 details of the crumbling hull from the ground, conserved them for a number of years to prevent further decay of the wood, and then assembled the hull of the cog and exhibited it in the German Museum of Shipping (Bremerhaven). Along the way, the idea was born to build an exact copy of this ship to test the seaworthiness of old sailboats.

In June 1987, the main drawings were ready and entered the E. Ratie shipyard in Kiel. The work was supervised by Uwe Baikowski and Eng. V. D. Khohaysel (from the museum mentioned above). All labor-intensive work, reproducing the technological methods of the distant past, was carried out by hand, and this provided a significant number of jobs for local youth.

On October 30, 1989, the "Bremen Cogg" was launched, after which it took about two years to equip and equip it in accordance with the modern requirements of the German Lloyd. In particular, a 278-horsepower MWM Deutz V8 diesel engine was installed.

The ship "Ubera von Bremen" was not only used by shipping historians for comprehensive experiments that confirmed the good seaworthiness of sailing coggs and their suitability for fairly long sea voyages, but also continues to be used as a pleasure excursion. It makes short sailing trips (sailing!), taking up to 50 passengers. At the same time, those who wish are happy to take on the embossing of the most “natural” medieval windlass (a prototype of a halyard winch) and raise a massive 14.6-meter yard with a direct sail with an area of ​​192 m 2 onto a 25-meter mast. To work with braces and sheets, a manual capstan was installed on the aft deck.

What was the found vessel that served as the basis of this cogg?

The main features of his body:

The main characteristics of the vessel are as follows: overall length - 23.23 m, length along DWL (without rudder) with a maximum draft in cargo - 18.1 m. Overall width - 8.37 m, deck width - 6.46 m. 1.4 m, stern - 1.9 m. The volume of the hold, which occupies the entire length of the hull, is about 160 m 3. Hull weight - 51.8 tons. Displacement in ballast - 91.1 tons, in cargo - 127.8 tons.

By the way, the measurement of weight and carrying capacity in tons does not at all contradict historical truth. The fact is that in the Middle Ages, when transporting liquid cargo (of course, not in bulk, but in containers), it was the ton (tonne) that was taken as the unit, equal to the weight of a large barrel filled with wine, which was transported on a wagon drawn by a pair of horses (in our measures is just 1000 kg).

Prepared using data from the magazine "Badnyt" (No. 12, 1996) and the websites of the German Shipping Museum and "Ubera von Bremen".

Notes

1. According to volume 2 of the Marine Encyclopedic Dictionary, the name of this type of ships comes from the ancient German word "Kugg" - convex. It is known that three copies of the Hanseatic cog were built, differing little from one another.

Sailing ships of medieval Europe

Vessels of this type were called differently: naves, buzy, kilsy, ​​hulki. A distinctive external feature of the naves are rounded in the bow and straight in the stern, high raised stems. We are talking about vessels with one mast. The use of a hinged rudder made it possible to confidently walk on tacks. This was helped by an increase in the draft and carrying capacity of the vessel.

On the ships there were shrouds with faded lines, an anchor, in shape approaching the Admiralty. The carrying capacity of such a ship slightly exceeded 200 tons. Tack clamps, lined with durable wood, served to guide the tacks, which were strong cables, which, unlike the sheet, did not have tackles. The stays and numerous rigging gear are carried to the stern. The nave had asymmetrical extensions to the stern and bow superstructures. They were probably made as additional accommodation for the knights who used such vessels for the crusades. The fences of the superstructures were decorated with armorial shields of knights.

In the Middle Ages, the military and merchant fleets of Venice were the most powerful and numerous in the Mediterranean. During the period of the Crusades (1096-1270), Venice was the main supplier of naves, which could take on board up to 1500 people.

Buzo is one of the types of naves. Such ships were built in the 13th-14th centuries, in particular in Venice and Genoa. They were quite large, so they were reinforced with transverse and vertical beams.

In subsequent centuries, the design of these ships was constantly changing, and by the beginning of the 16th century, the Venetian four-masted nave had a completely perfect hull shape and significant dimensions: maximum length 28.7 meters, length 25 meters, maximum width 8.36 meters, draft up to 3 meters, displacement of about 600 tons.

Venetian nave.

The fore and main masts carried direct sails, the second main and mizzen mast were latin. The total sail area was over 770 square meters. Such sailing equipment made it possible to walk rather steeply towards the wind. Large naves, unlike other ships, had several anchors (up to 7) to prevent demolition during moorings.

cogg

Kogg appeared and for a long time remained the main type of vessel of the Hanseatic League. Hansa cogs had a great influence on the development of sailing ships in Northern Europe.
This is a high-sided single-masted deck vessel with a length of up to 30 m, a width of up to 8 meters, a draft of 3 m, and a carrying capacity of up to 200 tons. On the mast, made up of several logs assembled and fitted into a single trunk, one rake rectangular sail with an area of ​​150-200 m2 was raised. The sides were convex (in ancient German Kugg means convex), the stems were straight, beveled to the keel line. The aft superstructure (achtercastle) was structurally connected with the hull. A platform with a toothed fence was attached to the sternpost. The stern area occupied about half the length of the vessel. Below it was a room with an entrance from the deck, and cabins, in the side walls of which windows were sometimes cut through. The stem ended with an inclined mast - a bowsprit, which served to stretch the sail in front.

Hanseatic three-masted cogg of the 15th century.

In the second half of the 15th century, the Hanseatic cogg was further developed. Two-masted coggs appeared, and later three-masted ones. Their displacement was 300-550 tons. To protect against attacks by pirates and enemy ships, the Hansa had crossbowmen and several bombers on merchant ships. From the beginning of the 16th century, in addition to merchant ships, military cogs were built, which escorted merchant ships at sea crossings. They installed 20 or more bombards laid on wooden carriages. The length of the military coggs was 28 m, the width was 8 m, the draft was 2.8 m, and the displacement was 500 tons or more. Strongly developed superstructures were still located at the stern and in the bow of both commercial and military coggs. The fore mast and the main mast, slightly inclined towards the bow, carried one rectangular sail each, in mizzen - a slanting sail. In the Mediterranean, there were sometimes two-masted coggs with slanting sails.

The first documentary written mention of the cog dates back to 948. During the X-XV centuries, the design of the cog was continuously improved. During the XII-XIV centuries and more than 200 years, the cog was the main sea vessel of the Hansa.

Hanseatic cogs were, as a rule, single-masted, but in the second half of the 14th century, a type of three-masted cogg appeared - hulk, or hulk.
The assembly time of one vessel is estimated to be three years on average. The main building material is oak wood. Massive structural elements (beams) were sawn from oak trunks, and not cut down, as in Viking ships. For the thickest beams, low-grade wood was used, which significantly reduced the overall cost, and, accordingly, the durability of each ship.

Straight keel, short hull - the ratio of the length of the keel to the width of the hull was approximately 3:1. An almost straight, rather steep sternpost, as well as a high-bored plank hull with clinker (“vnakra”) sheathing and an open deck.

In the 12th century, for the first time in the history of European navigation, a rudder appeared on coggs, attached to the sternpost, equipped with a tiller. Prior to this, the steering oar served as the rudder of the ship.

A characteristic feature of the coggs was the high serrated superstructures on the forecastle and poop, designed to accommodate an armed team, slingers and shooters from bows and crossbows. The mast on the North European coggs was one, with one direct sail.

A characteristic feature of the cog is the hinged steering wheel. In the bow and stern of the vessel, superstructures were built with a serrated fence for protection, they housed soldiers and guns. In the presence of a keel, the vessel is practically flat-bottomed, due to the increased width of the middle part of the hull.
Kogg - the main type of ship of the Hanseatic League. This is a high-sided, decked, single-masted (later double-masted) vessel with a powerful hull set. A characteristic feature of coggs is a hinged rudder and straight stems, strongly beveled to the keel line. The maximum length of the vessel is 30 m, the length along the waterline is 20 m, the width is 7.3 m, the draft is 3 m, the carrying capacity is up to 200 tons.

A raked straight sail with an area of ​​180-200 m2 was raised on a mast made up of several logs assembled and fitted into a single trunk. The aft superstructure (achtercastle) was structurally connected with the hull. A platform with a toothed fence was attached to the sternpost. The stern area occupied about half the length of the vessel. Under it there was a room with an entrance from the deck, and cabins, in the side walls of which windows were sometimes cut through. The stem ended with an inclined mast - a bowsprit, which served to stretch the sail in front. Hansa cogs had a great influence on the development of sailing ships in Northern Europe.

The model was assembled in 2012 (manufacturing time 4 months), my second model. Material oak seasoned (more than 50 years - used parquet). Scale 1:50. Model dimensions length 600mm, height 650mm, width 320mm. A cut was made in the side for an overview of the interior ..... since a merchant vessel has a hold with cargo - barrels, bales, bags ...........

You can look in detail at the neighboring forums -Sail, Free swimming, Serikoff.

Bremen cogg

In the XIII century. on the territory of Europe, a unique “interstate formation” arose - the Hanseatic League (abbreviated as Hanse, Hanse). It was a trade and political alliance of the cities and guilds of Northern Europe and was called upon to protect the trade interests of its members from greedy feudal lords, all kinds of pirates and corsairs, the desire of local authorities to profit at the expense of foreigners. At various times, the Hanseatic League included more than 200 European cities from 10 different states, and the free city of Lübeck can be considered its center.

The Hanseatic people quickly achieved a dominant position in trade in the North and Baltic Seas. Their merchant ships carried out a significant part of the traffic in the waters of Northern Europe - from Novgorod to London.

One of the most common types of ships in the period of the XIII-XV centuries. became cogg: a strong seaworthy vessel with a high side and a small ratio of length to width. The word "kogg", according to popular belief, comes from the ancient German "Kugg" (convex). Historians tend to consider coggs the direct heirs of the Norman freighters (primarily the Knorrs). Indeed, there were enough common features: the keel was made from one solid tree trunk, the sheathing was made “in the cut”, the only mast was installed almost in the middle of the hull and carried one straight sail. However, there were also numerous differences. Whereas Viking ships had rounded stems, coggs had straight stems and sterns. The first of them had an oblique about 50° to the horizon, the second - 70-75°. A very important innovation should be considered the appearance of a rotary rudder, located in the diametrical plane and suspended from the rudder post. The tiller was displayed in the aft superstructure or passed over the upper deck. The sail area has noticeably increased, even on early coggs it was 180-200 m2 (for comparison: on the ship of William the Conqueror - about 70 m2). All sailing equipment, despite the similarity, became not only larger, but also more perfect - bowlini appeared, mast fastening became more reliable. Even early coggs could walk at sharper angles to the wind. The straight stem made possible first the retractable and then the permanent bowsprit. The greatest length of coggs in the XIV century. reached 30 m, waterline length - 20 m, width - 7.5 m, draft - 3 m. The carrying capacity was also quite significant - up to 300 tons. There were also superstructures on the cogs. At the same time, the stern - aftercastle - was structurally connected with the hull and was part of it, and the bow - forcastle - was in some way a “blotch” on the hull. Platforms with a fence were usually equipped on superstructures, there were arrows in battle - archers and crossbowmen.

Bremen Cogg. Modern copy

Over time, coggs turned into three-masted ships with a carrying capacity of up to 500 tons (and in some cases even more). In the XV century. guns were mounted on them. In general, we can safely say that the prosperous maritime trade of the Hansa is largely due to the merits of the cog, which proved to be excellent both as a warship and as a trading and fishing vessel. However, very little was known about these ships for a long time. Even the appearance of the kog was restored mainly from the images on the seals of coastal cities. Historians were helped by chance: in the early 1960s. In Germany, work began on expanding the channel of the Weser River in the Bremen port area. In 1962, during these works, an old vessel was discovered, relatively well preserved. When it was possible to clear it of deposits and carefully examine it, it became clear that this was exactly the cogg. The work continued for quite a long time, in total, more than two thousand different fragments were raised from the bottom of the Weser.

The vessel had the following dimensions: total length - 23.4 m, keel length - 15.6 m, width - 7 m, side height - 3.5 m. Sternpost length - 5 m, stem - 8.4 m. about 130 tons. The keel, as it was supposed to be at that time, was one-piece, the hull set included 40 frames. The outer cladding was clinker ("overlapped"), the cladding boards had a length of 8 m, a width of 0.5 m, and a thickness of 5 cm.

German scientists suggested that the ship was intended for fishing. So, on both sides of the stem, he had devices for laying nets. In a room in the stern, devices were found, almost certainly intended for butchering fish. It also became clear to archaeologists that the cogg sank unfinished. He had unfinished skin, the bow superstructure was not installed, there was no mast in the right place (its parts were found separately, they managed to establish an approximate height of 12-13 m above deck level). Most likely, the ship was washed away during a flood or a strong storm, lay on the bottom and was buried under a thick layer of sediment.

The reconstruction of the vessel was carried out very carefully, the wood was impregnated with a special solution to prevent rot and destruction. They also performed a dendrochronological analysis, which showed that the wood used for the construction was cut down around 1378-1380. In the process of work, many interesting discoveries were made. For example, it became clear that the protrusions visible on the seals in the upper part of the sides are the ends of the beams protruding beyond the skin. After completion of the work, the ship was transferred to the German Maritime Museum (Deutsches Schiffahrtmuseum) in Bremerhaven, where a special room was equipped for it.

In Germany, a copy of the Bremen Cogg was built, called "Ubena von Bremen" ("Ubena von Bremen", callsign DFDT). This ship successfully sails in coastal waters, attracting a lot of attention. Often, various foreign delegations become guests of the ship. For example, when in June 2002 he arrived in Kiel for the celebration of the Kiel Week, he was visited by representatives of the Russian Hansa society. In the summer of 2011, Ubena von Bremen visited Rostock and, hopefully, will make many more trips. The operation of the copy ship made it possible to establish that the maximum speed of the cogs could reach 7.5 knots, and the average speed in moderate winds was 5.8 knots.