Re: Galleys, not Galleons

robert casey wrote:

Wonder why they designed those ships that way. Were they trying to create "floating forts"? People at the top of the tall hull could
shoot arrows down into the enemy?

Absolutely. The idea was to create castle-like structures that could be
used for both offensive and defensive purposes.

The forward structure was called the forecastle (from which we get
the modern term fo'c's'le or focsle) and the after portion was called
the aftercastle. To this day, AX is an abbreviation for quarterdeck.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forecastle for additional details.

--
Dave Michelson
davem@xxxxxxxxxx


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Galleys, not Galleons
    ... People at the top of the tall hull could ... shoot arrows down into the enemy? ... ships that had towers built like land castle towers? ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: Galleys, not Galleons
    ... People at the top of the tall hull could shoot arrows down into the enemy? ... Wonder if the sailors on the victorious king's ship were able to figure out and reproduce that trick. ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: Did Japanese navy have to call off Midway landing?
    ... defensive purposes to protect the U.S. coast from attack by enemy ... warships, to fly missions from the U.S. and to bomb enemy warships from ...
    (soc.history.war.world-war-ii)