tumultuous journey across the Atlantic. They departed London on 20 December 1606 and did not arrive in Virginia until May of 1607. How many today would consider signing on for that voyage of nearly 150 days, most of them spent on the high seas . . . in this vessel? Conditions were cramped (144 men and boys were loaded onto a vessel only 65 feet long; 40 died during the voyage). At the tim e, however, Godspeed, Susan Constant and Discovery represented more than a thousand years of progress in ship construction. The three ships successfully completed the voyage under less than ideal conditions because each carried within her the evolution in ships and boats, from early dugouts and log canoes, to Egyptian reed vessels, to G reek, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Viking, Venetian, Genoese, and Northern E uropean ships. As expeditions from the Old World were sent out on trading, military, and exploration voyages, the techniques of shipbuilding were refined to address the challenges they met on the seven seas. Godspeed is steered by a tiller connected to a hinged rudder in the center of the ship's stern. Her hull is shaped to ride over the waves instead of plowing through them. On her three masts, she sets square sails attached to, and handled with, rigging that reflects the northern seafaring tradition dating back to the Viking ships from the eighth century. Square sails were a perfect tool for the original Godspeed to catch the Trade Winds as she sailed so uth
Sailmaker Nat Wilson and Rockport Marine Project Manager John England examine the rig from the deck of the newly launched Godspeed in 2006
SEA HISTORY 119, SUMMER 2007
(left to right) Godspeed, Discovery, and Susan Constant. The three replicas of the original Jamestown ships of 1607 will highlight the maritime story behind the founding of the first permanent English settlement in North America. from London towards the Canary Islands ro pick up those steady westerly winds that wo uld allow her to sail along a measured latitude. There wo uld be no accurate means to calculate their longitude to give them a good fix because the chronometer had yet to be perfected that could work at sea. As elementary as ships and navigation may seem to us today, the "Age of Exploration and Discovery" was only possible because of the development of the full-rigged sailing ship. Ships were the most complex technological creations of the late medieval and Renaissance period of Western history, more complex than cathedrals, castles, and windmills. Fragile by today's standards, the ships that sailed during this age, and the men and (later) women aboard them, were tough. They had to be, in order to survive the journey and subsequent settlement. The ships did their job and performed remarkably well considering the missions they undertook. Any structural failure of the ship would have had catastrophic results. Why build a replica of a ship that no longer has a place in the practical world
of enterprise and commerce? Why devote thousands of hours of research to guide the construction of a more accurate Godspeed or other vessel? Because we need to know what challenges our forefathers faced, what they devised to overcome those challenges, and the courage they possessed. You can know this best by standing where they stood, pulling lines to raise sails as they did, surrendering co ntrol of propulsion and course, save by the direction the winds blew. You might have to sail for days, even weeks, in a direction other than where you want to go because the winds and currents dictate. You must tack, and tack again, to reach your destination. Until the discovery and understanding of the Gulf Stream, that great river in the ocean that pushes up from the Caribbean along America's Atlantic coast and then sweeps eastward to Europe, explorers battled to beat their way back to Europe against the natural order. Godspeed experienced all those forces. Today's Godspeed confronts us with the success of our forebears in mastering the navigation of the
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