# How did old sailing ships maneuver? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307 "2010-11-11T14:57:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/1 "2010-11-11T14:57:59Z")
My son is building a model of the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides”. This got me to thinking, how did these ships maneuver themselves? There was, and is, transatlantic trade. However, the winds primarily blow from west to east. So, how did the ships make the voyage from Europe to the New World? Is there some way to rig the sails so that the wind propels you in the direction you want to go even if the wind is actually blowing the other direction? When the ship got to harbor, how was it safely maneuvered up to the dock? There were no tugboats and the ships themselves obviously did not have bow and stern thrusters. Would a sudden gust of wind send the ship crashing through the pier? So, in short, with wind being a variable source of power, how were people able to get where they were going with some reasonable degree of safety and reliability? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/2 "2010-11-11T15:05:37Z")
Same way as modern sailing ships do: the basic, non-sailor’s answer is by a combination of the rudder and the sails, with the rudder providing (mainly) direction and the sails providing speed. Even those with “fixed” sails can use them to direct the ship, and while sailing straight into the wind can end in dead sails pretty easily (flopping and not pushing you anywhere), sailing diagonally into the wind is easy enough. If your route would take you straight into the wind, what you do is zigzag around that direction, so that the zig and zag compensate for each other and end up taking you where you want to be. For large ships and harbors, manoeuvering into a dock would be directed by the harbor’s own pilot, not by the ship’s. Check out some windsurfing videos. There is no rudder (the person acts as the rudder by leaning into/pressing down with his feet on the table to make it turn in the same way that planes do) but following how that single sail is used is easier than doing so in a video of a clipper. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/3 "2010-11-11T15:12:45Z")
Google ‘tacking’ or [http://www.gosailing.info/Tacking.htm](http://www.gosailing.info/Tacking.htm) > **[Tacking (sailing)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacking_(sailing))** > > Tacking or coming about is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing craft (sailing vessel, ice boat, or land yacht), whose next destination is into the wind, turns its bow toward and through the wind so that the direction from which the wind blows changes from one side of the boat to the other, allowing progress in the desired direction. Sailing vessels are unable to sail higher than a certain angle towards the wind, so "beating to windward" in a zig-zag fashion with a series of tacking maneuver A ... Explains how to sail into the wind… ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/4 "2010-11-11T15:24:40Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > Is there some way to rig the sails so that the wind propels you in the direction you want to go even if the wind is actually blowing the other direction? The answer to that is beating. Contrary to what one might think, sailing ships are fastest not when the wind comes from straight behind, but when it comes sideways at a 90° angle; with smaller angles than 90°, you can still go ahead quite comfortably. If you want to travel into the direction the wind is blowing from, you can’t do that directly; you can, however, sail at some angle, say 45°, to that, do this for a while, then make a turn, and keep doing this, zig-zagging across the ocean. Might sound complicated, but the graphics in [this Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacking_(sailing)) should make the idea clear. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/5 "2010-11-11T15:27:45Z")
I think that a lot of people see the old sailing vessels and just notice the big square sails, and fail to notice the main and jibs. Those are the ones that do the primary work of getting around a good 270 degrees of direction. The big square sails act more like spinnakers. Question, though – through what range of direction are they useful? Surely they can’t be used close-hauled? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/6 "2010-11-11T15:32:26Z")
BTW, the old square riggers couldn’t point up into the wind very well. Fore and aft rigs are better in this regard, but square rigs were better at running before the wind, and working cargo ships in the age of sail had the trade winds and westerlies to take advantage of, sailing east in the lower latitudes, and west in the upper if at all possible. Your typical modern day small sloop rigged sailboat manages about 45 degrees off the wind close hauled. They might actually do a bit better, but 45 is convenient - it means that when you tack, you’re making a right angle. Look directly to your left or right over the high side rail - that’s the way you’ll be headed after the tack. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/7 "2010-11-11T15:33:45Z")
I would add that modern sailboats can sail a lot closer to the direction of wind than the old square riggers, and back in the day they would sail at different latitudes where the prevailing winds were more favorable to the direction they were heading. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/8 "2010-11-11T15:37:18Z")
Besides all the answers above that show how you can manuver (tack/wear and beat, which I mainly know from the Horatio Hornblower books) > [@](#): > > There was, and is, transatlantic trade. However, the winds primarily blow from west to east. So, how did the ships make the voyage from Europe to the New World? They don’t though. The winds are circular depending on the season, and the one’s from Africa to South America blow east to west, while at higher latitudes they blow west to east. These were called Trade Winds IIRC, and depending on the season you could sail a triangle from Europe to Africa to the New World and back again. -XT ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/9 "2010-11-11T15:42:21Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > I would add that modern sailboats can sail a lot closer to the direction of wind than the old square riggers, and back in the day they would sail at different latitudes where the prevailing winds were more favorable to the direction they were heading. The figure I’ve heard is that the old square riggers couldn’t manage less than 60 degrees off the wind, at best. If they really HAD to follow a course in a direction directly into the wind, it was extremely slow going, zigging back and forth at a very shallow angle. There were many various rigs, of course, and various “hermaphrodite” (mixed square and fore/aft) rigs were popular. Ability to point into the wind was one of the tradeoffs to be considered. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/10 "2010-11-11T18:22:04Z")
In addition to trade winds already mentioned, the main part of the gulf stream ocean current circulates in a clockwise loop around the middle Atlantic. Not fast, but people were more patient in the age of sail. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/11 "2010-11-11T18:30:54Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > There was, and is, transatlantic trade. However, the winds primarily blow from west to east. So, how did the ships make the voyage from Europe to the New World? Check out the Wikipedia article for [Trade Wind](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_wind) and it’s map of prevailing wind directions. North America –\> Europe, winds from the west. Closer the Equator, winds from the east, Africa –\> the Caribbean. That’s part of what made the US slave trade profitable. Start in Africa, pick up slaves. Take the tradewinds to the Caribbean, trade the slaves for sugar cane or rum. Sugar and rum go to either the US colonies or Europe, where they are traded for manufactured goods, which are taking back to Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/12 "2010-11-11T19:37:07Z")
It seems like all the pictures you see of square-riggers have the yards (the horizontal beams the sails hang from) exactly perpendicular to the hull, but they don’t have to be. There are lines called braces that are attached to the ends of the yards and extend aft and down to the side of the hull. If you haul on the port braces and ease on the starboard, you turn that whole stack of sails to catch the wind and propel yourself in the right direction. Take a look at these [two](http://www.muppetlabs.com/~eric/picton_castle_2_12.jpg) [pictures](http://www.muppetlabs.com/~eric/picton_castle_2_13.jpg), you can see the yards are turned to catch the wind coming from the starboard quarter. > [@yabob](#): > > The figure I’ve heard is that the old square riggers couldn’t manage less than 60 degrees off the wind, at best. That’s the number I’ve heard as well, from people who definitely know. As for getting in to harbors, if the approach was directly upwind, you couldn’t just sail in. You’d lower a boat and they take a rope, row forward and tie the end to a piling. The crew on deck would wrap that rope around the capstan ([here](http://www.muppetlabs.com/~eric/picton_castle_2_11.jpg), bottom left) and essentially winch themselves forward. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/13 "2010-11-11T19:57:43Z")
Here’s a [picture](http://www.muppetlabs.com/~eric/picton%20018.jpg) that shows the braces a little better. The ship is tied up to a pier (the red shack is on the pier, the pale yellow is the ship) and the picture is looking toward the bow. Just on the left edge, near the bottom, are three lines tied to the side of the ship, and they go up and forward to the yards. (The top two braces are close together, the lowest one doubles back through a couple pulleys.) Those are the first lines you learn on a ship, along with how to haul, ease, and tie them off while working as a team. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/14 "2010-11-11T22:12:31Z")
Thanks for the pictures and explanations. That last pic, **RobertArm** makes me cold just looking at it. It would not have been fun working on the mooring of that ship. So, suppose now I’m on a warship pursuing the enemy. The enemy has gotten out in front. Are there things that I can do to catch up and come alongside? I want to launch a volley from my starboard cannons. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/15 "2010-11-11T22:43:00Z")
It’s not necessarily easy, or even possible. But some hulls will cut through the water better than others, and even if your ships are of identical design, you may have an edge if you have been able to scrape off the weed and barnacles recently. Longer waterlines spell higher speed, and so does more sail, so a two-decker “seventy-four” could often run down a frigate - and outgunned her handsomely too - she was a bigger ship and could spread more sail. Again, you might have to trim your ship for best results; if any weight you’re carrying is unevenly distributed, you might be down by the stem or the stern, and make slower progress than if you were properly balanced. But it’s an old maxim that “a stern chase is a long chase”. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/16 "2010-11-11T23:44:42Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > Thanks for the pictures and explanations. That last pic, **RobertArm** makes me cold just looking at it. It would not have been fun working on the mooring of that ship. Yeah, that was a chilly one, but IIRC, we set sail the next day. > [@](#): > > So, suppose now I’m on a warship pursuing the enemy. The enemy has gotten out in front. Are there things that I can do to catch up and come alongside? I want to launch a volley from my starboard cannons. I’m not sure you’d necessarily want to come directly alongside; that puts you in the line of fire for their guns, too. If your ship is fast enough to pull alongside, you might do better to come up behind the other ship, turn 90 degrees to bring your guns to bear, fire a couple volleys, then start pursuing again. I don’t know the details, really, just that there was a huge science behind those sorts of battle tactics. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/17 "2010-11-12T00:36:03Z")
What you wanted to do is “cross their T” - you wanted to bring a whole broadside of your guns to bear on one of the little ends of their ship, where they didn’t have any guns and you had the most opportunity to make a hit (more “ship” for your shot to traverse, as opposed to just across the narrow bit, if that makes sense.) It’s a lot more fun to hit people who can’t hit back except with a little popgun. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/18 "2010-11-12T00:39:29Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > … > I’m not sure you’d necessarily want to come directly alongside; that puts you in the line of fire for their guns, too. If your ship is fast enough to pull alongside, you might do better to come up behind the other ship, turn 90 degrees to bring your guns to bear, fire a couple volleys, then start pursuing again. > > I don’t know the details, really, just that there was a huge science behind those sorts of battle tactics. Maybe. I seem to recall seeing a diagram of an old naval battle from that era, and the number of times one vessel crossed the other’s bow was pointed out. That allowed you to deliver a broadside without them being able to return fire, as you note, and was something they tried very hard to do. But didn’t some warships of that era have cannons mounted in the stern? ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/19 "2010-11-12T00:50:29Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > But didn’t some warships of that era have cannons mounted in the stern? They did, but very few - perhaps 2 or 4. If you crossed the stern of an enemy ship, having your gun crews fire in progression as their weapons came to bear, you’d get off an entire broadsides’ worth of shot vs. the enemy’s stern cannon. Also, you’d be firing directly into officer country, and stand a good chance of disabling the enemy’s rudder, to boot. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/20 "2010-11-12T00:55:16Z")
Gain the weather gauge! Raking, firing your broadside through his bow or stern would kill lots of people since the decks had few or no solid partitions. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307.md?page=2)