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Cog ship

Cog ship: Encyclopedia - Cog ship

A Cog is a plank-built, square rigged sailing ship with one mast. Cogs are most associated with seagoing trade in medieval Europe, particularly in the Baltic Sea region. The earliest development seems to have been Celtic, though the cog was first noted in the Dutch city of Muiden in the 10th century. The round ships with oars that were used for Mediterranean sailing were not useful in the rougher Atlantic waters. The maneuverable Viking Longships lacked cargo capacity and could not use their sails against the wind. Attaching a ...

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Cog ship: Encyclopedia - Cog ship

Cog (ship)

A Cog is a plank-built, square rigged sailing ship with one mast. Cogs are most associated with seagoing trade in medieval Europe, particularly in the Baltic Sea region.

The earliest development seems to have been Celtic, though the cog was first noted in the Dutch city of Muiden in the 10th century. The round ships with oars that were used for Mediterranean sailing were not useful in the rougher Atlantic waters. The maneuverable Viking Longships lacked cargo capacity and could not use their sails against the wind. Attaching a keel, a square stern, and rudder to the longship solved these problems. The result was a fairly small craft built of overlapping planks, with the greatest length being about 10 meters. The Hanseatic League added bow and stern castles for defense against pirates, and used them as warships.

By the 12th century cogs were the dominant trading vessels in northern Europe. The Crusades showed the advantages of these ships and their smaller crews to the Mediterranean peoples. Lacking the long oak timbers available to northern builders, they adopted a frame and plank construction, and were soon building the even larger caravels. With larger ships the use of additional masts was beneficial, so the Brig and the Barque gradually replaced the Cog.

See: Sailing ship.