Schiffbau

From April to December 2010, in the context of building activities, the area “Quartier Frankenhof” in Stralsund (about 5000 m²) was excavated by the “Landesamt für Kultur- und Denkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern“. The discovered archaeological features and wooden structures dated from the 14th century until the time of the “Great Northern War” (1700 til 1721 A.D.). The medieval structures could be determined as two consecutive features of primitive streets, a small shipyard and two wooden conduct systems. The shipyard and the conduct structures were partly built of former ship timbers and have been analysed in two exams at the Institut of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology of the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel.

The Empire of Nicaea was a successor of the Byzantium shattered in 1204. In the newly established state marine traditions of Byzantines, remain alive. The best testimony to this, are the evidence contained in the chronicle of Georgios Akropolites, devoted to activities of the rulers of Nicaea, aimed to build their own naval forces. In this paper I'll also try to answer, where was beating the heart of the Nicean shipbuilding industry and how large was the navy of this state. This is important from point of view of the maritime history, because of the fleet of the Empire of Nicaea, filled the gap created after the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, which was the local naval power in previous centuries. Akropolites give us a clear and direct answer to a question, where we should search for a center of Nicaean shipbuilding industry. Georgios Akropolites suggest us, that was in two towns, Holkos and Smyrna. The above-mentioned fleet consisted of the few squadrons, each ...

In different parts of the world similar solutions for the joining of planks by sewing were found. The choice of the used materials depended largely on local conditions. Different areas of operation required differnt types, so the usage of the boats strechted from river barge to boats for coastal transport and seagoing freighters. In case of the Cheops-Ship the sewing ran in a right angle to the plank seams. At the later wrecks from the Mediterranean it ran parallel to the plank seams. They were seagoing ships with a system of floor timbers and frames. In contrast the keelless vessels from Great Britain has clamps with stabilising transverse timbers running through them. The planks interlocked each other. Usually the thick oak planks were joined by lashing. In Scandinavia the few finds indicate, that the boats were also keelless, but with overlapping planks and continous sewing. All of the sewing methods seem to be individual and not to support the idea of influence between the three areas. Furthermore we have different types of boats with different appearances and differences in function and size.

In verschiedenen Teilen der Welt wurden ähnliche Lösungen für das Verbinden von Planken durch Schnürung gefunden. Die Wahl der Materialien hing von den lokalen Gegebenheiten ab. Da unterschiedliche Einsatzgebiete verschiedene Typen erforderten, reichte die Verwendung vom Flussboot über Boote für den Transport im Küstenbereich bis zu seegehenden Frachtschiffen. Beim Cheops-Schiff verliefen die Schnürungen rechtwinklig zur Plankennaht, bei den späteren Wracks parallel dazu. Es handelte sich um seegehende Frachtschiffe mit einem inneren Rahmen aus Wrangen und Spanten. Stattdessen besaßen die kiellosen Fahrzeuge in Großbritannien stabilisierende Querhölzer die in Klampen steckten. Die miteinander verzahnten dicken Eichenplanken wurden in der Regel durch Laschen miteinander verbunden. In Skandinavien zeigen die wenigen Funde, dass die Boote ebenfalls kiellos waren, jedoch mit überlappenden Planken und fortlaufender Schnürung. Alle Schnürmethoden scheinen individuell zu sein und nicht für einen gegenseitigen Einfluss zwischen den drei Regionen zu Sprechen. Außerdem handelt es sich um verschiedene Bootstypen mit unterschiedlichem Erscheinungsbild sowie Unterschieden in Funktion und Größe.