"Northern European Cogs with Oars?" Topic
6 Posts
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rampantlion | 31 Aug 2015 11:52 a.m. PST |
Were there any cogs in the Northern European waters that were oar powered as well or were they sail only? I know that galleys had both often times, but not sure about cogs. I have seen some drawings of cogs in the med with oars, but have not specifically heard of it up north. I am building fleets for David Manley's Lord of the Sea rules and am trying to get as much variety as possible. Thanks – Allen |
GildasFacit | 31 Aug 2015 12:44 p.m. PST |
No, Cogs were sail only – though they may have used a few long sweeps for manoeuvring in harbours. Some similar vessels were oar powered as well as sail – mostly those derived from the Viking 'longboats'. Look at Ballingers, Barges or similar craft that were around in the late days of Cogs, not sure what names were used earlier. |
David Manley | 31 Aug 2015 3:46 p.m. PST |
Many cogs were equipped with oars for secondary propulsion, typically 12-16 each side |
Morning Scout | 31 Aug 2015 5:15 p.m. PST |
Some early or smaller cogs may have used oars as a secondary propulsion, this would have been primarily for use in harbors or perhaps close to shore. I would not consider it significant in terms of movement. Most cogs and those of later periods would not have had oars. Certainly no oars in the context of the galley. A cog's oars would not be of any significant use in a fight. Cogs had fairly small crews and would not have had dedicated oarsman. The ship just wasn't constructed or manned in a matter where oars were usefull. There is a good reason the galley persisted for long. All conjecture of course as hard evidence related to cogs is pretty limited. |
GildasFacit | 01 Sep 2015 4:01 a.m. PST |
The structure of a Cog pretty well precludes any oarports and its deck was too high to effectively use oars so I don't think that any images showing oar driven ships can be Cogs. The trading vessels in northern waters that derived from the Viking tradition (e.g. Knarr) continued in use alongside Cogs (even into the 19th century) and some of these may have used oars as well as sail. Some had an above-water appearance not dissimilar to a Cog so could be mistaken for one. Mediterranean vessels similar to Cogs may have had oars too but, mostly, these would only have been small trading craft and not the larger round ships. I suppose that, if you class large sweeps used from the deck as oars, then you could say the were oar driven – but they couldn't sustain their use for long and would be very slow and unhandy. |
rampantlion | 01 Sep 2015 7:17 a.m. PST |
Thanks guys, the reason I asked is that I am trying to get as much variety as possible and there are not a lot of options at this scale. I picked up a few Dreadfleet cogs to supplement my smaller cogs in the fleet and they have oars. I may cut them off and use a little greenstuff or I may leave them as is. When I get them in the mail I may find that they are too small and it will be a mute point, but it made me curious. Allen |
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