Spainish seamanship and storm tactics during the age of sail

[hobbit]

Here is a hypothetical situation: a 17th century Spanish treasure galleon of 300 tons is heading due north (360 deg.) in the Bahama Channel at 8 knots under a fresh breeze from the southeast (135 deg.). The wind increases alarmingly and rounds to the east (90 deg). The seas build quickly so that the ship can no longer point due north, but must "lie to" to avoid taking the swells on its beam. It takes on a heading of 30 deg. The ship is being overtaken by a tropical cyclone also heading due north. The cyclone is a fairly typical one, with tropical storm force winds extending out 150 miles from its center. The forward momentum of the storm is normal for one in the Bahama Channel: around 15 knots. The storm is 150 miles south and 30 miles east of our ship's position. The winds will remain at 90 deg, but build throughout the coming hours. For arguments sake, lets say they average 60 knots.

The ship is heading at 30 deg. but, obviously, is not actually travelling in that direction. It is undergoing a tremendous amount of leeway.

What will be the direction of its "course made good"? What speed will it travel? It will be carrying as little sail as possible, obviously. It can not change direction. It can not "scud" or "run" because it is on a lee shore and to do so would be suicidal. I am not looking for specific answers, of course. Just general ideas on how a ship of this era would perform in such conditions.

 

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[GOHO]

Well, you know the story of the 1715 fleet.... Similar scenario...


Because of Cape Canaveral's Shoals and the Bahamas reefs most ships caught in the channel during a Tropical Storm didnt have any place to run. Without sail and to deep to anchor they were corks at the mercy of the sea!


Here is a discription onboard a 1715 fleet ship.....


Arriving after 3 days at the mouth of the Bahama Channel, when night fall came this same day we had 'Los Roques'in sight and at daybreak the following morning we were near the head of the Florida Keys (Key Largo or Key Biscayne) which was opposite of us off our beam. And continuing we coasted along the cayos and the mainland of Florida, however, always with very light winds, having to tack until we were forced to lay to (without sail), for the motive of still trying to incorporate Echeverz Squadron which always sailed at a distance from our Flota. We were in this position when the wind began to blow fresh from the ENE and taking a sounding we found we were in 50 fathoms of water. We were advised by the Capitana, by a cannon shot and flags, to use what sails we could and head away from the coast until we were in deep water. But we were unable to do this because the currents were pushing us towards the shore and the winds were getting stronger, as being from the wrong direction for getting away from the shore. The sun disappeared and the wind increased and increased in velocity coming from the east and ENE. The seas became very great in size, the wind continued blowing us toward shore, pushing us into shallow water. Then the wind changed to a furious hurricane and the seas became of such great size, with huge waves, and being in still shallower water we were unable to sail. It soon happened that we were unable to use any sail at all, making bare our yards, mostly due to the wind carrying away our sails and rigging, and we at the mercy of the wind and water, always driving closer to the shore. Having then lost all our masts, all of the ships were wrecked on the shore between the middle of the night of the 30th until 10 in the morning of the 31st. All of the ships, with the exception of mine, broke into pieces.

 

[hobbit]

Well, you know the story of the 1715 fleet.... Similar scenario...


Because of Cape Canaveral's Shoals and the Bahamas reefs most ships caught in the channel during a Tropical Storm didnt have any place to run. Without sail and to deep to anchor they were corks at the mercy of the sea!


Here is a discription onboard a 1715 fleet ship.....


Arriving after 3 days at the mouth of the Bahama Channel, when night fall came this same day we had 'Los Roques'in sight and at daybreak the following morning we were near the head of the Florida Keys (Key Largo or Key Biscayne) which was opposite of us off our beam. And continuing we coasted along the cayos and the mainland of Florida, however, always with very light winds, having to tack until we were forced to lay to (without sail), for the motive of still trying to incorporate Echeverz Squadron which always sailed at a distance from our Flota. We were in this position when the wind began to blow fresh from the ENE and taking a sounding we found we were in 50 fathoms of water. We were advised by the Capitana, by a cannon shot and flags, to use what sails we could and head away from the coast until we were in deep water. But we were unable to do this because the currents were pushing us towards the shore and the winds were getting stronger, as being from the wrong direction for getting away from the shore. The sun disappeared and the wind increased and increased in velocity coming from the east and ENE. The seas became very great in size, the wind continued blowing us toward shore, pushing us into shallow water. Then the wind changed to a furious hurricane and the seas became of such great size, with huge waves, and being in still shallower water we were unable to sail. It soon happened that we were unable to use any sail at all, making bare our yards, mostly due to the wind carrying away our sails and rigging, and we at the mercy of the wind and water, always driving closer to the shore. Having then lost all our masts, all of the ships were wrecked on the shore between the middle of the night of the 30th until 10 in the morning of the 31st. All of the ships, with the exception of mine, broke into pieces.

Thanks. That is good information. Does anyone know the approximate latitude the 1715 fleet began to be struck by the hurricane? We can figure the approximate longitude from the sounding...
Upon further review, it seems pretty clear the 1715 fleet was struck by a storm heading west or nearly west....so I am not sure what information can be drawn by making a comparsion to that event. It looks like to me the 1715 fleet was actually driven southwest by overwhelming NNE winds...and quickly... probably by a storm tracking west that passed just sorth of them.

Here is something:

"An example is provided in AGI Contratación, 730. Juan Ferrer, a ship’s
master, begged the Casa de Contratación to be exonerated from any possible responsibility
for the damage incurred by the
Santa Inés sailing in the Nueva España Fleet in 1689:
‘being dismasted in the Bahamas channel between Cape Cañaveral and Saint
Helena we survived a violent sea hurricane
[sic] with north-east and east-northeast
winds of such ferocity that they lasted six days during which time we thought
ourselves lost together with the naos
2 of the fleet"

And:

AGI Contratación 5108 provides yet another description of hurricanes. In this case it
occurred on 1589 close to the Florida coast and the account is contained in a letter from
General Martín Pérez de Olázabal, issued at Sanlúcar de Barrameda. It informs His Majesty
of the strong hurricane which affected the Nueva España and Tierra Firme fleets on their
way to Spain:
‘sailing out of the channel with the wind large on our quarter we

encountered a great storm of wind from the east-north-east that, finding us in the narrows


between Florida and the Bahamas, we were battered for five days during which we lost
contact with the large naos’




It is evident from these accounts that Spanish ships of the period could withstand extremely heavy weather from the E and ENE and be driven long distances, even through the narrow Bahama Channel. They could do it in only one way: by "lying to". They could not "run", not for long anyway. And they could "lie to" only by heading NE and being driven N and W. Could a galleon or nao of the 16th and 17th centuries make progress to windward in such conditions? I doubt it mightly, but I am no expert. My point is that a ship caught in heavy conditions would not necessarily be driven ashore in anything near an immediate fashion. They could reach along the coast for days in tough conditions, even in the Bahama Channel...The first account is especially interesting, since the area in question is between Cape Canaveral and St. Helena Sound...South Carolina...This is just north of the present town of Beaufort... That is a long way to ride out a storm that must have been a hurricane...and the ship was dismasted, so this could not have been a minor storm....one wonders how much longer they could have lasted...

 

[GOHO]

they state they were near Cape Canaveral when the storm hit... at latitude 28 degrees....

 

[Chagy]

Its said that the hurricane commenced a few days after the day of sailing, the 20th. What Duro's meant by a pocos dias, in a few days, certainly not one or two days and clearly less than a week, or else it would have been recorded "by the end of September" I believe that we will be very near th exact date if we suppose that the hurricane ocurred on September 24, plus or minus a day.

The storm crossed over the seas north and not distant from the Dominican Replubilc, Haiti and Cuba; over some of the southern Bahamas; and the Straits of Fl. It was a storm of at least normal intensity and of rather large diameter. This hurricane does not appear in the list of any catalogue.

Source: Hurricanes of the Caribbean 1492-1800 by Carlos Millas

Also remember on a small account that came from one of the archival sources I gave you and translated to French by Chaunu it says (vent S.S.E. et S.)

Hope this helps,

Chagy....

 

[signumops]

they state they were near Cape Canaveral when the storm hit... at latitude 28 degrees....

Unless they could actually see Cape Canaveral, I don't know how latitude could be determined, especially in the middle of the night.

 

[ivan salis]

they used the last known "seen'"point of referance (using dead reckoning ) and the added diastance travelled since then (they counted the "knots' per hour they were going via a dropped knotted spaced line ) using the known charted distance between known land marks ( say point A and point B) if they saw point A at say 25 degrees and they knew thay travelled x amount of knots speed for y amount of time they would know about how far they were from point A 9( x times y --speed travelling at times time spent travelling-- like so 8 knotss per hour x 1/2 hour = 4 knots in distance )-- there are so many miles in a degree so add the "miles / degrees " travelled to point A's 25 degrees and they know roughly were their at even at night --so long as their charts were intact and they know the last landmark seen and the direction , the amount of time and speed at which they travelled since seeing it -- they could make a failyr good guess of where they were rough location wize.

 

[ivan salis]

pocos dias - little days --in "rough" english translation --a short time later / a few days

if it were one day or two days they would have stated it as such * beyond 2 days it becomes a "few days' say 3 to up to 6 days* at 7 days they would say a week --so 3 to 4 days is most likely -- that would be my "time frame" guess as well for " pocos dias "

 

[hobbit]

Its said that the hurricane commenced a few days after the day of sailing, the 20th. What Duro's meant by a pocos dias, in a few days, certainly not one or two days and clearly less than a week, or else it would have been recorded "by the end of September" I believe that we will be very near th exact date if we suppose that the hurricane ocurred on September 24, plus or minus a day.

The storm crossed over the seas north and not distant from the Dominican Replubilc, Haiti and Cuba; over some of the southern Bahamas; and the Straits of Fl. It was a storm of at least normal intensity and of rather large diameter. This hurricane does not appear in the list of any catalogue.

Source: Hurricanes of the Caribbean 1492-1800 by Carlos Millas

Also remember on a small account that came from one of the archival sources I gave you and translated to French by Chaunu it says (vent S.S.E. et S.)

Hope this helps,

Chagy....

Hmm...the distance of a somewhat meanding storm track from Cuba to Cape Hatteras through the Bahama Channal is around 900 nm while the average forward speed of a hurricane through the lattitudes in question is 11-15 knts.