The Good Ship: Ships, Shipbulding and Technology in England 1200-1520

The Good Ship: Ships, Shipbulding and Technology in England 1200-1520 by Ian Friel. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780801852022.

Subtitled `Ships, shipbuilding and technology in England 1200-1520 this book examines the development of shipbuilding in medieval England, placing it in the contexts of northern Europe and also the Mediterranean. Though the English shipbuilding industry was smaller than many European states, it was still as technically advanced, and provided a firm basis for the expansion of English maritime power that began in the late 16th century. Friel traces the developments in rigging and shipbuilding, the change from clinker to carvel construction, and the economic and social factors influencing shipbuilding, and discusses what is known of the shipyard sites and the craftsmen who worked there. As well as looking at how a ship was built in the Middle Ages, he examines the difference between ships of war and ships of trade, and life, work, and equipment on board. The final chapter looks at long distance voyages made by English ships, including a Bristol merchants fruitless search in 1480 for the mythical `Isle of Brasil, said to lie somewhere to the west across the Atlantic.