The restored Hull of an old wooden fishing boat will form the basis for the Nicholas Project to reconstruct a medieval Cog, Sandwich Medieval Centre
In Medieval times, the Cinque Port of Sandwich was a bustling seaport for ships and troops crossing the English Channel and then sailing on return to London. It was a mustering base for the 100 years’ war between England and France. There would always have been a large number of ships moored by the Quay, most of them would have been cogs. The cog was a single mast, round bottom vessel that was built to be a merchant ship but, at times of war, converted into a fighting ship. The castles were added fore and aft and the long bow archers would create a formidable fire power. It’s hard to believe that there is no example of a medieval cog on display anywhere in England. Our project is to create a replica, a faithful reconstruction of what a medium sized 50ft long cog with a 40 ft mast would have looked like. We have bought a seaworthy, solid wooden hull built with traditional methods. We will add the castles, then the mast, sail and rigging and moor it on the river close to the Medieval Centre. It will look most impressive and add something quite special to the Quay side. This exciting project is now well under way. The hull has been brought from Plymouth to Dover Docks, and renovation has started. It arrived at Sandwich on May 29th 2021. there will be a great opportunity for volunteers to help. A cog is a type of ship that first appeared in the 10th century, and was widely used from around the 12th century on. Cogs were clinker-built, generally of oak. These vessels were fitted with a single mast and a square-rigged single sail. They were mostly associated with seagoing trade in north-west medieval Europe, especially the Hanseatic League. Typical seagoing cogs ranged from about 15 to 25 meters (49 to 82 ft) in length, with a beam of 5 to 8 meters (16 to 26 ft) and were 30–200 tons burthen. Cogs were rarely as large as 300 tons although a few were considerably larger, over 1,000 tons.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: The Quay, Sandwich, Kent
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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