Sailing Ships and Boats

As historians say, people started using sails about 5,000 years ago as an additional propulsion to rowing vessels. Rectangular (straight) sails worked only with a fair wind, but in the fifth century AD, the so-called Latin sail (oblique) appeared in the Mediterranean, which allowed to go at an acute angle to the wind. This was the beginning of a great era, which is associated with many geographical discoveries and the emergence of intercontinental maritime communication. Sailing ships reigned supreme on all waterways until the middle of the 19th century, when they began to be replaced by a steam engine. And nowadays the sail has not lost its relevance: sailing is very popular even in regions far from the sea, and commercial sailing vessels appear from time to time. Thus, the sail can be considered the longest-lived propulsion in the history of mankind. On this page I have made a selection of articles about a wide variety of sailing ships that I have seen during my travels.

Vasa Museum, Stockholm

In this museum you can see a real sailing ship of the XVII century, the only one preserved in the world, and learn a very instructive story about its creation and loss (read more )

Christian Radich Training Sailing Ship in Oslo

In the Pipervika harbor of Oslo near the walls of the Akershus castle located the pier of sailship Christian Radich. You can not always catch him, he is often in swimming, but today I was lucky...read more

Club Med 2 Cruise Ship in Molde

During a trip to Norway, on a gloomy morning in Molde, I had the opportunity to observe how gracefully and silently one of the most elegant and comfortable cruise liners in the world, the five-masted club Med 2, is approaching the pier...read more

The Sailing Era in Maritime Museum of Barcelona

Among Catholics, Saint Michael is considered the patron Saint of sailors (Sant Miquel) read more

Catalan Сatamarans (Patín a vela), Barcelona

One of the sections of the Barcelona Maritime Museum is dedicated to traditional Catalan catamarans, called Patín a vela or Patín Catalán...read more

Santa Eulalia Schooner, Barcelona

On Moll de la Fusta promenade near the Rambla de Mar bridge is moored the largest exhibit of the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, the Santa Eulalia schooner...read more

Santísima Trinidad Battleship Replica, Alicante

The battleship "Holy Trinity", or in Spanish "Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad", was launched in 1796 and remained the largest ship in the world until its death...read more

Dragon, Galleon of 17th-century (Replica), Gdynia

Between Gdansk and Gdynia runs a tourist ship, stylized as a real sailing ship of the Hanseatic era...read more

Pascual Flores Schooner, Torrevieja

Ships of this type were a workhorse not only off the coast of Spain, some of them crossed the Atlantic and worked in Cuba...read more

Dom Fernando II e Glória Frigate, Lisbon

The old dock of Cape Casillas houses the most important exhibit of the Lisbon Maritime Museum, the 50-gun sailing frigate of the Portuguese Navy, which made its first voyage in 1845. It was one of the last sailing warships in the world, so all the technological achievements of military shipbuilding achieved by the end of the sailing era are concentrated here...read more