Info Favorites Register Log in
myArmoury.com Discussion Forums

Forum index Memberlist Usergroups Spotlight Topics Search
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > How were horses transported aboard ships? Reply to topic
This is a standard topic  
Author Message
Adam D. Kent-Isaac




Location: Indiana
Joined: 21 Apr 2009
Reading list: 2 books

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 297

PostPosted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 10:17 pm    Post subject: How were horses transported aboard ships?         Reply with quote

Does anyone know the specifics about how horses were transported on ocean voyages? It seems like a ship would be less than ideal environment for a horse, especially the kind of ships used in pre-modern times. How did they board the horses during long voyages? I assume they built some kind of stalls in the hold of the ship; how many horses could one of these hold? I'd think not very many. How did they manage to keep enough food and water for the horses on board and still have space for the men, arms, equipment, provisions and everything else that the crew would need?

The conditions below ship were bad enough for the humans; I can't imagine that the horses had an easy time of it, being tossed around by waves constantly, having their balance constantly changing, having to stay in cramped conditions without being able to run around and exercise, etc. The horses must have been in poor shape mentally when they arrived at their destination, after this trauma, and very sub-optimal for any kind of military use. How long did it take them to adjust to being back on land?

Does anyone know about this? Thanks.

Pastime With Good Company
View user's profile Send private message
Colt Reeves





Joined: 09 Mar 2009

Posts: 466

PostPosted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 10:46 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Well, I don't know much on the subject, though I've heard of horses being transported on deck rather than in the hold. Reminded me of the Bayeux Tapestry, which portrays the horses up top (I don't think those ships had much in the shape of holds, so it's not like they had a choice). See the picture below. Looks rather crowded.



I labeled the panels in order of appearence. 1. shows the horses on the journey, 2 shows them being unloaded, while 3 shows horses later in the campaign. I noticed that the horses shown being unloaded and ridden right after landing look kind of tired and are holding their heads out forward and have their mouths open. Compare that to picture 3, where the horses hold their heads in. Maybe 2 is portraying their poor health after the voyage...
View user's profile Send private message
Elling Polden




Location: Bergen, Norway
Joined: 19 Feb 2004
Likes: 1 page

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 1,576

PostPosted: Wed 06 Oct, 2010 3:24 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The transportation of horses on ships was a long standing problem. It was apparently solved during the crusades, buy putting straps under the horses chest and abdoment, preventing them from moving about or falling over...
"this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website MSN Messenger
Sander Marechal




Location: The Netherlands
Joined: 04 Dec 2009
Reading list: 17 books

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 671

PostPosted: Wed 06 Oct, 2010 11:49 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

You might want to read this post over at Armour Archive. That terrible landing scene in the Russel Crowe Robin Hood movie may not be as far fetched as assumed. Though the craft would not have looked like WWII landing craft in that movie, the possibility of ships having doors to facilitate deployment of horses may not be that far off. Something to look into IMHO.
The Knights Hospitaller: http://www.hospitaalridders.nl
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Philip Melhop




Location: Wokingham, Berkshire, UK
Joined: 24 May 2008

Posts: 132

PostPosted: Thu 07 Oct, 2010 5:52 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Plenty of information about this in source material for the Fourth Crusade. The Venetians built and equipped ships specifically for this purpose.
Phil
View user's profile Send private message
Randall Moffett




Location: Northern Utah
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Reading list: 5 books

Posts: 2,121

PostPosted: Thu 07 Oct, 2010 7:23 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I actually might have a good answer on this one. When I was doing my readings of local manuscripts in Southampton it came up as did it appear in several royal accounts, the close and patent rolls.

The long and short of it was the ships were basically the standard large clinker built barges in use during the High and Late Medieval period. These ships simply had hurdles attached to limit areas for horses and have a place to tie them. They also had a type of plank used for getting them in and out of the boat which appears to be different from those that people used as on one account I have they are specifically mentioned as being for horses, seemingly they have sides of some nature. I am guessing this is all below deck but have no idea in truth. Having them all tied atop deck would make the day to day running of the ship hard.

I was going to write up something on the many uses of medieval ships Eniglish kings came up with but have not had the time yet.

RPM
View user's profile Send private message
Jim S.





Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Likes: 5 pages

Posts: 59

PostPosted: Thu 07 Oct, 2010 9:42 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Here is an illustration showing how horses were transported aboard ship. It is from AZTECS & Conquistadores - The Spanish Invasion & the Collapse of the Aztec Empire. There is the notation - Weiditz 1927 - with the illustration. I apologize for the poor quality of my photo.

View user's profile Send private message
Tristán Zukowski




Location: Poughkeepsie, NY
Joined: 29 Oct 2009

Posts: 41

PostPosted: Thu 07 Oct, 2010 3:18 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Philip Melhop wrote:
Plenty of information about this in source material for the Fourth Crusade. The Venetians built and equipped ships specifically for this purpose.
Phil


I was just going to mention this as well, since I *just* finished reading Geoffrey of Villehardoin's memoirs. It does mention the fact that many horses were transported, but -- unless I read so fast as to have missed something -- doesn't get into the particulars. What other source material exists for the 4th crusade? (I'll admit, I'm rather new to the 13th century Happy )

Tristan P. Zukowski
Longsword (KdF) Instructor, New York Historical Fencing Association
Longsword (KdF) Instructor, Sword Class NYC
View user's profile Send private message


Display posts from previous:   
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > How were horses transported aboard ships?
Page 1 of 1 Reply to topic
All times are GMT - 8 Hours

View previous topic :: View next topic
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum






All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum