Judith (1559)

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Ship data
Surname: Judith
Launching ( ship christening ): around 1559
Crew: 120 sailors
Technical specifications
Type: Three-masted ship
Length over all: 36.60 m
Width: approx. 8.70 m
Drive: sail
Displacement : 50 t
Draft: 4.25 m
Armament:
1. Battery deck 16 × 18-pound colubrines
2. Battery deck 10 half 9-pound colubrines

The Judith was an early modern sailing ship under the English flag. The ship type is called pinnace or bark specified. The foremast and mainmast were each equipped with two square sails , while the mizzenmast led a latin sail . A bowsprit sail could be set on the bowsprit. The bow fort ended up with the hull and only protruded from the bowsprit in a pointed and tapering manner . The armament consisted of two battery decks that could repel enemy attacks and gave emphasis to their own attacks. The stern fort closed two decks higher than the upper deck.

history

The then 20-year-old Francis Drake was given command of the galleon Judith in 1567 . Under the command of John Hawkins in association with two other galleons, the Minion and the Jesus of Lübeck , he was on prey off the coast of West Africa in order to capture and enslave the inhabitants in local villages. The convoy succeeded in taking some slaves and shipping them to San Juan de Ulúa . When the Spanish silver fleet happened to reach the same port, a gun battle finally broke out, which only the Minon and the Judith survived. Drake and Hawkins managed to escape to England with both ships.

literature

  • Attilio Cucari: Sailing Ships. The queens of the seas - history and typology. Bassermann, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8094-2346-1 (Italian original edition: Velieri. Storia e tipologie dei dominatori del mare. Mondadori Electra SpA, Milan 2004, ISBN 88-370-2477-0 ).
  • Arthur Nelson: The Tudor Navy. The ship, men and organization 1485-1603. Conway Maritime Press, London 2001, ISBN 0-85177-785-6 .