Mars (shipping)
As Mars ( Mars , plural the Marsen ; also Mars , plural the Marse ) is on sailing vessels , the first to the lower mast referred mounted platform. Mars sails and corresponding parts of the rigging are also named after Mars , for example the Mars spreader . In English, Mars is called top or fighting top .
Functions
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Military function
Platforms that originally had a military function were attached to the lower parts of a mast on larger sailing ships : The development of these platforms (Marsen) can be traced back to the history of the origins of the ship's fort, as it was from this position that enemy ships and crews could be fought, preferably from an elevated position . From here, spears, stones, arrows and other projectiles could be thrown, shot down or hurled. Later were on Marsen muskets and rifles fired. In addition, the Marsen could also be used as a viewing platform, as one had a good all-round view from here.
In the 18th century, Mars was also referred to as a soldier's platform, as special soldiers on board who did not actually belong to the seamanship were placed during a battle in order to be able to influence a battle in their capacity as, for example, snipers . The sea battle of Trafalgar can be cited as a famous example of the importance of the soldiers' platform , during which a French soldier fatally wounded the opposing British commander, Lord Nelson , from a Mars on the French liner Redoutable .
More functions
Below these platforms have often been chainplates shrouds and the main stag attached. In addition, the lower shrouds were picked up at the level of the Marsen and led over the spreader cushion (a functional wood made of softwood that was supposed to prevent movement-related abrasion of the shrouds). Furthermore, the upper shrouds were attached to the side edges of the platform. Thus, the Marsen was also the ideal starting point for the ship's crews to start rigging and setting sails from here.
Construction history
From the 13th to the 16th century, Marsen were round and equipped with a high parapet, which is why one also spoke of mast cages or crows' nests . These colorfully decorated baskets consisted of sturdy wooden board balustrades, some of which were put together in a grid-like arrangement and crowned by a railing-like ring wood. The forms of construction changed over the centuries: apart from the elimination of the colored paint, which later (around the middle of the 17th century) generally gave way to a black paint, the height of the balustrades decreased more and more from the middle of the 16th century until these towards the end of the 17th century only consisted of a ring-shaped rudiment.
The floor of these Mars constructions usually consisted of two layers of thick boards mounted on top of each other, which had an opening, namely the soldiers' gates. Soldiers as well as seamanships were able to get onto the platforms via this gatt.
The orientation of the floorboards has been different over time: In the Middle Ages, the platforms were oriented parallel to the water line. From around 1510 to 1640, the shipbuilders then apparently oriented themselves parallel to the deck jump , until Marsen around 1640 was again mostly designed parallel to the waterline.
Marsen were installed on all spreaders until the first half of the 17th century . So there were them in the amount of
- Mars mast
- Slab mast
- Royalmast and
- Sprietmastalinge.
Spriet masts disappeared from most sailing ships around 1720, so that the shipbuilders of the time reduced the number of Marshals to the positions of Mars masts by the second half of the 17th century at the latest.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the circular Marsen was modified by flattening the rearmost edge. The modifications were extended so that by the middle of the 18th century both side areas were also straightened and only the front had a rounded shape.
In the middle of the 19th century, thanks to the rapid development of steamships - especially in the marine sector - sailing ships lost more and more importance, so that further forms of development of the Marsen could basically be neglected: Steamships could sail without sails - sails and masts became obsolete.
literature
- Wolfram zu Mondfeld: Historical ship models (special edition). Orbis Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-572-01464-6 .
- Scott Robertsen: Basic knowledge of ship model building . vth-Verlag, Baden-Baden, ISBN 3-88180-733-0 .
- Encyclopædia Britannica: Article Naval ship
Remarks
- ↑ Cf. Duden online: Mars, der or die
- ↑ This conclusion could be made through the discovery of the Vasa and a subsequent closer examination of contemporary ship paintings. However, analysts see here only aesthetic changes and no purpose-related changes, which is why this orientation disappeared again relatively quickly.