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A cog, compared with the carvel-built vessels more traditional in the Mediterranean, was expensive and required specialist shipwrights. However, their simpler sail setup meant that cogs only required half the crew of similar-sized vessels equipped with lateen sails, as were common in the Mediterranean.{{sfn|Runyan|1994|pp=49–50}} A structural benefit of clinker construction is that it produces a vessel that can safely twist and flex around its long axis (running from bow to stern), which is an advantage in North Atlantic rollers, provided the vessel has a small overall displacement. A limitation of cogs is that they lack points to mount additional masts: at least some fore-and-aft sails are desirable for maneuverability but clinker-built cogs were effectively limited to a single sail.{{sfn|Friel|1994|p=184}}{{sfn|Rodger|2004|p=63}} This made them unhandy, limiting their ability to tack in the harbor and making them very reliant on wind direction at the start of voyages.{{sfn|Friel|1994|p=184}}{{sfn|Rodger|2004|p=64}} The flat bottom permitted cogs to be readily beached and unloaded at low tide when quays were not available; a useful trait when purpose-built jetties were not common.{{sfn|Runyan|1994|p=47}} Cogs were expected to have a working life of approximately 40 years.{{sfn|Cushway|2011|p=24}}{{#tag:ref|In contrast, Mediterranean-type ships built contemporaneously in the French royal shipyard of Rouen had an anticipated life of three years in north European waters.{{sfn|Cushway|2011|p=24}}|group=note}}

History

File:Lübeck_city_seal_1223.png|thumb|The 1223 seal of Lübeck, one of the leading cities of the Hanseatic LeagueHanseatic LeagueThe earliest origins of the cog are believed to be logboats from around northern Germany. These developed into larger craft built in the same basic shape, but with planking instead of hollowed-out logs. Another development was into Kahnen, flat-bottomed boats, with pointed ends for and aft that were constructed by splitting a hollowed-out log and widening the bottom with planks that were nailed to knee-shaped ribs attached to the sides. The pointed ends (called Block locally) of the log would be cut off and attached separately to the widened hull which resulted in so-called Blockkahnen, variants of which are still in use. The earliest evidence of a cog-like craft is a clay model found in Leese on the middle Weser from the grave of an adult male who died around 200 BC. Fragments of similar clay models have been found in nearby regions.Detlev Ellmers, "The Cog as Cargo Carrier" page 30-34 in Gardiner & Unger (1994)Trade from Germania in Roman times was mostly carried on Mediterranean-style sailing vessels and controlled by Roman merchants. After Roman power collapsed in the middle of the first millennium AD, transports on the large river estuaries and the sheltered waters of the Wadden Sea was taken over by Frisians who used vessels based on indigenous, flat-bottomed designs that were precursors of later medieval cogs. These had much lower sides than later cogs and would have been very similar to contemporary Scandinavian craft, such as knarrs. The oldest depiction of a vessel identified by contemporary sources as a cog is the Lübeck city seal from 1223. The early cogs were fitted with a side-mounted rudder oar that also functioned as a leeboard and was rigged with a single broad square sail that functioned similar to a lug sail.Detlev Ellmers, "The Cog as Cargo Carrier" page 34-36 in Gardiner & Unger (1994)Around 1200, the side rudder began to be replaced with a centerline rudder attached to a sternpost and developed in the typical medieval cog. Cogs could carry more cargo than knarrs; the rudder made steering easier than did the steering oar of the knarr, especially for larger vessels; and cogs were cheaper to build. The latter was due to the cog's use of sawn rather than split planks which was less wasteful.{{sfn|Runyan|1994|p=48}} Fore and stern castles would later be added for defense against pirates, or to enable the use of these vessels as warships.{{sfn|McGrail|1981|p=38}} The stern castle also afforded more cargo space below by keeping the crew and tiller up, out of the way. Current archaeological evidence points to the Frisian coast or Western Jutland as the possible birthplace of this type of vessel. The transformation of the cog into a true seagoing trader came not only during the time of the intense trade between West and East but also as a direct answer to the closure of the western entrance to the Limfjord. For centuries, the Limfjord in northern Jutland offered a fairly protected passage between the North Sea and the Baltic. Due to its unusual geographical conditions and strong currents, the passage was constantly filling with sand and was completely blocked by the early 12th century. This change produced new challenges. The larger ships, which could not be pulled across the sand bars, had to sail around the Jutland peninsula and circumnavigate the dangerous Cape Skagen to get to the Baltic.{{sfn|Hutchinson|1994|p=72}} This resulted in major modifications to old ship structures, which can be observed by analyzing the evolution of the earliest cog finds of Kollerup, Skagen, and Kolding. This caused a boom in the number of small cogs, and the need for spacious and seaworthy ships led to the development of the cog as the workhorse of the Hanseatic League.{{sfn|Hutchinson|1994|p=72}} It soon became the main cargo carrier in Atlantic and Baltic waters.{{sfn|Rodger|2004|p=63}}{{sfn|Bachrach|Bachrach|2017|p=167}}Eventually, around the 14th century, the cog reached its structural limits, and larger or more seaworthy vessels needed to be of a different type. This was the hulk, which already existed but was much less common than the cog. There is no evidence that hulks descended from cogs, but it is clear that a lot of technological ideas were adapted between the two types.{{sfn|Crumlin-Pedersen|2000|}} The transition from cogs to hulks was not linear, according to some interpretations, both vessels coexisted for many centuries but followed diverse lines of evolution.{{sfn|Gardiner|Unger|1994|}}

Archaeology

The first archaeological find that was identified as a cog, was a ship wreck discovered in 1944 by P.J.R. Modderman in the Noordoostpolder near Emmeloord (plot NM 107). The wreck was reburied in situ and a 2008 re-excavation confirmed the interpretation as a cog. It was around 16 m long and its wood dated from 1339. The discovery by Modderman was however not well known in the literature.{{sfn|Holk|2010|p=125-127, 135}}The most famous cog in existence today is the Bremen cog. The artifact originates from the 1380s and was discovered in 1962. Prior to this discovery, the existence of cogs was primarily documented in medieval texts and seals. In 1990 the well-preserved remains of a Hanseatic cog were discovered in the estuary sediment of the Pärnu River in Estonia which has been dated to 1300.Õun, Mati and Hanno Ojalo. 2015. 101 Eesti laeva. Tallinn, Kirjastus Varrak, page 12. In 2012, a cog dating from the early 15th century was discovered preserved from the keel up to the decks in the silt of the River IJssel in the city of Kampen, Netherlands.WEB,weblink Excavation, recovery and conservation of a 15th century Cog from the river IJssel near Kampen, Ruimte voor de Rivier IJsseldelta, Rijkswaterstaat, September 2015, 14 September 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170706203328weblink">weblink 6 July 2017, dead, During its excavation and recovery an intact brick dome oven and glazed tiles were found in the galley as well as a number of other artifacts.WEB,weblink Medieval Shipwreck Hauled from the Deep, Ghose, Tia, 17 February 2016, Live Science, 14 September 2017,weblink 7 July 2017, live, WEB,weblink Late Medieval Cog from Kampen, 21 February 2016, Medieval Histories, 14 September 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170914172902weblink">weblink 14 September 2017, live, In April 2022, a 13th Century cog was found in Tallinn, Estonia during highway construction. It is believed to be better preserved than the Bremen cog and a dendrochronology test on the wood has dated the wreck to 1298. The ship is 24 meters long and nine meters wide. The boards are intact up to three meters from the bottom of the ship.WEB, Lost 700-year-old ship found just five feet beneath street by construction workers,weblink metro.co.uk, 20 April 2022, 4 October 2023, {{Clear}}

See also

• Medieval ships
• FC Hansa Rostock

Notes

{{Reflist|group=note}}

Citations

{{Reflist|20em}}

Sources

• BOOK, Bachrach, Bernard S., Bachrach, David S., 2017, Warfare in Medieval Europe c.400 – c.1453, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 978-1138887664

,

• BOOK, Bass, George F., 1972, A History of Seafaring: Based on Underwater Archaeology, Thames and Hudson, 0-500-01077-3,
• JOURNAL, Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole, 2000, To be or not to be a Cog: the Bremen Cog in Perspective, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 29, 2, 230–246, 10.1111/j.1095-9270.2000.tb01454.x, 2000IJNAr..29..230C, 162832227,
• BOOK, Cushway, Graham, 2011, Edward III and the War at Sea: The English Navy, 1327-1377, Woodbridge, Suffolk, Boydell Press, 978-1843836216

,

• BOOK, Friel, Ian, 183–194, 1994, Arms, Armies, and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War, Winds of Change? Ships and the Hundred Years War, Curry, Anne, Woodbridge, Suffolk, Boydell Press, 0-85115-365-8

,

• BOOK, Gardiner, Robert, Unger, Richard W., 1994, Cogs, Caravels and Galleons: The Sailing Ship, 1000-1650, Conway's History of the Ship, London, Conway Maritime Press, 978-0851775609,
• BOOK, Hutchinson, Gillian, 1994, Medieval Ships and Shipping, Cranbury, NJ, Associated University Presses, 9780718501174

,

• BOOK

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• BOOK, Lambert, Craig, 2011, Shipping the Medieval Military: English Maritime Logistics in the Fourteenth Century, Woodbridge, Suffolk, Boydell Press

  series=Warfare in History, 978-1843836544, BOOK, Rafts, Boats and Ships, McGrail, Sean, 1981, National Maritime Museum, London, 0-11-290312-6, THESIS, PhD, Madden, Mollie Marie, 2014, The Black Prince at War: The Anatomy of a Chevauchée,weblink Minnesota, University of Minnesota , BOOK, Prestwich, Michael, Michael Prestwich, 2007, Plantagenet England 1225–1360,weblink 5 July 2013, 2005, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 978-0199226870, BOOK, Rodger, N.A.M., The Safeguard of the Sea, London, Penguin, 2004, 978-0140297249, Nicholas A. M. Rodger, BOOK, Rose, Susan, Battle of Sluys, Grove, 1997, E., Eric Grove, illustrated [some in colour], Great Battles of the Royal Navy: As Commemorated in the Gunroom, Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth,weblink Arms and Armour Press, London, 978-1854094179, BOOK, Rose, Susan, 2001, Medieval Naval Warfare 1000-1500, New York, Routledge, 978-1134553105 , BOOK, Timothy, Runyan, Gardiner, Robert, Richard W, Unger, 1994, Cogs, Caravels and Galleons: the Sailing Ship from 1000–1650, Cog as Warship, Conway's History of the Ship, London, Conway Maritime Press, 47–58,weblink 978-0851775609, 932458210, BOOK

  LAST=RUNYAN, 2003, War at Sea in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Hattendorf, John B., Unger, Richard W., Woodbridge, Suffolk; Rochester, New York, Boydell Press, 14, Warfare in History, 53–68, 978-0851159034, BOOK, Sumption, Jonathan, Trial by Battle, I, The Hundred Years' War, London, Faber and Faber, 1990, 978-0571200955, Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, External links {{Commons category|Cogs (ships)}} weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20101212230643weblink">Description and pictures of cogs weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20091101181138weblink">The sailing properties of the Hanse cog in comparison with other cargo sailships Pictures of the Kampen cog replica High resolution photos {{Sailing vessels and rigs}}{{Authority control}}

  
  
  
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