Windjammers

windjammer - A "tall ship" so named because she was thought too large and clumsy to sail neatly into the wind but instead had to be "jammed" into the wind. When people think of tall ships they often picture a large ship with many sails, the Windjammer.

In the waning years of the 19^th Century steam ships were coming to life. Not all men of the sea were happy about this turn of events. In the shipyards of Europe the windjammers were born.

In 1869 the Suez Canal opened. The canal was too narrow and shallow for Clipper ships to navigate. However, it was perfect for the new steam ships to navigate. By cutting through the Suez Canal steam ships could cut weeks off of their time. This slowly caused the Clippers to quit ocean trade routes. There were still "many diehards who remained absolutely convinced that the right sort of sailing ships could continue to compete. the shipyards of Europe turned out a magnificent fleet of such sailing ships, which came to be known as the windjammers." ⁽¹⁾

Windjammers are descendants of the clipper ship, built of iron and steel rather than wood. The difference between the two ships were dramatic. In addition to the windjammer's sails being smaller, a fourth mast was added, sometimes as many as five masts were built. Where the clipper had a single topgallant, the windjammer divided that sail in two, an upper topgallant and a lower topgallant. Windjammers did not use a studding sail.

Other advances were on the deck. The deck of a windjammer provided better protection for her crew. In addition, the windjammer incorporated a new innovation called the midship island. This was "a massive raised section across the waist of the ship. The island broke up the main deck into two smaller wells and dispersed rampaging seas."⁽¹⁾ The island usually contained the living quarters for the officers and crew. "The island was connected to the poop deck aft and the fo'c's'le forward by raised catwalks, known as flying bridges. . ."⁽²⁾ The German shipbuilders went as far as to include net rigging along the sides of the deck wells to help protect her crew from falling overboard.

Other improvements, particularly in German built windjammers, was the moving of the ship's wheel from far aft, forward in the midship island. Another improvement was the use of wire cable rope and chain rigging. Steel rigging made for unusual sounds at sea, one windjammer authority W.L.A. Derby put it,

The tautness and power of steel and wire tophamper will combine, in bad weather, to produce a diapason such as can nowhere be heard except aboard a big, heavy-laden sailor. She becomes, as it were a giant organ played by the heavy hands of wind and sea. Powerful gusts pluck at the tensed shrouds and straining backstays like fingers at harp-strings. Where some stays give forth a deep booming note, others hum wildly, like telegraph wires, under stress. Halliards twang like a banjo-gut, and a continuous and plaintive moaning comes from the rigging-screws. The gale roars through the slacker running-rigging, whose heavy blocks beat a mad tattoo against the steel spars. As she rolls, scuppers under, the steel wash-ports clang to and fro, and all the while the great seas break alongside or crash aboard to swirl from poop to fo'c'sle, battering at the deck-house doors and striving to wrench off the hatch tarpaulins. Every strake and fram of the laboring hull groans with her travail; while the thunder of wet storm canvas, and the staccato patter of squalls of driven hail add to that almost indescribable cacophony, the song of driven sail.

It has been said that the sailors of the windjammers were tough men with pride in the great powerful ships that has not been matched since the windjammers passed from the sea.

Windjammers held many advances over steam ships in the early years. Windjammers could survive in most any type of sea and weather. Where as a steam ship's smokestacks would crumble from an assault of large, violent waves. Large waves, severe storms, and squalls were also notorious for dousing the steams boilers and ripping off the propellers. Windjammers were often times faster than her steam counterparts. In addition, the wind was free, whereas the owners of steam ships had to come up with the cost of coal and find fresh water for the boilers. Windjammers did not pollute the ocean; steam ships did/do.

This page was created by Debbie Davis. Information contained in this page is true to the best of my knowledge. However, I encourage anyone who is looking for more information or is just interested in Naval History to go to their local library where you will find a plethora of information.

Any comments or suggestions, E-mail me at Debbie Davis
. Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

2. Allen E. Oliver, The Seafarers V.6 The Windjammers. (Alexandria: Time Life Books, 1978). pp. 23.

3. Allen E. Oliver, The Seafarers V.6 The Windjammers. (Alexandria: Time Life Books, 1978). pp. 23.

Average length	300 feet long, some reaching 400 feet. (average clipper length 150 feet)
Masts	3 feet diameter at the base and towered as high as 200 feet above the keel.
Sails	The four-masted German bark Herzogin Cecilie had 34 sails with a total sail area of almost 45,000 square feet. The larger sails weighed a ton dry. The yards or rope that the sails were suspended from were more than 100 feet long and up to 2 feet in diameter.
Cargo	Up to 8,000 tons
Crew	A 1,500 ton windjammer could be sailed with a crew of 50 - 60 men while the 2,500 ton windjammer could be sailed with a crew of less than 30 men.

WINDJAMMERS

WINDJAMMERS