Talk:Bermuda sloop

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Is this page about the historical Bermuda sloop or does it include the modern Bermuda rig. There seems to be some confusion.... Egil 23:18 Apr 26, 2003 (UTC)

Agree. I think we need a separate article on Bermuda rig. Andrewa 12:25, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

...which I've now done. But the relationship of the bermuda rig to the bermuda sloop still needs to be investigated IMO. Were any bermuda sloops gaff rigged? Andrewa 21:40, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

An email received by the PR department reports that they were gaff rigged, and that Bermuda rigging was introduced later on schooners. --Michael Snow 05:07, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The triangular sails and raked masts of the Bermuda rig were used on local boats early in the 17th Century, but seems to have been adapted to ocean-going vessels much later. Most Bermuda sloops recorded in pictures at the turn of the 18th/19th Century are gaff rigged, usually with a square topsail, though they are otherwise similar in design to the triangular sailed Bermuda rigged sloops which had certainly appeared by 1830. Two of the images I've added are informative - one is a 17th century woodcut of a Bermudian boat with two triangular sails. The masts seem flimsy, revealing their origin in the Dutch bezaan, a lateen sale whose yard has been fastened to the deck, becoming a mast, but retaining its rake. This clearly demonstrates that the essential part (the image shows no bowsprit or jib) of the Bermuda rig was already being used in vessels large enough to carry two masts by 1671. The other is the oft-reproduced 1831 painting of a three-masted Royal Naval sloop-of-war entering Port Royal, Jamaica, which demonstrates a more-or-less modern form of the Bermuda rig (it has no booms, except that on the aft mast, which are certainly evident in images of gaff-rigged Bermuda sloops). Aodhdubh 07:30, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bermuda Sloops and Caribbean

I've removed this statement: Thanks to these qualities, Bermuda sloops could be built with relatively small hulls, making them more manoeuverable and easier to sail in shallow waters (essential in the Caribbean islands). It's bothered me for a while, as it's nonsensical. The Bermudian sloops had, if anything, larger hulls than comparably-sized vessels (broader than Jamaica sloops, deeper than Baltimore clippers). Their small size had nothing to do with the need to sail through shallow waters. Bermuda sits in very deep water, and much of its trade with the West Indies was part of a three point voyage, carrying Turks salt to the American colonies and the (Canadian) Maritimes, and carrying American grain to the West Indies. The ships were small because Bermuda was small, and there was simply no need at the time for large freighters, as there is no need, today, for super tankers. The small size of the vessels probably was useful in shallow Caribbean waters, though the small size of those islands and their cargoes probably were more important in selecting for smaller vessels. In any case, it can be assumed that the requirements of Caribbean sailing had no part in the design of Bermudian ships, optimised as they were for the requirements of Bermudian industry, and rooted in Bermudian traditions. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Aodhdubh 07:30, 18 February 2007 (UTC)