Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Watching a few documentary shows on dives to sunken boats in the great lakes from the 1812 conflict ,the thought occurred to me that if these old boats were all made of wood how did they sink as wood floats?
A simple wooden canoe would indeed stay afloat. What you're forgetting is that the old wooden ships weren't ALL wood. They carried cargo, cannons & ammo, etc and even their construction involved a lot of iron. It is this collection of denser, heavier material which overcame the buoyancy of the wood and caused them to sink once water intruded.
Not all wood floats. There has been a small industry taking logs that were sunk in the Great Lakes, bringing them to the surface and selling the preserved wood. Note that when determining whether a woman was a witch Sir Bedevere did not use wood as something that floats, but a DUCK. It is all very scientific.
If you have done any boating at all outside of major waterways, you learn to be on the lookout for snags and trees and branches that are just barely visible on the surface. The upstream facings of many of the older dams are hemlock or some other wood that is very dense, to prevent scouring by debris during flood periods.
Just to add to the above most wooden ships would be constructed with a lot of hardwoods which isn;t very buoyant. Oak might be 45 pounds per cubic foot, water is about 62.5.
Back during the greco-roman period when everyone was using triremes to ran each, the boats did not sink to the bottom. Instead they became water logged. Meaning they just sank below the surface. You can still see, and stand on it, but you wont be able to sail around in it to ram people. Those are the ships they use in 300 rise of an empire.
Back during the greco-roman period when everyone was using triremes to ran each, the boats did not sink to the bottom. Instead they became water logged. Meaning they just sank below the surface. You can still see, and stand on it, but you wont be able to sail around in it to ram people. Those are the ships they use in 300 rise of an empire.
Are the ones you're talking about are the remains in a museum? Or still in the water?
Most of the ships under consideration were sail driven. To counteract the tendency to fall over from the pressure of the wind that made them move these ships were loaded with rocks down near the keel. This counter weight was small and dense enough to still allow the vessel to carry cannons and cargo but did assure the ship would sink when filled with water.
FWIW - These is a type of Nordic small sail boat that is ballasted with rocks. When this craft was rolled under by the wind it turns not quire over and the rocks fall out. The boat usually rights itself and can be rowed but not sailed after the incident. Like that makes a difference in your fate in a ice cold fiord.
Even the ancient Greek freighters carried sand as ballast as well as a place to hold the pointy bottomed amphorae used to ship wine and olive oil. When a storm or enemy action filled these open boats with water they also sank. Archaeologists are still finding the wreckage. The oil is still good but most of the wine is too resinous to drink.
Are the ones you're talking about are the remains in a museum? Or still in the water?
If they in the water this long they probably rotted away. I think they have a few real ones or replicas in a museum somewhere.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
