Galliot
Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia
Galliot (from Dutch Galjoot, German Galiot [1] ) refers to different types of seagoing ships which all were developed from traditional Dutch boats between the middle of the 15th century and the end of the 19th century.
Most famous were the Dutch galjoots, the "one-and-a-half-masted" merchant ships developed for and used by the VOC, The Dutch Eastindia Company. Famous, too, were the bombardeergaljoten of the 17th and 18th century. Those were ships where the open space, which was used for the foremasts on other types of vessels, was used to mount a big mortar to attack landbased targets like forts.
For particular interest within the Shetland context are the developments of the 19th century when the Dutch galjoots followed new principals of design which were mostly based on the Dutch Kof (German: Kuff). This development was entirely bound to one Dutch city: Groningen, Friesland (Frisia). After the boats had proved their ability production spread to the east into Ost Friesland (East Frisia), then part of the Kingdom of Hanover with the main shipbuilding towns of Weener and Papenburg on the river Ems. Almost all 19th century Dutch and German galjoots/galiots were built within the triangle formed by the cities of Groningen, Emden and Papenburg which are not more than 40 to 60 kilometers apart from each other.
A very specific development were the so called Eider Galiots which became the "donkeys" of the rapidly growing English industrial towns like Manchester, Liverpool or Newcastle. These boats transported billions of bricks from the middle Eider area (Slesvig-Holsatia, then Danish) across the North Sea into English ports.
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The 19th century developments
The early developments were based on another Dutch vessel known as the Kof (German Kuff). These were small to medium sized vessels with a flat bottom, half-round bows and stern with bowed stems both at the bow and the stern. For the new galjoots only the bow was changed a little bit: it was slightly sharpened with a more vertical stem.
While the design of the hull was kept for several years the rigging changed all over the time. All boats had a main and a mizzen mast onto which originally latin sails were sat; the latin sails were later normally replaced by lug or gaff-sails. All the boats had two or more jibs but whether top masts for additional square sails were added or not was up the the demand of the captain or owner.
All these boats were typical coasters which served all around the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
Around 1850 the demand for quicker boats increased rapidly. This led to some alterations of the overall design of the galiots. The most important change was the alteration from a flat bottomed hull to a keel laid hull with a more sharpened bow. To the bow - now slightly pointing forward - a stronger bowsprit was added.
Other changes refered to the position of the ships hut which changed from midship to the stern where an additional deck was added to allow more comfort for both an enlarged crew and passengers. Both masts got top-masts where at least a topgalant and a royal were flown. An additional main square sail to the main mast was quite common; the gaff-sails and the jibs were kept.
The great variety of different riggings makes it diffcult to distinguish these galliots from other boat developments of that era like top-sail schooners or brigantines.
The change from a flat bottomed to a keel laid design let to further developments far beyond the details of boat building: These boats could no longer enter shallow waters and land on sandy beaches as most of the flat bottomed vessels could. They demanded proper piers which led to almost all modern harbour developments along the Dutch and German North Sea coast as well as of many British North Sea harbours. These modern galiots were typical North Sea boats which carried out regular visits to major British ports in the Irish Sea; in the Baltic Sea they visited only a few main ports.
The modern galiot became very popular and within less than a decade they formed the backbone of the Hanoveranian merchant navy which operated out of its main port of Emden. Their frequent visits to English ports lead to the fact that the design was soon copied to form with little alterations only the British galliot.
Most of the wrecks in Shetland waters qualified as Galliots before 1840 refer to the older type (image on top left), those after 1860 most certainly refere to the modern type as shown in the image on the top right.
Latest developments and technical data
The latest developments by the end of the 19th century show a slightly bigger galiot with a fore-mast added again and all masts bearing square sails and gaff-sails.
Although thousands of galiots were built in the second half of the 19th century [2] only a few survived until today from which some measurements can be taken. The older and smaller galiots had an overall length of c. 18m to 25m, the more modern ones of c. 22m to 28m measured between the stems along the waterline. Smaller ones carried a pay load of some 80 Roggen lasts with one Roggen last equalling 1 GRT; those more modern carried 80 lasts with 1 last equalling 1 GRT. Boats with more than 100 GRT were known but unusual.
Except a few steel galiots built in the very first years of the 20th century, all galiots had a wooden hull.
Varia & Curiosa
- Why were these boats so frequently visiting British harbours?
Firstly there are the close connections between the UK and the Kingdom of Hanover.
Secondly ships outgoing from ports to the west of Bremen used to sail under the British east coast anyway before they crossed the North Sea to enter into the Baltic Sea.
Thirdly some of these ships bound for major ports along the Baltic Sea quite commonly used to call at Scottish ports to take extra cargo for the Scottish communities in the Baltic's which traded with Scotland.
- During the French-German-War of 1870 – the last war after the Declaration of Paris in which letters of marque were handed out on both sides – the galiots became the preferred vessels for American privateers who patrolled the seas to the north of the British Isles. Fast sailing, easy to handle and with a free fore-deck where one big cannon was placed they could chase the merchant vessels and attack them from the distance out of the range of the lighter ship cannons carried on the merchant vessels.
- As many British galliots a lot of galiots served as dispatching boats in the Navy or as service boats for the various naval services (pilot boats, lighthouse boats).
Footnotes
- ↑ The different spellings used within the text indicate to which specific national characteristic the information referes.
- ↑ Alone the town of Papenburg had 29 shipyards around 1860 with each delivering up to three galiots per year.
