Every now and then people in this here forum attempt to build a ship that coud have floated in the middle ages. In this thread I would like to collect all the cogs, caravells, carracks etc. that have been build so far, as well as give some advice on shapes and techniques. So first of all, this is not meant as a thread to undermine the Pirate forum but an effort to collect the ships from the castle/pre - classic pirate era. Sometimes people don't realize that there is a huge difference between the earlier and the later ships and thus come up with stuff that doesn't really fit the time frame we're discussing in this forum. Or sometimes people do stuff that from a historical point of view doesn't really a lot of sense. Here for, instance, we're having a really nice brick built cog, (by Jakob Z.) The shape is really nice, but the problem is that this kind of rigging doesn't fit a cog, as cogs were usually one masted! So the rigging depicted here is that of a carrack, a ship that was developed at least 100 years later. I mean I don't want to be too academic, but sometimes the mistakes bug me a bit. Not only me though! And last but not least, let's be honest, Lego hasn't been doing such a good job at providing us with the ships we need for our knights! Middle Ages vs. Pirate Era Most Historians would agree that the (European) middle Ages started around the year 500 and ended around 1500 (depending on who you ask). The era of piracy Lego refers to would be starting around the year 1600 at the earliest, so that actually leaves us with numerous types and shapes of ships distributed over a time frame of roughly 1100 years. That's a lot of time to cover, so I'll concentrate on the most important ones. As I really don't know every ship ever build, it'd be cool to make this a collabertive effort, sort of like the tree guide. Around 1000 - Drakar (Viking Ship) Wikipedia article Drakar by Capt. Green Hair: Ca. 1000 to 1400 - Cog Wikipedia article The Cog was actually the ship of the High Middle Ages. It's form derived from the Viking ship but it was wider and used only sails for propulsion. Cogs were one masted and square rigged and mostly seen in the northern/northwestern parts of Europe, the realm of the Hanseatic league. Scientists believe it was first build on the shores of the Baltic Sea. However, few complete cogs have been discoverd so far, although the Baltic Sea is actually littered with wrecks. Of the few wrecks that have been excavated, the Cog of Bremen was the best preserved as it was the only one with more than a few hull pieces. On medieval city seals you can actually find a lot of cogs with a battlement on the front as well as the stern castle. The Bremen cog however, did neither have a front castle nor any battlements. So most Historians believe that most trading cogs didn't have battlements either, as battlements on a trading ship wouldn't have made a lot of sense. Therefore actual trading cogs looked a little different from what is usually depicted in many pictures. A historically accurate depiction of a cog would actually look more like this: Cog Mocs: ship by TheBrickAvenger: Avalonian trade cog by Legonardo: Mitgardian cog by Ecclesiastes: Mitgardian cog "Lady Emma" by kabel: cog, flickr find: Hanseatic Cog by Kris Kelvin: Hansa Trad Cog by DNL: cog by ciamek (aka Piglet): Englisch War Cog by 2 Much Caffeine: Ca. 1450 to 1600 Caravel Wikipedia article Unlike in the Northern parts of Europe, Mediterranean ship builders went a somewhat different way. The most notable differences were that the planks of the Mediterranean ships did not overlap and, due to Arabian influences, most Southern ships were Lateen rigged. This means that the sails usually had triangular shapes. This way they were able to navigate much better then the ships build by the Northerners. In the first half of the 15th century, under the advise of Henry the Sailor, the caravel was developed by the Portugese as the ship of choice they used for venturing along the coasts of Africa in order to get to India. The age of exploration actually started as early as 1418! Later caravels were of course much bigger and also had some sqare sails and sometimes up to four masts. But the first caravels had often not more than two masts and only Lateen sails. The most notable examples of early Caravels were the Pinta and Nina of the Columbus fleet, whereas Columbus' falg ship the Santa Maria was actually a carrack. A currently floating replica early caravel is the Boa Vista, located in Southern Portugal. more and better pics of a Portugese caravel replica by FrankBrickWright Caravel Mocs: Caravel "The Tigresa" by Mark of Falworth: "Medieval Caravell" by Guss: pic extension doesn't work Link to topic Mitgardian caravel "Arandela Negra" by kabel: Kaliphlin pirate ship by Legonardo: Kaliphlin vessel "The Amazon" by Damaximus: Caravel "Pinta" by FrankBrickWright: 15th to 16th century Carrack Wikipedia article Kaliphlin: Barquonian Interceptor by Sebeus: Mitgardian carrack "Rose of Asgard" by kabel: Kaliphlin carrack "Golden Swan" by Damaximus: Carrack "Santa Maria da Boa Viagem" by FrankBrickWright: 8th to 17th century galleys: Wikipedia article Kaliphlin galley "The Basilisk's Gaze" by Gabe: Nocturnian galley "Wyvern's Cough" by Balthasar: Others: merchant ship by Disco86: Kaliphlin fishing boat by gabe: Nocturnian "Skeleton Ship" by Hersbrucker: Nocturnian: "Minotauren Warship" by Hersbrucker: Chines Junk by Arzlan: ship fight by timmyboy_yo Ship Building Guides and Wip Topics: How to Build a Frigate by Captain Green Hair The mother of all ship building tutorials, not medieval, but a good base for any kind of ship. Caravel tutorial by Horry WIP Carrack by kabel Note: This is by no means meant to be a complete list but a mere work in progress! So if you have more medeival/fantasy/castle etc. mocs that were posted here on eb, let me know and I'll add your ships to the list. Thanks