Manse Everard and Karel Novak are in 1137alpha which is not yet very different from 1137 and shares its differences from later centuries.
(i) The stars are "...a brilliant horde...," (p. 317) rarely seen in the late twentieth century.
(ii) "The air lay cold and quiet, not a motor anywhere on Earth." (ibid.)
(iii) Sailors hug coasts...
(iv) ...and avoid long voyages late in the year.
Poul Anderson notices and records many such details whereas a lesser writer would just tell his readers that his characters were in 1137alpha, then proceed directly to action and dialogue.
We learn a lot about the past or at least what was reasonably hypothesized about the past at the time of writing.
17 comments:
Actually, that "hug coasts" thing is an observational artifact. For a long time, only wrecks in fairly shallow water could be investigated.
Since underwater drones have become available, lots and lots of deep-water wrecks have been found from the Roman period, for example.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Yes, but in THE KING OF YS the Andersons wrote of how Roman sea captains used a type of manual called the "periplus" to guide their way along the coasts of the Empire. Estimated average sailing times to or between ports and landmarks.
Ad astra! Sean
However the Romans didn't sail along the coasts -- they crossed deep open ocean repeatedly.
That's safer. Getting "caught on a lee shore" -- caught between an onshore wind and the coast -- is one of the worst nightmares of a sailing-ship captain.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Then I have to sit corrected. I also had in mind the very detailed notes the Andersons added to THE KING OF YS.
Ad astra! Sean
I just read a short item in an old (January 2001) National Geographic, at the end of an article about the archeology of Ashkelon, which tells about a ship wreck found near there. 30 miles offshore and 1200 feet down (so 50 km off shore and 360 m down). Apparently Phoenician and dated to about 725 BC. So a few centuries later than the ship the Exaltationists attacked in "Ivory, Apes, and Peacocks".
Of course not knowing where you are at sea is rather scary, to offset the hazard of the lee shore, so it took guts to do for the 1st time what the Portuguese did the 1400s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volta_do_mar
Learning how to determine Longitude a few centuries later must have been reassuring.
Kaor, Jim!
I agree, meaning I now believe many sea captains were willing to be bold and adventurous, and not just hug the coasts.
Ad astra! Sean
Before modern navigation -- which came in piecemeal from the Renaissance on -- what you did was head across the open sea in the general direction of where you wanted to go. You could tell north and south and east and weast fairly often, even before compasses. The stars at night, and the sun by day.
Then when you hit the coast, you recognized where you were or asked a local, and then 'hopped' along until you hit the port you wanted.
Note that a 'lee shore' was even worse before modern sailing ships; they can tack upwind much more effectively than the older types.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And things like the periplus were most useful when sea captains hit a known coast.
Ad astra! Sean
My understanding is that there was a trade off between cargo capacity and ability to sail at much less than 90 degrees to upwind, at least until relatively recent centuries. Is that accurate?
This thread sure is running.
Kaor, Jim!
I admit not knowing, altho I'm sure Anderson would have, due to his personal interest in nautical matters.
Ad astra! Sean
Jim: more or less. Big ships in, say, Roman times -- with cargo capacities over 1000 tons -- were wallowing tubs.
It was basically a matter of rigging and sail plans, and secondarily hull forms.
19th century sailing ships could all beat upwind, even the square-riggers.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
We see repeated mentions in Anderson's stories of merchant ships being broad and beamy tubs compared to lean and swift war craft.
Ad astra! Sean
How much of the progress toward being able to beat upwind, even with cargo ships, had been made by the time the Portuguese were figuring out how to go around Africa and get back.
I am impressed by the longevity of this thread.
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