Sunday 14 April 2019

Medieval Lifeboat - Zvezda

It actually comes as part of the Zvezda Crusader Cog, shown, as per instructions, placed upright on the deck with the oars etc inside but IMHO, it looks a bit too modern (17th century?) to be a medieval rowing boat let alone a "lifeboat". There´s a few contemporary Images about of medieval boats. like THESE, which. although not a definitive list, Shows much simpler versions than the model
Also, life being cheap, would Medieval ships actually carry lifeboats anyway ? I can´t find any mention of them anywhere.
I could have added it upside down and hide any of the "modern" Details  but I thought that would be a waste so it can go towards the Bodstonian * world.
The rigging was made up, I found several different rigging versions so went for my own.  The  pulley is from a 1/100 scale ship set.


*I know I know...it´s been bloody ages since anything happened there.

12 comments:

  1. WOW, that almost looks like a holiday picture, well done Paul!

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    1. It is a Holiday pic. If you look closely you can see me in the Background splashing in the sea (first and second picto the left of the sail) :-)

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  2. Looks mid 17th Century to me, perfect for Sea Beggars, Pirate or similar

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  3. Another gem my friend...and a floating gem!

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  4. It looks lovely, I believe they sell it as a separate item if you want more without buying a cog.

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  5. Nice modeling and cinema photo.

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  6. Now that's a lovely bit of kit Paul.

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  7. Hi Paul, I like the model! As to lifeboats, I don't think anyone used them before Maria Beasley's patented invention in the 1880's. Some ships before this towed a boat or had one shipboard for landing people or cargo away from a port, and these would serve as lifeboats in an emergency.

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    1. Now that´s interesting and sort of proves my Research right. I really can´t imagine any medieval ship thinking a small boat on board would be a benefit. Firstly it would take up space that could be used for Cargo or in the case of a fighting ship, men and weapons and if the ship went down, I can imagine the the loss of the Cargo would be more troubling to the owner than the Crew.

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  8. Awesome work! Certainly looks far more appropriate for an early modern lifeboat than a medieval one.

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  9. That's some very crisp work Paul!

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