England's Medieval Navy 1066-1509: Ships, Men and Warfare by Susan Rose

Author:Susan Rose
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / Naval
ISBN: 9781473853546
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Published: 2013-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

Anchoring

Other aspects of good maritime practice, as it were, are touched on in the Laws of Oléron. Articles 15 and 16 deal with the problems that easily arise if several vessels are at anchor in a haven. Anchoring or mooring to a quay were usual at this period; ships might, of course, take the ground in a drying harbour at low tide, but only the smallest would normally have been drawn up on the beach. The Laws lay down that if a ship drags its anchor and causes damage to another the assumption is usually that costs of repair must be shared. In the situation where a harbour dries at low tide and ships are crowded together, the danger is that one anchor cable will drift over another; the Laws deal with the damage that may result, and also clearly expect anchors to be buoyed so that their position is visible to others. A rather later compilation than the Laws, Les Bons usages et les Bonnes Costumes et les Bons Jugemenz de la Commune d’Oléron, survives in one copy which, unusually, includes an article defining the responsibility of a shipmaster. It is his duty to see that the voyage is completed as required.55 The overall impression created by the Laws is of a maritime community which extended to most European waters, and which had not only a clear understanding of good standards of seamanship, but also mechanisms to enforce them.

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