Tall Ships Trivia Quiz

Answer: Susan Constant

The Susan Constant, along with the ships Godspeed and Discovery, landed on May 10th, 1607, at a spot along the James River in what would become southern Virginia. She was the largest of the three, rated at 120 tons. Godspeed and Discovery were 40 ton and 20 ton ships, respectively. The Santa Maria was, of course, one of Christopher Columbus's ships.

Answer: HMS Victory

HMS Victory was Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. She was officially commissioned in 1778, making her commission 23 years older than that of the USS Constitution. The USS Constellation was the LAST all-sail warship built by the US Navy and was commissioned in 1855.

The Swedish warship Vasa dates from the 1620's, but is in a museum, and is not actively commissioned in any navy, and has not been for more than 300 years.

Answer: Stays

The shrouds support the mast from side to side, and also from the rear. The halyard supports and holds the yard up the mase, and painters are generally smaller lines used to hold something in place.

Answer: A young boy who has gone to sea.

The term "yonker" comes from the word "younger", and refers to the youngest members of a ship's company.

Answer: HMS Dartmouth

HMS Dartmouth was one of three ships that carried a cargo of tea into Boston Harbor. On the evening of December 16th, colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the ships and dumped their cargo into the harbor in protest of the Tea Act of 1773.

Answer: Quarterdeck

Most people aren't aware of what a poop deck really is. Technically speaking, it is the highest, aftermost deck on a sailing ship, but cannot exist unless there is also a quarterdeck below it. (The word comes from the Latin "puppis", which means either "stern" or "highest", depending on who you ask.) So, from the main deck, you'd step up to the quarterdeck ... and then from there, if the ship had one (not all ships did), you'd step up to the poop deck.

Answer: The weight of a single ball fired from that cannon.

Imagine a cannon with a bore diameter of 4.75 inches. If you were to make a single iron ball that would just fit down the barrel (i.e. a ball that is just about 4.7 to 4.74" in diameter), the ball would weigh right about 12 pounds. Therefore, that cannon would be called a "12 pounder", since it could fire a single 12 lb. ball.

Answer: Queen Anne's Revenge

The Queen Anne's Revenge started life as a French slave ship. Blackbeard captured her in 1717, and converted her to a 40-gun warship - one of the most powerfully armed pirate ships in history.

Answer: HMS Justinian

Hornblower first stepped foot on a Royal Navy ship when he reported aboard Captain keene's HMS Justinian, at Spithead Harbor.

EDIT: This question originally pertained to Hornblower serving aboard HMS Arethusa under Captain Pellew before he served with him on HMS Indefatigable. Unfortunately, I have been tricked. This was an "adjustment" made my historical scholars. In the books, Hornblower indeed goes straight from Justinian to Indefatigable. The confusion arises when we discover that the REAL Captain Sir Edward Pellew (an actual Royal Navy Captain, recorded in history) was in command of the 36-gun frigate Arethusa during the time period where C.S. Forester places him on Indefatigable. The fiction of Hornblower being temporarily aboard Arethusa is an attempt to reconcile C.S. Forester's timeline with the actual historical timeline. My apologies to those who may have gotten this one wrong because of that.

Answer: HMS Serapis

During the battle, another ship, the Alliance, entered the fray and fired on Jones and his ship. Realizing he was outgunned and in danger of defeat, Jones carried the action by boarding the Serapis. His sharpshooters had killed seven men who tried to take Serapis's helm, and allowed Jones to close the range.

At the end of it all, the Bonhomme Richard was afire and sinking, the Alliance had sailed off, and Jones was in command of the Serapis.

Answer: bear

The command "Fire as they bear!" was used to tell gun crew captains to not wait for an individual fire command, but to fire their guns as the enemy ship entered their sights. They could choose on their own accord if they were to fire low, into the hull, across the decks, or high into the rigging.

This command was given when there was no intention of taking an enemy ship intact, and the action was too intense for a coordinated broadside.

Answer: 2

Although the term "brig" has come to mean the nautical equivalent of a prison, that choice is incorrect because of the word "NONE". Regardless of the slang, there IS a real sailing rig called a "brig" out there. It is a 2-masted ship that carries square sails on both masts. A brigantine is similar, but carries a fore-and-aft main sail on her mainmast instead of a square mainsail.

Answer: 1775

1775: The 70-ton sloop Enterprise fought on Lake Champlain during the American Revolution. No American ship bore the name Enterprise before this time.
1776: The 25-ton privateer schooner Enterprise cruised the Chesapeake, harrasing British shipping.
1779: The 125-ton schooner Enterprise fought in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812.
1831: The 194-ton schooner Enterprise patrolled South American waters and circumnavigated the globe in 1883.

Answer: Hand, Reef and Steer

A truly able-bodied seaman must be able to handle lines and know the arts of seamanship, knotting and splicing (HAND); handle and set the sails, take in reefs, clew up the courses and easily work aloft (REEF); and man the helm, keeping the ship bearing on a true course, with tiller, whipstaff or wheel (STEER).

Answer: 42

Depth soundings were taken by heaving a lead-weighted line, marked off in fathoms, alongside the ship as she moved forward. When the lead weight was at the bottom, and the line hung straight up and down, the leadsman would note the mark that rests above the surface and call it out. "By the deep seven" means the water is seven fathoms deep. One fathom is equal to 6 feet, so the water is 42 feet deep. (NOTE: Only at six fathoms and more is the word "deep" used... thus the term, "deep six". Before that, it's "By the mark ___" If the depth is two fathoms, the cry would be "By the mark twain!", since twain is the old term for two, or double. Now you know where Mark Twain got his name.)