The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a

sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships c ...

forward of the

foremast The mast of a Sailing ship, sailing vessel is a tall spar (sailing), spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessa ...

, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " before the mast" which denotes anything related to ordinary sailors, as opposed to a ship's officers.

History and design

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

shipbuilding, a ship of war was usually equipped with a tall, multi-deck

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

-like structure in the bow of the ship. It served as a platform for archers to shoot down on enemy ships, or as a defensive stronghold if the ship were boarded. A similar but usually much larger structure, called the

aftcastle An aftercastle (or sometimes aftcastle) is the stern structure behind the mizzenmast and above the transom on large sailing ships, such as carracks, caravels, galleons and galleasses. It usually houses the captain's cabin and perhaps additional ...

, was at the aft end of the ship, often stretching all the way from the main mast to the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

. Having such tall upper works on the ship was detrimental to sailing performance. As

cannons A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during ...

were introduced and gunfire replaced boarding as the primary means of naval combat during the 16th century, the medieval forecastle was no longer needed, and later ships such as the

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...

had only a low, one-deck high forecastle. Sailors stationed on the forecastle, or "forecastle men", were responsible for handling the

headsails A sail plan is a description of the specific ways that a sailing craft is rigged. Also, the term "sail plan" is a graphic depiction of the arrangement of the sails for a given sailing craft.> In the English language, ships were usually describe ...

and the anchors. In the Royal Navy of the 17th and 18th centuries, these roles were reserved for older seamen who lacked the agility to go aloft or take other more strenuous duties aboard. lifeboat

By the end of the 19th century, a raised forecastle had become a typical feature on warships again, in an attempt to keep forward gun positions from getting unacceptably wet on heavy seas. In addition the forecastle may provide additional crew's quarters as in the past, and may contain essential machinery such as the

anchor windlass A windlass is a machine used on ships that is used to let-out and heave-up equipment such as a ship's anchor or a fishing trawl. On some ships, it may be located in a specific room called the windlass room. An anchor windlass is a machine tha ...

. A disadvantage of such a design is the structural weakness at the forecastle 'break' (the rear end of the forecastle with the main deck behind and below) relative to a

flush deck Flush deck is a term in naval architecture. It can refer to any deck of a ship which is continuous from stem to stern. History The flush deck design originated with rice ships built in Bengal Subah, Mughal India (modern Bangladesh), resulting i ...

structure. Some sailing ships and many modern non-sail ships have no forecastle as such at all but the name is still used to indicate the foremost part of the upper deck – although often called the ''foredeck'' – and for any crew's quarters in the bow of the ship, even if below the main deck.

References

Notes

External links

* {{Sailing ship elements Shipbuilding Sailing ship components Ship compartments Nautical terminology ca:Castell (nàutica) de:Vorschiff fi:Skanssi (laiva)

History and design

See also

References

Notes

External links