A Brief History of Multihulls
by François Chevalier
This series will be an opportunity for us to
present a history on the evolution of multihulls, showcasing some their curious
features, not all of them successful, and delving into the inventive mind of the
speed-crazed mariner. We shall discuss the origins of the type, through the
major evolutions in 19th century and 20th century, all the way to the 34th
America's Cup.
In parallel to our analyses of the drag-racing machines built for the 34th America's Cup, it is interesting to pursue their history. Their origins lie in the Oceania pirogue: These catamarans, trimarans and proas were already described as "flying objects" by Antonio Pigafetta, who, serving as Magellan's assistant during the World's first circumnavigation, was the first to describe these boats in 1521.
To understand the geographical distribution of these craft and how their design evolved, I have plotted the island-hopping movements of the Pacific peoples on the chart below, from Madagascar to the furthest reaches of the Pacific ocean:
The migrations were carried out in consecutive waves over a period in excess of 50,000 years.
The first wave saw settlers in Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia during the last Ice Age: Indeed, between 50,000 and 35,000 BC, a 150 metre drop of the sea level enabled the Sunda and Sahul peoples to progress towards the East and South (in green on the chart).
In 4,000 BC, other peoples came by way of the Taïwan sea and intermingled with established populations. From 1,600 BC, this population scattered throughout Micronesia (the Marianas Islands, Marshall Islands, etc…) and later in Melanesia; In 1,000 they reached western Polynesia including Fidji, Tonga, Samoa. (in blue on the chart).
Five centuries would pass before Polynesians would resume their migrations, spreading to Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. From these archipelagos, a new migratory wave started: Settlers are believed to have reached Hawaii and Easter Island circa 400 AD. Meanwhile, migrations in the Indian ocean reach Madagascar and surrounding lands around the year 600. Finally, settlers make land on New Zealand around the year 700. (in orange on the chart)
As the explorers of the "Old World" first ventured into the Pacific, they were immediately baffled by the speed of the craft they encountered there. They were even more surprised to realise that the same craft had been used to reach these distant islands at the far reaches of the largest ocean.
If Pifagetta did not elaborate much on describing the proa witnessed at the Ladrones islands (modern-day Marianas - though his account is an entertaining read), Thomas Cavendish also travelled there and was impressed by the number of these craft. In 1616 Jacob Le Maire gave a picturesque description of the catamarans that he came across in the Tonga Islands. In 1686, William Dampier measured their speed, assessing that these craft "are the fastest in the World, setting 18 knot averages over hundreds of miles".
When William Funnell sailed
about the Pacific islands in 1705, he sketched a fanciful "flying
proa", whilst Woodes Rogers disassembled one and put her on display six
years later in Saint James Park in London. The first actual plans (featured
above), though full of inaccuracies, was drafted by Piercy Brett in 1742 whilst
serving on George Anson's voyage around the World. It appears that it was
exceptionally difficult for Europeans to understand how these sailing craft
operate. François-Edmond Pâris' works were the first to cover the subject in
depth when they were published in 1839; followed by those of James Hornell
(1936) and Jean Neyret (between 1959 and 1976).
Here we shall discuss six types of pirogues that best describe the rich, versatile and inventive minds of these seafaring peoples.
Here we shall discuss six types of pirogues that best describe the rich, versatile and inventive minds of these seafaring peoples.
Origins - The Marianas proa
The first of the craft to be discovered were the proa of the Islas Ladrones
(nowaday Marianas), a thousand miles off New Guinea.
This model is chosen from a drawing by Piercy Brett, twelve meters in length, featuring one double-ended dugout hull with two lateral boards and with two symmetrical bows on either end. The boat is sewn over with a watertight fabric (a skin) that covers the lateral boards and the bows. The mast was maintained upright by a strut stepped where the longitudinal stringers meet on the windward outrigger. The mast was also held in position by a shroud fastened in the same place. During tacks (or conversely gybes), the sail was moved from forward to aft by swivelling the mast, and the paddle on the opposite bow would then serve as a rudder. The hull could be made of several parts and overlaid lateral planks. According to navigational needs, they sometimes featured a platform on the crossbeams; in other cases a second outrigger was used opposite, with a wider platform. The asymmetry of the hull and outrigger was remarkable in its improvement of the craft's upwind performance. The outrigger was held in position by a vertical peg bound by a lashing to each crossbeam. George Anson pointed out that these pirogues "are able to close the wind better than any other known vessel", an astounding observation given that the design of these boats was 3,000 years old!
This model is chosen from a drawing by Piercy Brett, twelve meters in length, featuring one double-ended dugout hull with two lateral boards and with two symmetrical bows on either end. The boat is sewn over with a watertight fabric (a skin) that covers the lateral boards and the bows. The mast was maintained upright by a strut stepped where the longitudinal stringers meet on the windward outrigger. The mast was also held in position by a shroud fastened in the same place. During tacks (or conversely gybes), the sail was moved from forward to aft by swivelling the mast, and the paddle on the opposite bow would then serve as a rudder. The hull could be made of several parts and overlaid lateral planks. According to navigational needs, they sometimes featured a platform on the crossbeams; in other cases a second outrigger was used opposite, with a wider platform. The asymmetry of the hull and outrigger was remarkable in its improvement of the craft's upwind performance. The outrigger was held in position by a vertical peg bound by a lashing to each crossbeam. George Anson pointed out that these pirogues "are able to close the wind better than any other known vessel", an astounding observation given that the design of these boats was 3,000 years old!
The Bismarck & Louisiade
proas
The diversity of the rigs found on sailboats in the
Bismarck and the Louisiade Archipelagos, illustrated above and below with two
large proas, indicates strong influence from Indonesia.
These sails can also be found on ancient sculptures on Java. Without bringing up any controversy on the original inventor of the rigid wingsail, these particular ones were made of braided leaves, herego rather stiff. The whole sail could swivel around its fastenings at the top of the masts, creating optimal lift depending on strength and incidence of the wind.
These sails can also be found on ancient sculptures on Java. Without bringing up any controversy on the original inventor of the rigid wingsail, these particular ones were made of braided leaves, herego rather stiff. The whole sail could swivel around its fastenings at the top of the masts, creating optimal lift depending on strength and incidence of the wind.
These proas typically measured 10 to 15 metres in length, but larger ones
between 18 and 25 metres were also built, serving mainly for long passages or
for ceremonial use. The masts were also held in position by rounded buttresses
and by forestays fastened upwind on the outrigger. A Louisiade
"Lia-No", with a distinctive elliptical sail, also featured flaring
and clinker-built topsides that greatly reduced deckwash. The semi-circular
sections of the hull were also a perfect example of wetted surface reduction.
The Fidji catamaran
Following the long string of islands in the eastwards prolongation of New
Guinea, settlers finally found Fidji.
The catamaran of the Fidji islands was an assembly of two pirogues. If disassembled, they could each be fitted with an outrigger. Each hull was made of one or more dugout tree trunks, depending on the length of the craft (between 12 and 24 meters), with a freeboard increased by the addition of elements on the topsides, neatly adjusted and sewn up. The two hulls were parallel but in a Quincunx, with one slightly ahead of the other. Like modern multihulls, the bows were vertical. On large catamarans, the space between hulls was covered with decking. The craft was steered by two leeward paddles, one on each hull. The triangular sailing rig was set on the leeward hull, with the windward hull used as an outrigger. To tack, the sail was stowed on the top yard, the rake in the mast was decreased as the rig was carried over to the other hull.
The catamaran of the Fidji islands was an assembly of two pirogues. If disassembled, they could each be fitted with an outrigger. Each hull was made of one or more dugout tree trunks, depending on the length of the craft (between 12 and 24 meters), with a freeboard increased by the addition of elements on the topsides, neatly adjusted and sewn up. The two hulls were parallel but in a Quincunx, with one slightly ahead of the other. Like modern multihulls, the bows were vertical. On large catamarans, the space between hulls was covered with decking. The craft was steered by two leeward paddles, one on each hull. The triangular sailing rig was set on the leeward hull, with the windward hull used as an outrigger. To tack, the sail was stowed on the top yard, the rake in the mast was decreased as the rig was carried over to the other hull.
The catamarans from the Tonga islands have been widely illustrated by the
first explorers, particularly Willem Schouten, Abel Tasman and James Cook.
Daniel Lescallier reproduced their plans in Traité pratique du gréement des
vaisseaux, but a few details were missed out.
The Tonga island catamarans were of large size, between 15 and 25 meters in length, able to carry up to 150 passengers. A small dugout was usually kept aboard and used as a tender. They were used to sail to destinations in Melanesia and Micronesia. The platform was placed atop vertical boards and stayed supports. Each hull would be decked and feature a long hatch giving access to the bilges to scoop out shipped water whilst in rough seas or at high sailing speeds. Typically, the boat featured a semi-circular hut with a cooking stove near the mast foot. The mast was rather short, with a jawed masthead that carried the topyard. The mast was held in position by two lateral deck spreaders, reminiscent of the Open 60s with a wing mast. For short beats to windward, the sail came naturally against the mast, similarly to lateen sails on "the wrong tack", but for long tacks, the mast would be swivelled vertically in order to pass the sail over from one side to the other. The two paddles were always positioned to leeward.
The Tonga island catamarans were of large size, between 15 and 25 meters in length, able to carry up to 150 passengers. A small dugout was usually kept aboard and used as a tender. They were used to sail to destinations in Melanesia and Micronesia. The platform was placed atop vertical boards and stayed supports. Each hull would be decked and feature a long hatch giving access to the bilges to scoop out shipped water whilst in rough seas or at high sailing speeds. Typically, the boat featured a semi-circular hut with a cooking stove near the mast foot. The mast was rather short, with a jawed masthead that carried the topyard. The mast was held in position by two lateral deck spreaders, reminiscent of the Open 60s with a wing mast. For short beats to windward, the sail came naturally against the mast, similarly to lateen sails on "the wrong tack", but for long tacks, the mast would be swivelled vertically in order to pass the sail over from one side to the other. The two paddles were always positioned to leeward.
The Zanzibar trimaran
Finally, the last example of these antique craft is a trimaran that was prevalent along the African coast, the Comoro islands and Madagascar.
This particular trimaran was drawn in Zanzibar in the early 20th century, and a few of this kind are still afloat to this day. If the loose-footed sail is an Arab trait, the actual design of the craft the design is Indonesian. This pirogue with double outrigger which the flat bottom was sloped outwardly, similarly to waterskis or hydrofoils. The sail was set on a short mast, in the centreline of the craft, and changed tacks on every beating leg. Measuring 7 to 9 metres in length, these machines could sail at similar speeds to modern multihulls.
All these "light vessels", as described by our forebears, would ship a lot of water and one crew member would necessarily be tasked with scooping the water out, whether it be during fishing or on a open sea passage. But if there was a compromise, it was all for speed.
Herreshoff era catamarans
If the catamaran, trimaran or proa instances of the pirogue were born several thousand years ago in Oceania, the first modern catamaran of western design was built in England for Sir William Petty in 1662, at a time when the word "yacht" was a very new word. And it would take a yachtbuilder to make the greatest leap in multihull design after that. The World's first multihull with a racing designation was Nathanael Greene Herreshoff's, and this excerpt from the New York Herald dated April 16th, 1877 is worthy of notice:
In the fall of 1875 I was thinking and thinking how to get great speed out of single hulled boats, of the kind in common use. To get great speed, thought I, one must have great power, one must have a great sail, you must have something to hold it up, and that something must be large and wide, and have a large sectional surface, and also a great deal of frictional surface. These properties in a hull to give stability are not compatible with attaining great speed. Indeed, the more one tries to make a stiff, able hull the less speed will be attained, even if corresponding additions are made to the sail. So then, there are two important principles of speed which constantly work against each other. If we increase the power to get more speed we must increase the stability of the hull correspondingly. An increased hull has more resistance, both from sectional area and surface friction. So what we would gain one way we must lose in the other. Well, a boat must have width, and the wider she is, generally speaking, the more stable she will be. But a wide boat cannot have great speed, however much power you will apply to her. So the next thing that is to be done is to decrease the sectional area and, in a measure, retain stability; the boat would have power to lift at a distance each side of the keel, where it would do great work. I kept on following this principle, getting the keel higher and higher, until by and by the keel came out of the water, when, lo and behold! there was the double boat! Nothing else to be done but take a saw and split her in two, spread it apart a little way, and cover all with a deck, and there you are! That was the rough road which I travelled, and having arrived thus far I abandoned my ill-shaped hulls, and in their place substituted them with two long, narrow, very light boats and connected them at the bow, stern and middle.
Even as Mr. Herreshoff was reinventing the catamaran, it is surprising that the catamaran was not a firmly established concept - The testimonies of explorers in previous centuries had unanimously described the craft's performance - but was merely the result of a reflection on the optimization of performance in monohulls.
Herreshoff's thinking
 | ||
©François Chevalier 2012
Starting with the monohull in (1), Mr. Herreshoff increased the beam to
increase stiffness (2); As the beam is further increased the keel is raised and
the maximum draught is offset from the centreline to either side (3) until the
keel is completely out of the water. It could have been simpler to split the
boat along the centreline and spreading them apart (5), but evidently Mr.
Herreshoff eventually proposed two narrow hulls (6).
On June 24th, 1876, the day after the Centennial Regatta, The World printed a column on page 2, of which this excerpt: The catamaran Amaryllis, constructed by Mr. Herreshoff, of Providence […] fairly flew along the Long Island shore, passing yacht after yacht as if they were anchored. As Amaryllis dashed over the line a winner she was saluted by guns from the yachts that were lying at anchor, and the excursion steamers screeched their loudest in honor of her victory. The World also printed an editorial on page 4, excerpt: A Revolutionary Yacht Nobody protested against entering her for the race yesterday, for the reason probably that everybody expected to beat her, but everybody seems to have objected to being beaten by her. It behooves the owners of the large schooners, however, to take counsel together lest somebody should build an Amaryllis a hundred feet long and convert their crafts into useless lumber. It is a matter quite as important as keeping the America's Cup. The previous subject on pirogues and the new small catamarans would have seemed very distantly related to the subject of the America's Cup, event if similarities and influences can be found between the different concepts of sails and hulls of the early Pacific multihulls, but the question regarding the future of America's Cup was raised on the first day that an American catamaran was raced. Eventually, and a 112 years later, Dennis Conner defended the America's Cup with a catamaran in 1988.
John Gilpin (Nathanael
Herreshoff)
|
 |
| François Chevalier 1992 |
John Gilpin
Catamaran
Designer: Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
Builder: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
Introduced: 1877 (four built)
Length: 9.75m
Load Waterline Length: 9.37m
Beam:5.28m
Draught: 0.50m / 1.26m
Displacement: 1.5T
Upwind sail area: 85sqm
It is interesting to delve into the designer's thinking, and to stop at step (4), where the centreline keel was raised in effect above water: Mr. Herreshoff's "ill-shaped hulls". In 1898, twenty-three years after the launch of the Amaryllis, Canadian designer George Herrick Duggan sought to reduce the wetted surface of his one-tonner to defend the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club's tenure of the Seawanhaka Cup. The rating rule only took into account the load waterline length. With their extremely long overhangs, powered up yachts would heel and in effect increase their sailing waterline length. To benefit from this, the deck would look increasingly rectangular from overhead.
In Dominion Duggan created a double-hull by raising the centreline keel; With a wetted surface reduced by 30%, he easily defenced the cup! Facing the pressure of angry contenders however, the Seawanhaka rating rule was amended to ban double hulls in subsequent races, by requiring the maximum draft of sections to lie on the centreline of the yacht. This however did not prevent another naval architect known for bold designs, Bowdoin B. Crowninshield, to exploit this loophole and engineer the trimaran Hades in 1902 for the Quincy Cup, though incidentally she would prove fruitless in the face of competition given by Starling Burgess' defence candidate Outlook, one of history's most extreme scows.
Though catamarans threatened to change the course of yachting history both in 1876 and in 1898, to no avail, they failed to convert yacht clubs as rating rules were amended to prevent them.
Catamaran
Designer: Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
Builder: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
Introduced: 1877 (four built)
Length: 9.75m
Load Waterline Length: 9.37m
Beam:5.28m
Draught: 0.50m / 1.26m
Displacement: 1.5T
Upwind sail area: 85sqm
It is interesting to delve into the designer's thinking, and to stop at step (4), where the centreline keel was raised in effect above water: Mr. Herreshoff's "ill-shaped hulls". In 1898, twenty-three years after the launch of the Amaryllis, Canadian designer George Herrick Duggan sought to reduce the wetted surface of his one-tonner to defend the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club's tenure of the Seawanhaka Cup. The rating rule only took into account the load waterline length. With their extremely long overhangs, powered up yachts would heel and in effect increase their sailing waterline length. To benefit from this, the deck would look increasingly rectangular from overhead.
In Dominion Duggan created a double-hull by raising the centreline keel; With a wetted surface reduced by 30%, he easily defenced the cup! Facing the pressure of angry contenders however, the Seawanhaka rating rule was amended to ban double hulls in subsequent races, by requiring the maximum draft of sections to lie on the centreline of the yacht. This however did not prevent another naval architect known for bold designs, Bowdoin B. Crowninshield, to exploit this loophole and engineer the trimaran Hades in 1902 for the Quincy Cup, though incidentally she would prove fruitless in the face of competition given by Starling Burgess' defence candidate Outlook, one of history's most extreme scows.
Though catamarans threatened to change the course of yachting history both in 1876 and in 1898, to no avail, they failed to convert yacht clubs as rating rules were amended to prevent them.
One-tonner Dominion
(George Herrick Duggan)
 |
| ©François Chevalier 2012 |
Dominion is a development of the scow, measuring 10.85m
overall and only 5.28m on the waterline. By raising the centreline keel above
the water so as to increase stiffness and reduce wetted surface, the designer
created a catamaran.
Dominion
One-tonner (Seawanhaka Cup)
Designer: George Herrick Duggan
Launched: 1898
length: 10.83m
Load Waterline Length: 5.28m
Beam: 2.31m
Draught: 0.28m / 1.70m
Upwind sail area: 45sqm
Hades (Bowdoin
Bradlee Crowninshield)
 |
©François Chevalier 2012
Hades, measuring 16.75m overall and 6.40m on the waterline, is a
pseudo-trimaran, the vaka or centreline keel only present to exploit a loophole
in the rating rule which requires maximum draught of the sections to lie on the
centreline of the yacht. The plateform is so thin that it needs a supporting
tensile structure above decks.
Hades
Hybrid catamaran (Quincy Cup)
Designer: B. B. Crowninshield
Launched: 1902
Length: 16.75m
Length overall: 22.40m
Load Waterline Length: 6.40m
Beam: 5.18m
Draught: 0.36m / 2.5m
Upwind sail area: 185sqm
If multihulls did not achieve a popular success in the 19th century, they were
never actually abandoned. Every edition of the American Register of Yachts
listed in excess of ten cruising or racing catamarans.
The Sailing
Machine (Lewis Francis Herreshoff)
|
 | ||
©Fraçois Chevalier 2012
In Lewis Francis Herreshoff's (1890-1972) book The Common Sense of Yacht
Design (published 1848), he denounced the controversy endured in 1876 by
his father Nathanael Herreshoff, which created a void in the development of
fast sailing yachts. In his chapter titled The Sailing Machine, which
assesses the future of yachting, he proposed several catamarans, including the
above, with two hulls borrowed from power yachts, and two swivelling and
rotating wingsails set on a quadripod rig.
The Sailing Machine, which L. Francis Herreshoff proposed in 1848,
demonstrated that besides the designer's great drafting talent, capable of
turning out plans of utmost precision, he also had a very creative imagination:
He would give proof of this with his next catamran, Sailski.
The Sailing Machine
Wingsail ketch catamaran
Designer: Lewis Francis Herreshoff
Proposed: 1948
Length: 9.15m
Load Waterline Length: 8.85m
Beam: 5.35m
Draught: 0.67 / 1.15m
Upwind sail area: 44sqm
Sailski (Lewis
Francis Herreshoff)
|
