Following up a tip-off I made an early morning visit to Poole Quay, Dorset, to photograph the Matthew, a full size replica of the ship John Cabot sailed in over 500 years ago. The design is based on archaeological data and period illustrations since no original plans are known to exist. It took shipwrights two years to build her. Usually based in Bristol, she has been berthed in Poole for the past few days due to a pump failure.
The ship does have a number of modern advantages not found in ships of the day, such as radar, GPS and an engine. Compared to ocean-going ships of today the Matthew strikes me as being tiny for such an application, but its size - as were all ships of the period - is restricted by the keel length, which had to be a single piece of straight hard wood.
24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/250 second at f/11. -0.33 EV compensation. ISO 200
© 2010
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