fortyplus said:
let's debate then.
the cost differences can only have been marginal, you'd still need a full set of hands to go aloft on the fore- and mainmasts.
If my memory serves me rightly, barques could afford to sail with one or two less hands than ships of the same size, which in the late nineteenth century, with profit margins tight, could be significant.
Plus, fore and aft rig is simpler to set up and doesn't require as much in the way of canvas, spars and rigging as square rig. I couldn't give any figures offhand, but losing a third of a quarter (on a 3- or 4-masted vessel) of the square sails has to have been a pretty significant saving.
Performance wise, the rig wouldn't make much difference off the wind, and the main trade routes were downwind. But the advantages of fore-and-aft rig come in sailing closer to the wind; a barque must surely have been able sail a point or two closer to the wind than a ship. Which would matter at the beginning and end of the voyage, when tugs were used to bring the ships home. (in the Last Grain Race, the Moshulu picked up a tug off the Scillies rather than sailing up the Channel)
Square sails are more effective downwind, so the full-rigged vessel was a little faster. And as you say, most trading routes followed the trade winds, meaning they sailed downwind much of the time. Upwind, well, I'm not sure a barque would sail all that much closer to the wind, given that she still had two or three square-rigged masts. The barque's advantage, however, would be that she was easier to tack or to wear, with fewer square sails to attend to. She'd probably be quicker in stays too. As you say, the greater ease of handling a barque would count when manouevring in restricted waters at the beginning and end of a voyage.
On balance, I still think the ship rig offered better performance, but in the latter years of the commercial square-rigger performance mattered less since most trades where speed was important had been taken over by steamships, and cost-saving was the order of the day.
The Last Grain Race is a fantastic book, btw, isn't it?
Ships is just BIG boats.
