Since the 12th century cogs had been used as merchant ships from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. Hundreds of ships sailed to England, Belgium, France and Portugal selling wine, wool, salt, oil, cloth, sub-tropical fruits, beer and silver. With Sweden, Denmark and Germany they traded in stockfish, wax, grain, wood, salt, tar, pitch, copper, furs and amber. The cog was of such great importance to the merchants that it became the synonym for the Hanseatic League. With the early cogs the advance was made from coaster to merchantman on the high seas. In addition to the four main trading ports of the Hanseatic League in Novgorod, Bruges, Bergen and London (in 1266 King Henry III gave the Hamburg traders the right to trade in London) many towns were established on the North Sea and the Baltic coasts and on navigable rivers to powerful Hanseatic cities. Thus in 1237 Elbing near Danzig became a permanent settlement. The main features of a Hanseatic cog dating from the 13th and 14th centuries are straight, slanting stem and stern posts, a single mast with square sail, a forecastle and stern gallery and a rudder fixed to the stern post. Cogs with a capacity of 100 to 200 tonnes were used both as merchant ships and warships. From the middle of the 14th century the first guns were used on ships, including in Northern Europe. Navigation was done by the sun, the stars and the sounding lead. At the end of the 14th century the cog was superseded by the hulk.

 

1/72 Scale Plastic Model kit - Decals for the Elbing version

 

Length 417mm x Height 392mm

 

Requires assembly & painting.