Quote Originally Posted by rrgg View Post
Here's what the Konungs Skuggsja had to say about naval engagements:



To an extent, before naval artillery really got good at dealing damage from long ranges, the introduction of gunpowder seems to have actually increased the advantage of tall ships in close combat somewhat. Holding a shield overhead doesn't help so much when the enemy is throwing bombs or shooting swivel guns down at you. Weapons like muskets also limited the effectiveness of the "fighting tops" up in the masts, since relatively lightweight wooden screens could protect against arrows, but not musket balls.
One thing not mentioned explicitly in that description are stones and rocks, that were thrown from the fighting tops. There are even drawings showing hoists to carry stones up to the tops.

I'm going to push back a little bit on the gunpowder -- when the guns were primarily small it's probably true that they initially aided in the defense, especially on tall ships. But as large cannons started to be mounted on ships it was the galley that was first able to take advantage of them in an offensive capacity. With little modification to the basic galley design, a rather large cannon could be mounted in the front firing directly forward. While the earliest known attempts of mounting large cannon on galleys occurred in the 1380s, they seem to have been limited mostly to attacking coasts and not other ships. However, sometime in the early 1500s they became standard for ship vs ship combat. These cannons were usually much larger than anything put on a sailing ship at the time. 30 pdrs were common early in the century, and 50-70 pounders becoming common later on. (Those stats are for cannons throwing iron cannonballs, the earlier stone projectile bombards could fire a heavier shot, 80 pounds). While it is true, that a galley typically mounted only one of these heavy cannons, on the centerline, it was in a perfect position to be used offensively. Smaller cannons were added to the flanks, giving a very powerful forward battery. The large cannon could be used at long range, and hold other ships at bay, or try to knock out their defenses before closing in. Occasionally a well placed shot could even sink a ship, but it wasn't common. A well timed volley from the forward battery just before ramming, could clear the enemy decks to facilitate boarding.

Sailing ships couldn't really emulate this. The front of the ship wasn't a very good place to mount a large cannon -- when they first started to use large cannons they were mounted low in the aft, firing rearward. It made sense for the design of the ships, but limited the most powerful cannons to a defensive position -- perhaps useful for dissuading any stalking galleys. (Could also be used in a more static situation against land based targets). Sailing ships had to go through a lot more evolution, and changes in tactics, before powerful artillery could be mounted and used offensively. However, sailing ships were ultimately able to undergo more evolution than galleys, and while galleys never disappeared completely, until the advent of steam power, by the end of the 16th century sailing ships had gained the upper hand.

Long story short -- gunpowder artillery probably gave galleys a new lease on life, at least for a century or so, before they were eclipsed by sailing ships.