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>>>>I am interested in some basic information on Swedish >>>>galleys, half-galleys and rowing frigates. I am >aware >>>>that Sweden stopped building galleys after 1748 in >>>>favor of small gunboats (per Jan Glete who should >>have >>>>known :-)). I am also aware that Russia captured at >>>>least six 20-banked galleys during the 1788-90 war. >>>>Beyond that, I have very little information. >>>> >>>>Thanks in advance, >>>> >>>I'm not sure exactly what types you are asking >about. >>>R.C. Anderson had a table in the back of <i>Naval >Wars >>>in the Baltic</i> (p. 376) about the following types >>>of rowed vessels, some of which had broadside >>>armaments (the first four were, I think, named for >>>counties in Finland): >>>• Hemmema >>>• Turuma >>>• Udema >>>• Pojama >>>• Galley >>>• Gunsloop >>>• Gunyawl >>>I think he also wrote an article about these in ><i>The >>>Mariner's Mirror,</i> which I might be able to dig >up. >>> There is also a narrative description of most of >>>these types, with some outline drawings, in Otto von >>>Pivka's pastiche, <i>Navies of the Napoleonic >Era.</i> >> >>A Hemmemmaa is a Swedish rowing frigate, larger and >>more heavily armed than a galley and somewhat >>resembling the galleases of the previous century. >>Swedish and Russian rowing frigates carried 8 pdr to >>24 pdr broadsides and were similar in many respects to >>traditional frigates save only in their use of oars to >>enable them to maneuver in Baltic calms. I >><i>thought</i> that udemas were large galleys, but I >>may be wrong. I hate to rely upon Otto von Pivka for >>anything, but I will see what he has to say. >> >>What I am particularly interested in is <u>how >>many</u> of the various types were produced before the >>Russo-Swedish war. >> >>Thanks, John Tredrea > >The table provided by Anderson is interesting and may >be accurate with respect to numbers built although >they seem quite high for the Hemmemmaa's and Turuma's, >but they definitely diverge significantly in gunnery >details from information that I have on captured >Swedish ships in Russian hands. The dimensions are >close to those taken by the Russians and the >differences may relate to different systems of >measurement, but the armament for the Hemmenma's and >Turuma's is very far off. with respect to both numbers >and calibres. 24x36 pdrs!!! These <u>must be >misprints</u> of some sort. I wonder what Anderson's >source was? > >You are correct about the names standing for provinces >in Finland, at least with respect to Hemmemmaa. All >the larger types were grouped together in Russian >service as Shebecks (from Xebec, Zebec, etc in the >Mediterranean) and were rather similar to the Russian >rowing frigates. > >As for von Pivka, he immediately irritated me by >referring to "the Englishman Chapman". May Jan Glete's >ghost haunt this Prussian to the end of time! Fredrik >Henrik af Chapman had an English father, but was >Swedish to the core in upbringing,culture,and >loyalties. While he may have studied in England as a >teenager (and gotten himself arrested for suspected >espionage while sneaking around English shipyards). >Von Pivka's remarkable habit of discoursing eloquently >on subjects that he knows nothing about and then >making a fool of himself over essential facts is >legendary. But the drawings and text are helpful. > >Again in your debt, >John Tredrea

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