Ships of the Order : the third rate

Abstract

In the early seventeenth century the Order of St John was conforming itself to the changing attitudes of other European countries and was equipping its neet with the big square-rigged ships of the line. It had the fifty-six-gun, the frigate, the corvette, the fire-ship and the mortar-ship, which looked almost identical to the latter except for the linear dimensions. There was never more than a squadron of six ships at a time together with the galleys' squadron. Sometimes the two squadrons operarted together. It can, however, be safely said that after 1700, when these big ships were in service, there was already a general decline in maritime activities against the Barbary corsairs. Consequently the days of glory and wealth from the prize for both the Knights and the Maltese sailors we re fast fading.