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Admittedly, the content of this thread has already been posted elsewhere, and somewhat incidentally, but perhaps it is worth placing it in its own dedicated thread as well. It can be treated as a kind of supplement to the existing, so-called official publications on the barque La Belle 1684 from La Salle's expedition to America.
A proposal for a conceptual interpretation of La Belle 1684, based on the example of the plan for the fluit Le Profond (French archives), designed in the same year and at the same shipyard:
In the above interpretation, the longitudinal design lines, the ‘vlak’ line and the ‘boeisel’ line, are diagonal in form, but serve the same function as these two traditional Dutch design lines, hence the retention of Dutch nomenclature. The contours of the frames, apart from the bottom itself (‘vlak’) in the form of straight lines (except the last bend), are shaped by two rows of parabolas separated by the ‘boeisel’ line, with the rho value for both pairs being 0.5.
Waldemar Gurgul
In addition, below are a handful of reproductions of merchant barques found in contemporary sources that have not been included or discussed in the official monographs on the ship, yet seem to best represent the type of vessel exemplified by La Belle 1684 (taken from Dessins des différentes maniéres de vaisseaux que l'on voit dans les havres, ports et riviéres depuis Nantes jusqu'à Bayonne qui servent au commerce des sujets de Sa Majesté, anon., 1679, and from Recüeil des vuës de tous les differens bastimens de la mer Mediterranée et de l'Océan, avec leurs noms et usages by Pierre Jacob Gueroult du Pas from 1710, i.e. practically from the same period as La Salle's American expedition.
Atlantic cargo barques, from left to right of 19, 35 and 54 tons:
Atlantic cargo barque of ca. 45 tons (on the left):
Atlantic cargo barque of ca. 45 tons (on the left):
Atlantic cargo barques (and gribanes), from 30 to 60 tons:
And below, Mediterranean specimens exemplifying merchant barques, just for the sake of completeness, as they are less relevant in this particular context:
Mediterranean cargo barque-vaisseau, a hybrid vessel „having a hull of one [i.e. barque], and a rig of another vessel [i.e. full ship rig]”:
Mediterranean dual purpose (i.e. trading in partially dangerous waters and privateering) barque, sporting lateen rig:
Mediterranean dual purpose (i.e. trading in partially dangerous waters and privateering) barque, sporting lateen rig:
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