# Quarter gallery

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{{short description|Feature of sailing ships}}
[[Image:Vasa port galleries1.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The port quarter galleries of the 17th century warship [''Vasa''](/source/Vasa_(ship)). The galleries alone have over 70 highly ornate wooden sculptures of varying themes and size, all of which were originally painted in bright, vivid colors.]]

A '''quarter gallery''' is an architectural feature of the [stern](/source/stern) of a sailing ship from around the 16th to the 19th century. Quarter galleries are a kind of balcony, typically placed on the sides of the [sterncastle](/source/sterncastle), the high, tower-like structure at the back of a ship that housed the officer's quarters. They functioned primarily as latrines for the ship's officers, and in inclement weather they also afforded those officers a view of the forward sails of the ship without having to go outside.<ref name="Abranson1976">{{cite book|author=Erik Abranson|title=Ships of the High Seas|url=https://archive.org/details/shipsofhighseas00abra|url-access=registration|year=1976|publisher=Peter Lowe|isbn=978-0-85654-019-6}}</ref>  On certain vessels and under certain conditions, the quarter galleries could serve as a firing platform for the ship's marines and [sharpshooter](/source/sharpshooter)s during boarding actions. The galleries also provided a structure that was ideally suited for attaching decoration and often bore carved wooden sculptures, particularly in the 17th century.

As small, wing-like extensions of the stern, the quarter galleries were difficult to secure to the hull and in rough weather were sometimes torn from it completely.<ref name="Parkinson2013">{{cite book|author=C. Northcote Parkinson|title=Trade in Eastern Seas 1793-1813|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gES23b8pqY4C&pg=PA267|date=11 January 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-23564-1|page=267}}</ref>  Quarter galleries were only fitted on vessels of war.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Naval Encyclopaedia: Comprising a Dictionary of Nautical Words and Phrases: Biographical Notices, and Records of Naval Officers; Special Articles on Naval Art and Science|url=https://archive.org/details/navalencyclopedia00hamerich|year=1884|publisher=Gale Research Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/navalencyclopedia00hamerich/page/675 675]}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
*Laughton, L. G. Carr (1991) ''Old Ship Figure-Heads and Sterns'' Conway Maritime Press, London {{ISBN|0-85177-595-0}}

{{Sailing ship elements}}

Category:Sailboat components
Category:Sailing ship components

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