NEF - ENGLISH - 1527

English nefs like the one on the Ipswich seal were clinker built, and it may be assumed that many were taken up from trade to convey the crusaders across the channel for the long march through France and re-embarkation at a Mediterranean port. Their main trade however, was the wine trade. After frequent contacts with the southern Europeans through the Crusades, the Northern European gradually abandoned the clinker hulls as can be seen in the Hanseatic League Cog.