Bucky,

There is may be a alot you do not understand about the entire situation
here.

The fuctional hydrodynamic keel of an old square sailed ship was not
very large, it the external portion of the actual structural keel.
There is a great deal more keel area there than you might expect,
because it does extend the entire length of the vessel. They are often
a lot of area if measured in a side view.

It did not need to keep the ship from "slipping sideways" because the
rig of these vessels barely allowed sailing into the wind at all - by
modern standards.

Matt Colie
Naval Architect, Marine Engineer and Pathological Sailor


Bucky wrote:

I don't know much about sailing, but I was just wondering what kind of
keels the old sailing ships had (like the Mayflower). Did they have a
distinct keel, or was it just more like an extension of the hull?

I looked at some model ship images, and it doesn't look like there's
enough of a keel to prevent the ship from slipping sideways.
http://www.handcraftedmodelships.com...model-ship.php