Gin Block Supports

[Halton Boy]

Hello everyone

I have purchased the Bounty Launch by OcCre as a first build.  The building plans show two frames in the stern of the boat.  One is the Stern thwart reinforcements, which I think supports the rear thwart or seat for some reason.  The other is the Gin block supports.  The gin blocks are brass rollers on a brass shaft.  What was the purpose of these items please?  I note that other launch kits do not have this fitted but the Artesania Latina Principe de Asturias Lifeboat does.  I have had no luck on Google.  My guess is that it was used with the winch.  Would they need it to raised the sails?  Thank you for reading this.  

Best wishes Ken

[Jim Lad]

The frame over the stern was used for anchor recovery.  If you have that fitted, there should also be a windlass amidships.

 

John

[Halton Boy]

Thank you John

When you say anchor recovery, is this for recovering the anchor of the main ship that the boat belonged to?  Is the windlass used to pull the anchor up off the sea bed?   A ships anchor is big and heavy so would it be right to think that they would not lift the anchor into the launch.   I saw a film once (Hornblower) in which they took the ships anchor out in a boat and used the anchor to pull the ship off a bank.  The anchor they used looked quite small.  I am now thinking of making a diorama showing the launch recovering the ships anchor.  Thank you very much for the information.

Ken 

[planktonette]

I'm not sure how directly this relates to your particular launch, but in kedging and other operations, they'd haul out the anchor, row it out, drop it, then use the capstan on the ship to warp the ship over to the anchors location. Then repeat.

 

It looks something like this:

 

[planktonette]

I pulled out my copy of Falconer's Marine Dictionary this evening and looked up what it said about anchors. It appears ships would cary multiple sizes and types, and deploy whichever suited a given scenario, which would explain why a launch is so able to handle it.

 

[Halton Boy]

Thank you planktonette

The drawing explains exactly how the frame and winch in the launch is used.  The anchor is not taken aboard the launch, but is secured underneath or to the side of the launch.  This is great as I could not find this info on the web.  Are there special book shops that sell the book you have?  Thank you for your help.  Ken  

[planktonette]

Ken,

 

Happy to help! The book *is* definitely available from various sources, and the text is in the public domain so there are text based versions available on the internet too. There have been many reprints and editions since the original 1769 print, the most recent I believe is from 2003. Mine is a reprint from the 1780 edition.

 

http://www.ageofnelson.org/Document11.htmlhas links to a massive 500mb pdf download, and also a link to a searchable version of it as a web page, but the online version I did not find to be too enjoyable to refer to because of a great number of OCR issues.

 

A reprint of the 1780 edition is available on Amazon for $75/£40, and there are various other bookstores out there selling used versions of various editions.

 

It is also worth checking your local or regional library as they may hold a copy that you could refer to!

 

Failing all of that, I'm happy to look up and scan any definitions you might need!

 

Amy

[Mark P]

Hi Everyone;

 

The larger ships of the Royal Navy (not sure if the numbers for the smaller rates matched) carried 4 main anchors,  which although in earlier times they were somewhat different in size,  became very similar.  All of these were much too heavy for ship's boat to handle.  So in addition,  they carried a much smaller anchor,  the Kedge anchor. 

 

This was the anchor taken out by the launch or longboat,  then dropped,  and the ship would haul in the anchor cable to move itself. 

 

This operation was called kedging.

 

Falconer's dictionary is available on the internet as a free pdf download.  Type in the title of the book.  I seem to remember that it is from the National Library of Australia.

 

There are also many fairly recent publications,  too numerous to list,  aimed at the modeller/naval historian which contain chapters on anchors and anchor work.

 

All the best,

 

Mark P

[Halton Boy]

Well thank you Amy and Mark.  I now know about kedging.  I could easily spend all my time reading about sailing ships, and not building any, its very interesting.  Now where's my Hornblower DVD?  Best wishes Ken.