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On this day, two hundred years ago, HMS Terror was launched in Topsham, Devon. The Terror was originally built as a bomb vessel and saw noteworthy action during the War of 1812. However, her destiny lay in exploring the ice pack at both ends of the earth, and she was arguably the most successful polar vessel ever constructed by the Royal Navy. HMS Terror during her passage home, 1837 © National Maritime Museum Collections With their exceptionally strong frames, bluff bows, shallow draft, and spacious holds, bomb ships were ideal vessels for conversion to polar exploration. Nearly wrecked several times, the diminutive, but sturdy, Terror withstood more punishment from the natural environment than any Navy vessel of the era. When she was finally abandoned in 1848, after three years locked in grinding pack ice (during some of the worst Arctic winters on record), evidence suggests she was still afloat. Her wreck, and that of her sister ship, HMS Erebus, has never been found. The story surrounding their abandonment remains one of the world’s great historical mysteries. This log will document my project to scratch build an accurate 1:48th scale plank on bulkhead model of HMS Terror, as fitted for her final 1845 voyage. To my knowledge, no complete models, or plans, exist of the Terror as fitted in 1845; this log will document the process of creating both accurate plans and an accurate scale model. As you will see, both require detailed historical research. Below are some images of a (rather crude) paper and card mock-up of the bulkhead arrangement I’ve created as a proof for an early draft of my plans. I expect it will take at least two years to build the model – maybe more. http://buildingterror.blogspot.ca/
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Gjoa is smallest of polar ships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gj%C3%B8a For the Gjoa I chose solid hull made as “ bread and butter”. The material is HDF board 6 mm thick and soft wood for top section. Top section has a greater thickness which allows the cutout the desk line with proper sheer and camber. Top section Hull planking with strips of veneer Tadeusz
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It is with more than a little trepidation that I begin this build log of the Polar Ship Fram (Norwegian for "Forward"). The shill level demonstrated in the logs I have viewed on this website in intimidating to say the least. Nonetheless, perhaps my chronicle of errors can save others some time and heartache. I have had a lifelong interest in historic ships and polar exploration. An early introduction to the then San Francisco Maritime Museum and the Balclutha, moored on that city's waterfront, may account for this. However, I particularly remember Amundsen's little Goja from when she was still along the Great Highway at the western end of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It was this recollection that let me to think that building a model of her would be a good way to combine my two interests. I obtained Constructo's kin and found the instructions excellent and enjoyed the assembly. A few years later, in looking at the completed model, I realize she was a bit clunky and thought that maybe I could do better. At first, I wanted to construct Nansen's Polar Ship Fram, but could not find a kit. I settled on a kit of the RCMP's St. Roch which I visited in Vancouver, BC. But I really want to have a model of the great Norwegian polar exploration ship Fram. I had visited her in Oslo in 1972, and had a great deal of admiration for her design and history. Unable to find a kit, I realized that if I wanted it, I'd have to construct her from scratch. In July 2014, I obtained drawings from the Norsk Maritimt Museum up the advice of the Frammuseet in Oslo. Based upon my kit experience and a couple of books from Amazon, I started working on her in August of that year. But before I start my log, a brief and abridged history of this ship: Scraps of the DeLong Expedition's USS Jeannette, crushed by pack ice off of Sieria in June 1881 was found on the coasts of Svalbard and Greenland several years later. This let some to suppose a circumpolar current which could assist in exploration of these northern regions. Fridjof Nansen, who was the first to traverse Greenland, determined to test this theory by building a suitable craft, the first to be built exclusively for polar exploration rather than a modification of an existing ship. With the great ship architect Colin Archer, Nansen designed the Fram to withstand the pressure of sea ice with a hull configuration which would result in the ship rising rather than being gripped and crushed The result was a three-masted schooner with a double bowed keeless hull (a false keel would be added after her first voyage) so broad that it has been likened to a soup bowl. But the design worked as planned and during her career "the world's strongest wooden vessel" would achieve a furthest north of 85o 57' N and a furthest south of 78o 41' S as well charting the most area in the Canadian Arctic. Records for a wooden ship which have never been broken. She was launched in 1892 and remained in active use through 1912. She had a tonnage of 402 grt., a length of 127 ft. 8 in., a beam of 34 ft., and a draft of 15 ft. Auxiliary power was initially provided by a triple expansion steam engine of 220 hp but this was replaced in 1910 with a 180 hp diesel engine. Maximum speed of 7 knots were recorded but she was a notorious for rolling. Below is the Fram as she appears today in her protective building in Oslo, Norway.
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