popeye2sea

You never know what your going to get for rigging plans for these smaller vessels. It is possible that they used blocks vs. dead eyes. Jolie Brise is a pilot cutter, yes? Regards,

Two things I see here. First, you are reeving your blocks upside down. The throat of the blocks, or hole that the line goes through should be at the furthest extremes from each other. You have them upside down in their strops. Fixing this should help your blocks stay straighter. Second, for the forward most shroud, simply reeve the tackle so that the working end comes out of the sheave on the same side as the belaying pin. That will eliminate the crossing effect. Hope that helps. Regards,

I was under the impression that the tack was a fixed length and was not led through a pulley but seized to either the stay or the jib boom at the point where they met. Once you haul the sail up it will only go as high as the tack allows and there should be no need to then have to haul down on the tack. Regards,

If you would like a pure reference volume, nothing beats Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine, 1815 edition. Regards,

Well, first heat your iron in a large crucible to above 2800 degrees until melted..... 😉 Regards

Fair enough. But in my case I am not so much trying to make a point, rather I am proving to myself that I can accomplish the goal of doing it the real way. Besides, as far as adding years to the build goes, when you already have 40 years and counting on a build, what's a few more? 😲 Regards,

1:100

I am one of those crazy few who try and make each rope fastening the way it really is. I tie everything from whippings and seizings to doubled wall and crown knots for my tacks and matthew walker knots for my laniards. I do all the appropriate bends and hitches and splices where needed. I even do rose lashings. But beware, all the above takes a special kind of crazy to do at scale😉 Regards,

I know this may not translate well without a diagram, but if you notice when tying a clove hitch one end exits above or below the starting end depending on which way you cross the bight. If you alternate the way you tie each clove hitch such that between each shroud the lead of the clove hitches are top to top or bottom to bottom you my be able to avoid the tendency of forming that sine wave shape between the shrouds. Regards,

There is really no such thing as the "right" guns for Constitution. They were changed out fairly frequently over her career. The ships guns were not considered to be permanent property of the ship, so to speak. They were loaded aboard for the duration of a cruise and were often off loaded when the ship came back from the cruise when the ship would undergo maintenance. The cannons would then be employed wherever the Navy needed them ashore or on other vessels. When the ship first made ready for sea, 22 July 1798, she had an armament of thirty, iron, 24-pounders from Furnace Hope, in Pennsylvania, sixteen 18-pounders borrowed from Fort Independence on Castle Island, and fourteen 12-pounders of unknown origin (probably Furnace Hope). Constitution must have had a few brass 24's at some point because a letter from the Secretary of the Navy in 1807 ordered the transfer of two brass 24-pounders to USS Wasp. 32-pounder carronades first replaced long guns on the spar deck after the Tripoli campaign in 1804 where they were mounted in the waist. Four of the carronades were transferred to USS Hornet in 1807 and the remaining four were mounted in pairs on the quarter deck and forecastle. The 1812 spar deck battery of carronades consisted of sixteen 32-pounders on the quarterdeck and six 32-pounders on the forecastle. Constitution's armament changed many times until 1900 when she had none at all. In 1834 she had twenty two 24 pounder long guns, twenty 32-pounder carronades and two Congreve 24 pounders. In 1842 the ship received four 68-pounder Paixhans guns mounted in pairs in midship ports on the gun deck, replacing four 24-pounders. In 1847 she mounted twenty six 36-pounder long guns and four 8-inch Paixhans guns on the gun deck and twenty 32 pounder long guns on the spar deck. For the 1907 restoration she had 24 pounder long guns throughout. Because of limited funding and no precise research the design of these guns was based on data found in an eighteeth century book on ordinance, Theodore Roosevelt's The Naval War of 1812, and Louis de Toussard's American Artillerists Companion. In 1927 the spar deck long guns were again replaced with carronades. This restoration also saw the entire battery of guns re-cast for the ship. While far better representations than the 1907 castings they were still not completely accurate to the War of 1812. These are the current weapons on board and they all carry the King George III monogram. Since then, Navy Department files have been discovered which contain a drawing detailing the actual guns the ship carried early on. Regards,

The first method shown is called a gasket coil and would not be employed on a belaying pin where the coil needs to be able to be cast loose quickly. The gasket coil, as the name implies, is used to coil up and secure the sail gaskets when not in use. The coil is designed to allow the coil to be suspended from it's standing part. The belaying coil (I don't know the name) hangs the coil from the pin or cleat and can be readily cast off. Regards,

It has been my understanding that another name for right hand laid rope is hawser laid. Three hawser laid ropes twisted up left handed into cable laid rope. So named for it's usual usage for anchor cable. Shroud laid rope is four strand or three strand around a central heart. So named for its common use as shrouds. Regards,

RC Anderson, The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast 1600-1720: page 94 - 95

It is not just the starting point, or the reeving direction that is important. When using cable laid (left hand lay) rope the upper deadeye is turned in by passing the end under the deadeye from right to left as one looks at it from outboard. Then the end crosses behind the standing part and comes up on the right side of it. With right hand laid rope the end goes from left to right under the deadeye and comes up on the left side of the standing part. The end result is that with cable laid rope the ends lie forward on the starboard side and aft on the port. With right hand laid rope the opposite is the case. The laniard always starts from the hole furthest from the end of the shroud. Regards,

USCG Roger B. Taney

Reseting the steeve of the bow sprit should not be a problem. The complication is getting the doubling for the spritsail topmast back to vertical afterwards. Regards,

The standing end of the top rope would be seized to an eyebolt under the cap, opposite the block. You are also correct that the top rope would only be rigged when raising or lowering the top mast. BTW, in the second photo, the second image makes no sense at all. If you just consider the first and third images you have it right. Regards,

As far as I can tell, the inset is more correct. Line 92 is the inhaul for sail 10, attached to the top corner of the sail through the block at the base of the gaff and down to the pin rail aft of the mast. Line 94 is the down haul for sail 8, attached to the lower forward corner of sail through one of the blocks at the mast cap, down through the top platform on the port side and belay to the pin rail forward of the mast. Line 95 is the peak halyard for the gaff of sail 10, attached to the end of the gaff through the other block at the mast cap then down through the top platform and belay to the pin rail forward of the mast. Line 96 is the downhaul for sail 9, attached to the lower forward corner of sail 9 then through the block at the back edge of the top platform then down to the pin rail forward of the mast. Line 109 is the sheet for sail 10, attached to the lower aft corner of sail 10 and then belay directly to the pin rail on the port side. Perhaps for this line the diagram is calling for you to lead line 109 through both lower corners of the sail 10, the forward part through the block at the lower forward corner of the sail and then to pin 92, but this part does not make much sense to me. I hope that helps. Regards,

Kev, At the risk of answering the wrong question, The line that runs from the mast head to the bowsprit is call the fore stay (this is the line I mentioned to you in your other thread). For the shrouds, the top deadeye gets two and sometimes three seizings around the shroud. The first is called a throat seizing and it goes where the two parts of the shroud cross above the dead eye. The second is called the middle seizing and it is a round seizing. The third is called the end seizing also of the round seizing type, and comes at or near the end of the shroud. The very end of the shroud would also be whipped to prevent unlaying. The stay, where it comes down to the bowsprit will be attached in some fashion to a collar that is seized around the bowsprit with either a heart, a deadeye, or a block seized in. The lower end of the stay will have the corresponding heart etc. seized in. A laniard will be passed between the two fittings to set up (tension) the stay. Depending on which fitting you use will determine the type and number of seizings required. If you use a dead eye it will be seized in in the same manner as the shrouds. A heart or a block would probably only have two seizings. A lot of terminology, I know, but it will become familiar soon enough. Regards,

The instructions did not call for that. I used it the way it was. That model foundered in a storm (the infamous cleaning whirlwind of '79) and was lost with all hands, and I have no pictorial evidence to show you how the rigging looked. Regards,

The traditional method is to start on the starboard side. Then alternate port and starboard pairs. In fairness, I can't see how starting on one side or the other has any advantage. The important thing is to start with the forward most pair and proceed aft. The stay, which is what I think you are referring to as the bowsprit shroud?, would be the last to be fitted over the mast head. Regards,

I still have some of that thread from my Cutty Sark kit from back in the day. It is definitely what came with the kit. And those are the original spools. As far as I recall, it was always that color. Regards,

Although I have no direct evidence for SR, I believe that the one of the mistakes is that the fore halyard knighthead should not be placed directly abaft the fore mast. The halyard will foul on the main stay. I think it should be offset to starboard a bit. I did this on my build. Another issue I have is the included casks/tubs for the cannons. I think these are supposed to be match tubs, but they look all wrong to me. The halyard tubs that are supplied are kind of strange, too. I am not planning on using any of those items. The hatch gratings are poorly modeled. And I am not sure about the arrangement or placement of the various knights on deck. Also, where, if any were present on the upper decks, would the pumps go. I assume somewhere near the main mast. There are no wedges or mast boots for any of the masts. I'm sure I am missing some items. Regards,

Thanks Bill, This build and modelling in general keeps getting pushed to the back of the priority list. Work, running a non-profit business and life in general keep getting in the way. The SR keeps staring at me from the top of my desk and I will get back to work on it eventually. The total build years has accumulated to over 40 now. Regards,

The ship I served in whilst in the Navy had fairleads for the signal halyards made from lignum vitae. 1985. Regards,