popeye2sea

On mine I shaved off the raised trunnion supports completely and carved a new semicircular bed for the trunnion. I added cap squares made from black paper on top of the trunnions. I also moved the trunnions back a bit on the cannons by shaving off the trunnions then pushing a small brass rod through holes I drilled through the cannon in the appropriate spot. I did not end up moving the wheels for most of the cannons because I already had them assembled and they were going into the lower decks anyway. I did change the ones that were going to be visible on the upper decks. Regards, Henry

The labelling of these are wrong. The blue are jeers. They are actually what are doing the heavy lifting of the yard. The green is the sling and it is in effect the preventer for the jeers so that the yard does not fall if the jeers are severed in battle. The red are the truss tackles and they function to pull the yard in close to the mast. The truss should be rigged as follows: Two straps are fitted around the yard, inside the cleats, with large thimbles to pass pass the truss pendants through. The truss pendants have an eye spliced in the end. The pendants are passed around the yard inside the cleats and through the eye. The ends are then passed abaft the mast and through the thimble of the strap so that the port pendant passes through the starboard strap thimble, and the starboard through the port thimble. In the upper end a block is turned in, which is connected by its fall to an eyebolt under the cap. The fall may or may not come down to the deck. Sometimes it was belayed in the top. That cleat with the sheave on the trestle trees is not used for the truss pendants. Regards, Henry

I think those marks are intended to represent the extra planking put on as a sort of fender or rub strake for the anchors. I know they have a name but I do not recall what they are called. Regards, P.S. I just remembered......Anchor Lining. And the Heller instructions call for painting the area forward of those lines black. Regards,

Lowering the yards for reefing or shortening sail is a totally different animal than striking the entire yard or setting a sail flying by bending the sail to its yard on deck and hoisting the entire yard aloft from the deck or the top. Sending the entire yard down was usually reserved for upper yards only (topgallants and above). Topsail yards being far too heavy to allow this procedure. Reefing or shortening sail by lowering the yard along its mast is a holdover from the days before reef points and foot ropes. Under the older method to shorten sail you lower the yard and then unlace the bonnet from the bottom of the sail. With the newer method the reef band is pulled up to the yard and gathered under the yard. This is the direct cause for foot ropes coming into use and also is the reason the lower yards (courses) were no longer lowered at all and remain at a fixed height. There are also the additional benefits of reducing top hamper and easier access by the crew as mentioned by others above. Regards,

Fashion a loop at the top that will accept a toggle and splice in a toggle an inch or so below the flag and you have an authentic flag ready to be bent on to your halyard. Well done. Regards,

Yes, just a standard #11 blade. I was very careful to start by lightly scoring along the cut line and then gradually deepen the cut with repeated passes. Regards,

Adding another layer... to get "pooped" meant to take a following sea over the stern. Regards,

Pay no attention to the electric wiring, light fixtures, and fire suppression plumbing. 😃 That was a fun day. I was topside teaching them how to shoot muskets. Regards,

Basically, I took the cut out inserts and thinned them from the back so they would not project out too much and then mounted them on a sheet of styrene stock that is shaped to fit between the wales. The upper one is also shaped to fit around the gun port molding. I filled the gaps between the figures with additional strip styrene to make them all flush with each other. Then I shaped and fitted a floor between the bulwark and the quarter gallery. I cut a small rebate on the back of each forward pillar on the quarter gallery to fit over the new inserts, then puttied all the crevices and painted. The slight difference in the apparent thickness of the bulkheads is barely noticeable because the transition is hidden behind the pillars and up against the rearmost 3rd battery gun port molding. Regards,

The crew mostly ate a stew made from salt beef or salt pork or salt cod and dried peas. This was boiled in the coppers behind the stove pipe (those lids on top of the stove). It was usually only the officers who got something roasted in the front of the stove. The ships biscuit or hard tack, which if you have ever tried it is too hard to bite, would have been broken into pieces and soaked in their stew to soften it up for eating. It was pretty much the same food every day for the crew. The officers were also privileged to get various boiled puddings made from the roasting pan drippings, suet and raisins, etc. Regards,

ventre-de-biche is French for belly of the doe. He is referring to the tan color of the sides. Regards,

In the 1795 flag act the two extra stars and stripes were added for Kentucky and Vermont. Tennessee (1796) and Ohio (1803) Louisiana (1812) entered as states, however no new flag act was established. Various unofficial flags were flown with the additional stars and stripes. The United States flag was fifteen stars and stripes throughout the war of 1812. In 1818 Congress decreed that one star would be added for each state on the 4th of July following statehood, and there was to be thirteen stripes to represent the 13 original states. There was no standard pattern for the arrangement of the stars until 1912. Regards,

The kit does not have chains. They instruct you to install eye bolts into the hull and connect the deadeye strops to the eyebolts with string. That is why I made my own chains. Regards,

I made my own iron strops and chains for the deadeyes from wire that I soldered and blackened. Regards,

Round deadeyes are the way to go. I am using 3,4,5 and 6mm deadeyes from Syren. Regards,

Looking forward to it. Regards,

A cannon that broke loose on a lower deck. I would hate to be the sailors on that deck with a loose 3 ton cannon careening across the deck every time she rolls. Regards,

Also called transom windows. Good for improving airflow within the building. The warm air near the ceiling is able to escape. Regards,

There is no set position. The trim of the sail would be determined by conditions of the moment. ie. direction of the wind, wind speed, position of the rudder, etc. It would be analogous to flying a plane. You get the plane going at the correct pitch angle then you set the trim tabs (your ships mizzen) to relieve back pressure on the control stick or yoke (your ships helm). It is a constant or at least frequent adjustment. Regards,

Lateen mizzen sails, drivers, spankers, etc. are all what are known as steering sails. They work by increasing or decreasing pressure on the after part of the rig. This in turn helps to keep the ship pointing into the wind in the right direction. By hauling in the sheet (bringing the sail closer to the centerline, you increase the pressure on the aft part of the rig which will pushes the stern more downwind and the bow up further into the wind. The fore sails and jibs work in the same manner but in the opposite direction, helping to push the bow off the wind. So the answer to your question is. Set it however you find looks pleasing to you. It is more than likely to have been put in any position and adjusted depending on steering orders and fine tuning of the sail trim. Regards,

Are we speaking of a square mizzen or a fore and aft or lateen mizzen? Regards,

That I can not tell you. Your instructions must have a belaying plan somewhere. The beakhead is the small deck or grating that extends from the bow of the ship under the bowsprit to the stem of the ship. Some ships there is a fife rail situated on that deck. Other times there might be a fife rail on the forecastle. Or the lines might belay directly to the rail of beakhead bulkhead (the forward rail of the forecastle). Regards,

What Marc said!!! But one additional item that I would add is to be careful with the entire stern balconies assembly. The parts do not have any tabs or notches to align them so they just butt together, Getting everything in place and even from port to starboard can be difficult. Regards,

This is one confusing drawing. We are looking at the starboard side profile of the mast. But the yards are depicted as swung completely around fore and aft on the starboard side of the mast so we are looking at he forward side of the port yardarm. On the lower yard, the sheet, tack and clew garnet for the course (lower sail) are depicted as I had described hanging below the yard near the mast. Where this arrangement of blocks ends up hanging is completely determined by where the clew line and the clew line block are seized to the yard. Depending on the era of the vessel the position of the clew block varied from 1/3 to 1/2 or more out from the center of the yard. The positioning of the clew line had to do with the way that the sails were furled which changed over the years. That block suspended approximately level with them on what looks like a pendant seized at the yard arm appears to be a yard tackle with an additional tricing line attached at the block. Regards, Of course, after rereading your question I see that you are referring to the topsail sheet and clew garnet.🙄 I think that whatever point the block was suspended at would be determined by the sailing master. My personal opinion is that since the topsail gear was attached to the sail by men in the top when the sail was being bent on that they would want these lines handy near the top to accomplish this without delay or unnecessary additional work.

A harbor furl is basically a tighter, more compact rolling up of the sail on top of the yard. The last fold of the canvas is stretched like a skin over the top of the sail bundle. The gaskets used to hold the sail to the yard are longer and put on more securely. I think also that the clews of the sail are also tucked in to the sail bundle as opposed to leaving those corners hanging out with the rigging attached. The purpose of all this is to keep as much water out of the sail bundle as possible so that the sail does not rot while the ship is going to be in harbor for a while and the sail is to stay on the yard. Regards,