popeye2sea

I agree wholeheartedly. The illusion of reality is preserved beautifully. Even up close. Well done. It's the mark of a true master of his art. Regards,

If you do decide to use the plastic sails, you would do well to glue in a bolt rope around the edge of the sail (on the back side). Otherwise, you will find it nearly impossible to attach rigging to the sails without having it tear out. If your rigging plan is like most others found in these kits there will be many lines for the sails omitted or rigged incorrectly. I recently completed one where the plans completely omitted lifts, halyards, and downhauls, as well as there was not a single block called for anywhere in the rig. Regards,

The top of the mast tackle pendants are rigged in the same manner as the shrouds, with an eye turned in at the masthead. In the first picture where there is a single pendant it would have its eye over the mast head. For the second picture where there are two pendants per side they go on in pairs like the shrouds where a bight is formed and seized together around the mast head. In both cases the mast tackle pendant will be wormed, parcelled, and served and in some cases leathered at the eye where it passes around the mast head. There are essentially two functions for the mast tackles. The first is to haul taut the shrouds when setting up the deadeye laniards. This is why the mast tackle pendants go over the mast head first before the shroud pairs. The second function is when they are rigged and employed for heavy lifting, such as when lifting aboard cannons and the like. Regards,

Check out The Command of the Ocean, A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 by N.A.M Rodger. While it does not go very heavily into the layout or operation of the shipyards themselves, it does talk about the development of the infrastructure necessary to build, supply and finance Britain's growing navy. It also touches on some aspects of personnel and pay management for the shipyards and ship builders as well as impressment policies within and outside of England. Regards,

You don't even really need a cleat. You can literally hitch it to anything; a rail, a shroud, a deadeye laniard, a post, the mast, etc. There is not much tension involved with a flag. Regards,

There is no excess rope to a flag halyard. It runs as a continuous loop from the clip or toggle at the top of the flag up through a block then back to a clip or toggle at the bottom of the flag. The resulting loop should be long enough to reach to wherever it will be belayed. The two parts of halyard rope that are now hanging below the flag can be married together and belayed with a simple clove hitch to any object. Regards,

Well, taking the dimensions for a leager above: the width of a stave at the widest point is 3.65" for a 31 stave cask and 3.48" for a 33 stave cask. The difference of 0.17 inches is not great. I would think that any cooper would try to economize by using as few staves as possible. Regards,

I am particularly impressed by the look of the window glass. Another fine job. Regards,

The Manor House is absolutely stunning with expertly crafted details. I love the detailing with the cart and barrel. Regards,

Nice diagram. I guess I should have been more clear with that line. The hole for the topmast is just large enough for the heel of the topmast to fit through. In fact, the top mast is able to pass through, and does, when the topmast is housed (lowered) or unshipped. The fid is the only thing holding it up. Regards

The guns recoil about 18 inches when fired. That is all the slack that is in the breeching. That will bring the muzzle a short distance inside the gunport. The reloading was done by sticking yourself or your implements outside the gunport. A flexible rammer made from a large diameter rope could be used to help keep personnel inside the ship. The breeching remains affixed to the bulwarks and the cascabel during the entire loading operation. Regards,

I very much doubt that there would be any gap to speak of on an actual vessel. Especially since the parts you are talking about are not really part of the top but constructed directly on the mast. They are the trestle trees and cross trees. The top rests on top of and is bolted to them. The forward hole is sized to take the heel of the topmast. Regards,

That is not the way it is done. When the ship pays out the anchor rode to it's appropriate length its first purpose is to provide a horizontal pull along the bottom to set the flukes into the bottom. Then an additional length is payed out to provide some spring to allow the ship to ride easy at anchor. When getting underway again the ship is hove up to the anchor by the capstan until the anchor cable is vertical. at that point the flukes will have lost the proper angle to be able to bite into the bottom. Depending on the direction of the wind the effort can be assisted by sailing up to the anchor. The anchor is broken free (aweigh) and is hoisted to the point where the ring is above water. Then the anchor is catted and the cat tackle takes the strain and hoists the anchor up to the cat head. At this point the anchor is fished by a tackle fastened to the shank near the crown and hauled up to be stowed. The only time you would use a boat with an anchor is when you are kedging. The anchor is slung under the boat and rowed out forward of the ship; the anchor cable being payed out from the ship. The anchor is then dropped to the bottom. The ship is then able to heave itself up to the anchor using the capstan. Sometimes a kedge anchor would be set out by boat to provide some additional protection against drifting into a lee shore when anchored in a tidal stream or during a gale. The description you mentioned above would be the procedure probably used to recover a lost anchor. On modern vessels the procedure is essentially the same. The ship pays out anchor chain to a length appropriate to provide the flukes holding power. I used to know the proper ratio, but it is something like 3 or 4 times the depth of water. The catenary formed in the anchor chain from the anchor to the ship provides the necessary spring to allow the ship to ride at anchor comfortably without having to continually adjust the chain. The deck watch will periodically check how the anchor is tending (the angle the chain makes from the bow) and the length of the rode will be adjusted as necessary. Sometimes, if the ship is anchored for a greater length of time, the chain will be payed out or hove in slightly (to freshen the nip) in order to reduce the chance of damage by chafing. Regards,

My personal opinion is that, as in your first diagram, there would be one short and one long leg for the strop and that the seizing between the eyes would fall near the top of the bowsprit so that the crew had easier access to the seizing. Regards,

Why would you rig jib sheets if there will be no sails? Regards,

Weighing and raising the anchor is a several hours long process and involved a great number of the crew. The time and effort required to move obstructions from around the capstan was insignificant in comparison. Regards,

Companionway ladders were almost always removable. Stanchions were sometimes hinged to swing up into the overhead. Regards,

My vote is for a beak head. Looks to be an early version of the attachment point for a bobstay for the bowsprit. Regards,

Superb!!

Ah, yes. You are but still young, grasshopper, if you are from 1740. 🤨 But the origins of a lot of these terms goes back hundreds of years before then. Regards,

Because slops were often cast offs and remainders of uniforms. Sometimes they consisted of the clothing recovered from deceased crew members sea bags. The clothing was not always in the best of conditions, hence the moniker - slops. Marine uniforms were required to be in a more presentable state because they were often the face of the Navy ashore (along with the officers uniforms). When a ship did make port often the only personnel allowed ashore were officers and a marine detachment. Regards,

Broadside naval gunnery tactics did not come into widespread practice until after the Spanish Armada (1588). The English were considered to be early adopters of trucked carriages. An entire class of ships (race built galleons) was developed to maximize forward firing artillery as that was the predominant gunnery tactic of the day. Most reloading was accomplished while the ship wore away from the enemy to come back around for another assault. Spanish naval tactics still relied heavily on boarding actions and so their gunners only were expected to get off one or two shots for an entire engagement. Regards,

Hey, I take exception to that!! Although I too am a retired CPO I portray a marine on Constitution. I think the room is the equivalent of the Navy's slop chest where replacement clothing for sailors was available. However unlike sailors slops that the individual sailor paid for, Marine uniforms were an issue item. I would think that there would be shelves and bins to hold various uniform items. Regards,

I am referring to vessels prior to 1700 or so where, for instance, the spritsail topmast backstays originate in an elaborate system of crows feet seized to the fore stays. Other examples may include braces that originate on stays, bowlines that have fairlead blocks seized to stays, etc. Regards,

I really can't think of any reason that the robands would be any longer than that necessary to make the square knot. Regards,