popeye2sea

The depiction of the square sails in that lithograph are incorrect.

Found something....Encyclopedia Britannica, a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, 1902, has this entry..vol. 21 pg. 602 in a very long entry on Seamanship, subsection rudders Before a rudder is taken off to be hung, two long guys are rove through holes for the purpose at the fore part of the heel, one end of each being hitched to the band of the rudder chains, while the other is in readiness to hand into the ship well forward and low down. On the rudder head being suspended by the luff tackles a little higher than its position when shipped, the guys will haul haul it to the exact line with the stern post; it is then lowered onto the gudgeons, the guys unrove by means of the short ends, and the woodlock replaced. So, we have an answer. The holes are for lines being passed through to ship the rudder.

She is not being given back to Germany. She is going to visit to commemorate the 70th anniversary of her transfer to the USA. Regards,

As an additional piece of useless information. The traditional last car of a railroad train that housed the train crew is called a caboose because it held a stove to provide for the crew.

It certainly looks that way from the photo.

The cover with the round scuttle and the grate are both fairly light and easy to move. The object on the wall serves as a hand hold for going below, but I think it also functions to hold the grate up when the scuttled cover is on the hatch. Regards,

Jay, Here is a photo of the stove as it looked in the 1906 refit. If you blow up the picture you can see that what looks like a stanchion at the left rear corner of the stove is actually a pipe. And there are three fill valves above the kettles built into the rear of the stove. Perhaps this is the terminus for the discharge of our fresh water pump on the berth deck? Regards,

Ha Ha, they would have thought they were seeing a ghost.

I'm sorry I can't help you there. I was lying on the deck holding the camera down into the space and I did not take any pics in the midline direction. I would have had to hang into the space to see that way. Regards,

The pictures I took are looking down the hatches with the round scuttles in the hall way to the sail locker. In these views are two pictures facing aft. The metal looking wall (steel,lead?) is the forward side of the water tank. It is under beam 9 and the hall way portholes of the orlop. In the other view, on the right you can see the top portion of a small door that is swung open in the bulkhead on the forward side of the magazine passage. The door is hinged on the outboard side, has rails, stiles, and inset panels, and the top panel appears to be able to swing open from the top. So the magazine is totally walled off from the passage. In the other pic, on the starboard side, looking forward where you can see the cannon balls you can also see a partition wall made of open slats. I regret that I did not think to take more pictures looking forward on the port side to see if that space was similar to the starboard side. Perhaps another time. I hope that helps clarify the photos Regards,

I got aboard the ship yesterday. Here are some pictures you may find useful. The fresh water pump on the berth deck is stamped US Navy 1870. The discharge pipe goes up to the overhead, bends to the left along the beam and then leads through a hole in the beam. It looks like it would come up through the deck to port of the camboose, but there is nothing corresponding to it on the gun deck above. Just in case you had any doubt as to what this is Now to the orlop The passageway to the sail locker starts on Beam 9 with the portholes in the bulkheads over the hatches that lead down to the magazine/storage areas. I tried to get a few pictures of what lies below. The head room is about 2 feet or a little more and there is no ladder down so I did not try and squeeze down there in my full 1812 uniform. Just aft of the Beam 9 bulkhead and under that platform in the hold beneath the ladder are what I believe to be the fresh water tanks. When you come down the short ladder into the hold you are basically standing on them. Under the sail locker the storage areas appear divided port and starboard. There is a small door leading into these rooms from where the scuttles/gratings are. In one of the pictures taken from the scuttle looking forward on the starboard side you can see cannon balls on the floor. Not sure if this is to indicate that this was a shot locker (I think the shot locker was further aft near the main mast). This is the coaming under the port side hatch. You can see the top of the small door on the right (forward). Looking aft inside the port side hatch. You can see the front of the fresh water tank comes right up to beam 9. Same on starboard side. The light boxes are under beam five in the orlop. I could not get a good picture down into the boxes, due to the flash bouncing off the glass. The small hatch just aft of beam 3 seems to go down to a third storage area forward of the mast. It currently holds a dewatering pump and what looks like a blower fan. The space here is very shallow, 18 inches? Hope this helps a bit. If you need anything more specific let me know and I will try to get the pics. Regards,

Are you telling us that the ghosts are making you keep building and never finish?

Anytime Jay. Anytime

Next time I get aboard I will have to check that pump out. You know, for all the times I have been down there and seen that pump, I never paid attention to the hose coming out of the top and where it might lead. I am always learning new stuff about this ship.

I agree with Wayne. Just looking at the style of the pump suggests late 19th century. My guess would be fire prevention equipment.

The hatch in the aft berth deck goes go down into the orlop, but there is a tween deck aft which you see in this picture. Beneath this tween deck is the after powder magazine. It has a single hatch aft on the starboard side and 4 light boxes. Located on the tween deck are a number of cabins that I believe were used by the warrants as workshops, i.e.: carpenter, etc. At 5' 4" I am a short guy but even I have to bend way over to walk across the tween deck. I believe it was suitable to do work down there only when seated. One other item to note in this picture. All those bulkheads to the left of the photo are not original to the ship. Behind those are the main mast step and the pump well. Currently the fire fighting pumps are there. Regards,

Your photo that shows the portholes shows the short passageway into the sail locker leading towards the left. Behind the portholes are indeed the hatches that lead down into the forward magazine. Inside the short passage are a couple of cabins that have been converted to modern damage control stations. To the right in that picture is the main part of the hold. Regards,

The hatch might go down to the powder room. I have never been down that one. I know that there is another hatch that does go down to the poder room that is located in that short corridor aft of the sail/bosuns? locker. The brass covers you see are covers to light boxes. Under the cover is a small box that a lantern was lowered into. A fixed/permanent glazed porthole is cut into the bulkhead of the magazine. This is the only light source for the magazines and allowed light without the chance of an open flame in the magazine. There are 4 light boxes for the forward magazine and 4 for the after magazine. The after magazine is accessed from a hatch on the starboard side just forward of the bulkhead that separates the tiller and its gear from the berth deck. Regards,

The spritsail itself, being so far forward, was fairly effective in being able to bring the head across the wind. The spritsail topsail was just one step in the evolution of increased head sail area.

The reasoning behind going from a spritsail topmast to a jib boom rigging arrangement had to do with the desire to increase the area of head sails that can be carried. You can carry much more sail area forward when you have additional fore and aft jib sails, stay sails, and flying jib sails. Plus the spritsail topsail was always an awkward sail to rig. When the ship was sailing close to the wind the cant of the spritsail yard made it extremely difficult to set the spritsail topsail. This made the sail useful in only a limited range of conditions. If you look at the progression of rigging development you will see where ships went from having a spritsail topmast to having a spritsail topmast and a jib boom together to finally just a jib boom. You will also see the fore mast gradually being stepped further aft. All of these changes increase the sail area forward to improve ship maneuverability. Regards,

Not all ships carried a flag staff. The ensign should fly at the aft most convenient point on the vessel, be it the gaff or the flag staff.

Back in the days of the galleon,when there was a very pronounced rise in the shear line. The gun deck would have a dropped area aft, creating a lower section that would allow the guns to be more on an even level. The area was called the gun room. Later this area was taken over by the mates and officers for berthing. Basically, your 4 foot rise in the poop deck could correspond with a 4 foot step down in the deck below giving you a full 8 feet of headroom for a cabin.

Normally the laniard would start from a becket on the lower block. Then through a sheave on the upper from aft forward, through the successive sheaves and ending by passing from the last sheave on the lower block from forward aft. The turns were hauled taut and the end was hitched around the stay above the upper block. The bitter end could be frapped around the whole tackle or nipped to one of the turns of the fall. Regards,

Perhaps I am off base with the part 488, I assumed it was the part number for an eyebolt because the top down view seems to suggest two additional eyebolts slightly offset from where the blocks are on the cap sides. As I mentioned, there may not be a martingale on this ship. The deadeyes at the end of the jib boom suggest one. Does the ship have a spritsail yard? Or do the jib boom guys go down to the stem?

On the cap: Looks like you have two eyebolts per side on the sides of the cap, near the top and bottom. The lower one on each side has a single block. On the after side of the cap there is an eye bolt on either side of the jib boom with a single block The martingale (if there is to be one) will be clamped to the lower fore side of the cap. The man rope is seized around the jib boom aft of the cap The jackstaff will be fitted to the upper side of the cap On the bees: Looks like a ring bolt on each side, forward of the sheave on the port side and aft on the starboard. There is a block on the starboard eyebolt. I assume there would be one to port also? A single block is lashed to the jib boom above and between the sheaves on the bees. You have two deadeyes or hearts for the bobstays lashed to the bottom of the bowsprit forward and aft of the saddle. The one aft of the saddle comes between the saddle and the lashing for the jib boom The hearts for the forestay and preventer forestay are lashed atop the bowsprit against their cleats. There is another pair of deadeyes or hearts lashed forward of the heart for the stay. On the after set of cleats there are a pair of single blocks lashed to the upper sides of the bowsprit forward of the heart for the stay. On the outer end of the jib boom it looks like there are four deadeyes or hearts. Two to the side and two lower. These are for the jib boom guys and shrouds. Above them are the hook and block for the jib sail and traveler. Forward of them but inside the man rope is another block lashed above the jib boom. Three quarters out along the jib boom another block is lashed above the boom. I am not sure what part number 332 denotes.