popeye2sea

Those coils look great, Jay. Very realistic. They would not be perfect on the real ship either.

Which is why we were always taught to keep control of the downhaul at all times when hoisting flags. It is the mark of a sloppy ship when the flags are allowed to billow out down wind when hoisting.

Jay, I think the admirals flag thing was talking about when and where to fly the admirals flag when he comes aboard. Every ship in the Navy flies its distinctive mark (flag) to show that it is in commission and under command. The commission pennant is the distinctive mark for the ship when the ships captain has command. It is normally flown from the aftermost mast peak. Each admiral rank, and each high ranking government official has their own flag. Since the ship can only fly one distinctive mark at a time, when an admiral comes aboard the commission pennant is lowered and the admirals flag is 'broken out' at the mast peak in place of it. If a civil official is also embarked the admirals flag is flown from the fore mast on a two masted ship or the starboard yard of a single masted ship. To break a flag means to roll up the flag in a tight roll bound with twine and run it up the mast. The down haul part of the halyard is looped beneath the twine before attaching it to the bottom of the flag (we use a special snap hook with a sharp edge made just for this purpose now). As the admiral or dignitary is approaching the ship the side boys are posted at the gangway. As the admiral approaches the gangway the appropriate number of guns for the salute are fired. As the admiral ascends the gangway the boatswain pipes the side and the side boys salute. The pipe ends when the admiral steps aboard, a quick tug on the halyard breaks the twine allowing his flag to fly free, the band strikes up the appropriate ruffles and flourishes, they then play the admirals march, and the admiral has officially embarked. The Navy has a ton of traditions like this. It was part of my job as a signalman to know all this stuff and coordinate the ceremonies.

Jud, you are correct. The correct procedure for flag signalling is thus: The originating ship hauls the signal closed up ( fully raised to the yard arm). The ship receiving the signal answers with the same signal 'at the dip' (about half way up to the yard arm). If there are ships further along the line those ships also answer at the dip. The last ship in the line, having answered the hoist at the dip, indicates that the signal is acknowledged and understood by closing up the signal (raised to the yard arm). The repeating ships in turn back up the line to the originator close up their hoists which tells the originating ship that all ships in the line acknowledge and understand the signal. The signal to execute the maneuver is when the originating ship hauls down the hoist. Sounds complicated when written out but not so in practice. And it ensures accurate communication between all ships and coordinated action. Jay, signal flags have been placed in a number of places over the centuries. At one time there was no standardized set of signal flags and the national ensign flown in different positions indicated the signal. For example, raising the red ensign at the main mast head might mean close with the enemy while the same flag flown from a yard arm might mean Captains report to the flag ship. Today signal flags are flown primarily from halyards on a yardarm, although they can still be flown from the mast in some circumstances. The signal books dictate the order of precedence for reading hoists. Just going from memory, flags are read from the yardarms first, outboard to inboard, then from the mast head, then from the triatic stay (a stay which ran from the fore mast to the main mast.

One can usually, by getting plenty of separation on the two parts of the halyard at deck level, get enough slack and untwist it enough to lower the ensign. If you are good at it you can get it accomplished without too much delay. Delay is never good in the military. Sometimes it takes going aloft if the flag is jammed on something else. It is just rather embarrassing when the flag is not lowered smartly for some ceremony, like a change of command, and you have dignitaries and other brass aboard. The captain usually starts the **it chain which rapidly rolls down hill to the signalman of the watch who embarrassed him. I once had a situation when we were conducting a signal drill while the weather was blowing almost a gale. The uphaul got away from the operator and blew aloft into the radar and radio antennas. I had to go aloft and untangle it all. That was quite the thrill; underway, rolling, pitching, out on the yardarms. Once again the CO was pissed because we had to secure both from radiating the radars and transmitting radio while someone was aloft. Not sure which story I told you about the admirals flag.

Don't be too hard on yourself. That happens all the time in the real world too. You would be surprised how often the lowering of the ensign at evening colors is botched because someone did not disentangle the halyard prior to trying to lower the flag. The flag very often whips around the two parts of the halyard and becomes fouled on itself.

Does anyone have some insight on this? Since the inboard portion of the line runs beneath the quarter deck I need to figure out what to do with it before I fasten the quarter deck down.

This item is on my build log also but I thought I would post it here: This is the spar deck of the Soleil Royal of 1669. One thing I noticed with the way that the kevels are placed is that it would be extremely difficult to work the lines belayed here. The lines that go to these kevels are the sheets and tacks for the courses and the sprit sail. Another problem... the main sheets come inboard well aft near the quarter galleries and then belay amidships on one of the kevels. Do I run the sheet over the tops of the cannon barrels or down on the deck beneath the barrels. Either way it looks like they would foul on the cannons when worked. Perhaps this is the reason why the sails set for battle did not include the lower courses?

Jay, I'm pretty sure there is no way that the mizzen topsail brace would lead to the spanker gaff. All of the braces for the mizzen yards lead forward to the main mast

Lest anyone think that the shipyard has closed, let me assure you that after a brief time off for the holidays the laborers have been put back to work diligently forging iron and stropping blocks for the cannons. Unfortunately, I only get a couple of hours of work a week on the ship. Progress has been slow! ( I do hope that his royal highness King Louis does not object! Thirty plus years is a long time to wait for completion of a ship ) Progress thus far: All cannons mounted on the full gun deck. These are pinned in place through the bottom of the carriage and the deck so that I did not have to scrape the paint under each wheel and glue. The breeching ropes are seized to the ring bolts prior to gluing the ring bolts to the hull through holes I drilled near the base of each gun port. Additional holes were drilled and eye bolts installed at the sides of each port for the gun tackles. Ring bolts were also installed in the deck for the train tackles. One cannon has been fully rigged so far. I still have to coil the ropes. The cannons on this side are run in and the coiled ropes will be layed over the top of the gun. On the other side, where the cannons are run out for firing, the tackle falls will be faked down on the deck. One thing I noticed with the way that the kevels are placed is that it would be extremely difficult to work the lines belayed here. The lines that go to these kevels are the sheets and tacks for the courses and the sprit sail. Another problem... the main sheets come inboard well aft near the quarter galleries and then belay amidships on one of the kevels. Do I run the sheet over the tops of the cannon barrels or down on the deck beneath the barrels. Either way it looks like they would foul on the cannons when worked. Perhaps this is the reason why the sails set for battle did not include the lower courses? Still to come...16 more cannons on the fo'c'sle, quarter deck and cabin deck( not sure what the deck between the quarter deck and poop deck was called). Enjoy

One other point to consider. If they were anything like the ones we use today the halyard is all one rope. That is to say when the flags are bent on the halyard forms a continuous loop. When no flags are present the toggle on the downhaul end is attached to the loop of the uphaul end. Both parts of the halyard are made fast on the same cleat

The shipyard is always open, but I only get a couple of hours a week to work on the model. Plus cannon rigging is getting tedious.

Chains and deadeye lanyards look great, John! Based on that the rest of your rigging should be first rate.

Mid July, sometime around the 20th. I'll know more after the meeting coming up in February.

John, You should think about coming up to Boston again in July. The Morgan will be sailing in. I'm on the coordinating committee so I'll keep you posted.

Nope. Too cold for me.

Google Chrome translated the page, but very poorly. The general meaning is discernible though.

Mike, I find it even more amazing when you read further and find that the model is made that way (with removable masts) for delivery purposes. I would hate to have to re-rig that ship.

This could mean that the eye was welded closed.

Perhaps you could seize the end to one of the turns at a number of points.

Morope will practically fall apart when cut because it is nylon. Nylon rope has no "memory" or stiffness to hold the lay at all. That is also why it is easier to splice cotton or hemp rope. The lay of these ropes will be preserved to some extent when separating strands.

Think of the Jib boom as a mast put over on an angle. The bob stays are the equivalent of a back stay, and the guys are the equivalent of the shrouds. The lead through thimbles on the spritsail yard gives the required spread angle to hold the jib from side to side and the tackles have the same function as dead eyes and lanyards for a shroud.

Thanks John. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours also. May it be healthy and prosperous.

You may want to try faking the rope down on the deck, which is probably the way a working line was laid out for running anyway. It consists of laying the rope down in long figure eights so that the half turns at the ends overlap. Since the turns at each end are in opposite directions there are no kinks put into the rope and it will run free. BTW the round coil is called a flemish coil http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUBHtbWLmxo

The shroud has three seizings clapped on. The first is a throat or cross seizing put on where the end of the shroud crosses behind the standing part (when looking from the outside of the ship). On this seizing the turns of the seizing are vertical. Then the end of the shroud is brought up beside the standing part and two additional round seizings are put on the first is called a middle seizing and the second is called an end seizing. The end of the shroud is whipped and cut off just above the end seizing. You will end up with a small gap above and below the throat seizing due to the diameter of the rope. For right hand laid rope the shroud passes around the dead eye counter-clockwise. For left hand laid rope the shroud passes around the dead eye clockwise. The laniard starts from the hole in the upper deadeye furthest from the end of the shroud.