Landlubber Mike

Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition
By Paul Watson
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2017
6-1/2” x 9-1/2”, hardcover, xxxii + 384 pages
Illustrations, maps, notes, index. $27.95
ISBN: 9780393249385
 
    In Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition, Paul Watson revisits Sir John Franklin’s 1845 expedition to complete a Northwest Passage through the Arctic on the ships, Erebus and Terror, with a complement of 129 men. The well-equipped voyage disappeared into the arctic landscape and despite one of the largest international search and rescue efforts in history, few traces were ever recovered. The fate of the Franklin expedition captivated people across the Victorian world and with the discovery of the expedition’s ships Erebus and Terror in 2014 and 2016, the Franklin saga was again thrust into the limelight. Watson’s book presents the next chapter in the Franklin story.
 
    Watson arranges his narrative chronologically while assessing historic and contemporary search efforts, archaeological research, and Inuit oral history regarding the expedition’s disappearance. The first half of the book describes the Victorian era and the circumstances and history of the Franklin Expedition, its loss, and subsequent search efforts. Watson weaves an epic “rich with the timeless contradictions of the human condition” (xxxi). In the second half of the book, he combines ethnography, Inuit ethnohistory, and historical archaeology to carry the reader beyond what is known historically, into the present day. Watson’s narrative credits the work of Louie Kamookak, a self-trained Inuit historian, as well as myriad scientists, researchers, and benefactors, whose devotion to solving the Franklin mystery led to the relocation of the expedition’s lost ships. Watson, a Pulitzer Prize winning Canadian photojournalist, was a member of the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition launched by the Canadian government in a renewed effort to discover the lost Franklin ships along with any information on the fate of the expedition’s participants.
 
    The volume is an enjoyable read for Franklin scholars and general readers alike, not overly technical, while expanding upon the history as well as current scientific research. Watson’s discussion of previous underwater archaeological work in the region stresses the importance of preservation and conservation for research agendas. He makes an important and powerful argument for the value of provenance and systematic excavation. Focusing on the 1980 rediscovery of the Breadalbane, a Franklin era support vessel lost to the ice, Watson recounts the removal of the ship’s wheel and accentuates the methodological undercurrents of the contemporary historical and archaeological work being conducted in the region.
 
    A popular rather than scholarly book, Watson emphasizes the contributions of Inuit ethnohistory, but makes no mention of recent ethnographic work by scholars such as Dorothy Harley Eber, whose important volume Encounters on the Passage: Inuit Meet the Explorers was published in 2008. Additionally, Watson mentions numerous locations in the text that are not depicted on the maps he provides, making it challenging for readers new to the Franklin saga to follow the movements of not only the Franklin expeditionaries, but also the modern-day search efforts. Despite these minor shortcomings, Watson’s tale of interconnectedness, across space, time, and cultures, as well as scientific disciplines and governmental agencies is a valuable contribution to the literature of the Franklin Expedition.
 
Christina Bolte
University of West Florida
 
 
This review is provided courtesy of the Nautical Research Guild.

And I'm smiling too - I received it yesterday.
 

SOLD! I'm smiling now: a member has purchased an excellent shop tool.
Ron

Rich
I am entering whaling as a whole new area.  I plan to build a few kits to get the hang of it.  Kate and a sister brig....you'll see what I mean...  then the Charles Morgan and a large whale boat...3/4 scale I believe.   I love the process of studying a real ship and Mystic is so much fun to visit.     During these builds, at 1:64 scale, I hope to learn new skills...….. and following others advice I'll be  working on more sailable boats like the BHOD one designs, my existing marbleheads etc.  and a 3/4 scale schooner I never finished. 
 
The open question is what to scratch build …...a sailing whale ship model or a large cutaway showing the insides.    As to making a sailing model, Kate Cory as a schooner would be easier at 1:24 but the more I am reading the Schooners were not really good for the process of whaling. I would love to figure out how best to rotate a foremast, so that is on the table.  Also holding me back with KC is the better plans that used to be sold by Bedford museum are not easy to find.  As to ship insides, I would love to build a POF version of something and then open it up.
 
 
anyway it's all fun. I started to gather photos today and plan to get posting in a week or so.  I also have the Halifax model on hold and more to do other models.
 
cheers 
jon 

Looks great David.  You've gotten through some of the trickier parts of the build.  For the planksheer, I also took John's approach of sanding it flat and then adding a small strip to it to ensure an even extension throughout the hull.

Good Morning -
Just back home after a week away for a family wedding in British Columbia and we even managed to avoid all the smoke! We were in the famous Okanagan Valley which is stunningly beautiful, but I understand that even there the air quality had been poor due to smoke for much of the summer. Nothing but clear sunny skies for us though.
 
Here is an update of my progress just before I left last week. I had been working on the bulwarks.
 
The waterway is fairly easy to bevel and install, but it has an unusual profile at the bow where it meets the ceiling planks. It's not completely clear from the plans how this is achieved, but I think I interpreted it correctly as the ceiling planks ended up blending in just fine.

 
The start of the bow framing.

 
Here is the bow framing complete. It's a bit tricky as it spays outward, but actually easier than I have found on some other models because the laser cut parts fit very well.
 

 
The bulwarks is planked only at the bow on this ship and this requires spiling which is something I have never done before. You can see the cardboard template I've made. The only way I could manage this was through trial and error until I finally got one that fit the space more or less correctly. The planks up to the top of the template are thicker than the ones above it. The plans indicate to use 3/64" stock for the lower planks and 1/32" stock for the upper planks. I don't have 3/64", so I applied two layers of 1/32" for the bottom and a single layer of 1/32" for the upper planks. I opted to apply each section as one piece and then I will indicate individual planks by scribing them.
 

 
Here's the template for the upper set. The lower planking blends into the waterway pretty much as I think it's supposed to.
 

 
The port side framing is in place and you can see where I've quickly drawn on planks at the bow just to get the idea of how it will look. In actuality very little of this shows as the anchor deck covers much of it. I was nevertheless happy to have the opportunity to try my hand at spiling and the fact that it will not be front and centre on the finished model is a bonus!
 

 
Here the framing is finished and ready for planking.
 

 
One little area that caused my more trouble than I thought it ought to was the upper rail as it rises at the bow. It takes a very steep rise at about the point where the planking ends. I had a lot trouble making this a smooth transition; I did it over a couple of times because I kept getting a sharp angle at the transition point, but finally I managed it. The next piece that goes on is called the log rail and that plank lays on its edge. As soon as I was able to lay it on the rail without a gap at the transition point I was satisfied.
 
I've just started some upper planking and one little problem has become apparent. The plans call for a certain size stock for the top rail and the kit provided stock was either just under or just over that size (I can't remember the actual dimensions just at the moment.) I opted for the undersized one but should have chosen the oversized one. I spaced the rail carefully on the inside, but as you can see the rail is flush with the outer planning with no lip. Rather than pull the rail off, I've decided to sand it smooth with the planking and then add a 1/32" strip along its outside edge. I think that will work just fine and will make it easy to get a consistent depth of lip. Already I can see that I am going to have a bit of similar trouble with the planksheer, which also protrudes and I expect that I will be sanding it smooth and adding a small strip to it as well. I noticed in John's build log (charleswmorganmodel.com) that he had this problem with the planksheer as well and used that fix.
 
So that's where I'm at right now. I'm spending the day recovering from the effects of air travel (I hate it) and will be soon back in my shop.
David

Had a nice weekend up in New Bedford at the museum. I could have easily spent half the day looking at Eric Ronnberg's 1/2" scale Kate Cory. So much interesting stuff there. 

Some inspiration to get my whaleboats going

I have now built and installed the rear cabin with it's companionway and skylight. This completes the deck items. The cabin was built up from boxwood strips, with some interior bracing to support the walls and roof. The skylight glazing is clear styrene sheet. The door handles are blackened pin heads.
 
The next thing to be done will be the lower deadeyes and chainplates.
 
Bob

Hello friends, 
 
I had a few free days. Of course I used them to work on my model. The weather here don´t allow something else :-)
 
As you can see in my pictures I built the stairs to the quarter deck. Again I tried to build everything from wood. Although I know that this is not original. But if you follow my blog you know, that I prefer that way. 
 
The next step was building the fire buckets. It was very difficult to make the logos on them, because they are so small. Even the smallest brush is too big. Finally I used the tip of a metal needle. But the tough and sticky gold color makes it impossible to create a clear logo. I did my best. Hopefully nobody looks too closely on it. 
 
After this I turned to the front and the roundhouses. Here, too, the basic principle was: no paint or sheet! But that means that I had to plank everything  and try to build the bows with my yellow elderberry wood. What do you think about the result? I really like it :-)
 
Finally I build the two carronades today. 
 
Best wishes and a happy sunday
:-)
 
- Heinz -

Sterling work.
 
Despite the work and relative monotony, that is a very sweet set of completed guns.

Thank you for your nice comment Michael.  And thank you for the likes.
 
I have another small update.  Today I finished the black bands on the side of the hull.
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
Robert

While rigging the guns, I was also making up the gunport lids. I decided to finish and mount them at this point. The lids were made in two layers: laser cut pieces from the kit that were painted red and boxwood strip planking, cut to fit. The hinges are black paper. Blackened eyebolts were bent over and inserted into drilled holes. The lids at the aft end, where there are no guns, were mounted in the closed position.
 
The next work will be on the head.
 
Bob

All of the guns are now installed and rigged. A  big "thank you" to RustyJ for graciously providing me with the 1/8" Syren blocks that I needed to complete the gun rigging (they were out of stock). This is a perfect example of the generosity and friendship that make this site the great place that it is.
 
Bob
 
 

And here are the final pictures:
 

Thanks so Much, and Have A Good One!!

Cannons and Gunport Strips
 
I took a sojourn into making cannons to get my head into working in Lilliputian scale.  I found the carriages supplied with the kit a bit wanting, especially the wheels.  So I bought the carriages from Syren.  Really nice quality.  Then I got a surprise, the Syren carriages are made for Chuck's turned brass 6 pound cannons, and since I convinced myself that the Amati cannons were OK, I found the that the carriages were to narrow for the supplied cannons.  Hmmmmm.  Solution, hybrid carriages, axle cross pieces from Amati and all the other parts from Syren.  Worked out OK because I got the width I needed.  Still a nerve racking as thinning down the axles and drilling out the wheels was very delicate.  I found that holding the wheels cross-grained with pliers would keep them from splitting while being drilled.  Once I did this I had no issues.  I painted the cannons with Rustoleum matte black - looks OK to me.  Making the brass trunnion caps was also a nice challenge - for that I made a jig similar to what Blue Ensign did.  Not quite sure how to do it with card stock and get the sharp bends.  Photo below.
 
I soaked and formed the gunport strips after reading every blog I could find.  No one has enjoyed this task.  When satisfied I fitted a dummy bowsprit and glued the front sections on.  The screw in clamps from Micro-Mark worked great - I found that drilling a small pilot hole helped get them started and kept them from splitting the mdf.  I made one mistake - if you see the pictures, in my zeal to get everything tight and with the crowding along the frames I put pump type wood clamps between the frames - this resulted in some scalloping along the bottom of the strips which I would rather not have.  Anyone gluing these strip in the future should probably avoid doing this.  Some filler will make it "all go away" prior to second planking but it didn't need to happen.  Another issue I had was that while I faired all the bulkheads really well - somehow I did not get the main deck faired as well and in a couple of areas it was proud of the bulkheads - - I all looked great from the top.  However when the glue dried I had bulges where it distorted the gunport strip.  This was remedied with a Dremel with a small burr - cutting away the deck behind where it was too large.  Those "scars" will be covered by the deck planking so no harm done.
 
Have started the first planking and it is going smoothly.  Will write on that later.  At this point I have switched to Titebond glue as I had several joints where I used the White Glue come unglued with slight pressure.  Not happening with the Titebond.
 
 

The yard lifts are now up, so from here on to the final stage of rigging, then mounting & done.
 
Regards,
David

First (port) half of the coppering is done. Me, I'm looking forward to a nice diversified work, like knotting ratlines. The copper will be polished after both sides are done. The amount of copper plates was just sufficient. By  careful use of trimmed leftovers I managed to keep enough full plates to cover rudder and keel.
 









the scale figure of the captain shows just how much expensive copper was put on such a ship of the line

Thanks so much to all who have followed this build and have provided their generous comments, encouragement and "likes" throughout and at it's conclusion. I greatly appreciate the support and the friendship.
 
B.E. and Erik: I am attaching a few more photos, but I'm not sure that they're any better. My point and shoot either can't or won't do any better on the overall shots.
 
Bob

These are some of the Bluemoon Tombstone civilians. They are smaller then the O scale train figures and fit the boat much better.

Thank you both for the kind words. 
 
19th century figures are hard to locate.  That period is vicious for modelers. Nobody models that period because there is no manufacturer support, the manufacturer's don't support that period because nobody models it.... It reminds me of a quote from Yogi Berra "No one goes to that restaurant anymore because it's too crowded".
 
The 2 figures on the boat are O scale train figures. I have seen O scale argued as both 1/48th and 1/43rd scale, either way it works. Search MTH outdoor people set that's where they came from, I grabbed them at a train show. Unfortunately there is little support for model railroaders unless you want to modify modern figures but for freight and animals O scale is the way to go. 
 
There is another option if you don't mind painting. 28mm wargaming has a good bit of support for the wild west. 28mm is arguably 1/48th scale from most manufacturers. Some can run a little smaller. 28mm is a height, not a scale. Some manufacturers measure the height from the eyes, head or shoulder so figures can vary in size a little from different manufacturers. Some can look cartoony but others look great. 
 
I bought a set from Bluemoon manufacturing called tombstone civilians. I like it very much. The first picture is the set I bought. They are pewter, need the bases ground off and have to be painted. The size looks good to me. Knuckleduster also produces a line of 19th century people, I have not ordered from them yet. The second picture is an example of some figures they offer. There is also Artizan. The figures are more dramatic but should work as well. The 3rd picture is some of their figures. Most of the figures have guns and civilian's are a little harder to locate but this should give you some options. Searching O scale and 1/48th scale figures may not bring you much luck but searching 28mm wild west, Edwardian, victorian and steampunk figures should bring you many results. 
 
  I'll post a picture of some of the figures I bought standing next to doorways on the boat tonight to give you an idea of sizing. 

It's been a little bit but I have made some progress. I had put it off as long as I could but it was time to address making the hull waterproof. I fiberglassed it with 30 minute epoxy and 1/2 oz cloth to keep the weight down. I used flat black for the hull.
 
  The next area I tackled was the kitchen. I could not find any photos of steamboat kitchens. I think the mundane details like that may be lost to time. I used period kitchen photos as a general guide and built it around the stove. The stove pipe is visible in photos of the Kerr, the rest is a guess. I didn't go nuts with detail either since it's pretty hard to see.
 
The next area I went after was the main deck bathroom. Again no pictures surfaced. I was able to find pictures of period railroad equipment bathrooms. In fact there are entire websites devoted to train toilets. I also learned a lot more than I wanted to know about 19th century hygiene. I still need to finish the wall and door up.
 
I had too make all the rods shafts and cylinders from solid brass since my boat will operate. Unfortunately nothing in the kit is designed to be functional. The paddle wheel came together and I powered it with a lightweight gearbox. Well not exactly,  I tied the wheel into the cylinders as they should be then I tied the gearbox to the cylinders. It works well and doesn't bind. The color is a period correct railroad red brown. 
 
I added what is likely the heaviest single item in the boat, the 4" speaker for the sound system. The sound system has a triple expansion  steam engine effect, paddle back wash, and several 3 chime whistles and bells. It can be loaded with any sounds I wish so it will be trial and error as to what sounds stay and go. I hollowed out the hull to lower the cg and let the hull act as a speaker box to give the sound more depth. The boat is coming together slowly.

I stained the boiler deck and added the outer supports. I finished triming up the floor and painted the interior walls. Most vessels of the day had white walls and ceilings with natural wood floors. I don't know what was in the J.C. Kerr but this is most likely correct.
 
I then reworked the hog gates. They were further forward on the Kerr and the "v" was reversed. Easy enough. I relocated the feet to the top of the gates then hung them upside-down. I also finished up the rear walls and bracing.
 
I did a little water testing. Since she is not water proof I wrapped her in foil. I then loaded her down. She will float at 3400 grams but the water is licking the gaurds. Obviously that is no good for an RC boat. I like where she rides at 2100 grams. 2500 is my max. The picture shows her right at 2500. The copper boiler is in there as well for ballast, 70% of the boat weight needs to be where the boiler is. I will have to keep testing every step of the way so she sits in the water correctly.  So many model sternwheelers ride nose high because the builder didn't plan ahead and shift the weight forward to compensate for the heavy wheel in the rear. 
 
And finally. My furnature arrived! 

At this point I still don't know how I plan to finish the hull.  Fiberglass hides all the planking detail and just using epoxy leaves the potential for a seam to open up as the wood expands and contracts. I skipped it for now, there is a lot of other stuff that I can do.  
 
I was considering steam as the powerplant. I built a twin boiler setup that has common water and a steamchest. It does make steam but it's not as efficient as I had hoped and ended up being to heavy to use.  Just the naked empty copper boiler comes in at 500grams. The boat will be electric. I ordered a smoke generator from Harbor models and a sound system from Model sounds inc. Both combined weigh half of what the empty boiler weighs.
 
I added the front staircase and the boilerdeck. I removed the floor from the boiler deck to give me access to the engine room and boiler areas. I plan to do an interior on a removable floor. 

This is where things get fun, converting the boat into the J.C. Kerr. The Chaperon kit had the name etched into the rear walls which makes painting the name as simple as filling in a coloring book.  Unfortunately that won't help me.  I flipped the rear walls over, shortened them and scribed in the individual  planks.  I then hand painted the name using the photos of the full sized boat as my guide. The colors are purely a guess. I went with a matt black and a railroad boxcar oxide color that was in use in the 1880's.

After adding some foam incase of a water breach, I planked the hull. I had to make a decision on the deck finish. Some people have painted the deck while others have stained it. I did some research. Looking at several period photos of steamboats and in the photos that show people on deck you can see the wood is unfinished in several of them. I reasoned that since this boat was not a luxurious craft and paint cost money, wet paint is slippery and it would need constant touch up, I went with an unfinished surface. I stained the deck with some GW brand washes. 
 
I know the early boats were all wood burners. Does anyone know if coal or wood was the fuel of choice in the mid 1880's on Steamboats? This will impact my weathering. Steamboats were a thing of pride and maintained to the highest levels or you would have little luck of attracting passengers for the next voyage with hundreds of steamboats on the water competing with each other and the railroad. But coal was dirty and wood produced lots of ash. Very different grime from each.