johnhoward

Thanks for the update Tim, You guys are really getting creative with the Ironclad Model crew member figurines. I'm looking forward to those other Shipcrafter Team E-Mails I have missed that we discussed today. JOHN HOWARD

test

Fellow modelers:, II have been asked by a friend to repair the rigging for his "Mamoli" MV22 "Blue Shadow" model. My research confirms that it is a "fictional" but very "handsome" model but it seems to be over-rigged for such a small vessel and crew size during the American Revolutionary War Era. Are my suspicions correct? Specifically, would it carry all of the upper "Stun sails"? If realistic, would its' rigging be more likely to use French or British convention? Any other comments would be welcomed. Thanks, JOHNHOWARD

Tim, Thanks for the August 2024 update snout USS St. Louis Ironclad model. I just wanted you to know I'm still around and am presently trying to repair a model of the 1778 Blue Shadow for Jack Powell but am still interested in the progress on the museum display progress for our the USS St. Louis. I have also been continuing my research for James Eads' memoirs on then building of the "City Class Ironclads" for construction details we never resolved, but no success so far. JOHNHOWARD

Tim, Thank you for the continuing fantastic updates to this decade long scratch-build model and my "hat is off" to all those "St. Louis Model Shipcrafters" who have persevered thru the "Pandemic" and continued their support and modeling skills. I echo Don's recent comments on "plans for "it's public display' which we originally estimated in 2014 to be a "Two or Three" year project however, we had failed to consider the volume of a 1:24 scale model which is also"over 7 feet long", and of all the possible modeling details that could be included, plus the inaccuracy problems we discovered on the available US Park Services "USS Cairo Class" Ironclad model plans and missing data which required extensive additional research. I also want to acknowledge all of the many NRG Member contributors to our "USS St. Louis" Model Forum. JOHNHOWARD

I found my photo! Attached is a "Mock-Up" photo of our "USS St. Louis" Ironclad Model Forward Gun Deck with its Anchor Chains and continuous "Messenger Rope" wrapped around the Capstan and the front casement rollers, with the anchor chain itself entering the "chain locker access door" just in front of the Capstan. Either port or starboard anchor could be individually raised or lowered by adding the "Nipper Ropes" to secure its chain to the "Messenger Rope" and then rotating the capstan either clockwise or counter-clockwise, as required. JOHNHOWARD

Further information on adapting Chain Linked Anchors to Rope Style Capstans such as for the USS Cairo:: The attached sketch shows how the continuous loop "Messenger" rope and "Nipper" ties were rigged to anchor chain to raise and lower anchors using a rope type Capstan on large sailing ships into the Mid-1800's. This is how we planned to rig our USS St. Louis Ironclad model. The continuous Messenger rope passes around two rollers behind the ironclad forward casement and is wrapped around the Capstan about 4 turns. The "Nippers are used to secure the anchor chain to the "Messenger" as it emerges thru the Hawse Hole in the forward casement and are un-tied as the anchor chain reaches the deck hatch above the Chain Locker for stowage. Raising the port-side anchor is depicted in this sketch. Simply reversing the Capstan/Messenger rope rotation direction will lower the port anchor or raise the starboard anchor. We successfully "Mocked-up" this arrangement in Mid-2018 but unfortunately have mis-placed the photograph. JOHNHOWARD

Brian and Roger, As a follow-up to our discussion on rope vs chain for the City Class Ironclads: Brian's Posting #285 mentions the use of a "Traveler or Carrier" loop of rope around the "Rope type Capstan" which then was temporarily incrementally tied and untied to/from the anchor chain to raise/ lower the anchor. This was a standard practice on large sailing vessels of this time period. I believe this is exactlly what they did on the Ironclads. We had planned to use this method on our USS St.Louis and had "mocked it up," but I couldn't find our photograph of it. The attached photograph is a section of Geoghegan's drawing cross-section of the forward casement which includes a small pulley for the carrier loop and the anchor "Chain Locker" immediately below it as the chain was cut free from the loop as it cleared the hawse hole in the casement. JOHNHOWARD

Brian & Roger, One obvious answer to the Chain vs Rope question is that the Rope Type Capstan they used on the USS Cairo display at Vicksburg was not really recovered with the USS Cairo as originally claimed or since the last crew on the Cairo was in the Mississippi Bayou when it struck the mine they were using temporarily using a rope capstan instead of a chain type without realizing the difference at that time. Or maybe they just wanted to confuse us! Still having fun! We were planning to use chain on the USS St. Louis, the last time I checked. Elizabeth Joiner, Cairo Museum Curator in 2014 told me they didn't have any Maritime experts at Vicksburg to answer my questions. She put me in touch with NPS Denver which managed the USS Cairo display who also said the didn't have maritime experts but they consulted with James P. Delgado who was a maritime archeologist, explorer and author to finally answer my questions. JOHNHOWARD

Roger, Thanks for the clarifications and nice comments, but as you can see by the photos on Sheets 1 and 4 of our Forum, that at least 8 members of our St. Louis Gateway Model Shipcrafters organization who participated over the 10 years of construction of our " USS St. Louis" Ironclad Model deserve the credit, and unfortunately, partially due to the "Covid 19 Virus", only a few are still actively involved in its completion. This also includes Brian Pierce who has been sharing his research on his "USS Cairo" with us. I've included a drawing of the "USS Cairo" torpedo damage that I discussed earlier. JOHNHOWARD

MTAYLOR, Thanks for your comments and questions. Regarding records/Archives for James B. Eads: There are indeed so many pages of archive web sites on the internet for Eads many endeavors that my searching for the related details regarding the related ironclad details has proved to be overwhelming. Our first attempted archive search in 2014 was a Model Shipcrafter Team visit to the Carondelet Library/ Museum set up for us by the Library Curator, Ron Bendett , in downtown St. Louis adjacent to the Shipyard where the ironclad "USS Carondelet" was constructed. This gave us a pretty good idea of the massive research effort we were facing. We were building our model of the USS St.Louis for the Missouri Civil War Museum which provided us with the National Park Service Historical Structural Report (HSR) which included Doug Ashley's 28 Sheet drawing of the ironclad, "USS Cairo" which was used as the primary source for its display in Vicksburg, Mississippi. When we contacted NPS Vicksburg for technical guidance we were advised that NPS Denver was manager of the USS Cairo display at Vicksburg. Our St. Louis Ship Modeling Team at that time consisted of many experienced 1800 era ship-modelers. however, only one of which had ever modeled the "USS Cairo". We immediately began to discover some blatant basic wooden ship construction & missing detail errors in the NPS USS Cairo plans which would be obvious on our large model scale of 1/2" = 1 ft {1:24]. We were advised by the NPS Denver that we should refer to several other National Park Service survey plans for the required corrections however Doug Ashley's plans were never corrected. Our secondary goal was then to document the errors we found. This included adding deck and Hurricane deckhouse roof cambers to our model. Hopefully more research will reveal or verify answers to other confusing construction features which include rudder control, internal access to the Hurricane Deck, and the location of the auxiliary steam engine. The Army was originally responsible for the Ironclad contract under General McMlellan via Brig. Get M. C. Meigs, Quarter-Master-General'and initially launched under Army command, but then transferred to Navy Command for active service upon which time some had to be renamed due to existing duplication already in the Navy . I agree that there must be Government Records and hope someone can retrieve them. JOHNHOWARD IMG_0377.mov

Part 6 of Steam Powered Capstan Study, One last issue to make this study complete is to determine how the high pressure steam was routed to the Auxiliary Steam Engine. which powers the capstan. Steam generated in the boilers is captured in the Boiler Steam Drum at the aft end of the boilers and then routed to the main Paddle Wheel Engines via insulated feed pipes amidship and then forward (on our model) of the USS St. Louis via the port side chine to the Auxiliary Engine control valve and piston drives for the PTO shaft which in turn powers the capstan via gears below the fore gun deck. We located the Auxiliary Steam engine on the Port side because this is where the only surviving City Class Ironclad the (USS Cairo) struck the Torpedo/ Mine and sunk, and possibly expelled the Auxiliary Steam Engine which was lost. Otherwise the Starboard equivalent location would be equally possible. Last year Brian Pierce, builder of his outstanding scratch model of the USS Cairo, and his NRG Forum Log, visited NPS Vicksburg and took many outstanding photos of the USS Cairo's damaged area in hopes of finding some remains of the Auxiliary Steam Engine. But, in vain, it appears any tell-tale metal fragments or other damage that may have survived were previously cleared away. We realize there was a lot of conjecture used to propose the location for various elements and perhaps we will never be able to positively claim our conclusions are correct. But since we started our research and scratch build model of the City Class Ironclad "USS St. Louis" in 2014, we haven't uncovered any "show-stoppers'" either, which is encouraging. We have just about exhausted all resources we can envision except for the records of the City Class Ironclad "USS Cincinnati" which was reportedly sunk twice and recovered, but finally destroyed by a river dragging operation. This is a"long shot" at best. but I wonder if any records survive of the 2 recovery operations. Any other suggestion would be gladly appreciated. Another possibility could be Archives of James B. Eads if any exist. Thanks to those following or participating in this Forum and good luck with your own projects. My personal goal is to increase participation in the "Research" portion of the Nautical Research Guild. JOHNHOWARD

Part 5 of Steam Powered Capstan for City Class Ironclads From the data provided in part 3 & 4 I believe that Pook's original plan was to utilize the Auxiliary Engine to both power the Steam Capstan and to provide low water protection for the boilers, however he left the details up to James Eads and stated in his spec that the Capstan location would be located later. The specified Auxiliary Engine was clearly an early 1800's high powered "over-kill" solution prior to use of the more efficient "Doctor". The City Class Ironclads were built in the amazingly short time of 6 months just in time for the start of the Civil War which was one main reason that Eads got the Ironclad contract. Eads was undoubtedly aware of up to date technology by owning factories and ship yards on the Mississippi. Somehow Pook and Eads agreed to the practical solution of adding the "Doctor Engine" for the boiler water level protection and modifying the powerful Auxiliary Engine by removing its water pumps without much contract paperwork documentation to power just the capstan. Perhaps Doug Ashley was made privy to Eads personal files helping him to surmise this configuration on sheet 28 of his NPS drawings of the USS Cairo. It is also possible that salvaged Auxiliary Engines were simply repurposed since it would be impossible to design & build a new engine in the time available. "Doctor" drawing and a photo my model of it for our USS St. Louis are attached. JOHNHOWARD

Part 4, Remaining Photos from yesterdays Part 3 text on Specs for the Auxiliary Engine as provided to James Eads. JOHNHOWARD