Louie da fly

I wish I knew. Even if I could justify taking the time off from renovating to make a start (which I can't), it's impossible because we currently live in a building site - even the rooms which have been finished are filled with stuff (disassembled cupboards, boxes of floor tiles, ceiling lights etc, homeless furniture) to go into the incomplete rooms when they're finished. There's nowhere to make a model ship even if I could spare the time right now. 

Fortunately, after over two years, we are finally approaching the end - plasterboard's up and due to have the joins gooped up in the next week, then painting, fitting architraves etc, second fix on plumbing and electricals etc etc etc. But it's going to be months yet . . .

On the positive side, I've nearly completed drawing the plans for the dromon. I was thinking maybe I should start a build log, even if I can't do any building yet.

Steven

Somehow I managed to miss this post when you put it up.

SUCH a beautiful ship . . . (sigh).

That's a relief, Ben. I was afraid I might be in the unenviable position of pointing out something that would mean you had to pull it to bits and start again.

The flexibility available to the oar banks is very impressive.

Steven

Ben,

I'm very impressed with your model, and particularly impressed with the most recent video of the oars in use.

But it seems to me that the galley is backwatering(!) I hope I've got it wrong, but it seems to me that the oars go toward the stern, dip into the water, and then push towards the bow, which would push the galley sternwards.

Steven  

I was barefoot throughout my childhood in the 1950's in a suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. I only started wearing shoes on a regular basis when I went to high school. Before that it was Tuesday evenings (I was in the cub scouts) and on occasional trips to Perth.

I found shoes constricting, and they're bad for the development of a child's feet. I had very tough soles to my feet, and I could walk on stony ground and some (not all) thorns without being bothered. The only major problem was stubbed toes - they could be painful and bloody, but they healed up pretty fast. If any kid had worn shoes at my primary school they would have been laughed out of the place.

Nowadays I wear shoes all the time, and my feet are as tender as anyone else's, but if I go somewhere where I need a good grip (like walking on the roof of the house) I prefer to go barefoot. 

After all, barefoot is the natural way to go - our ancestors were barefoot for a million years before shoes were invented. They seem to have done all right.

This doesn't answer the question of whether all sailors were bareoot on shipboard, but from my own experience there's no reason they couldn't have..

Hi, Chistine. There are quite a few Viking ship models on the build logs - the one most people have made is called the Oseberg ship. If you search that one up and have a look at few of those build logs you might find them of help.

The most important thing is to have fun.

Steven

The progress on the ship is very impressive, and I love the ballista. I want to make two of them for the dromon I'm planning to build (as well as a Greek fire siphon). Would it be ok to get in touch to pick your brains when the time comes?

Steven

Woodrat, I agree with your analysis - I'm sure there were not only national variations but individual variations between shipbuilders to have a broad range of features and shapes in the same basic ship type. Though the following links relate to Iberian and English ships, you might find them of interest -

Hull design and construction, and differences between English and Iberian framing practices - http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17791/22170

Portuguese vs Spanish Shipbuilding Practices: https://www.abc.se/~m10354/bld/portspan.htm

Hull characteristics of 16^th century Spanish and Portuguese ships: http://www.patrimoniocultural.pt/media/uploads/trabalhosdearqueologia/18/19.pdf

There's also the (possibly Basque) Cavalaire wreck of 1479:

The Mediaeval Shipwreck at Cavalaire:  http://www.culture.gouv.fr/fr/archeosm/archeosom/en/caval-s.htm

Oak growing, Hull design and Framing Style: The Cavalaire-sur-Mer Wreck c.1479 https://www.academia.edu/6921643/Oak_growing_hull_design_and_framing_style._The_Cavalaire-sur-Mer_wreck_c._1479

Archaeological Report (in French) on the Cavalaire Wreck: http://medieval-europe-paris-2007.univ-paris1.fr/M.Delhaye%20(ss%20ill.).pdf . - my French isn't good enough to translate it in full, but I've had Google translate this and now I'm working on turning it into proper English.

and the Genoese Lomellina of 1516:

http://www.culture.gouv.fr/fr/archeosm/archeosom/en/lomel-s.htm

http://archeonavale.org/lomellina/an/l_6a.html

I was fortunate enough to go aboard the 'Matthew' replica in Bristol when I was in the UK in 2009. Unfortunately my camera's memory card filled up just before I saw her (we were actually there to see Brunel's Great Britain), so I don't have any photos of my own, but there are some good ones at http://bidefordbuzz.org.uk/2012/03/matthew-calls-at-bideford-6th-march-2/ and the photo at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Matthew-BristolHarbour-Aug2004.jpg shows the lines of her bow, which may not be as fine as those of your own carrack, but are considerably less tubby than some of the contemporary pictures.

Steven

Very nice. Really starting to get that typical carrack "look".

One thing that interests me, and that in the beginning I had trouble accepting, is that this carrack has such fine lines. Most modern models and representations I have seen of carracks are very tubby compared with yours, but I believe you have the right of it.

I think artists of the time had great difficulty portraying the bows correctly and often showed them much more rounded than they really were - not because that's how the ship was, but that they just couldn't work out how to portray the shape of a ship's bow seen from in front. The better artists like Carpaccio managed it, but others - the Beauchamp Pageant artist, for example, and even Master WA - just couldn't get it right.

It makes sense to me that a carrack would be designed to swim as well as possible, and I believe archaeological finds back this up. The underwater lines of the Iberian "Newport" ship unearthed in Wales even seem to have been concave at the bow.

Keep up the good work. She's looking brilliant.

Steven

A very difficult operation, but the end result looks very good.

I like the idea of the shields, Hans. The one in the middle bears the Greek letter lambda, which signifies Lakedaimonia, the city-state of Sparta, and would only be seen on a Spartan ship. As far as I know, the other doesn't have any particular significance.

Steven

I thought this link http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/9295-medieval-top/ from the Nautical History and Research section might be useful when it comes to rigging the carrack.. 

Steven

This is a fascinating build, particularly the mechanics of getting the oars to actually row. Following this with great interest. Oh, and the ship is beautiful, too.

This build never fails to bring up the interesting and unexpected. I knew there'd be an offset bowsprit, but the narrowness of the forecastle and the gaps in the planking are a fascinating surprise.

Steven

You're doing amazing work, Alan. I only have AutoCAD LT, and I envy you the ability to work in 3D to work out problems before they arise.

(On the other hand, I'm a bit of a dinosaur - I learnt my trade on a drawing board with pencil and ink-bow pens, so I'd probably feel uncomfortable with 3D - I tried it and though it was interesting and obviously had great potential, I felt happier with the old standard.)

I'm really looking forward to seeing you putting this one into physical form.

Steven

Wow!

Steven

Looking really good, Michael. If I can even approach this level of skill I'll be more than happy.

Steven

So, a svabel would be a swab, I suppose. As in "Arrrrh yer scurvy swabs!"

A magnificent build, Matti. A pleasure to see.

Steven

DAMN that's good! And there it is, the foremast stepped on the stempost. Seems so wrong, but that's what they did, all right. Your usual excellent standard, Dick. I love the deck fittings.

Steven

Sherry, that's a very beautiful build, and the level of craftsmanship (or craftswomanship) is superb. Truly a build to be proud of and an inspiration to the rest of us.

Steven

Very nice pics, Dick. I'd found copies of that picture on the Net, but not in anything like so much detail. You can even see the boarding nettings in the tops!

And a very merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

Steven

Amazing stuff, Sharpie. That's a really impressive balista.

It's amazing the forces involved in such weapons, even at this small scale. I think a blackened metal spindle for your string should be fine - strong enough to do the job and thin enough to look right. At that scale know one will ever know the difference.

If you have any trouble, you might try contacting the Grey Company's Tossers, who have a long history of making trebuchets, onagers and springalds (though I don't think I've seen a ballista on their page). However, I haven't been in touch with them for years, so they may not be at it any more.

They even have miniature table top trebuchets colloquially known as cheesechuckers - see the section called "Models and Prototypes".  

Steven

This is one of the few illustrations showing deck detail.

Yes, that's the beauty of it. This information seems to be as rare as hen's teeth.

Oh, and here's another carrack from a 1482 chart by Grazioso Benincasa. Might have some useful details.

Steven

I just came across another carrack picture. This is from Botticelli's 1485 painting of the Judgment of Paris, and shows a carrack being careened - she's leaning over with her deck toward the viewer, so you get a view that is almost directly from above - the ships overall shap is very clear, and you can see the deck fittings. I believe Botticelli to be one of the more trustworthy artists, so I'd be willing to take his painting as being pretty much spot-on.

But what's that wooden thing in the foreground? And how do you get to the poop deck and the forecastle?

It's looking really good, Cristiano. I especially like the third photo in your most recent post. It feels like you're actually on board the shp, standing on the deck!