Louie da fly

I feel the same way, Lou. The ABDA force didn't achieve their aim to stop the Japanese invasion. But they were a scratch force flung together from widely disparate navies with no opportunity to train together or work out a common strategy and tactics - not to mention the language problem! They knew they were outgunned and outclassed, but answered the call with heroism that is hard to contemplate in today's world.
 
Not forgetting the Jervis Bay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jervis_Bay
 
Carl, try doing a google image search on HMS Glowworm - several of the photos that are fairly small in the above links can be found larger and with better detail by doing this.
 
Steven
 
PS: Just found another one!
 

 
and links to higher definition photos  - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cb/1c/70/cb1c700a04541ee2356ef9efa0c5439a.jpg  and https://i.pinimg.com/originals/48/84/69/4884695873e57a0ef98a10aaa8697b78.jpg .

Just did a bit of a Google search for pictures of the Glowworm. There's some good ones at http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2009/06/hms-glowworm-h92.html  https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15989 and http://forum.netmarine.net/viewtopic.php?t=3502 (this one's in French, but Google Translate should help if needed - unless you're already fluent, of course. Zut! Alors . . .) and Russian . . https://u-96.livejournal.com/2670604.html with at least one photo the others don't have. Plus these two 
 
 
  
 
I hope these help.
 
Steven

Beautiful work, Michael. A real pleasure to watch this build.
 
Oh, and I take comfort from the fact that even someone at your advanced level sometimes misses something (the attachment of the vent stack). I don't feel quite so embarrassed about my own boo-boos. Still embarrassed - I've got a long way to go before I even approach your level of skill - but not quite so embarrassed.
 
Steven

Carl,
 
It looks like you replied while I was in the middle of editing my post above to add another photo and two links, which I hope are of help.
 
Steven

I feel the same way, Lou. The ABDA force didn't achieve their aim to stop the Japanese invasion. But they were a scratch force flung together from widely disparate navies with no opportunity to train together or work out a common strategy and tactics - not to mention the language problem! They knew they were outgunned and outclassed, but answered the call with heroism that is hard to contemplate in today's world.
 
Not forgetting the Jervis Bay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jervis_Bay
 
Carl, try doing a google image search on HMS Glowworm - several of the photos that are fairly small in the above links can be found larger and with better detail by doing this.
 
Steven
 
PS: Just found another one!
 

 
and links to higher definition photos  - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cb/1c/70/cb1c700a04541ee2356ef9efa0c5439a.jpg  and https://i.pinimg.com/originals/48/84/69/4884695873e57a0ef98a10aaa8697b78.jpg .

Carl,
 
It looks like you replied while I was in the middle of editing my post above to add another photo and two links, which I hope are of help.
 
Steven

I feel the same way, Lou. The ABDA force didn't achieve their aim to stop the Japanese invasion. But they were a scratch force flung together from widely disparate navies with no opportunity to train together or work out a common strategy and tactics - not to mention the language problem! They knew they were outgunned and outclassed, but answered the call with heroism that is hard to contemplate in today's world.
 
Not forgetting the Jervis Bay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jervis_Bay
 
Carl, try doing a google image search on HMS Glowworm - several of the photos that are fairly small in the above links can be found larger and with better detail by doing this.
 
Steven
 
PS: Just found another one!
 

 
and links to higher definition photos  - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cb/1c/70/cb1c700a04541ee2356ef9efa0c5439a.jpg  and https://i.pinimg.com/originals/48/84/69/4884695873e57a0ef98a10aaa8697b78.jpg .

Carl,
 
It looks like you replied while I was in the middle of editing my post above to add another photo and two links, which I hope are of help.
 
Steven

I feel the same way, Lou. The ABDA force didn't achieve their aim to stop the Japanese invasion. But they were a scratch force flung together from widely disparate navies with no opportunity to train together or work out a common strategy and tactics - not to mention the language problem! They knew they were outgunned and outclassed, but answered the call with heroism that is hard to contemplate in today's world.
 
Not forgetting the Jervis Bay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jervis_Bay
 
Carl, try doing a google image search on HMS Glowworm - several of the photos that are fairly small in the above links can be found larger and with better detail by doing this.
 
Steven
 
PS: Just found another one!
 

 
and links to higher definition photos  - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cb/1c/70/cb1c700a04541ee2356ef9efa0c5439a.jpg  and https://i.pinimg.com/originals/48/84/69/4884695873e57a0ef98a10aaa8697b78.jpg .

Just did a bit of a Google search for pictures of the Glowworm. There's some good ones at http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2009/06/hms-glowworm-h92.html  https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15989 and http://forum.netmarine.net/viewtopic.php?t=3502 (this one's in French, but Google Translate should help if needed - unless you're already fluent, of course. Zut! Alors . . .) and Russian . . https://u-96.livejournal.com/2670604.html with at least one photo the others don't have. Plus these two 
 
 
  
 
I hope these help.
 
Steven

Just did a bit of a Google search for pictures of the Glowworm. There's some good ones at http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2009/06/hms-glowworm-h92.html  https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15989 and http://forum.netmarine.net/viewtopic.php?t=3502 (this one's in French, but Google Translate should help if needed - unless you're already fluent, of course. Zut! Alors . . .) and Russian . . https://u-96.livejournal.com/2670604.html with at least one photo the others don't have. Plus these two 
 
 
  
 
I hope these help.
 
Steven

Just did a bit of a Google search for pictures of the Glowworm. There's some good ones at http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2009/06/hms-glowworm-h92.html  https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15989 and http://forum.netmarine.net/viewtopic.php?t=3502 (this one's in French, but Google Translate should help if needed - unless you're already fluent, of course. Zut! Alors . . .) and Russian . . https://u-96.livejournal.com/2670604.html with at least one photo the others don't have. Plus these two 
 
 
  
 
I hope these help.
 
Steven

Thanks, Mark. But the shelf needs to follow a smooth curve to get the deck to be consistent, otherwise the deck itself will be all wobbly.
 
Steven

Just did a bit of a Google search for pictures of the Glowworm. There's some good ones at http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2009/06/hms-glowworm-h92.html  https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15989 and http://forum.netmarine.net/viewtopic.php?t=3502 (this one's in French, but Google Translate should help if needed - unless you're already fluent, of course. Zut! Alors . . .) and Russian . . https://u-96.livejournal.com/2670604.html with at least one photo the others don't have. Plus these two 
 
 
  
 
I hope these help.
 
Steven

Thanks, Mark. But the shelf needs to follow a smooth curve to get the deck to be consistent, otherwise the deck itself will be all wobbly.
 
Steven

Just did a bit of a Google search for pictures of the Glowworm. There's some good ones at http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2009/06/hms-glowworm-h92.html  https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15989 and http://forum.netmarine.net/viewtopic.php?t=3502 (this one's in French, but Google Translate should help if needed - unless you're already fluent, of course. Zut! Alors . . .) and Russian . . https://u-96.livejournal.com/2670604.html with at least one photo the others don't have. Plus these two 
 
 
  
 
I hope these help.
 
Steven

Nice work, Javier, particularly at such a small scale.
 
I suppose the skids on the bottom are to help run the boat up onto the beach (which is large flint pebbles, if I recall correctly).
 
Looking forward to following your progress on this one.
 
Steven

The hoggie or hog-boat of Brighton was a fishing boat of about 9 m. of length that had a breadth of about 5 m., a tiny transom and very full shapes with a nearly flat bottom, which allowed it to cross the breaking water and float in the beach like a duck. It was equipped with a deck, had an leeboard to counteract the excess drift produced by its peculiar forms and armed two masts with spritsail rigging. The true hoggies disappeared around 1880, although other Brighton boats, which are actually luggers made in Hastings or in Rye, continue to be known as hoggies.

Fascinating stuff, L.H.
 
Steven

Fascinating stuff, L.H.
 
Steven

I've done a preliminary fitting for the support system I'll be using for the lower oars, to see if it will work. A number of cross-members hold at the correct height a frame with a series of lines all at the same angle, as guides for the oars. The oars go through the oarports with the inner end resting on the frame and the outer end resting on a raised plane (currently two thicknesses of balsa wood) to simulate water level.
 
  
I've done my best to get all the oars as close to identical as possible, so they'll all be at the same angle vertically when they rest on the frame. Also, they'll be interchangeable so it doesn't matter which one goes where. The other quantity that has to be kept constant is how far the oars poke out from the hull, which is done by simply drawing a pencil line around the circumference of each oar at the point it goes through the oarport.
 
I've only tried it with three pairs of oars so far, but it looks like it will work. Now to get it all done properly, with everything lined up and glued in place. As I mentioned before I won't be putting the oars in till later on in the build so they don't get damaged while I'm working on other parts of the ship.
 
The two mast steps are still in progress - I'm making them like the ones found in the Yenikapi ships. Though they're more complicated than my original version I think it's good to do it the way it was done back in the day if at all possible. The blocking piece is shown above the two mast steps. Sorry about the photo quality.
 

 
At some point I have to correct the line of the beam shelf - it's a bit wonky and has to be made into a smooth line, or the deck beams - and the deck itself - will also be wonky. As can be seen in the photos, the line wobbles very slightly all along its length.
 


 
As the beam shelf so narrow and flexible, I can probably correct it by cutting it away from the frames at the offending places and re-glueing it in the correct position. If not, I'll have to cut and fill till it's correct.
 
Steven
 
 

Here are the sail plans I've arrived at - I still haven't decided to go one or two-masted, but both look better than previous versions. The dimensions no longer tie in with those of Age of the Dromon - I've decided that a gap of 200-300 years and different shipbuilding traditions, plus the different form of the two types of ship are enough to discount the Sicilian ships as a source of information. Instead, I'm going with size and placement of sail(s) to achieve the position of Centre of Effort needed to make a lateener sail properly, based on the theory outlined on the previous page of this build log.
 

 

 
I've also made a prototype of the Byzantine mast step assembly shown in my reconstruction diagram above. I did this in a hurry and in a poor light, so it's a bit rough. To put in the model I'll do a better job and make it complete - cutting it to width and with side pieces to hold it on the keelson.
 

  
But it seems to work!

 

 
Steven  

Well, I finally got the mast steps and masts together and dryfitted into the hull. And really, not very happy with the result. I based the mast lengths and positions on those in Age of the Dromon, (calculated by extrapolation from the known mast sizes of Sicilian galleys of the 13th century) but they just look wrong.
 


 
I checked and discovered that I'd made the middle mast too short; fair enough, my mistake. But even when I put in a dummy mast the right length, it still didn't look like the two masted lateeners in contemporary pictures, even allowing for artistic licence and the tendency of artists of the time to make the ships smaller, shorter and tubbier than they were.
 

  

I'm having serious doubts about the whole issue of two different kinds of masts (which comes from Age of the Dromon) and all through the build I've had a problem with the idea of two masts rather than one. The evidence on which the two-masted concept is based is equivocal - some points to a single mast better than it does to one (for example for the Crete expedition of 949 AD twenty dromons were to be provided with twenty masts. Sounds like one mast per ship to me. But the explanation for this in the book is that these masts (described as khalkisia) were "blockmasts" - with sheaves at the masthead, and that there would have been another mast without sheaves - the one with the hockey stick top. But then the two masts would have been of different types, which doesn't tie in with the pictorial evidence.
 
I'm prepared to give it another go - make another middle mast, and make it the same thickness as the foremast, and see how that looks. But I may end up going with a single mast after all, as shown on the only picture I know to be of a dromon of the right time (it has two banks of oars and shields on the sides, and is using Greek Fire.)

Steven
 
 

Or a lot of rice.
 
Off the subject a little, but still on the subject of measurement, an acre is an Anglo-Saxon measure of the amount of land that can be ploughed with a two-horse(?) plough in a day . . . (don't ask me about chains and perches and roods, let alone gills and bushels).
 
And the values of measurement units differed from time to time and from place to place, such as the French, Dutch and English values for the foot.
 
When they built the Olympias trireme reconstruction they used one value for an Ancient Greek unit (I think it was the cubit) but discovered in practice they would have been better using a slightly larger value from a slightly different time period, as there wasn't really enough room for the oarsmen (and women) to work the oars without interfering with each other.
 
And the Byzantines had the same thing with their various measures - palm, finger, hand etc. They kept changing, making it very difficult for historians to work out the sizes things had been.
 
Steven 

This wee sleekit cow'rin' tim'rous beastie looks forward to following the progress of your cunning plan.
 
 
Steven