trippwj

While I haven't completed the process as yet, I am expanding my list to include the link to downloadable books. Also have added quite a bit to the print books - guess I ought to update those as well. Is there anything in particular you folks could recommend to make the list more useful for you?

Here is one example for late 19th century merchant vessels from Paasch (1890) - Illustrated Marine Encyclopedia.

The May issue of the MSB Journal is now available at http://www.modelshipbuilder.com/news.php Table of Contents: Tidbits from the Past Model Ships of the Royal Museum Greenwich Shipwrecks of the World Framing of a Hull—Part 3 Historical Naval Shipyards HMS General Hunter Proto-type Model—Part 1 The Book Nook Badges: Heraldry of Canadian Naval Ships Gene’s Nautical Trivia

Greetings, all. Have taken a tip from the Master of Cotton Balls (Sjors) and will be trying to split my time a month at a time amongst builds. The Essex will now be relgated to a shelf for the next month whilst I get back to my sorely neglected Emma C. Berry. Here, then, are a couple of shots of where I am on the Essex. I am prepping the hull for the first planking - nearly done with the fairing, still need to cut the rabbet along the bow area. Question - since there is no "false deck", would it be prudent to add some additional deck beams to support the deck planiking, or would that be creating work with minimal benefit (see drawing of kit structure below)? Meanwhile, Brett (my son) has been tackling the detail painting for the stern decoration - not done yet, but progressing. He has all sorts of cool artist supplies, and found that one of his very fine artists pens was perfect for getting the tiny details around the scroll work to look better. Still more to do, but looks a lot better than I could ever hope to accomplish! So, until June (unless I decide to move the Harriet Lane back to the rigging table), that's it for now!

Good start, Doc. I think the profile template is recommended in 2 pieces so it can fit the hull - left intact you need to be near final shape before it fits over the bow and stern. I like this kit - my boys each have one, but not much interest yet.

The waterways served to keep water out of the gap between deck planks and ceiling.

That would be the 1814 ship-rigged Sloop of War.

Nice progress, Mark, but I am confused - are you at the step now where you make little pieces into bigger pieces or big pieces back into little pieces?

Captain Blakeley and the Wasp: The Cruise of 1814 Stephen W. H. Duffy Hardcover: 348 pages including Index, extensive Notes and Bibliography. Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (2001) Language: English ISBN-10: 1557501769 In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the start of his historic, and ill fated, cruise, it is my honor to present to you a brief review of a narrative of Captain Johnston Blakeley's career in the early American navy, culminating in one of the greatest raiding cruises every undertaken. There are many tales of the accomplishments of America’s young navy during the War of 1812, and several of the most famous names in American Naval History were blazed into the national consciousness during that conflict. Although the most successful American naval officer of the War of 1812, Johnston Blakely never enjoyed the fame that he had for so long desired. His fame was posthumous. In Captain Blakeley and the Wasp: The Cruise of 1814, Stephen Duffy tells, in a readable and coherent fashion, the story of Master Commandant Johnston Blakeley and the highly successful cruise of the American sloop of war Wasp in 1814. Duffy draws on archival information from numerous institutions to introduce the reader to the young Blakeley, tracing his youth and formative years through to his early years serving under Thomas Truxton on the President and John Rodgers on the John Adams to his command of the brig Enterprise in 1811. Blakeley’s skills and ambition are rewarded – he is sent to Newburyport, Massachusetts to supervise the construction of the Sloop of War Wasp. Duffy demonstrates his passion for detail and accuracy as he chronicles the building of the Wasp and Blakeley's struggles to outfit and crew his new ship, an effort made more difficult by national politics and by rivalries within the Navy. Designed by Naval Constructor William Doughty as a commerce raider, Wasp was rated at 509 tons and 22 guns with a crew of 173. Blakeley left port on May 1, 1814, at the helm of the newly commissioned Wasp. Blakeley captured his first prize on June 2, 1814. Within the following month, the Wasp captured and burned four more prizes. Blakeley secured his place in American naval history on June 28, 1814. Blakeley and his crew chased and brought to battle the Royal Navy’s HMS Reindeer, a Cruizer class brig sloop of 18 guns. One of the hardest fought battles of the war followed, and when it had concluded, Blakeley’s guns had overpowered and reduced the British vessel to a drifting hulk. Also damaged, Blakeley sailed to L’Orient, France to offload prisoners and seek repairs. En route, despite the damage incurred during the battle with the Reindeer, the Wasp still captured two more prizes. The Wasp was back at sea by August 27, and Blakeley set course for Gibraltar. He continued cruising successfully throughout the fall, even winning a battle over the HMS Avon. As news of Blakeley’s success filtered back to the United States in October and early November, he became a hero, and Congress promoted him to Captain on November 24. Meanwhile, the Wasp’s return was long overdue, and rumors swirled concerning the ship’s fate. The British never made claims to sinking the ship, but the Wasp vanished somewhere on the Atlantic, possibly foundering in a gale. The last confirmed sighting was by a Swedish crew on the Adonis. They saw the Wasp on October 9, 1814, some 225 miles southwest of Madeira. Duffy is able to provide a cogent and informative interpretation of the available archival records, and brings Blakeley to life as a tragic hero of his time. Faced with the common constraint imposed on any student of history, Duffy was faced with the paucity of primary source accounts from Blakeley and his close associates, as well as the conflicting accounts in the British and American records. Duffy was very selective and effective in his use of reasonable speculation about the thoughts of the young officer regarding various situations. Mr. Duffy has succeeded in providing not just a story of a young man who was in the right place with the right ship at the right time, but also presents a well-researched and documented study of a junior officer in the small American navy at the beginning of the 19th Century.

Coming along nicely, Sjors - look forward to you assembling those 64 cannons!

You may want to take a look at Ships and Science -The Birth of Naval Architecture in the Scientific Revolution, 1600-1800 by Larrie Ferreiro (2006). ISBN: 9780262514156 (paperback - 2010) The following is from the Overview posted at MIT Press - "Naval architecture was born in the mountains of Peru, in the mind of a French astronomer named Pierre Bouguer who never built a ship in his life." So writes Larrie Ferreiro at the beginning of this pioneering work on the science of naval architecture. Bouguer's monumental book Traité du navire (Treatise of the Ship) founded a discipline that defined not the rules for building a ship but the theories and tools to predict a ship's characteristics and performance before it was built. In Ships and Science, Ferreiro argues that the birth of naval architecture formed an integral part of the Scientific Revolution. Using Bouguer's work as a cornerstone, Ferreiro traces the intriguing and often unexpected development of this new discipline and describes its practical application to ship design in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Drawing on previously untapped primary-source and archival information, he places the development of naval architecture in the contexts of science, navy, and society, across the major shipbuilding nations of Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Italy. Ferreiro describes the formulation of the three major elements of ship theory (the science of explaining the physical behavior of a ship): maneuvering and sail theory, ship resistance and hydrodynamics, and stability theory. He considers the era's influential books on naval architecture and describes the professionalization of ship constructors that is the true legacy of this period. Finally, looking from the viewpoints of both the constructor and the naval administrator, he explains why the development of ship theory was encouraged, financed, and used in naval shipbuilding. A generous selection of rarely seen archival images accompanies the text. While it does not get into the nuts and bolts of ship building, it provides a far ranging survey of the engineering (scientific basis) for ship form and structure.

Kevin et. al. - thank you for this amazing trek through naval and maritime history. If I may be allowed, I would like to add an entry for May 1st. 200 years ago today, on May 1, 1814, The US Sloop of War WASP sets sail from Newburyport, MA under the command of Master Commandant Johnston Blakeley. Over the ensuing 5 months, WASP sets a record for commerce raiding and successful naval combat unsurpassed by any other US Captain of the time - and never on a single cruise. In total, WASP is known to have captured 12 merchant vessels and engaged (and defeated) 3 naval vessels before being lost at sea during October or November of 1814.

Try this one on - have obscured the name, registration info and flag.

By any chance is this the SMS Oldenburg ?

The Constitution museum publishes a blog at http://usscm.blogspot.com/ One of the more recent posts (January 2014) discusses the "facilities" available aboard the Connie. The following is extracted from their blog post: Frigates typically carried two “round houses” forward on the gundeck. These structures, consisting of wooden half cylindrical screens erected against the ship’s side provided a sheltered place to do one’s business. A detail from a ca. 1817-1820 plan of USS United States' decks by Charles Ware. The red arrow points to the starboard round house. Before Constitution’s battle with HMS Levant and HMS Cyane, the ship’s crew removed the round houses to “afford room to work the forward deck guns in action.” According to Chaplain Assheton Humphreys the removal of the “spice boxes”, as the crew called them, forced the officers “to make the chains [the narrow platforms on the side of the ship to which the shrouds were attached] the scene of their profane rites,” or stealthily slip into the quarter galleries.

It almost looks like the crew's hammocks packed around the channels to protect the dead eyes/lanyards. Makes sense when you think about the vulnerability there.

For more academic reading, there is Carl E. Swanson - Privateering in Early America International Journal of Maritime History December 1989 1: 253-278, http://ijh.sagepub.com/content/1/2/253.citation Dan Conlin - Privateer Entrepot: Commercial Militarization in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, 1793-1805 The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du nord, VIII, No. 2 (April 1998), 21-38. http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/indices/index_vol_8_e.html

Thought I had one more painting of the United States. This one, painted by Thomas Buttersworth, Jr c. 1813, shows the United States and HMS Macedonian battle. Note the single dolphin striker on the United States (right side of painting). It is on display at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, ME.

As promised, here are 2 period engravings showing the United States with the single dolphin striker. The next is from a watercolor by Gunner William H. Myers, of USS Cyane, showing the Squadron's ships sailing in line abreast, 1842-43. Ships are (from left to right): USS United States, USS Cyane, USS Saint Louis, USS Yorktown and USS Shark. Copied from Journal of a Cruise on the USS Cyane, 1842-1843, by William H. Myers. Both pictures were found at the US Navy History and Heritage Command website at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-u/u-states.htm The image below is from the Chesapeake Mill website at http://www.chesapeakemill.co.uk/history.html Hope these help!

Given the United States was built by Humphreys, and the his insistence (generally futile) that the frigates adhere to his design, I suspect the frigate when commissioned to be very close to his plans. The martingale/dolphin striker question may be clearer if you examine other period ships he built. The compromise was made to allow each builder and the Captain superintending construction (who was to be the first Captain) to determine the masting and sparring of the frigate. There was quite the debate prior to that decision among builders and captains. One other historical path to pursue is to look at other ships commanded by Barry prior to the US. I have somewhere an 1860's engraving from the Naval Heritage Center - let me see what that has!

Aye, what they said! Glad to see her get underway, Frank.

I shall refrain from commenting on giving Anja the boot - I have some decorum! Have you considered taking the bus? Nice work on the shrouds and rat lines, Sjors. Thanks for sharing these pictures to keep "you know who" happy!

Pulling up a seat to watch, Frank. Should be fun watching you bring her to life! There are 2 historical US Revenue cutters that this might be - one was built in 1818 - 58 foot keel, 19 foot beam schooner. Based in my neighborhood when she was in service. The second schooner is known but not a lot of details - according to the USCG, No record has been found concerning the origin of Alert. Her dimensions are close to those of the Doughty 1815 plans for a 79-ton vessel. She was first stationed at New York and then removed to Eastport, ME in early 1839. (She had been one of the cutters sent to Charleston, SC during the Nullification Controversy in 1832-1833). In 1852 an extravagant repair estimate (over $9,000) led to her sale in Boston, MA around April 1853. Based on the pivot gun, this is likely the 1818 Alert. There is some information in Chapelle's The History of American Sailing Ships concerning early revenue cutters. Have fun!

Jealous!!!!

If the shrouds are to align the mast, the ones at the front are key to lateral (left/right) alignment and to limiting the rake of the mast aft.