Roger Pellett

As a teenager I enjoyed reading books about submarine rescue, and marine salvage written by Commander Edward Ellsberg, so when the Naval Institute Press published a biography of him (Salvage Man by John D. Alden) I bought it. I learned that Ellsberg had graduated from MIT’s Naval Constructor program and was assigned to the Boston and New York Naval Shipyards before becoming a diver. While at New York he was lent to the United States Lines to investigate problems with Leviathan’s ventilation system- high temperatures and lack of ventilation in passenger staterooms. He found that work done by Gibbs and Cox had restricted air flow. He also found very high temperatures in areas of the boiler rooms. In converting the ship from coal to oil fuel, Gibbs and Cox had provided inadequate forced draft. Ellsberg’s report caused a squabble between Gibbs and Cox and the Navy but the changes that he recommended eventually corrected the problems. Ellsberg’s project required that he travel on the ship and on one particularly rough passage a large crack appeared across the weather deck. The crack’s origin was traced to square corners in ventilation trunk openings left by her German builders. Ellsberg directed repairs to this structure, kept quiet by United States Lines to preserve customer confidence in the ship. This looks like a fascinating project. Roger

I have two CD’s that I am willing to dispose of at a price that cannot be beat- FREE, delivered to a USA address. 1. Engineering drawings of USS Constitution published by the Naval Historical Center, Boston. I believe that that these were issued during Constitution’s major overhaul prior to her Sesquecentennial celebration. The only catch is that that the CD has a .mil file extension that requires some free downloadable program to open. I do not have the software so you’ll have to find it. 2. A scanned copy of an original (not the 2007 reprint) 1900 US Navy Boat Book. This contains detailed construction drawings of all 1900 series US Navy boats. This is public domain information so copyright infringement is not an issue. I will sent either or both CD’s to the first US MSW member that sends me a PM. Remember, they are worth what you paid for them so no refunds or complaints. Roger

Wefalck, I like your lacquer idea and I am not concerned by the fume issue. My question is, once you have the finished coil what adhesive do you to glue it in place? Is more Lacquer strong enough? I dislike using CA glues, and the PVA glues are unlikely to stick to the lacquered surface. The two sided tape seems messy and I have yet to find any that is dependable over a long time. Roger

Nice work Eric! You might actually find building half a wheel is harder than building a full one. Roger

Kurt, The attached photo is of a Great Lakes Batteau, c1763. Scale 1:48. The POF hull was made from American Sycamore that at your large scale might work well. It has a distinctive but fine grain that resembles oak. I might have a piece left over. Tomorrow i’ll Look through my stash.

Scrap the rigging, particularly the deadeyes with their separate eyelets. Look at your Lore of the Ship book to see how real deadeyes were rigged. You should be able to buy better ones from a reputable ship fitting supplier. It is hard to recommend a specific source since you don’t tell us where you live. You should also be able to buy a good used book online with correct rigging diagrams. Harold Underhill comes to mind as an author. Roger

Frank, We have designer clothes, shoes, fragrances, etc. we might as well have designer tools! But, I agree, 137 is a lot of $$$. Roger

Frank, Woodcraft Supply has just what you may be looking for. From time to time they feature specially manufactured products by a company called Woodpeckers. They are presently accepting orders for a pair of compasses. Expensive, at $137 but appear well made. Not the standard bow compasses but an adaption of the trammel compass. Right now, i’m Trying to convince myself that I really need one. Roger

Inserts to accommodate blades of varying widths including zero clearance inserts are easy to make from model builders’ plywood. Roger

Maybe a little shorter? Shortening the spur will also reduce twisting on the stem during an impact. Roger

Steven, The following is from an excellent book Galleys and Gunpowder by John Guilmartin, an expert on 16th Century galley warefare. Although discussing vessels built 500 years later than your Dromon, I think that his comments still may be helpful. 1. Page 87: “Finally, the beak of the galley, the “spur” provided a useful boarding bridge for the attackers. On galleys of most nations it angled upward slightly and had a reinforced,iron-shod tip. If the spur could be lodged forcefully among the rowing banks of an enemy galley it would ride up over the apostis and give the boarding party an all-important height advantage in launching their assault.” ”Many misconceptions have arisen concerning the uses of the spur. It is generally viewed as a ram, yet its position above the water line makes it abundantly clear that it was not a ram in the classical sense. The classical parallel for the spur of modern and medieval galleys is the Roman Boarding Bridge not the Greek ram.” 2. Page 222 One final structural detail of Ottoman galleys (at Lepanto) deserves comment. Although the bows of Ottoman galleys were lower than Christian galleys the beak or “spur” of Ottoman galleys was particularly stout. Iron-shod to assist it penetrating light upper planking, it was angled upward to allow it to ride over and break down the apostis of an enemy galley.” I hope that this is helpful. Roger

Steven, Why not one or more breasthooks on the inside of the hull to reinforce? It seems to me that the intended use of the spur is immaterial. It would always be knocking into things intended or not so would be heavily reinforced. “Sailor proofing” cannot be a new idea. Roger

I don’t know where you are stationed, afloat or ashore, but when I was in the Navy many years ago there was a base woodworking shop for hobbiests to use. Roger

I believe that is the line on the farthest left pin. Rogerkk

Muskies, As they say, you’re in good company. In today’s Wall Street Journal, in their Off Duty section there is a piece describing decoration of a house in Gloucester, MA. In a sidebar titled “Bits that evoke the Sleeper McCann house” they show an ugly, crude “1900’s Folk Art Ship Model” that bears little resemblance to any real or imagined vessel. Price: $695. Roger

I love to sail and for 10 years as a young man owned a 17ft Thistle Class sailboat. Since moving to Duluth almost 30 years ago I have both raced and sailed for pleasure most summers. For the last 15 years or so I have sailed several times each summer on a friend’s Flying Scot 19ft sailboat. I believe that I qualify as a sailor. I also suffer from peripheral neropathy in my feet and hands. Fortunately I can still do good work in my shop but my grip is not what it should be. My friend and I were sailing his Flying Scot in the Duluth Harbor in a 10-12 knot breeze with stronger gusts. As I was tacking the boat in a gust, the tiller slipped from my hand. In an instant, she broached sidewise to the wind and over she went. Attempting to unship and reship the tiller of a longboat would lead to capsize and loss of crew members who could not swim. A boat under sail can be visualized as a lever pivoting about an imaginary point called the center of lateral resistance (CLR). Sails aft of the CLR pivot the boat into the wind. Sails forward of the CLR pivot the boat away from the wind. When tacking the mainsail pushes the boat up into the wind and momentum swings the boats head through the eye of the wind on to its new tack. The head sails are luffing until they fill on the new tack. The jib on a poorly balanced boat or on a boat tacked with insufficient momentum can be backwinded to push the boat’s bow around but the jib on a well balanced, well sailed boat just goes “along for the ride.” Roger

I have commented on this subject before, but since someone else resurrected it I will add my two cents worth. For what it’s worth I am scratch building a model of the longboat shown on page 90 of May’s book so this topic is of considerable interest to me. First of all as an active small boat sailor, pulling the tiller out of it’s socket during tacking in any kind of a breeze will likely cause the boat to broach and capsize. -Personal experience! The Scottish boat shown on the drawing posted in the drawing is not gaff rigged with a long boom like the longboat. It is rigged with a dipping or standing lug sail. Dipping lug sails are actually dropped and rehoisted during tacking. This past May I watched a pair of lug rigged boats doing just that while tacking into the harbor of St Ives, Cornwall. If a standing lug rig, the sail’s boom is short enough for the sheet to be pushed forward around the tiller during tacking. This drawing, therefore does not apply. These longboats were once rigged with a gaff sail without boom. The foot of these sails was much shorter than the boomed sails shown on the Medway longboat model. May includes a picture of a longboat rigged with this boom less gaff sail in his book. It would have been awkward but perhaps possible to pull the clew of a boomless sail forward enough during tacking to keep the sheet from fouling the tiller. This would have been impossible with a sail attached to a long boom overhanging the transom. Cutter rigged boats in Britain sailed into the 1900’s with unstayed bowsprits. Tom Cunliffe’s Pilot Cutters Under Sail includes photos of unstayed bowsprits bending in a stiff breeze. For other mysteries relating to the way that gaff rigged cutters actually worked. see Tom Cunliffe’s Hand Reef and Steer recently reviewed in the book section of the forum below. Roger

These guys all appear to be pretty young. I wonder how many fingers that they will have left by the time they are 60. Dangerous work! Roger

Despite all the romance associated with clipper ships, I never cease to be impressed and amazed by these great four masted “wind machines.” No less amazing is that they could actually be sailed by relatively small crews. Roger

Thanks Harvey! Here in the land of 10,000 Lakes the children may all be above average but the boats are all plastic. Roger

I just finished reading this book. Subtitled “Traditional Sailing Skills for Classic Boats,” it is actually an exposition of the author’s experiences sailing gaff rigged boats. The book is loosely divided into four sections: a general discussion of the gaff rig, details of the rig, sailing a gaff rigged vessel, and an appendix with useful bits of information and glossary. To illustrate all of this, the author uses a cutter and in some cases one of the large schooners such as the Altair discussed on the forum’s scratch building section. The author explains that in the context of the book the term “Cutter” applies to any single masted vessel with gaff main, staysail, and jib set from a movable bowsprit, regardless of hull form. The book is a high quality paperback profusely illustrated with color sketches and the author’s own color photos. The writing style is informal and is enhanced by the author’s understated humor. So what does all of this have to do with ship modelling? There are now two quality gaff rigged “Cutter” kits on the market and another on the way (Cutter Cheerful, 1:48 Royal Navy Longboat, and 1:24 Royal Navy Longboat). While Steel has instructions for rigging single masted vessels, there is little or no explanation of why rigging is run the way it was. Furthermore, few of us will have an opportunity to sail on a gaff rigged boat. The author’s vast experience fills this gap even though the ships and boats that we are usually interested in building sailed 250 years or so before this book was written. While today’s sailors have access to different materials, the mechanics of the gaff rig remains unchanged. While this my not provide the modeler with an exact plan to rig his model it will provide an understanding of how the various lines worked to control the rig, the action and interaction of the various sails, and their contribution to the boat’s performance. Highly recommended. Roger

A masterful restoration of a beautiful vessel Roger

A s common system for passenger vessels involved leading the falls to bollards on deck- a bollard for each davit. This allowed the line to be snubbed while the boat was being lowered. Roger

I would leave the lower dead eyes attached to the hull in place but remove and save the uppers along with the blocks for reuse. Roger

Doug, I can’t answer your question as shipbuilding, particularly of small merchant vessels varied by country and locale. I did find a couple of references that you may find to be of interest. First is the SL-4 wreck found in the Netherlands but identified as a Mid Nineteenth British Collier brig. Lodging knees were wood but hanging knees for the upper deck were iron. The lower deck did not use knees. Instead, they used U shaped iron straps that ran along each side of each deck beam and around the outside of the frame. Jonathan Adams describes this setup in “A Maritime Archaeology of Ships.” Basil Greenhill describes the construction of a three masted Schooner by the residents of the Finnish Island of Aaland. Although,this vessel was built on an unimproved buildingbsite, not a shipyard he points out that one of the vessel’s builders was a skilled blacksmith hand forging ironwork from scrap iron purchased in Sweden. The book is The Evolution of the Wooden Ship. Was this vessel classified by a classification society such as Lloyd’s or Det Norske Veritas? If so the vassel’s rating and the classification Society rules at the time should provide your answer. Roger