Srodbro

I am into my fourth circumnavigation of the series. My opinions of each book seem to change with each trip. Right now, I’d rank them as follows: First: Master and Commander. Just can’t beat that first meeting in the music room, and the initial development of the primary characters. Holmes and Watson, Quixote and Sancho “ ain’t in it”. Also, immerses us into that long gone world, gently, without insulting our intelligence, in fact subtly challenging it. Second: Post Captain. Introduction of the next two most influential characters, Sophie Williams and Diana. And, reminds us that the two heroes have a life ashore as well with a set of desires and aspirations which affect them as much as the one at sea. Third: HMS Surprise: Introduction of the next most important character: Surprise. IMHO Surprise is more than a vehicle to carry the heroes to their adventures and back, but is a character in her own right, with whom other characters, and readers, become emotionally attached to. While it is hard to separate the first three, the next kinda stand alone. Fourth: The Commodore ( 17th book). I think this book ended the development of all the major characters, tied up all the loose ends with the deep, dark force that was nagging Jack and Stephen’s fortunes, and leaves the way open for Jack to get his flag … which everyone knows is going to eventually happen. I think it might have been intended by O’Brian to be his last. It would be interesting to know what was going on in POB’s life at the time he wrote it. It ends with the perfect line: “ Stephen, you must never go to sea again.” Also, the books that follow either don’t mention many of our familiar shipmates, or ends them in ( to me) an unsatisfactory manner, to no purpose. But, I am coming up again to the last several novels, and could change my mind.

Will be following with interest. I love that kit. It was my first Model Shipways build. Since it is of a fictitious boat, you can do anything you want to it and nobody can criticize you for being historically inaccurate. Here’s one I finished several years ago, and two more variations on the theme in progress Have fun.

Ouch! I feel your pain. On the other hand, I will be interested to learn how you fix it. Good luck.

If you like the books, checkout the podcast “The Lubbers Hole”. Reviews all the books, with some expert commentary and interviews … latest included interview with Geoff Hunt. Great listening while building.

Yep … that’s the true guide, no matter what Hunt ( and I really love his art) or others may show, you gotta be true to O’Brian. By the way Hunt didn’t start illustrating Aubrey-Maturin books until many years after the first books were published (at around Book 11, I think, when O’Brian got a new publisher), then he went back to paint covers for the earlier ones. Here’s a pic of an earlier cover with Sophie on it. 5 windows! Guess this guy didn’t read the book.

There is a solution to the tiller-wheel issue that satisfies both. The pics below are from Modelshipways plans for Kate Cory and Chas Morgan. Both show a wheel mounted on the tiller. Not sure this solution would be period appropriate, since the action in Master and Commander takes place in 1801, and both of the whalers with this detail are from 30 to 50 years later. But, who knows? Patrick O’Brian had a couple other anachronisms in the Aubrey-Maturin saga, but not many. But, it seems such a “strange” ( to landlubber me) arrangement might have been commented on by O’Brian, like the elm pump. On the other hand, the pump allowed further development of Maturin’s character, whereas this wheel-tiller arrangement might have been commonplace enough to not warrant comment.

I like that interpretation better than mine. 35’ or so always seemed to me to be too short for Sophie’s beam.

At the risk of getting too granular: Aubrey was a young, ambitious lieutenant seeking his fortune in prize money. His first discussion when undersail in his first shake-down of Sophie was with the sailmaker, asking if he could get more canvas on the mainsail. Sailmaker said No, whereupon Jack focused on the yard itself. Here are, I think, the relevant passages: Jack grunted and returned to his staring at the mainyard, a piece of wood rather more than thirty feet long and tapering from some seven inches in the slings, the middle part, to three at the yard-arms, the extremities. ‘More like a cro’jack than a mainyard,’ he thought, for the twentieth time since he first set eyes upon it. He watched the yard intently as the force of the wind worked upon it: the Sophie was running no faster now, and so there was no longer any easing of the load; the yard plied, and it seemed to Jack that he heard it groan. After pushing it to the point of springing, Jack returned to the dockyard, obtained another yard, and returned to his ship, where his carpenter said: ‘Now that is what I call a real spar,’ said Mr Lamb, peering lovingly over the side at the yard. ‘Never a knot, never a curl: a French spar I dare say: forty-three foot as clean as a whistle. You’ll spread a mainsail as a mainsail on that, sir.’ But after hoisting it up, the head of the dockyard said: ‘It will never do, Captain Aubrey,’ called Mr Brown, hailing over the quiet evening air through his trumpet. ‘It is far too large and will certainly carry away. You must saw off the yardarms and half the third quarter.’ The carpenter reappeared with a saw and a rule. ‘Have you a plane there, Mr Lamb?’ asked Jack. ‘Your mate will fetch you a plane. Unship the stuns’l-boom iron and touch up the ends of the stop-cleats, Mr Lamb, if you please.’ Lamb, amazed until he grasped what Jack was about, slowly planed the tips of the yard, shaving off wafers until they showed new and white, a round the size of a halfpenny bun. So, the original sprung yard was at least 30’ long and the replacement was 43’ long, less the yard arms ( maybe, say 18” per side) and less 1/2 of 1/4, or 1/8 of 43’, say another 5’-2”, so down to about 35 ft long, but probably larger diameter than the original. How much more came off with Mr. Lamb’s plane to get to the size of a halfpenny bun, would have to be answered by a Brit. Allow me to add another quandary: Patrick O’Brien refers several times to the helmsman at the wheel, at least once having to firmly grasp the spokes of the wheel. From all the detail I’ve seen, HMS Speedy was steered by a tiller ( I’m not sure what is in the kit). So, HMS Sophie: Wheel or Tiller?

Just a quick follow up and I’ll recede into the background: The original main yard that Aubrey was not satisfied with was described thus: Jack went to the rail and looked sharply at the sea running by, the long curve as it rose after the hollow under the lee-bow: he grunted and returned to his staring at the mainyard, a piece of wood rather more than thirty feet long and tapering from some seven inches in the slings, the middle part, to three at the yard-arms, the extremities.

Perhaps it is as supplied in the kit. There is a description of the yard that to Aubrey was too small, so you may be able to judge from that. It is clear that Jack disliked the Main yard on Sophie when he first took command of her, and pushed her hard until the spar sprung. He got another from the shipyard, maybe a spare foretopgallent yard from a ship of the line, but alas the yard master said ‘It will never do, Captain Aubrey,’ called Mr Brown, hailing over the quiet evening air through his trumpet. ‘It is far too large and will certainly carry away. You must saw off the yardarms and half the third quarter.’. But among the dimensions Mowett recites to Maturin, the main yard is not included … in fact, Mowett says he will have to measure it. I think we never do find out the final size.

Just found your log. Love your approach. I should like it of all things to learn how you dimension the main yard. Have fun.

What?? “ Upside down?”

I recall rolling mine out, wetting it and hanging it, heavily weighted, from overhead joists in the basement to dry.

Thanks for responding. So, it appears the consensus is the rigging was driven by where the vessels would be spending their time most. I can dig that, but it also seems to me that there might be a connection between the style of rigging and the particular need for whalers to provide a steady platform whilst butchering the whale. I’m thinking a large amount of fore-and-aft canvas abaft the beam would contribute to the ability of the ship to be sailing closer to the wind during that work. That thought would apply to the change to Morgan, but not to the change to Kate Cory. Perhaps the similarity in rigs is, after all, just coincidence.

I’m preparing to dive into builds of Kate Cory and Charles W Morgan. I have read that Kate Cory started life as a schooner, then was re-rigged with square sails on the formast, becoming a brig(antine). The Morgan started life as a three masted square rigged ship, then changed the Mizzen mast to fore-and-aft rigging, becoming a bark. Both whalers, then, having morphed into vessels with fore-and-aft rigged aftermost mast. My landlubber model shipbuilder question: Is this arrangement inherently advantageous for a whaler? Why?

I did a quick search but I cannot find how I can tell when my membership will expire. can you help me? Thanks.

A question about your planks: Is the shape of an individual plank the same from stem to midship and from midship to stern? Love your build. Trying to figure out this new emoji thing to give a “like”.

Just a tip I found useful : Several of those double blocks eventually have buntlines run thru them. I found it very useful to run a few temporary lengths of line thru those blocks now which can later be used to reeve the buntlines ... running them later, once your mast is mounted, the yard hung below, and shrouds and stays supporting the mast are in place, is a really tough access puzzle.

Ah-HA! Great thread, Jack!

One side appears vertical , and the opposite side at a slight angle: I wonder why. Would the angled side add stability while rowing and the vertical side allowed more foot room? Perhaps the angled side on the chest in front of a rower provided a better foot brace?

Are you planning to overlap the shields ( obscuring most of the colored strakes) or have them tangent to one another ( in which case the colored strakes will peak between them, as in the model in the pic above)?

Mike Bryan: I’m just curious ... perhaps I missed something. Given the plan you show, how do you go from that to drawings of the contours of the hull?

I vote for oarsmen seated on ribs. If the relationship between the oar-ports and the ribs is correct, then the oar is level ( or close to level) with the rower’s shoulders, giving him a much more powerful, more efficient stroke. Also, the head and shoulders are better protected from wind/weather/projectiles by the height of the gunnels. I anticipate that it’s more likely that he would also have something to firmly brace his feet against, than if seated on a chest on deck. All just IMHO.

Outstanding work on that planking. Getting it right at the bow and stern is really challenging. Very good looking.

Now things are getting funky. Lesson #3: Soldering is a tricky skill. Two brass discs were furnished in the kit to serve as the deck above the lower tower, and below the light room. Several brass pins with loops, and some brass wire ( about 28 ga), were furnished to create railings around the perimeter of the two decks. Here I have soldered the stanchions to the brass deck. Clearly, I am using a torch. But, I couldn’t figure out how to solder the railing to the stanchions. Also, I thought that In soldering these pieces together the heat would compromise the already soldered joints at the deck. Also, I thought the railing wire was far too whimpy, maybe scaling to only about 1” diameter, which I thought was too small. I decided to try something else that didn’t involve soldering. I’d wasted a brass disc, but fortunately found included in the kit a pair of wooden discs. I formed new stanchions out of 24 ga brass wire, and extended the portion under the deck to give a larger surface area to attach them to the wooden deck with CA. On the top side of the deck, I used spacers to help in clamping the railing to the stanchions. Figuring that a CA joint between the rail and stanchion wire wouldn’t hold up, I formed a ball joint from small wooden blocks to provide more glue surface. I figured I could file these down to look acceptable. Nah! I didn’t like that how that turned out, either. Maybe I’ll go back to soldering. Lesson #4: Soldering is REALLY tricky, requiring skills I don’t have ( yet). I thought the problem with soldering was being able to hold onto several pieces at once while also holding the solder and torch. This can’t require two people to do. So, I created a jig to hold the stanchions and rails ( I had discovered from photos that there are actually two rails at each level) in position while soldering. I had to determine the developed length of the deck perimeter and the spacing of the stanchions, then stapled the pieces to a board. I also used 18 ga copper wire, something I thought would be more robust. Shaped and cleaned up, it wasn’t too bad. But, the more robust copper wire looked just too thick, scaling to about 4” diameter, much too big. So, now that I thought I had a soldering technique, I’d try again with 20 ga brass wire. This really didn’t work as planned either ... I couldn’t figure out how to join the ends of the railings so I wrapped them in thread to simulate seizing. Also, I miscalculated the spacing of the stanchions on the upper deck, and ultimately had to cut another upper deck from pvc since I’d wasted the brass and wooden ones from the kit. But, the diameter of the stanchions and railings were finally right. But, I had had enough. This was going to have to do. Maybe a good coat of black paint would hide some of my sins. More to come.