michaelpsutton2

As you all know I am a painter. Last week I came across this beauty in a thrift/consignment store. Naturally the subject caught my eye. On closer examination I began to develop the delusion that it is an original, an idea that becomes ever firmly rooted in my feverish brain as time has gone on. I can see faint pencil lines under the wash. I can see the tips of the oars under the white gouache of the sea foam. The name is certainly hand lettered on the matting and the gold stripe is a thin piece of something glued on. I have not removed it from the frame. It seems somewhat more detailed than other works by this artist. I thought it could be a hand tinted print, but I do not see any other copies of thus composition for sale. Anybody know anything about this painting or about this guy? Anybody know how to tell if it is real/original?
 

Check out Doris's models of the Royal Katherine and the yacht Caolina

Check out Doris's models of the Royal Katherine and the yacht Caolina

The Bounty was copper sheathed. The copper is still being found at her gravesite at Pitcairn Island

Check out Doris's models of the Royal Katherine and the yacht Caolina

Check out Doris's models of the Royal Katherine and the yacht Caolina

I have been looking for a bit now and have yet to find a contemporary picture of a sailing ship of the American Navy showing crowsfeet and euphroes. I realize they are seldom shown, but I find none. Were they used in the U.S. Navy?

The superstructures of the hulls of these "galleon" like ships were a sail unto themselves. Drifting downwind in gale almost provided steerageway.  A lee shore was death in a bottle as there is no way to take a reef in a poop deck.

I would like to sell a plan set of the frigate Flore. Three sheets, a photo of the Model, informational pamphlet in French and cover. All in good shape.
$35.00 postage included PAYPAL Continental US only.

I would like to sell a plan set of the frigate Flore. Three sheets, a photo of the Model, informational pamphlet in French and cover. All in good shape.
$35.00 postage included PAYPAL Continental US only.

Hi friends, I have a few updates to the build. I have bow scrollwork on and the mid section superstructure has a deck and wheelhouse. I'll be starting the smoke stacks and the smaller fittings and masts next. Stay tuned!

I would like to sell a plan set of the frigate Flore. Three sheets, a photo of the Model, informational pamphlet in French and cover. All in good shape.
$35.00 postage included PAYPAL Continental US only.

I would like to sell a plan set of the frigate Flore. Three sheets, a photo of the Model, informational pamphlet in French and cover. All in good shape.
$35.00 postage included PAYPAL Continental US only.

I have two nice extra copies with dust jackets. They are the Bonanza editions. $25.00 shipping included for the pair. PAYPAL Continental US only.

Includes Cover, Booklet, 8 x10 glossy photo of Model and plan. Single sheet plan measures roughly 3' x4". Text in French  Scale 1/150c.Don't know what the "c" means, must be a metric thing. Kinda yellowed but no tears in the plan, $40.00 postage included. PAYPAL. Continental US only please.

Being a genuine card-carrying carmudgeon at age mumblety-mumble, I will here vent my spleen about some continuing myths and misinformation concerning Brunel's - and my - 'great babe', the S. S. Great Eastern, the first being the continuing belief in the 'skeletons in the cell' incident.  It is pure maritime urban myth.  During the ship's construction, a couple of workers went missing.  Instead of the reasonable explanation that they simply wandered off one day, as laborers tended to do in those days, the Victorians, with their penchant for ghosts and the supernatural, the story went around that they had somehow been sealed up in one of the spaces between the inner and outer hulls.  These were pretty tight quarters since the space was only 3 feet, and the din from other riveters must have been appalling.  It was claimed that their calls for help were thus unheard.  The first objection I have is, what about at the end of the work day when things quieted down?  Another major objection to the story is that the hull spaces, or 'cells', were perfectly accessible from the inside for required maintainance by means of manholes.  Emmerson even states that the covers for these weren't installed until, fortunately, just before the 'Great Eastern rock' voyage.  The ship did seem to be dogged by ill luck, but attributing this to ghostly vengeance smacks more of the 12th rather than the 19th or 20th centuries.  I believe that many of her difficulties stemmed from her sheer novelty, plus the fact that her various owners and directors were dumb as dirt.  I believe the first recent report of the story was in James Dugan's mostly admirable account in 'The Great Iron Ship'.  He claimed to have gotten it from a tug captain or some such who was alive at the time.  I think this person was havi ng a bit of fun with 'bloody yank' Dugan.  Several parties, including the author of 'The Big Ship', Patrick Beaver, have made a thorough survey of the Liverpool newspapers during the years of the ship's dismantling nearby, and have found no mention whatsoever any such occurence; as now, any such sensational story would not have escaped the attention of the press.  I suppose the yarn is now a permanent part of the ship's legacy, and appeals to those of a certain mind set, but it should be taken with more than a pinch of salt.  Another much more minor bit if misinformation concerns a picture in wide circulation on the internet which supposedly depicts a 'lounge' on the G.E..  In a marvelous book by Stephen Fox entitled 'Transatlantic', which I highly recommend to liner buffs, in the second pictorial section after page 366, second page in on top, is a reproduction of the same picture identified as the lady's drawing room on one of the two Inman liners City of Paris or City of New York.  If you are at all familiar with the G.E.'s interiors you will see that there is no resemblance; the ceiling is way too low and the overstuffed seating is very much late 19th century.  This kind of sloppy research seems to be on the rise these days.  Anyhow, having gotten that off what I laughingly call my chest, boys and girls, keep your deadeyes in a row - I almost said 'ducks - and happy modelling to all

After the mutiny, Capt Bligh's voyage and the trial of the mutineers the Bounty had become one of the most famous vessels in history.  It was big news several times years apart. Had she been painted in any but the most normal colors of the day surely it would have been mentioned.  You could picture some old harbor drunk saying"I knew that bright pink ship would come to no good" But all the sources are silent on her appearance, so it must have been plain as can be. I wouldn't get to decorative. If you look at William Dodd's aquatint of Captain Bligh being put into the boat, there is not a drop of blue on her. Dodd was contemporary with the events but I do not think he could ever have claimed to have seen her. He could have met some those who sailed on her though  color scheme used on the recent Endevour  replica would probably serve. Here is one I think might not be too far off:
http://www.stephensandkenau.com/ship/hms-bounty/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bligh#/media/File:Mutiny_HMS_Bounty.jpg

The Bounty was copper sheathed. The copper is still being found at her gravesite at Pitcairn Island

There are no known contemporary pictures of her. The cover of the "Anatomy of the Ship" series book is about as close as anything. But look carefully a lot of what appears black is really dark brown.
 
I grew up with the image of the bounty from the 1960's movie: Blue Hall with yellow molding. It hard to let go of and accept the duller but more likely alternative

I believe that the cover of the "Anatomy of the Ship" volume on the Bounty is about as good a guess as you will get. There are no contemporary pictures are verbal descriptions. The blue color on the replica from the 60's was a complete fantasy. I would go with varnished hull. Black wale. Yellow rails and quarter badge and black quarter deck bulwarks. The current replica has the bottom most plank of the bulwarks removed and the stanchions painted red. I am not sure of that at all. The plans made when she was converted for the trip do not show that feature and seem to suggest sold bulwarks on the quarterdeck and an open rail forward of that in the waist. The  current replica is red below the waterline and that is definitely out. Look at pic's of merchant ships of the period as well as 6th rates

Wow-- it's been too long since I updated. OTOH, I haven't accomplished a huge amount in the interim. Not for lack of trying. This stuff takes a LONG time. Things that look like they'd be really easy on the plan end up being whole projects unto themselves, especially for a newbie.
As one other builder did, I decided to mount the cannons in the stowed position against the bulwarks. This was mainly because I didn't want to tackle (no pun intended) all the blocks and cordage that these tiny guns would require. I glued all the gun ports shut, which I think makes for a cleaner look from the side.
I've partially made the bowsprit and jib boom so I could determine the position of the Samson Posts and winch. Those are not glued yet. The winch, Samson Posts,  were a couple of those little details that ended up taking up a long time fabricating and finishing. Ditto for the pin rail forward of the mast. Drilling those holes without splitting the rail was a big problem. I ended up using bigger timber than called for but I think that's less objectionable than a broken rail with pins all over the place. Similar difficulties with the fife rail aft of the mast.  They're not museum quality, but I'm happy enough. The foc'sle hatch was comparatively simple.
I replaced the crew berthing galley with a grated hatch for the simple reason that I love the look of those. These are laser cut walnut from Model Expo. I'll have a second one further aft.
On a related note, for fans of the Pride of Baltimore II-- every Saturday at 9:00 they host Coffee With The Captain on their Facebook page. They discuss a great number of Pride related topics, and any fan of wooden sailing ships would enjoy this. They are currently uprigging the ship after her year long hiatus under wraps, so it's particularly interesting. Older broadcasts are still available. The Pride IS planning on sailing this summer and you can be sure I'm planning on getting aboard!
 
 

The Bounty was copper sheathed. The copper is still being found at her gravesite at Pitcairn Island

Great work as always

Great work as always

This book contains plans and illustrations of some significant vessels. Most notable to me is Demologos, a real brute, which according to Wikipedia was '... the first warship to be propelled by a steam engine. She was a wooden floating battery built to defend New York Harbor from the Royal Navy during the War of 1812. '
 
navalmailsteamer00stuauoft.pdf
 
Bruce