el cid

I think the stowed boat looks great.  On a small vessel like a cutter, with limited deck space, things must appear “tight.”  I suspect IRL there would be much more gear stowed on deck, adding even more to a cramped appearance.  
 
Keith

Suffering from modellers block in relation to the anchors, I turn my attention to another tricky subject.
Post 87
A boat for Cheerful
The only reference photo I could find of a boat onboard a cutter is this one of a model of the Hawke of 1777.

Hawke
The Cutter Alert book by Peter Goodwin indicates a boat stored on the centre line but from the plans there is room only for a 13' boat. On Cheerful in this position a boat of only 10.5'  could be accommodated.
The  Model Shipways kit of a 1:48 scale Longboat would be in scale but is far too large for a deck stowed boat, and at 26' is on the large size for a towed boat.
Before I consider scratching a boat as I did for Pegasus, I  knocked up a version of a 14' cutter to assess whether I like the look of a boat on Cheerful's deck .

8424
The boat is based on a Caldercraft resin hull kitted out with thin boxwood planking and fittings.

8425

8426

8429

8431

8432(2)

8433(2)

8437
Not quite sure if it's what I'm looking for but I'll leave it in place  to see if it grows on me whilst I return to the anchors, and making the boom.
 
B.E.
03/05/2019
 

Post 86
Thinking about Anchors
... or ground tackle as we professionals call it. 😉
I have usually purchased metal anchors for my models, I check out the weight sizes according to Steel for the vessel concerned, work out the shank length at scale which gives me the size to buy.
Anchors were allocated to ships by relative size and tonnage and Steel gives tables covering all rates.

His reference to cutters appears to indicate (3) anchors of 10cwt + a figure for quarters which is not clear. This is at variance with Goodwin's figures in the Alert book which suggests anchors of 18cwt, 15cwt , plus a stream of 6cwt, and a kedge of 3cwt
 
I don't know how Chuck arrived at the sizes for the anchors, they have a shank length of 55mm which scales up to a length of 8' 6" which according to Steel equates to an anchor of 6cwt  but I made up the Syren wooden anchor kits, and in truth I do like the look of them.
 
I used a toned down black paint for the anchors followed by weathering powder, dark brown and a smidge of rust.
 
For the puddening of the anchor ring I used 0.30mm line (2" circ at scale) and 0.1mm line ¾" circ at scale)
The stocks I drilled and pegged and coated with wipe-on poly.

8394
To represent the iron stock bands I used my favourite medium of slices of heat shrinkable rubber tubing.
A short blast from the hairdryer on top heat and it moulds securely to the stock.
 
Rigging the anchors
I am trying out various arrangements, mainly using John Harland's reference work, Seamanship in the age of Sail.
In relation to anchor cables and windlasses he describes thus:
The cable is taken three times around the barrel, the turns coming off the top, the inboard end being kept to the outer end to facilitate the turns.

8402

8404
The cable is 1.5mm dia stuff equivalent to a 9" circ cable.
The Alert cable is given as 11½" circ - 1.9mm ø at scale.
I decided to stick with 1.5mm stuff.

8408

8409
Normans (wooden pegs) have been inserted into heaver holes to which the cables will be seized.
This is a stylistic arrangement to display the run of the cables  around the windlass and onto the anchor ring.
I continued to rig the Cat blocks and falls  using a 6mm double block with the ironwork represented  once again by a slice of heat shrink tubing.

8418

8420
That is the easy bit, but as with other questions relating to Cheerful, positioning the anchors is a different story, and one that is giving me a headache, and  brought me at least for the present, to a shuddering halt. 😖
 
B.E.
01/05/2019
 

09 May 1945 HMS Formidable was hit by a Kamikaze. 
W/C 14” X 11”

Have had company in town for the last week, little time to do anything, I just finished the two anchors. I ended up rigging both of them up, although I liked the idea of hanging one from a cathead I keep having to remind myself that I'm doing this for the first time and I don't need a lose anchor floating around waiting to be ripped off while I thrash with full rigging for the first time.
 
I made two brass cleats for the cathead hauls, I think that's what they're called, and set them at an angle as seen below because one in line with the cathead would have been rendered too small. So I went once again with the what would I do if it was my boat method, and made reasonably big cleats and set them at an angle. I made them out of two pieces as that seemed the simplest method with a cleat this small.
 
I'm also spending time fiddling with the lines to get them to drape correctly as if they had real weight/stiffness ratios.
 

Vossiewulf,
Very nice job with your detailing of the anchors and seizings.  
 
As far as working two anchors at once, I can only give you advice from what I’ve read in numerous captain logs and also documented in “Seamanship in the Age of Sail” by John Harland. Page 263.
 
Working two anchors at the same time on one windlass would be too arduous and warping one cable at a time with a small crew on a Sloop or Cutter was taxing as it was.  So one cable would be worked, then belayed with stoppers or on the bitts, then the other cable would be worked if setting two anchors.
 
Below is a picture showing one of the cables being worked using a “Norman” in one of the pawl stops while the other cable is free of the windlass.  I hope this helps.  There is also a plethora of other information on securing the anchors etc.
 

 

Regarding the concept of three turns of line on a windlas or Capstan, or any cylindrical object, you need to understand the term “Tailing”. Three turns around the cylinder provide a long  “bearing surface” where the surface of line and the surface of the windlas or Capstan are in contact. If the circumference of the cylinder or Capstan is 36”, three turns of line taken around it give 108” of bearing surface- this is where the friction occurs. But there can be no real friction unless the turns remain tight on the drum. You can lead your anchor line from the haws hole to the Capstan or windlass and take three turns around it and then you can start turning your Capstan or windlass but those three turns are NOT going to grip the cylinder unless someone is “Tailing” the line. A person “Tailing” is merely pulling on the inboard end of the line. Not very strenuously but just enough to hold the turns tight to the drum and activate the friction of the three turns. Once the friction bites the line,the Capstan or windlas begins to take up the line that’s on it.The person Tailing acts like a clutch and can halt the process of taking in the line merely by slacking the line on his end. 

Here's how it looks sitting in place. The blank with the two other visible columns is in the foreground. 

You can kind of ballpark guesstimate rigging sizes. Especially if you keep in mind the running rigging has to fit into the sailors hands! Any rope thicker than two inches would be too large to grab and haul on so make yourself a cardboard cut-out crew figure of the proper scale for your model. If the hands on your figure are too small to see? You better not use any very thick thread for rigging. You can get by with three different thicknesses of running rigging, unless your model is very large. The standing rigging can be worked out based on the mainstay, which is the thickest material on the ship. The shrouds are slightly smaller, the topmast shrouds are further slightly smaller. All the standing rigging gets smaller the higher up it goes in the rig until at its highest point it’s about as thick as your “medium size” running rigging. 
You can gain a lot of comprehension from looking at photos of actual historic square rig ships, look for photos of the coiled rigging on the pins and you will see typical size ranges. 

When getting ready to let go, the anchor would have been hanging on the quick release only, the Cat lifting tackle would have been used to rig the quick release and then the anchor was lowered until it was suspended on the release chain, the Cat block would have then been lowered until the hook could be released and the whole rig secured out of the way. Should not be any lashings holding the anchor at this point except the Anchor Buoy which would have enough line to allow the Buoy to float at high tide while being secured to the anchor on the bottom. What we used for the Buoy was a 3"50 can, painted red with the tether line around it like the thread on a spool. It was held by a Seaman and tossed overboard when the anchor was let go, it spun the line off as the anchor fell, leaving the Buoy on the surface. Modern yes, something similar must have been done 200 years ago. heck it worked, why change anything but the materials.
 

Hi Gregory, those 'trick stoppers' as they are known; this one being a 'Spencer' design, were a 19th century release mechanism.  Other similar designs used a pressure plate instead of a swiveling lever, and others used different types of 'tumbler' mechanisms amongst other options to release the anchor.  This is the mechanism I went with for my build of HMCSS Victoria (1855)
 
I have included better pictures of the Spencer Trick Stopper, so you can see how it worked.  Sorry to hijack the thread Vossie - but I thought this may useful to others at some time?
 
cheers
 
Ppat
 

Hmmm, good one.  Perhaps both cables had turns on the winch but the turns for the one not being worked were left slack or loose around the winch barrel.  A winch or windlass will only take a strain when there is tension on the inboard end of the line, otherwise the line will slip.  
 
Having turns around the winch or some some other hard point would also help the crew control the anchor as it’s dropped and the ship backed down to set the anchor.
 
Having handled my fair share of mooring lines, it wouldn’t be fun hauling all the line out of the cable tier to get to the bitter end so as to get it off the winch, but maybe that’s what they did.
 
HTH,
 
Keith

I still wonder if both cables weren’t left turned on the drum.  Even with the pawl engaged, an anchor could be lowered by letting the line slip around the drum in a controlled manner.  To me this would be a much safer method for dropping anchor than just cutting it loose to run out wildly.  
 
And if turns weren’t on the drum before anchoring, when weighing anchor the crew would have to haul up all of cable from below (and I suspect the bitter end was secured to a hard point in the hold), and thread the end of the cable around the drum several times and then feed all the excess cable back down below.  If anchored in shallow water, that could be a lot of excess cable.
 
FWIW,
 
Keith
 
 

Hmmm, good one.  Perhaps both cables had turns on the winch but the turns for the one not being worked were left slack or loose around the winch barrel.  A winch or windlass will only take a strain when there is tension on the inboard end of the line, otherwise the line will slip.  
 
Having turns around the winch or some some other hard point would also help the crew control the anchor as it’s dropped and the ship backed down to set the anchor.
 
Having handled my fair share of mooring lines, it wouldn’t be fun hauling all the line out of the cable tier to get to the bitter end so as to get it off the winch, but maybe that’s what they did.
 
HTH,
 
Keith

Thanks Gregory! I guess I'm back to turns on the windlass on both sides, and probably hanging the port one from the cathead.

I still wonder if both cables weren’t left turned on the drum.  Even with the pawl engaged, an anchor could be lowered by letting the line slip around the drum in a controlled manner.  To me this would be a much safer method for dropping anchor than just cutting it loose to run out wildly.  
 
And if turns weren’t on the drum before anchoring, when weighing anchor the crew would have to haul up all of cable from below (and I suspect the bitter end was secured to a hard point in the hold), and thread the end of the cable around the drum several times and then feed all the excess cable back down below.  If anchored in shallow water, that could be a lot of excess cable.
 
FWIW,
 
Keith
 
 

I still wonder if both cables weren’t left turned on the drum.  Even with the pawl engaged, an anchor could be lowered by letting the line slip around the drum in a controlled manner.  To me this would be a much safer method for dropping anchor than just cutting it loose to run out wildly.  
 
And if turns weren’t on the drum before anchoring, when weighing anchor the crew would have to haul up all of cable from below (and I suspect the bitter end was secured to a hard point in the hold), and thread the end of the cable around the drum several times and then feed all the excess cable back down below.  If anchored in shallow water, that could be a lot of excess cable.
 
FWIW,
 
Keith
 
 

Hmmm, good one.  Perhaps both cables had turns on the winch but the turns for the one not being worked were left slack or loose around the winch barrel.  A winch or windlass will only take a strain when there is tension on the inboard end of the line, otherwise the line will slip.  
 
Having turns around the winch or some some other hard point would also help the crew control the anchor as it’s dropped and the ship backed down to set the anchor.
 
Having handled my fair share of mooring lines, it wouldn’t be fun hauling all the line out of the cable tier to get to the bitter end so as to get it off the winch, but maybe that’s what they did.
 
HTH,
 
Keith

My guess would be that after the first anchor is set, the cable was “stoppered,” taken off the winch, then turned around an appropriate hard point (eg. riding bitt).  Then the cable for the second anchor was taken to the winch and the process repeated.
 
Curious to learn if there was another method.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

Hmmm, good one.  Perhaps both cables had turns on the winch but the turns for the one not being worked were left slack or loose around the winch barrel.  A winch or windlass will only take a strain when there is tension on the inboard end of the line, otherwise the line will slip.  
 
Having turns around the winch or some some other hard point would also help the crew control the anchor as it’s dropped and the ship backed down to set the anchor.
 
Having handled my fair share of mooring lines, it wouldn’t be fun hauling all the line out of the cable tier to get to the bitter end so as to get it off the winch, but maybe that’s what they did.
 
HTH,
 
Keith

Hmmm, good one.  Perhaps both cables had turns on the winch but the turns for the one not being worked were left slack or loose around the winch barrel.  A winch or windlass will only take a strain when there is tension on the inboard end of the line, otherwise the line will slip.  
 
Having turns around the winch or some some other hard point would also help the crew control the anchor as it’s dropped and the ship backed down to set the anchor.
 
Having handled my fair share of mooring lines, it wouldn’t be fun hauling all the line out of the cable tier to get to the bitter end so as to get it off the winch, but maybe that’s what they did.
 
HTH,
 
Keith

My guess would be that after the first anchor is set, the cable was “stoppered,” taken off the winch, then turned around an appropriate hard point (eg. riding bitt).  Then the cable for the second anchor was taken to the winch and the process repeated.
 
Curious to learn if there was another method.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith

Some windlasses had a sort of arbor that ran above.  This allowed the cable for the Anchor not intended for use to be hung from it in large loose coils around the windlass but not in contact with the barrel.
 
Roger

Hmmm, good one.  Perhaps both cables had turns on the winch but the turns for the one not being worked were left slack or loose around the winch barrel.  A winch or windlass will only take a strain when there is tension on the inboard end of the line, otherwise the line will slip.  
 
Having turns around the winch or some some other hard point would also help the crew control the anchor as it’s dropped and the ship backed down to set the anchor.
 
Having handled my fair share of mooring lines, it wouldn’t be fun hauling all the line out of the cable tier to get to the bitter end so as to get it off the winch, but maybe that’s what they did.
 
HTH,
 
Keith

My guess would be that after the first anchor is set, the cable was “stoppered,” taken off the winch, then turned around an appropriate hard point (eg. riding bitt).  Then the cable for the second anchor was taken to the winch and the process repeated.
 
Curious to learn if there was another method.
 
Cheers,
 
Keith