JerseyCity Frankie

Frank Fox is well-known for his work on Charles II's Battlefleet, published many years ago, by Conway in 1980. Copies of this command good prices on the second-hand market.
 
His account of the Four Days Battle in 1666 is the best re-telling of a Naval encounter which I have ever read, and reveals an astounding knowledge allied with what must have been years worth of research in archives in Western Europe. It is far more than a bare narrative of events and their consequences.
 
The historical setting, the Navy, the ships, officers, crews and customs, of the English and Dutch are all well described, which is what one would expect of any decent book. What sets this apart is firstly its readability, with no feeling of tedium or excessive quoting of statistics at any point; secondly the really clear and interesting explanation of just how much influence the shoals, tides & currents of the Thames Estuary and North Sea had on events; and thirdly the amount of clarity which is given to the abilities, shortcomings, characters, desires and motives of the various commanders and captains. 
 
The development of Naval tactics during the period (when the line of battle was first brought into use by the English fleet) is very well set out, with the contrasting tactical methods of the protagonists clearly explained and thoroughly analysed. The battle of Lowestoft the year before, and the St James' Day battle later in 1666 are recounted and their places and consequences in the Second Dutch War made clear.
 
The decisive part in the year's events played by the French fleet, which never fired a shot in anger, and hardly saw an enemy ship at all, is analysed thoroughly. It was the perceived threat of Louis XIV's fleet which caused a large number of the Navy's best ships to be detached from the main fleet, leaving the remainder vulnerable. This was a mistake of catastrophic magnitude, made much worse by faulty intelligence and lack of scouting ships to report events. This meant, among other things, that the English commander was unaware that the Dutch fleet had sailed, for a week after it had set forth.
 
This book will bring to its reader a deep understanding of the factors influencing Naval Battles in the Restoration period. I feel as though I have been thoroughly educated from reading this, but also, thoroughly entertained.
 
All the best,
 
Mark P
 
 

Large Scale Warship Models

From Kits to Scratch Building

By Kerry Jang


 
Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

7 1/2" x 10”, Hard Cover, 110 pages

Photographs, drawings, resources, references.

£25.00 - $30.50

ISBN: 9781526730961

This book is aimed at the steel Navy warship modeler who wants to build larger and more detailed models than the common plastic kit scales of 1/350, 1/700 and 1/1200.  Whether the approach to larger scale models is to build kits or to scratch build this book does a good job of laying out just what is involved and how to go about it.


 
Large scale isn’t defined by the author as the subject determines what is a large scale.  Many ship modelers would say a large scale model would be larger than 1:48.  However, an American Battleship in 1:96 is considered a large-scale model at over 9 feet long while a 1:96 model of an 18 ft. Chris Craft runabout at only 2 1/4-inches long is considered a miniature.  The models show in in this book are in many scales; 1:100, 1:96, 1:72, 1:48, 1:32, 1:32 and 1:24.  These scales can certainly be considered large scale when modeling large warships.


 
The book is profusely illustrated with 187 sharp color photographs and some good line drawings.  The photographs are very specific to the task being shown.  It is obvious that the author planned the photographs rather than picking a photograph that was “close enough”.


 
The book is divided into 10 chapters with the first three chapters being background information and some workshop and tool information.  The first chapter is an explanation of large scales and the benefits of modeling in large scales.  The next chapter is a comprehensive evaluation and listing of the various suppliers of large-scale kits, semi-kits, hulls and fittings with each of the major manufacturers having a section listing the types and scales of their offerings.  The third chapter covers tools needed and desired tools and some good workshop tips.  Basic hand tools; both modeling and full size are discussed.  Power tools covered are limited to modeling size table saws and full-size band saws.  There is a good amount of information on soldering and the use of a variable temperature soldering iron.  Glues and fillers are covered well with a comprehensive listing of the various glues and fillers and their main uses are explained.  The book goes a step further than most as the author covers safety in the shop with eye, lung protection emphasized.  Workshop lighting is discussed with natural light spectrum bulbs being highly recommended.  Finally sharpening and cleaning of tools is discussed.


 
The rest of the chapters deal with the methods and a logical progression of building a warship model.  The hull and running gear are the logical starting point.   The models and modeling techniques shown and explained deal with fiberglass or plastic hulls as these are the most common materials for model warship hulls.  Cutting the openings into the hull for prop shafts and rudders can be the most intimidating aspect of building a fiberglass or plastic hull for the first time.  Few kits or hulls come with these openings pre-made or even marked for locating.  The author’s thorough explanation of the process and his clear photographs should alleviate any anxieties of doing these operations.


 
The main decks and the supporting structures for the decks is covered extensively.  Making templates to fit the decks is a critical step with a fiberglass hull as there is often some differences in the hull wall thickness and possibly some distortion that a good deck structure can correct.  Regardless, the deck must fit into the hull with precision.  Deck hatches and openings to access radio control components must be carefully planned and the deck supporting structure must be made to accommodate these openings, the deck shear and camber and be strong enough to support the deck and the superstructures that will be added.  Deck materials and the deck beam installations are thoroughly covered.  There is a section on enclosed decks and how to finish them before the main deck is finished.


 
Radio control equipment is covered in Chapter 6.  This part can be skipped if not doing a R/C model.   But it is a complete how to on installing the equipment and also covers the need to distribute the equipment with the trim of the model in mind.  Ballasting the hull is covered in this section.  The attaching of the main deck and how to plank a deck are covered in this section.  I personally think the deck planking should have been its own chapter, but the info is provided and that’s the important thing.


 
The superstructure construction and attaching it is covered next.  The author provides a good guide to what types of superstructure components that are provided in kits and some tips on how to work with the various types of materials used.


 
Fittings and detail parts are covered in Chapter 8.  While the text and photos provide a good overview of the ways to make various fittings there will be the need for additional information on soldering, mold making and resin casting if one doesn’t already have extensive experience in these operations because the information provided is not meant to provide more than an overview.  Lots of good ideas on jigs and fixtures are provided to aid assembly.


 
Painting is covered next and all the basics are covered.  There is a very good discussion on detail painting to bring out details and how to detail paint the hull to show the hull plating and show depth and shadows by using pre-shading at the plating lines.  This itself could be the subject of a small book but the photos and text give a very good explanation of the process which is shown to achieve a realistic appearance.


 
Final assembly and the finishing touches to complete the model is the final chapter.  Decals, porthole glazing, figures and navigation lighting as well as how to display the model are covered in this final chapter.  I think some of this material should have been covered much earlier in the book because it might be very difficult to go back to do some of these items that would have been easy earlier in the construction process or at least planned for doing at the end.


 
A twelve-page gallery of models is the concluding section of the book.  Photographs of several finished models show off the benefits of modeling in large scales.  The degree that the photographs look like photos of real ships just isn’t possible to achieve in smaller scales.


 
All in all, I think this book is a very good guide to what goes into making large scale warship models.  While there are a few things that might have been covered in different sections of the book, overall the information is provided and, as it isn’t an instructional guide to building a model, the order of the data presented doesn’t detract from the book’s usefulness at all.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it for the modeler considering larger scale warships.

Review by:

Kurt Van Dahm

Certainly brown wrapping paper is non-archival due to its acidic nature, as is any paper that contains wood pulp. Newspaper, paper bags, gift wrapping paper, butcher paper,and likely any colored paper marketed towards children or school use will contain too much wood pulp to be considered as an archival material. Fortunately there’s a WORLD of paper available that IS archival and acid-free available at art supply stores.
its my view that laminating non-archival paper would greatly extend its useful life so probably the Mast Hoops built as described above could have a very long life, but still not as long a life as any acid-free paper would.

Certainly brown wrapping paper is non-archival due to its acidic nature, as is any paper that contains wood pulp. Newspaper, paper bags, gift wrapping paper, butcher paper,and likely any colored paper marketed towards children or school use will contain too much wood pulp to be considered as an archival material. Fortunately there’s a WORLD of paper available that IS archival and acid-free available at art supply stores.
its my view that laminating non-archival paper would greatly extend its useful life so probably the Mast Hoops built as described above could have a very long life, but still not as long a life as any acid-free paper would.

Certainly brown wrapping paper is non-archival due to its acidic nature, as is any paper that contains wood pulp. Newspaper, paper bags, gift wrapping paper, butcher paper,and likely any colored paper marketed towards children or school use will contain too much wood pulp to be considered as an archival material. Fortunately there’s a WORLD of paper available that IS archival and acid-free available at art supply stores.
its my view that laminating non-archival paper would greatly extend its useful life so probably the Mast Hoops built as described above could have a very long life, but still not as long a life as any acid-free paper would.

Well, that glorious day has arrived.  The Mary Taylor is now finished!  This has been a fun build and I learned a lot.  As I'm sure is true with all builds, some days were a bit more fun than others.  I certainly had a few self-inflicted challenges along the way.  But, it's finished now and I'm proud of the results.  The Admiral is very impressed.  






 
Thank you to everyone for their likes and kind words.  For someone new to ship modeling, they truly mean a lot.
 
Build #3 is in the closet waiting for my birthday in a few weeks.  A new build log will follow.
 
Cheers!
Jim
 

Today works, following fore-mast's chainplates...

A big issue with the use of Gaff Topsails is that it’s impossible to rig them in a way that allows them to be self-tending on either tack. Meaning: the tack of the sail is usually on either the Port or the Starboard side (nearly always Starboard) so you either have to physically lift that tack up and over the Gaff every time you go about OR keep it on one side all the time and just live with the inefficiency of having it awkwardly set pressing against the underlying Gaff and it’s Peak Halyard. The reason I bring this up here is that if you DO want to rig your Topsail so you can reposition the tack of the sail from Port to Starboard then you need two tacks, one for each side. Plus a halyard that opposes them that will lift the whole lower half of the sail high enough to get it over the Peak Halyard each time you go about. This bothersome aspect leaves most people to rig the Topsail with one disposition only, and to live with the inefficiency on half of the tacks.

A “Dirty Tack”, some efficiency of the Topsail is lost on the Port Tack due to the sail shape being altered.

Schooner Pioneer, the ship I’ve sailed on most. If the tack were run through a lead block it would hopelessly complicate the preparation for setting AND make recovery to the deck in a way that kept the sail out of the water impossible.

Pix

Fantastic information! Thanks JFC!  -  was wondering how a tack would be handled regardless of whether the sail tack was run thru some tackle or just straight down to the deck. Kinda clumsy either way.
 
Your pix were great! Spelled it all out perfectly.

Someone needs to write a decent book about fore and aft rigging on period ships because the topic of gaff topsails doesn’t get any attention. I believe your tack will run directly to the fife rail with no lead blocks as I can not recall ever seeing Topsail Tacks run any other way. Leading the tack anywhere other than straight down to the deck would negatively effect the set of the sail. Hand Reef and Steer by Tom Cunliffe and Sailmakers Aprentice by Emiliano Marino have illustrations of tacks going directly to the deck as does Howard Chapelle in American Fishing Schooners. Emeliano Marino includes clear illustrations of SEVEN different types of Gaff Topsails and ALL have tacks running to the deck. And if you give it some consideration you will see why: any kind of lead block a tack would use would need to be well below the point in space where the tack of the Topsail would be situated, and where would that be but directly on the lower mast itself, and what would that do for you that a direct lead to the deck wouldn’t? Also the Tack winds up serving as the Downhaul and you can’t haul the sail through a tack lead block. Here’s a shot of Lynx’s Topsail set.

A big issue with the use of Gaff Topsails is that it’s impossible to rig them in a way that allows them to be self-tending on either tack. Meaning: the tack of the sail is usually on either the Port or the Starboard side (nearly always Starboard) so you either have to physically lift that tack up and over the Gaff every time you go about OR keep it on one side all the time and just live with the inefficiency of having it awkwardly set pressing against the underlying Gaff and it’s Peak Halyard. The reason I bring this up here is that if you DO want to rig your Topsail so you can reposition the tack of the sail from Port to Starboard then you need two tacks, one for each side. Plus a halyard that opposes them that will lift the whole lower half of the sail high enough to get it over the Peak Halyard each time you go about. This bothersome aspect leaves most people to rig the Topsail with one disposition only, and to live with the inefficiency on half of the tacks.

A “Dirty Tack”, some efficiency of the Topsail is lost on the Port Tack due to the sail shape being altered.

Schooner Pioneer, the ship I’ve sailed on most. If the tack were run through a lead block it would hopelessly complicate the preparation for setting AND make recovery to the deck in a way that kept the sail out of the water impossible.

H Kier,
 
if you can make use of it, here is how I usualy do it. In this case the model, my Chebec Eagle of Algier,  is foreseen to display in a glass cabinet when completed.
When using brass pedestals I look out for some hollow ones, for instance made from old candle holders. The connecting part is a threaded spindel, which is anchored in the ship (interlocked in a suitable threaded conterpart fastened above the keel.
The bottom side of the spindel goes through the pedestal and through the stand plate, and gets a washer and a nut as a counter part.
Please refer to the pics, trust they ars self explaining....
 
Cheers , Nils

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

A big issue with the use of Gaff Topsails is that it’s impossible to rig them in a way that allows them to be self-tending on either tack. Meaning: the tack of the sail is usually on either the Port or the Starboard side (nearly always Starboard) so you either have to physically lift that tack up and over the Gaff every time you go about OR keep it on one side all the time and just live with the inefficiency of having it awkwardly set pressing against the underlying Gaff and it’s Peak Halyard. The reason I bring this up here is that if you DO want to rig your Topsail so you can reposition the tack of the sail from Port to Starboard then you need two tacks, one for each side. Plus a halyard that opposes them that will lift the whole lower half of the sail high enough to get it over the Peak Halyard each time you go about. This bothersome aspect leaves most people to rig the Topsail with one disposition only, and to live with the inefficiency on half of the tacks.

A “Dirty Tack”, some efficiency of the Topsail is lost on the Port Tack due to the sail shape being altered.

Schooner Pioneer, the ship I’ve sailed on most. If the tack were run through a lead block it would hopelessly complicate the preparation for setting AND make recovery to the deck in a way that kept the sail out of the water impossible.

Someone needs to write a decent book about fore and aft rigging on period ships because the topic of gaff topsails doesn’t get any attention. I believe your tack will run directly to the fife rail with no lead blocks as I can not recall ever seeing Topsail Tacks run any other way. Leading the tack anywhere other than straight down to the deck would negatively effect the set of the sail. Hand Reef and Steer by Tom Cunliffe and Sailmakers Aprentice by Emiliano Marino have illustrations of tacks going directly to the deck as does Howard Chapelle in American Fishing Schooners. Emeliano Marino includes clear illustrations of SEVEN different types of Gaff Topsails and ALL have tacks running to the deck. And if you give it some consideration you will see why: any kind of lead block a tack would use would need to be well below the point in space where the tack of the Topsail would be situated, and where would that be but directly on the lower mast itself, and what would that do for you that a direct lead to the deck wouldn’t? Also the Tack winds up serving as the Downhaul and you can’t haul the sail through a tack lead block. Here’s a shot of Lynx’s Topsail set.

A big issue with the use of Gaff Topsails is that it’s impossible to rig them in a way that allows them to be self-tending on either tack. Meaning: the tack of the sail is usually on either the Port or the Starboard side (nearly always Starboard) so you either have to physically lift that tack up and over the Gaff every time you go about OR keep it on one side all the time and just live with the inefficiency of having it awkwardly set pressing against the underlying Gaff and it’s Peak Halyard. The reason I bring this up here is that if you DO want to rig your Topsail so you can reposition the tack of the sail from Port to Starboard then you need two tacks, one for each side. Plus a halyard that opposes them that will lift the whole lower half of the sail high enough to get it over the Peak Halyard each time you go about. This bothersome aspect leaves most people to rig the Topsail with one disposition only, and to live with the inefficiency on half of the tacks.

A “Dirty Tack”, some efficiency of the Topsail is lost on the Port Tack due to the sail shape being altered.

Schooner Pioneer, the ship I’ve sailed on most. If the tack were run through a lead block it would hopelessly complicate the preparation for setting AND make recovery to the deck in a way that kept the sail out of the water impossible.

Someone needs to write a decent book about fore and aft rigging on period ships because the topic of gaff topsails doesn’t get any attention. I believe your tack will run directly to the fife rail with no lead blocks as I can not recall ever seeing Topsail Tacks run any other way. Leading the tack anywhere other than straight down to the deck would negatively effect the set of the sail. Hand Reef and Steer by Tom Cunliffe and Sailmakers Aprentice by Emiliano Marino have illustrations of tacks going directly to the deck as does Howard Chapelle in American Fishing Schooners. Emeliano Marino includes clear illustrations of SEVEN different types of Gaff Topsails and ALL have tacks running to the deck. And if you give it some consideration you will see why: any kind of lead block a tack would use would need to be well below the point in space where the tack of the Topsail would be situated, and where would that be but directly on the lower mast itself, and what would that do for you that a direct lead to the deck wouldn’t? Also the Tack winds up serving as the Downhaul and you can’t haul the sail through a tack lead block. Here’s a shot of Lynx’s Topsail set.

A big issue with the use of Gaff Topsails is that it’s impossible to rig them in a way that allows them to be self-tending on either tack. Meaning: the tack of the sail is usually on either the Port or the Starboard side (nearly always Starboard) so you either have to physically lift that tack up and over the Gaff every time you go about OR keep it on one side all the time and just live with the inefficiency of having it awkwardly set pressing against the underlying Gaff and it’s Peak Halyard. The reason I bring this up here is that if you DO want to rig your Topsail so you can reposition the tack of the sail from Port to Starboard then you need two tacks, one for each side. Plus a halyard that opposes them that will lift the whole lower half of the sail high enough to get it over the Peak Halyard each time you go about. This bothersome aspect leaves most people to rig the Topsail with one disposition only, and to live with the inefficiency on half of the tacks.

A “Dirty Tack”, some efficiency of the Topsail is lost on the Port Tack due to the sail shape being altered.

Schooner Pioneer, the ship I’ve sailed on most. If the tack were run through a lead block it would hopelessly complicate the preparation for setting AND make recovery to the deck in a way that kept the sail out of the water impossible.

Someone needs to write a decent book about fore and aft rigging on period ships because the topic of gaff topsails doesn’t get any attention. I believe your tack will run directly to the fife rail with no lead blocks as I can not recall ever seeing Topsail Tacks run any other way. Leading the tack anywhere other than straight down to the deck would negatively effect the set of the sail. Hand Reef and Steer by Tom Cunliffe and Sailmakers Aprentice by Emiliano Marino have illustrations of tacks going directly to the deck as does Howard Chapelle in American Fishing Schooners. Emeliano Marino includes clear illustrations of SEVEN different types of Gaff Topsails and ALL have tacks running to the deck. And if you give it some consideration you will see why: any kind of lead block a tack would use would need to be well below the point in space where the tack of the Topsail would be situated, and where would that be but directly on the lower mast itself, and what would that do for you that a direct lead to the deck wouldn’t? Also the Tack winds up serving as the Downhaul and you can’t haul the sail through a tack lead block. Here’s a shot of Lynx’s Topsail set.

13

4

And one more piece finished 🙂
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The material of the guns is still in discussion. Did the Vici n 1782 still have brass guns - as Bugler and McKay see as a possibility - or did she have already iron ones. As discussed before, I will keep you updated.
 
So that was no. 2 out of four being ready now. Approx. 1780 and 1920 are done, 1805 and 2018 still to follow.
 

 
Cheers, dafi

We ask for a phone number - not a cell phone number - but what is important is your email address.  When we get Journals returned with a bad address (caused by postal errors) we need to be able to contact you.  Without a phone number or an email address it doesn't make sense to try to contact you by letter with an address that has been deemed bad by the post office.  So we wind up waiting for a disgruntled member to ask where their Journal is - now that we have contact we can deal with the problem. 
We do need the email section filled out.
Kurt
 

Hello Frank,
There are several reasons for confusion concerning the details of PICKLE, the biggest being that there were two ships in the same waters with the name at the same time.
 
But you have certainly already found this, so here is my path through the maze:
Ignore Wikipedia. The current entry cites refs of the Naval Chronicle which are the source of the confusion between the two ships, not the solution.
Rely on the painting ‘The Victory of Trafalgar’ by Robert Dodd. There is little doubt that it was created under the direct guidance of Commander John Lapenotiere in the days after his arrival in London in November 1805. It shows a ship pierced for fourteen guns (also a distinctive application of the Nelson Stripe).
The Naval Chronicle Vol 10, page 257 describes Pickle leaving Plymouth as ‘… the Pickle, of 14 guns, Lieutenant Lafontaine [sic]’.
Ignore the PICKLE replica ship.
 
A close up from the Dodd painting:

Also, as an observation, she is described in various sources as ‘… of eight guns...’ or just ‘… six guns’. This may reflect the number of guns carried at a particular date but is different from what you and I are looking for: how many guns she was pierced for.
I am treating my Pickle as a fourteen gun, gaff-rigged Bermuda schooner. She will be mounting four 12lb carronades; two boats, a cutter and a jolly; a coppered hull and two stripes.
For what it is worth, the book ‘HMS PICKLE, The Swiftest Ship in Nelson’s Trafalgar Fleet’ by Peter Hore is my main source. It is based on Hore’s own research (which he is quick to correct when shown contrary facts) and that of the late Derek Allen. The muddle in the Admiralty records in London arising from two Pickles operating simultaneously is patiently unravelled. I have read a lot of the Pickle logs and related files at The National Archives in London and have found nothing that contradicts the account given in the book.
Let me know if you want to pick over any details and compare notes.
HTH
Bruce

Hi ☺️