ClipperFan

Rob, I read Cornelius' instructions to mean, in order to get a more complete version of Staghound as he carved her, add 4" outside planking, 5" wales and a 30" keel (implied but not stated with false keel or shoe) all at his 1:48th scale.

@rwiederrich Rob, your Staghound is shaping up beautifully. I hope this reminder isn't too late for your build. The keel was described as being built in two sections, was 46" deep, with 36" projecting beyond her hull making the internal portion just a thin 10" deep in the McLean article. However, in the Cornelius McKay letter in addition to bottom planking being 4" and wales 5" thick he stipulated (excerpt attached) that the keel section beyond the hull was just 30" deep making the other portion of keel inside a more sensible 16 thick."

@Kenchington,Trevor here's the exact section of the Staghound article which includes the exact specs supplied to Duncan McLean by McKay's Shipyard. I've also included a close up detail of the stern on McKay's twin packets sketch which shows how the aft stern is thicker below than above.

From his description, Duncan McLean appears to be listing these dimensions as taken from the main deck. That's at least how I calculated the aft poop deck dimensions. The inner fore part of the stern post would have a 2 foot aft rake, while the outer aft end would be vertical to accommodate the rudder. Meanwhile the forward stem aft inner end would have a 6 foot forward rake, while the outer end which joins the cutwater may have a different forward rake to match the vessel's clipper profile. I'm working on a rough sketch to illustrate this for Rob.

Rob, the only way a stern piece could be both vertical and have a 2 foot aft rake is if it was shaped like a trapezoid (picture a very skinny, ridiculously thin slice of pie) the outer edge, just like the Cornelius McKay model depicts would be vertical, the inner edge would slope or rake backwards so it's a 2 foot aft rake. That would make the further left higher red deck bubble the right position. Forget about the 2 foot fore rake and the further right lower red deck bubble, they're totally wrong. Incidentally, I double checked my deck and portfolio plans and they both appear to have the correct 7 foot distance from mizzen mast center to base of the poop deck bulkhead.

Rob, the stern of Staghound projects about 7 feet beyond the stern post. The stern post itself has a rake of 2 feet. A fact which everyone else seems to miss, just like the stempost has a 6 foot forward rake. Would that stern post rake then push the stern back 9 feet? That would also possibly push the stern poop deck back 2 feet, meaning the fore of the poop deck being 35 feet from the taffrail. I need to double check my dimensions to see if these factors were accurately accounted for.

Based on dimensions supplied by the McKay Shipyard to Duncan McLean for his Staghound article, she was just 37 feet wide on deck at the fore of her 44 foot poop deck. Central apartment was 13 feet wide, flanked by two 12 foot wide cabins with the Captains quarters on starboard and First Mate's on port. Incidentally, in his letter to Captain Hall, Donald's son Cornelius referred to her name as being one word, not two and so did Buttersworth in his painting.

@Kenchington Trevor, in the mid '90s I went to see the 1797 Frigate USS Constitution "Old Ironsides" in drydock having the hog in her hull corrected. It was an amazing sight. There were all of these massive blocks with sand pouring out of them at varying levels. This procedure was how US Navy restorers straightened out her badly hogged keel. During this extensive rebuild, in preparation for her 1997 200th Anniversary Sail, restorers discovered that the designer Joshua Humphreys had originally specified several massive diagonal riders both fore and aft. They were intended to stiffen the vessel and contribute to anti-hogging. They had been removed, most likely when she was converted to a receiving ship and eventually lost to history. During their research these riders were rediscovered in Humphreys' plans and instructions. This confirms that the US Navy as far back as the 1790s did indeed rely on ship's plans. How does this relate to Donald McKay. For a short while, Donald McKay was a Supervisor at the Brooklyn Navy Shipyard. He only remained for a short while, since he wasn't received well by the men who resented taking orders from an immigrant. He would have had to be well versed and familiar with military practice, including drafting of ship's lines. However he accomplished it, McKay was consistently designing, building and launching the largest packet and clipper merchant ships in the world, including the 1847 packet barque Ocean Monarch and California clippers Staghound, Flying Cloud, Sovereign of the Seas and the largest four masted, four decked wooden barque ever launched, the monster ship Great Republic. Donald McKay too became the largest vessel in the world after the loss of the Great Republic. Inerestingly enough, all of these magnificent vessels had similar diagonal riders installed as specified by Joshua Humphreys.

@Rick310 @Kenchington guys, it wasn't my intention to touch off a firestorm about the creative process of ship designers and builders from almost two centuries ago. My focus was on the meticulous accuracy of our specific approach in resurrecting extreme clipper Staghound Donald McKay's pioneer clipper of the California clipper fleet. Just from a logical viewpoint, I personally can't see how a half-hull model would be able to accurately predict hydrophonic properties. Being that it's only half of a hull. It makes sense that a vessel would first be drafted on paper, then possibly a full hull mock up to provide proof of concept. In such a case, the half-hull working builder's model would then be crafted to develop full sized molds. This is of course pure conjecture on my part which I've had no opportunity to confirm. Regardless, there are a few of Donald McKay's ship's lines still in existence. Of all places, this beautiful tracing of Donald McKay's extreme California clipper Flying Fish resides in the Bergen-Sjoforts Museum, Bergen, Norway.

@sob You're correct. In his Nov. 19th, 1896 letter to Captain Hall, Cornelius refers to his hand crafted Staghound builder's Model as being the sole surviving one of its type. He states that some surviving fancy models of his father's ships may be laying 'round somewhere but all of the working models were destroyed a few years ago. Since his dad died on Sept 20th, 1880 sixteen years earlier, this conclusion seems quite accurate. In his McKay biography, Richard reported that his relative Donald when late in life, broke, discouraged and to avoid freezing to death out of desperation resorted to cutting up and burning his working Models as firewood! Cornelius also wrote that he knew of no other correct model of his father's clipper ship existed. He made it himself from the lines of the ship as they were laid down on the Moulding loft floor. He also mentioned that he made drawings of her as well. I'm still trying to relocate them as they may be in the PEM, Salem, MA. Intriguingly, Cornelius adds that often the first working Model was most always altered on the Moulding loft floor in the process of laying lines down and then builders kept records of their revisions in offset tables. That implies more often then not, even a builder's working Model didn't exactly match the vessel as eventually built. Cornelius emphasized the uniqueness of his builder's Model as his was taken directly from the final lines of the clipper ship as she was actually being constructed. This makes the Cornelius McKay Model and drawing the absolutely most accurate version of Donald's California clipper fleet in existence. I have in fact discovered two working Models of McKay clippers in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. They're the final extreme California fleet clipper Romance of the Seas apparently crafted by George B. Upton and McKay's sole, four decked monster clipper, the four masted barque Great Republic. I edited the original to give a closer look.

@Kenchington Trevor, I corresponded with a very generous lady at the Bostonian Society by email. Besides many wonderful pics of the original 1850 half-hull model, she sent me digital copies of the entire Cornelius McKay typed and handwritten letters. An intriguing fact is that Cornelius mentioned he included line drawings of the ship as well. She also included an ultra rare Chinese export painting on Stag Hound as well. In respect, I've left their watermark on although I later secured another for $25.00 watermark. In the highly detailed appendix of Richard McKay's book, he mentions that The Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, MA has the only Donald McKay manuscript which he was preparing for a planned European trip for marketing purposes. A single example is the beautifully detailed construction illustration of the twin packets Star of Empire and Chariot of Fame.

@sob in this particular case, we have direct confirmation that Donald McKay's son Cornelius crafted his builder's half-hull model from the molding loft floor. Here's the excerpt written in his own words. This is from his letter to Captain Arthur H Clark when he turned over his hand crafted builder's model to him. This comes from Richard McKay's book "Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay."