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ClipperFan
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Rob, your model, your build. I hate to be a royal "PITA" but try as I might, I cannot find any reference to such ventilated top bollards illustrated here. Everything I have read, including searching contemporary patents, refer only to seperate ventilators. Nothing embedded in bitts of any kind. -
@sheepsail Julie, a decade ago the Mariner's Museum and Park, Newport News, VA had a popular exhibit titled "B is for Buttersworth, F is for Forgery" wherein they hid a forgery amidst authentic Buttersworth pieces. They had the exhibit to boost attendance and apparently it worked. As for the few works we discuss, I would be surprised to learn that any we refer to: Staghound, from South Street Seaport, NY, Flying Fish at Vallejo Gallery, Sovereign of the Seas & Great Republic at the Old State House, Boston and Flying Cloud listed by Barron's Auctions could be forgeries. I am curious though, does the book you refer to have color examples of this forger's works? I can tell you that I recently called "fake" for a purported Montague Dawson work. Anybody familiar with his work could tell this piece wasn't his.
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Rob, researching ventilators going back to 1847, I found no ventilated bitts. Emerson describes his pair of ventilators as one which brings fresh air down into the hold or lower decks with a corresponding one that extracts fouled air out. He recommends one be placed at the fore of the ship and the other at the aft of the ship. For larger ships, even a second pair could be used. In this case, the order would be reversed. One injector and one extractor near each other. Stag Hound having been the largest merchant ship in the world at her launch, it makes sense that she would have had additional Emerson's ventilators. Before going with metal bitts, I encourage you to double check with Mike. Whenever I tried to find any type of wooden or metallic ventilated bitts it went to a dead end. This is why I suspect Duncan McLean inadvertently mixed in wooden bitts with cylindrical metallic ventilators installed nearby. Here's Emerson's 1847 patented ventilators.
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Rob, here's Duncan McLean's description of the ventilated bits. He describes them as all being made of choice white oak. My educated guess would be that some form of iron might have been pounded into wooden bitts to provide ventilation. Foretopsail sheet bitts are also ventilated. This reminds me of the composite mizzen mast which was hollow inside to provide ventilation and prevent rot. I'm going to see if I can find some patented examples of ventilated bitts from 1850. It looks like this is another case of Duncan McLean c combining descriptions for brevity. You may already know this but I had to learn it for myself. Ventilators were not inside bitts, they were nearby them. I found 2 patents. Emerson's which was specifically described as being on Flying Cloud and since it was patented in 1848 it's safe to accept they were installed on Stag Hound too. The later Ventilator appears to be bulkhead mounted. The Warren Robinson patented description also includes detailed float valves to prevent water ingestion and draining from wave action, which also confirms these were the ones installed along planksheers.
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Rob, here's Duncan McLean's description of the ventilated bits. He describes them as all being made of choice white oak. My educated guess would be that some form of iron might have been pounded into wooden bitts to provide ventilation. Foretopsail sheet bitts are also ventilated. This reminds me of the composite mizzen mast which was hollow inside to provide ventilation and prevent rot. I'm going to see if I can find some patented examples of ventilated bitts from 1850.
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Rob, your powers of observation still impresses me. I checked and both of Buttersworth’s pieces feature the more modern all iron anchors.
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April 1855, Monthly Nautical Magazine Quarterly Review Stag-Hound article. This article, written 5 years after her launch confirms Hall's notes regarding the 1 & 1/4" per foot rake of her masts. It still has the incorrect 4 & 1/2" per foot bowsprit steeve. Fortunately, Cornelius McKay's letter and drawing shows a less dramatic 4.2" steeve per foot. Valuable documents such as these aid in confirming accuracy.
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@Snug Harbor Johnny that's some amazing statistics for sure. Thanks for doing those calculations.
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@BANYAN Abes Books has nice original 1928, 2nd issue copies listing for $20.00 + postage. 1969 and 1988 are monotone reprints, and usually list for a similar price. Check details to make sure you get an original issue. This lovely painting is clipper Lightning by Anton Otto Fischer. There are 10 full color works and dozens of monotone illustrations.
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Unlike what I call mantlepiece models which may look nice but don't make sense, Rob's replicas authentically represent the workings of a real ship.
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Pat, I learned about existence of these rare drawings from seeing this single page in Richard McKay's encyclopedic book "Some Famous Sailing Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay." That was at least 20 years or more ago. I found the original 1850 model and shared dozens of images of her about a year ago. The good folks at MIT turned out to have the original 1850 plans in their Captain Arthur H Clark collection. Now that I see them, it's clear that our three main sources: Hall, Chappelle and even Crothers never had access to these plans. That fact astounds me, since Cornelius McKay clearly stated that he drew these plans and crafted his gorgeous model directly from the lines off the molding loft floor as Stag Hound herself was under construction! There are no more highly accurate plans than these. FYI: do yourself a favor, if you don't already have Richard McKay's book in your library, get the earlier version. It is far more beautiful with about a dozen full color paintings that are all monotone in the 1967 reprints.
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Rob, I already made color enhanced copies to make the lines easier to trace. A surprising discovery, there are actually red and black lines which I only discovered by increasing the color.
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@Jared Ah yes..... the wisdom of the ages....
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Just honor the fact that they can't be shared (published) online. I sent you a message.
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@rwiederrich check your messages!
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@rwiederrich **** Eureka!!!! **** I FOUND THE 1850 CORNELIUS McKAY CLIPPER SHIP STAGHOUND LINES PLAN!!!! This is the real deal!!!!! Elias Trout, MIT Museum Collections at first replied that they had no records but then another colleague found the plans. They have McKay's handwritten signature in multiple locations too. There's a 13" ruler in the lower left corner. Based on its size, it looks like the drawing matches the carved model in size. Plans include a starboard sheer, fore and aft body and lower hull profile. There's also a neat sailplan in the lower right corner. I have a watermarked low-rez copy. I have signed a confidentiality form and paid the nominal $15.00 release fee to get a high-rez watermark free version. If given permission, I will share the low-rez version. From my digital merge I can tell that Chappelle and Crothers have her stern too round. She's more similar to that on the Flying Fish.
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@Jared beautiful work, both the starboard broadside photo and your impressive ship.
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@Jared it was my impression that you secured these tiny figures from other 3D print suppliers. I had no idea you made them yourself. They definitely add to your model regardless of barely noticeable "shortcomings."
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@Jared thanks for that detailed focus stacking description. You learn something new every day. That detailed bow image is crystal clear. Not to be a "kill-joy" but for the 8 specific contest entry pics, I would simply use duplicate normal shots just in case judges don't accept focus stacked ones. I can't wait to see your beautiful series of focus stacked ones.
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@Jared looking at your 3D printed crew on my laptop, I noticed that their arms are short compared to a real person's. I suggest comparing them to Revell 1:96th scale sailors from Cutty Sark to see the difference. Meanwhile, when you're ready to make your finished model pics do yourself a big favor and take 8 specific ones to precisely match contest entry eligibility. I bent over backwards to appeal to a chief judge to try and get @rwiederrich and @Vladimir_Wairoa incredibly detailed Glory of the Seas replicas (both featured in a Winter 2023 Nautical Research Journal article) approved and was denied since they didn't meet strict photo angles as required.
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@Jared seeing tiny crew on your model emphasizes how large McKay's California Fleet Clippers really were. Great job. I'd appreciate seeing some overall pics of your Flying Fish when she's finished before she's encased.
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Rob, No surprise that I agree with our prior assessment. Instead of trying to jam things in without thought as to how people would actually function in such cramped spaces, we're taking an opposite tack and using common sense to sort out how a space would have been laid out in a real world environment.
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Rob, those safety chains are such a brilliant touch. They really drive home that this was a real vessel on a human level. Nicely done!
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Rob, she's really coming together nicely now. All the realistic human scale details really makes this a believable vessel and not just a pretty mantlepiece decoration. I just received 3 cleaner Howard Chappelle lines scans from Mike and was able to integrate them better. Here's those results. I also find it fascinating that the small Stag Hound half hull model on the Donald McKay statuette is quite accurate compared to the Cornelius McKay model.
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Rob, bordering each side of the entrance to the main deck on USS Constitution 'Old Ironsides' there are these 2 beautifully carved gangway boards. They project slightly above the cut-out gangway entrance. I'm not suggesting you try to do any carved boards, just that you might appreciate seeing these.
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