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ClipperFan

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  1. ClipperFan
    Rob, I was impressed to read that you did a miniature of the Steam Sloop "Puffin". if there's any pictures, I'd love to see them. By the way, I calculated that if you use 1/16" = 3', it turns out to be 48' per inch which equals exactly 240' at 5" which is the precise dimension of Glory's keel. Her overall length of 265' Taffrail to Knightheads is 5.59". Coincidently the smaller sketch I recently did of Glory is 6 1/8" at her Keel, 6 7/8" Taffrail to Knightheads, just slightly larger than the scale you're looking at.
  2. ClipperFan
    Rob, at 1:700 scale your models would be a little over 4". Probably not big enough to view decent details. A 1:200 scale at 265' comes in at 15.9" which would allow for better observation of Glory's evolution over her long lifetime.
  3. ClipperFan
    Duncan MacFarlane "CSS Nashville Capturing and Burning 'Harvey Birch' 1864" is probably one of the most famous oil paintings of the horrific destruction of our American Merchantman during the Civil War. To my knowledge the US never did recover the hard earned preeminence they established before that conflagration. Such a loss...
  4. ClipperFan
    Rob, Thanks for sharing these beautiful images of the lovely figurehead of the Clipper 'America.' When I see the sole vestiges of USA's once mighty fleet of magnificent Clippers it literally makes me sad. True, most of these impressive "Greyhounds of the Sea" were lost in the depths or burned due to freak accidents but there were a few which survived mainly intact into the 20s and even the 30s. Vessels like "Dashing Wave" the hardy Downeaster "Benj. F Packard" and McKay's last ever Clipper the magnificentn"Glory of the Seas" all gave long lived service, proving the incredible durability of their Builder's craft. Yet where are they today? All gone, except a few surviving Figureheads.... Such a loss to America's Merchant Maritime History.
  5. ClipperFan
    Rob, In his multiple descriptions of various Packet and Clipper Ships, Duncan McLean, writer for the Boston Daily Atlas described that it was a popular fashion style to monochromatically paint most ship's Figureheads white. I have also read where occasionally there would be gold and sometimes blue trim applied to highlight folds of garments. In the published image of Glory's Figurehead of the children's book there are definitely two very thin parallel lines that grace the bottom of her toga. These lines can be seen all along the many graceful folds which drape behind her right arm. She's also wearing an impressive necklace and two arm bands which also have two complementing thin lines on the ends. However unless there's new information uncovering original paint schemes, this falls in the realm of pure speculation on my part.
  6. ClipperFan
    Hi Rob, In his latest email to me, Michael specifically asked me to share this information with the group, so I am quoting him exactly: "For your information Ron Haug has been a shipwright since he began his apprenticeship in 1952 when he was 15 years old. We first started corresponding in 1995 when we were trying to determine the accuracy of the purported builder's model of Glory at Mariner's Museum. We concluded that it it is indeed the builder's model, it was changed 'drastically' on the mold loft floor. He is likewise probably the 'expert' regarding Benj. F Packard. Therefore I trust his opinion. Please share this information with the group." This is verbatim what Michael Mjelde wrote to me. (If anyone knows how to italicize words, Mike used italics for the vessels "Glory" and "Benj. F Packard." Then it would be precisely how he wrote it).
  7. ClipperFan
    Rob, you're right. I multiplied incorrectly. I might have caught it too if I referenced the distance in the photo too. The front of the head on the Figurehead is about Center of the span above between two bands, that's about 18" not over 5'.
  8. ClipperFan
    Rob, I think I follow you on the distance of the center of the Foremast to the Forecastle of the Main Deck being the same as the Height up to her Fore Top. Staghound's Foremast was described as being 50' from the Knightheads. Your description of the Deckhouse width being 4x distance from Fore to Main Mast must have somehow been misstated. Staghound's Main was 67' from her Fore. 4x that would be 268' wide which makes no sense as these vessels were about 40' Beam. You must be referring to some other dimension unless McKay's figured out how to install a "Tardis" on his Clipper Ships!
  9. ClipperFan
    Rob, that's a good catch to notice the relationship of Glory's Figurehead to Inner Bobstay. That's definitely not a coincidence. Mike confirmed that Truss Bands are 3' apart on Masts and Bowsprits as a Ship Builder's standard practice. As the Inner Bobstay is below band #6, that's about 18 1/2' outboard. Counting back, the tip of her Naval Hoods are right below band #3, 12' from the inner Bobstay. Now we know the head of Glory's Figurehead is about 5 1/2 feet from the tip of the Naval Hood and projects 15' outward from where her Prow meets the water.
  10. ClipperFan
  11. ClipperFan
    Rob, in the 1907 pic, if you look closely at the base of Glory's prow where she meets the water, there's a shadow which I believe is the pier behind her. The actual prow of the Ship herself is just slightly inclined in front of that shadow. In addition it looks like the entire waterline of the photo itself has an ever so slight tilt upwards. Laying a compass with true verticle at the base of the image should verify this, if I'm right. Meanwhile, Appendix 1 of Mike's 1st book lists Glory's Bowsprit as 24' outboard with 34" diameter. From the latest close up of that section, I count 7 metal hoops around the Bowsprit with 1 additional which encircles both Jibboom and Bowsprit. Assigning 3' distance between each band gives us 21'. That seems to work, since there's a little distance to the Bowsprit Cap and slightly less before this spar enters her Hull. I also noticed that a section of Jibboom narrows just a little as it squares out to meet the Hull too. I wouldn't be too concerned about messing up her Figurehead. If you let me, I can help with that. I've been perfecting my obsession with her graceful aspect for years. It's been a pleasant surprise to see that my efforts have gotten pretty close, even without benefit of either 1907 or 1911 images. For instance, seeing how her hand is much higher up by her tied hair bun clears up a problem I've had getting the position of her absent right arm correct. It's quite difficult to make out but her long flowing scarf actually makes a loop behind her body. Another beautiful trait I've noticed in Glory's interface between her Figurehead and carved Cutwater is an impression of a reverse "S" curve. Observe the outline of her Figurehead. She actually stretches out in a very graceful arch which reversely echoes the Cutwater below her. To make it easier to see some of these details I darkened the latest image a couple times. Finally, her gown and scarf appear to have had light gold trim, which would highlight the graceful folds better. In the 1911 image, she has dark hair. It makes me wonder if she was painted naturally, similar to the way the Donald McKay and Great Republic's figurehead were.
  12. ClipperFan
    Hi Rob, trying to accurately nail down Glory's true form is clearly an exercise in patience, for sure. You're certainly getting closer. I sense our best approach is to carefully measure the distance of the Bow from her Figurehead in the 1907 San Pedro scene. Knowing her Figurehead is 90" we should be able to get very close to her actual dimensions. I suggest using a verticle line up from where her prow meets the water and measure horizontally out to where her Figurehead rests. For example, her Bowsprit length is published, we know she's sheathed with yellow metal up to 22' to her waterline. As we carefully piece together these related components, gradually a more accurate overall vessel will emerge. Meanwhile, our key resource Michael Mjelde has just sent me another great image. It's a close up starboard view of her Figurehead, Naval Hood and Cut Water in 1911, one of a series of articles he wrote in the 90s about the conversion of Glory to the fishing industry. Mike assures me that there are a few rare pics of Glory in these series of articles. To show how close my own efforts have come, I attached a pen & ink sketch done a few years ago of this identical scene. It was done without benefit of having seen the 1911 pic.
  13. ClipperFan
    To support his position that there were only two, not three skylights on the deck of the Rear House, Mike directed me to this 1915 image of crew dancing on deck on page 235 of his first book. More evidence of only two skylights can be seen from this picture of Glory beached at Endymion. Look closely at both pictures, the skylights consist of two identical structures. Basically rectangles surmounted by trapezoidal structures.
  14. ClipperFan
    In a recent email discussing how many skylights 2 vs 3 were on Glory's Rear House, Michael Mjelede cleared up some confusion for me on that topic. He stated that a picture of a large Sailing Ship, which has a similar Rear House surrounded by Turned Rails is incorrectly identified as "Glory of the Seas." He also informed that each of the paintings published in his two books were personally verified with descendants of Captains or Owners who commissioned them. He then shared a copy of this work of art: ca 1871 Charles J Waldron oil painting commissioned by Captain Elisha F Sears. He admits that her Bow is inaccurate as to proportion but otherwise in general appearance this is true to "Glory of the Seas" which the artist had to have seen himself.
  15. ClipperFan
    Michael Mjelde reminded me in our latest emails that he's sending another package to his Naval architect Ron Haug in Australia by the end of this week. He gave me a resource to download the image of the fishing crew from Alaska 1917. We're trying to establish accurate height of Glory's Bulwarks. At first I thought they were 8'. From going back to check the published description in Mike's first book, I've discovered some of my previous assumptions were wrong. My apologies. The little bit of information there is refers to her Bulwarks being 6' above the Main deck. Then it describes a Rail above that but doesn't give a specific dimension to that. The Alaskan photo shows a very substantial wall. It looks to be more than 6'. Mike suggest we use Glory's 1869 Broadside fitting out photo to calculate the height. He also told me about another 1998 publication from Peabody Essex Museum "Capturing Poseidon" which he said has a high quality photo of Glory from 1869. I'm unsure if he meant the one of her on the Ways or her fitting out Broadside. Abe books has many fine copies available for very reasonable rates.
  16. ClipperFan
    Rob and anyone else who's interested, Michael Mjelde is spending next week organizing his 3 file drawers of research papers on "Glory of the Seas." Since he's began this in 1957, it's a fair guess that this is the most comprehensive collection of information on McKay's last Clipper available to us. I'm going to do my level best this weekend to develop my list of specific items I need to address in order to have sufficient specifications and requisite images to recreate "Glory of the Seas" in the ultimately accurate plans to the minutest detail possible in every aspect available.
  17. ClipperFan
    Hi Rob, These are the only two images Mike has sent me so far. He's using the last week of this month to reorganize his files. Mike has 4 or 5 pics of Glory 1907 printed from original negative & roughly the same amount, some color of her lovely Figurehead. My apologies, I can't orient the close up to appear horizontal, I've tried. When I enlarge the other full image, it looks like it's a watercolor instead of a photo.
  18. ClipperFan
    Rob, the 2 new images Mike sent me give us a better opportunity to nail down Glory's accurate angles and dimensions. The Bow detail particularly is much sharper than the one I enlarged from the book. It's now apparent that what we took as a near verticle drop just before she goes below the waterline is actually a shadow behind. Her true Bow is just slightly angled, as I always suspected from other images. If you can compare compass readings on this new detail photo, it would be a way to contrast to her launch photo. Speaking of which, I would also like to know the angle of inclination of the Bowsprit too. Based on contemporary published accounts of McKay's other Clippers, I've been using an 8 to 3 rise, 3 units up for 8 units out. It would be fascinating to see if that remained consistent in Glory. As an accurate measure we can use Glory's 90" Figurehead as a way to get fairly close to her other Bow dimensions. It won't be perfect due to having to estimate where her head resides, in the Bow detail since she's in shadow and in her scene on the Ways, we're viewing her from below. So that has to be taken into consideration too. By comparing the two readings though we should be able to get a very close approximation to work with. Tell me what you think.
  19. ClipperFan
    Rob, Yeah, it probably was me. I got it from Abe Books and it was just the one copy. It was published Jan 1994 by Grand Manan Museum. Apparently Captain Daniel McLaughlin retired to that Nova Scotian Island when he retired. I will keep an eye out for another. I got it because I remember I first took it out from the Bristol, CT library. It was my first time reading about "Glory of the Seas." I didn't discover Michael's books til years later.
  20. ClipperFan
    The 2 images are the only ones in this small booklet. One reason I bought it was in hope of finding a rare picture of Glory. There's a beautiful albeit inaccurate model of her but that's it. I'm sure Mike's 2nd book has far more details than this thin little book but anyhow....
  21. ClipperFan
    So this neat little book arrived from Canada today. It's a first person account of Captain Daniel S McLaughlin's 42nd & final voyage from NY to San Francisco on the Clipper "Glory of the Seas" by Daniel C McLaughlin, his son accompanying him on his 1st voyage. Pretty neat.
  22. ClipperFan
    A fact I overlooked in Mike's message was his timeframe. He specifically mentioned that he plans to take the last week of this month to do his "Glory" file review. That gives us just under 2 weeks to assemble our wish list of a man who has informed us he began his research on McKay's last Clipper since 1957, over six decades ago. My one suggestion is we can focus on the different modifications done to Glory's Deck and Masts, mainly in her early years. This would give modelers options to capture her likeness at varying times. The most noticable one I see is the innovative expansion of her Wheelhouse to fully protect the helmsman. A standard practice over many decades of service for all Sailing Ships was to lower Mast heights to reduce stress on aging Hulls, including converting them to Barks to utilize smaller crews. Glory's mast heights were reduced, though she never became a Bark while she was still in full service as a merchant sailing vessel.
  23. ClipperFan
    A few days ago I received a very encouraging email from Michael Mjelede. He mentions that he has about 4 to 5 detailed images of Glory at San Pedro 1907, in addition to 3 filing cabinet drawers full of "Glory of the Seas." Since he can't go on a normal vacation trip due to the pandemic, he's going to make use of his time instead to reorganize all his Glory files here's the rest of what he wrote to me verbatim: "if you have specific questions regarding her (Glory of the Seas) please supply me with a list so that I can zero in on those items. I commend you and Rob for the thorough work you and others are accomplishing to come up with a more accurate plan of Glory. Best Wishes, Mike"
  24. ClipperFan
    Rob, I agree about your description of "Great Republic." Duncan McLean's amazing 37 page pamphlet "Description of the Largest Ship in the World the New Clipper 'Great Republic' of Boston" there are 6 large depictions of her in minute details. One shows her internal construction with a depiction of the iron latticework which literally forms a skeletal trusswork cage to reinforce her wooden structure. Since "Great Republic" was constructed 15 years earlier than "Glory of the Seas" I wonder if it was less expensive to use wooden trusses instead to accomplish the same result or was it because Glory would be almost half the length of "Great Republic?"
  25. ClipperFan
    I lightened up both images so they can be seen better.

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