ClipperFan

Good catch! That long iron bar, which bolts into the "Monkey Rail" just ahead of Glory's letterhead appears to attach to the outer end of the Naval Hood. It doesn't look like it goes to her figurehead. The figurehead would be securely mounted to the Cutwater between the Naval Hoods as well as the carved arch pedestal she stands upon. What's interesting is about a quarter of the way out from the shackle mounting point, there appears to be a shiny area, almost like an adjustable screw section which would enable the Naval Hoods to be tightened in differing climactic conditions. When you read descriptions of this particular area of McKay's Clippers, especially detailed in his first Clipper "Stag Hound" Duncan McLean explains in scientific eloquence how this rugged construction is so strongly reinforced that even the loss of her Cutwater wouldn't severely damage the underlying Stem or the vessel herself. This brilliance of designed reinforcement is a nautical invention that I believe Donald McKay was very careful to protect. Just look at his Clipper "Lightning" which literally ends in blank open space right at this critical juncture.

Impressive work, Rob. I'm nearly done recreating Ledger page 1 Bow enlargement of Glory. In my ongoing effort to be as precise as possible, I'm doing the equivalent of taking "offsets" of the vessel's dimensions in the photo and reproducing them on paper. It's painstakingly slow work but the results are worth it. The biggest challenge remains her underwater Hull, which isn't fully visible in any other image than the one of her launch. Another obstacle is recreating her Naval Hoods, carved arch of her Cutwater and her Goddess Athene figurehead. Once page 1 is complete, I'll share it here. Pages 2 and 3 will go much quicker, since those images are clearer and her sheer is clearly visible. Once all 3 images are complete, I'll mail you a set of copies.

Hull plans of twin Clipper Packets "Star of Empire" 1853 and "Chariot of Fame" 1854 drawn by Donald McKay himself again show a graceful curving entry at the Bow. Both of these vessels were 3 decked, just like "Glory of the Seas." According to an April 1853 Boston Daily Atlas article, "Star of Empire's" Keel was 208', length on deck 230' and width 48'. In reconstructing Glory's underwater structure, I am working with these various sources.

This large working Half Hull model of McKay's 1853 Clipper "Romance of the Sea" shows that when it came to Clipper ships, the Bow and Stem weren't verticle. While the area below water wasn't changed significantly, the Cutwater above, which isn't depicted in half hulls sweeps up in dramatic fashion in a graceful curve. Romance of the Sea was 235' on deck, 38 1/2 ' wide with 20' depth of hold. The vessels depicted in McKay's 1839 book are 30 years prior to "Glory of the Seas." I believe with his initial 1851 Clipper "Stag Hound" (which has images of her Half Hull) in another Biography of McKays Packets and Clippers, shows a near verticle stem, again without the Cutwater .

Rob, It's hard to comprehend the blistering pace you are proceeding at, for a guy unfamiliar with wood working. In an effort to keep up, I've jumped to full scale, relying mainly on the 3 ledger sized sections shared recently. Once I nail down her distinctive, yacht like upper bow, the rest will flow quickly. You're right too about her Hull below water, it is practically vertical in the image. I'm still working on reconciling that with her launch photo, which to me, when compared to the almost vertical tall pole behind, appears to have a slight incline back from straight vertical. I hope to have initial work on the Bow done soon.

Back at Staples, I enlarged the 1907 San Pedro dockside shot breaking the image into 3 equal sections. These were all printed on Ledger sized paper, 12" ×17". Stern and Midsection fill almost entire page, Bow itself is about 7" to Knightheads. That's roughly 41". Taking into account the white borders, this should be very close to Rob's full scale. Which means this will be a very large replica indeed. Remember, this is primarily the Hull above the waterline. There's slightly more craft below the waterline and her Masts all tower above the Hull. I'm determined to do Donald McKays beautiful last Clipper justice.

Just for fun, I took a shot of the original sailplan next to the 1/2 scale one. It's hard to imagine how the full scale one will dwarf both. A challenge I'm finding is to stay true to the graceful sheer of the vessel as I can see it in the many images now available.

Rob, this doubles scale of first plan and is half way to ultimate scale. First effort was 1mm=1', this is 2mm=1', final will be double to 4mm=1'. 24cm Keel of original is 9 & 1/2 inches, 27 & 1/2cm Taffrail to Naval Hood Tip is 11 & 3/4 inches. Keel on new sketch is double, 19 inches. Doubling that gives a Keel of 38 inches, Taffrail to Naval Hood Tip 55cm & 23 & 1/2 inches. That should mean the ultimate length would be around 47" Taffrail to Naval Hood Tip (just behind figurehead) not including Bowsprit or Gaffsail Boom.

Rob, comparing this section of Glory's Hull (top from 1907 San Pedro dockside & bottom from 1869 fitting out when just launched) it appears that there is a noticeable break in her sheer, about a third of the way from the prow of the white lifeboat on her deck. It's where the gradual slope goes up and then back down. The Main Shrouds interfere the view but the lower part of the Hull at this same section also seems to have a reverse curve too. When compared to her smooth, unbroken sheer in 1869, the defect, subtle as it is, becomes more apparent. Obviously at 38 years old, she's still serviceable in 1907 but for our purposes of reconstructing her original appearance, it means that other earlier images take on more significance in getting her graceful sheer accurate.

Rob, while seeking for a way to dramatize the impact of perspective distortion, I reviewed various images of the dramatically sharp Bow of the US Navy's Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer. It now occurs to me that it looks remarkably similar to Glory's Bow, both in the sharp projection and the quick sloping sheer. McKay's Clipper appears to be just a little more modest but only slightly. I'm curious what you think.

Rob. I've seen the remarkable pace you work at once you initiate a project. While not compromising on the quality of our subject matter, I will attempt to keep up with you.

Glory's underwater Hull where the Stem joins the Keel looked a little dumpy and nothing like the sharp, crisp line clearly visible in her 1869 PEM launch. I've reworked that area to match that section more closely. Next step will be to get a more accurate reproduction at 1/2 the ultimate scale Rob intends to build her at. Each time I intend to refine her so that we can reproduce this vessel in her ultimate glory.

In pursuit of improving Glory's hull, I've decided to do a 1/2 scale of your ultimate full scale replica. After working at 1mm=1', doing 19mm=1' will feel expansive indeed. I will concentrate on the hull to be sure she really captures Glory's full beauty.

Rob, thanks for your compliments on my Clipper Flying Cloud sketch. I built Revell's Flying Cloud as a youth and loved her lofty sail plan, which always impressed me as being so beautiful. Even as a kid, it puzzled me how her winged angel figurehead wouldn't fall off, since it was just sort of tacked on. Now I realize that all published images of McKay's Clippers (Except Great Republic, which had indepth illustrations of her) only show the Stem. For some reason, the entire advanced structures of Cutwater, Carved Arches and Naval Hoods have all been excluded. Interesting.

As discussed, I reworked Glory's bow, shortening her prow substantially, while angling her figurehead to more accurately reflect the 1907 image. Her Goddess Athene remains 90", the arch supporting her is now between 8 - 9 feet. Her Chainlink Bobstays now mount much higher above her waterline, reflecting her 1869 PEM launch image. This appears to approach the Bow more accurately but the beauty of her prow still remains elusive. I think moving to a larger scale might make it easier to achieve. One other factor I noticed while looking at the waterline fade of the 1907 dockside image is the slight possibility of some "Hogging" occurring. There appears to me at least to be a reverse curve around the center of the vessel. It's a natural occurrence of wooden vessels. It's why their masts are constantly reduced in height, to lessen strain which leads to this phenomenon. Being 38 years old at the time of this photo, it wouldn't surprise me. It means that I need to attempt to incorporate the graceful continuous curve she reveals at her much earlier San Franciso Wharf image and the broadside of her fitting out.

Rob, 40" is 101.6 cm (centimeters & millimeters are more accurate, being smaller & broken into 10ths) 265' (Glory's length from knightheads to taffrail, translates into 3.83 cm to 1'. If I use 38 mm it results in a total length of 39.64". Let me know if that's close enough to meet your goals.

McKay Clipper "Flying Cloud" 1mm = 1' drawn to same scale as "Glory of the Seas" with all dimensions reproduced precisely as described in Duncan McLean's, Boston Daily Atlas description at her launch. Her Bow may actually be more accurate than Glory's as the carved arch is almost equal to her winged figurehead. I know our focus is on getting the most precise reproduction of Glory but I thought you'd appreciate this other work too. As I've said, due mainly to McKay's own slavish devotion to secrecy, no models yet exist that precisely duplicate his marvelous vessels. I believe you and I can finally correct that with our collaboration on "Glory of the Seas."

Rob, I appreciate your compliments and agree with you completely about the Bow. Glory's break is still a little too long. Goddess Athene is 90" publicized in a magazine article on figureheads. From her 1869 PEM launch picture, it's readily apparent the carved arch section is slightly longer, possibly 8 1/2 -9 feet. Naval Hoods extend to just above the anchor hole, what I believe you refer to as the Hawes Hole. They appear to be double in length to Athene, which would make them 15 feet. Her figurehead appears to have a less steep angle in photos than my sketch depicts, so she has to be angled up slightly, hoods need to be shortened and peak made a little thicker, which should correct the curve radius you describe. I made enlargements of her Bow and Broadside to facilitate getting these features as accurately as possible. There's just enough imagery available to reproduce her lovely sculptural work too, which I eventually intend to reproduce as well. Here's my work on McKay's most famous Clipper "Flying Cloud." Just like "Glory of the Seas" she had Naval Hoods and carved arches supporting an angel on the wing, with a trumpet. Again it appears like I have her beak a little too long too. To my knowledge though, not one model of this vessel depicts these devices, even though her very first image of her launch does.

The work in progress continues. As you can see, Glory's hull now more closely resembles the 1907 broadside image. The Bow is definitely the most challenging but I'm confident I'm getting closer. Her hull now should also look more substantial than before.

Rob, what you describe as "cheek plates" are referred to as "naval hoods" by Duncan McLean in his earliest descriptions of McKay's Clippers. Possibly due to Donald McKay's notorious penchant for secrecy, the existence of these powerful devices have literally been lost to History, even though they're described in multiple articles of McKay's Clippers. Naval Hoods were bolted into each other as well as the Cutwater. The first portion of the Bowsprit would be securely lashed to these devices. The ship's figurehead would be attached to the underside of the Naval Hoods, mounted to the fancy gilded and carved Arch section of the Cutwater. McKay's Bows consisted of a Stem, Cutwater, Carved Arch and Naval Hoods. Yet none of these integral parts of McKay's Clippers are modeled in any Replicas. If you want to understand the lengths to which The Mechanic himself went to conceal these components, look at McKay's lines for the Bow of Clipper Lightning. The ships lines simply dissapeared. It's the oddest thing to see. They were so intrinsic to the McKay Bow that Mr McLean observed that the loss of her Cutwater wouldn't affect ship's integrity at all. It still amazes me how ham fisted current McKay Clipper models appear compared to what the originals looked like. All modelers reproduce is the Stem and then the Figurehead is clumsily tacked on with no visual means of support.

Yesterday I went to Staples and printed out a bunch of images of Glory of the Seas. A ledger sized print of Glory's hull from 1907 revealed a far more subtle sheer than contemporary descriptions of her led me to believe. She's supposed to have had a 7' sheer from Bow to Stern. Most of that difference is in her graduated Bow. Otherwise her side dimensions are far more modest. I am in the process of revising that and Glory is now much more reminiscent of a McKay Clipper. The Naval Hood (carved devices which mould into the bow, join together just below the Bowsprit and above her goddess figurehead have some perspective challenges to interpret. (If you want to get a good sense of this natural phenomenon, just view the Henry B Hyde's elegantly long and sleek broadside to the dramatic bow on view, they hardly look like the same vessel.) Viewed below, Glory's naval hoods appear to be about the same dimensions as the 5' depth of the main rail. Same with the close up scene of her figurehead from 1900. It's very hard to discern but if you look at the later broadside scene where she's being towed as a cannery ship in Alaska, those same naval hoods look to be much thinner. Almost half as wide. I suspect the sharp entrance angle of her Bow contributes to this distortion. My sketch still has these devices a little long. I have to shorten them to more precisely match Glory's bow. I just hate to erase the tiny Athene figurehead, as she's 7.5mm in length and I was pretty happy with how she turned out. As I raise the sides to more accurately capture her very subtle sheer, this should remedy the difference in Hull heights being discussed. Once I nail this down, I will enlarge this to the 40" you're planning to build her at. Incidentally if anyone's planning on building a Flying Cloud model, her bow has never been accurately captured either. I'm surprised to see it because the description of McKay's most famous Clipper is detailed and describes these same Naval Hoods as Glory obviously has. Even the famous launch shows these details as does her loading for New York. I have a 4' hull drawing that I've been working on for a while now.

The Main Mast location was too far towards the Stern, which gave the vessel a lopsided appearance. I reworked both Fore and Main Masts and realigned all Yards perpendicular to all 3 Masts. My apologies again for the very light appearance. As this is an ongoing process and I continually erase my mistakes, my sketching is done very lightly.

The work in progress continues. I corrected the Hull length in this reworked plan. Everything is as accurate as I can achieve using 1 mm=1 foot. The Keel is now 240'2", distance at Wales 250', from Knightheads to Taffrail 265', depth of Hold 28'6", Keel's depth 11'8" taken from dimensions given in 'Sovereign of the Seas', Goddess Athene Figurehead 7'6", Bowsprit Steeve 4" to 1', Bowsprit 24' outboard, Jibboom 16' with 5' end, Flying Jibboom 15' with 5' end (as described from Staghound). Rear Quarterdeck 60' with Steering House 8' high, Quarterdeck House 45' also 8' height, both surrounded by rails on turned sanchions. 6' man at base is to give a sense of scale. As a preliminary effort, this Hull feels somewhat more accurate. Sail Plan still needs improvement. I've noticed that it's easier to accomplish better accuracy with larger scale. Getting Glory's graceful sheer is proving to be quite a challenge. As I reexamine these multiple images, it's clear the "dashy rake" of her Bow is just a short portion of her Hull near her Knightheads. It's apparent in the posed picture at her conversion, where there's a good overview of her long deck. I'll try to get a more flat image then the one shared here

Guys, I'm in complete agreement. I think what's confusing is contemporary descriptions of the 5' Main Rail and 16" Monkey Rail. The writer states her Bulwarks were 6 1/2' but the working images make it appear the total height is closer to 7 feet. I think the writer is describing specs but leaving out the details like main rail bulwark being 6" and the Monkey Rail Cap being the same, that adds an additional foot, making those bulwarks 7 1/2 feet. I also think the uppermost skysail & royals are a little short too. Having 6 to 8 feet flag poles seems a bit excessive. Knowing that Glory's figurehead is 7 1/2' tall, which is documented fact, I can use her measurement to get a closer approximation to her true depth. The writer describes her as having a 28 1/2' Hold. All in all though, it seems like this is headed in the right direction now.

My apologies for the low level lighting, we have to get up early tomorrow. I will get a much better image tomorrow. This to me more accurately reflects the dramatic new information as seen in the latest photos. I'm still getting all the dimensions accurate, so this is still very much a work in progress. I was so excited by your last post that I felt something had to be shared.