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ClipperFan
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Here's the original source for the colorized photo of Glory on the Ways. A pipe ad from 1946. This probably came from a Life magazine, which back then was huge (11" x 17") compared to today's much more modest productions.
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Druxey, I have no idea about coppering process of either merchant or US Naval ships. It was just my layman's observation that the majority of Glory's Hull is already coppered while she's on the Ways. The forefront of the ship appears to have a dark covering which blurs her strakes, while further back they're visible again. I've read that there was an underlay, kind of like tar fabric which was intended to form an additional barrier between the muntz metal and the underlying wood.
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Rare port side of Glory's Grecian Goddess 'Athene' figurehead. From the article on the transformation of McKay's last Clipper to a Salmon Cannery. Here you can see the iron support rod has been relocated from further back and inside the carved naval hood to further up and now outside. The shackle connection is now apparently on both ends of this reinforcing bar. From her dark hair and possible lipstick, it appears some bored sailors sadly "dolled up Athene."
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I actually have the original glossy photo of Glory near the Glacier Fish dock which I managed to score off e-bay years ago. By the time this impressive picture was taken, her Goddess figurehead had been removed. It adds to her forlorn situation. The image courtesy of Michael J Mjelde shows her with her figurehead still in place. All images do reinforce that below the waterline her Hull is practically verticle.
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In regards to "Glory of the Seas" on the Ways, I agree that this is most likely not her launch day. More likely as others have described as an Open House to "bring your family to view the latest McKay Clipper" Day. Compare images of the Clipper "Great Republic" launch, where there are hundreds, maybe thousands of people surrounding the massive vessel, with clearly a mere handful of dignitaries on board to the crowds of people on board Glory with only a handful of spectators on the grounds. As to her yet incomplete coppering process, that too contributes to a sense that this isn't her launch day. Towards the Bow just above the coppered area, there appears to be black felt underlay. Farther back, just behind scaffolding it looks like this material has yet to be applied. My guess is that this particular vessel's launch didn't occur until after the entire underwater Hull had received all her copper plates (actually called yellow metal).
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I found these on my laptop. First two are from the Alaska State Library, digital archives. Interestingly, search for 'Glory of the Seas' and you'll get no results. Look for Alaska Fish Cannery and there she is! "Alaska Fish Company, Floating Cannery, Hawk Inlet, Alaska" is still available as a free download. The other image no longer seems available on-line. GLORY of the SEAS in Middle Waterway, Tacoma, 1917 shows poor Glory with her Grecian Goddess figurehead intact. It's apparent that Glory's lower Hull has a long, practically straight Cutwater that slopes ever so slightly back from straight verticle.
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Rob, Here's the original Captain's Cabin interior of the Penobscot, Maine 'Downeaster' Benjamin F Packard which is reconstructed entirely intact at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT
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Druxey, Yuck! That's such a gross and unpleasant description of wood rot. I never knew that's what your username meant, I just thought it was your last name. Truly, you learn something new every day. However, I'm sure you are nothing like the moniker you've chosen... Rob This is probably the clearest PEM image of Glory on the ways. I counted about 80 people, including many women in skirts. Never mind climbing that rickety ladder 50' in pants, can you imagine attempting that in the type of full length skirts, as well as the undergarments women wore in those times? I once had an opportunity to enter the original cabin saved from the Downeaster "Benjamin F Packard" at Mystic Seaport. It was really beautiful. "Glory of the Seas" was described as having no expense spared in her luxurious appointments. I hope to get the final Stern of Glory done this Weekend.
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Rob, I was serious about the lighting idea. I was joking about the hyphenated name for the druxey correction. The thing that amazes me about Doris's work, which really livens them up is the lighting she incorporates. That and the way she actually invents interiors for her vessels. Anyhow, this is your model, your project, I'm just honored to participate.
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Rob, I was joking. It was my form of humor, obviously an acquired taste....
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Rob, I regret to inform you that it's just to unwieldy to refer to the Bow revision as the "Druxey-Wiederrich" Correction. Henceforth we shall simply refer to it as the "Druxey Correction." On a more salient topic, I'm fascinated by your description of carving in hard Dental wax. It sounds like you're experienced in that. Is this some type of molding wax used to make teeth implants? I'm just curious. As regards to Doris, maybe you can take a page out of her book and light your Glory of the Seas replica too...
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Rob, Thanks for the high praise, I appreciate the compliment. "The Druxey Correction" may go down in modeling history. He certainly opened my eyes to a hidden bias I didn't even realize I had. Another benefit of that revision is that the lower carved arch is now clearly longer than Glory's figurehead. Speaking of which, you might want to look at the incredible cardboard Ship modeling work of a European lady named Doris. She uses a form of sculpey clay and gets amazingly lifelike results. This not to disparage your carving abilities, it's just that with this huge scale you might be able to achieve some finer results doing sculpture. Anyways, if you haven't had a chance to see Doris's work, it's phenomenal. All scratchbuilt, all hand sculptured, magnificent creations.
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Rob, Latest progress update on full scale "GLORY of the SEAS" recreation. Due to light wash out, the Mizzen Mast section is very light. It's basically down to one last section The Stern now. Druxey, Thank you for your sharp eyes, as you can see, the revised Prow is much closer to where you indicated it should be. Another surprising development, is that at this size, the sheer is so subdued that much of the Hull is actually a straight line. The sheer is there but much more subdued than I first anticipated.
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Rob, Since I've only seen a few illustrations published of Donald McKay's work, I can only surmise what other details he might have done too. I do remember that the particular appendix does refer to him preparing this book for publication in expectations of doing a more extensive trip beyond England to other European nations, in order to promote his Shipyard and drum up business. As was sadly usual in his challenging life, some setback occured that ended his plans for this fascinating planned trip. It's either speculation or memory, I believe it might have been the illness and death of his wife. I have both of the books you mentioned and a few others. One has a real nice publication of the "Monster Clipper Donald Mc'Kay." Apparently when she was in drydock, English Shipwrights were so impressed with her that they took precise "lines" of her, which are published in this book. It might be McLean's "Fast Sailing Ships."
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Rob, Peg and I observed our 35th June 1st. Exchanged lovely cards and sentiment. Nothing fancy. Just grateful to both be alive and healthy... Any Glory or other McKay ship images you feel like sharing is fine with me. I'm about half way through Glory's Hull, just before her Main Mast position. Her Prow is still somewhat a work in progress. I remember reading in one of the appendices of Richard McKay's book that, in a final aborted attempt to develop more European interest in his Shipbuilding capabilities, Donald Trump did dozens, maybe hundreds of sketches for an anticipated and as of yet still unpublished book. All of these documents now reside in the Peabody Museum. Just one image is the twin hulls of Star of Empire & Chariot of Fame. Someday I want to contact the Museum and see what interest they may have in finally making Donald McKays works available to the public.
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Rob no lie. I began working on Glory of the Seas's accurate Hull and Sail plan in late May 2009. I know because it was the eve of our 24th Anniversary. My wife found a lovely place, the Inn at Stongington, a little shoreline town in CT which just happens to have the Capt Nate B Palmer House museum. Back then (has it really been 11 years?) There were no clear images of Glory besides those published in Michael Mjelde's two excellent books. The 1907 San Pedro pic wasn't available until 2017. So it's truly been a long strange trip... I have saved the article on Glory's transformation as a pdf file and can share it, including the image of her figurehead. Druxey, Misspelling Donald McKay's last name in the article shows how little attention was given to his contribution to American Maritime History. Sad how shabbily Glory was treated in her later years. Perhaps if Americans of that era had been more aware of the significance of McKay's contributions, his last Clipper wouldn't have met such an ignominious and fiery end...
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https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19110924.2.81.7&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 link to the newspaper article. The description of Glory's tragic figurehead model is in the last far right column near the very bottom. It's spooky.
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I discovered this in a California digital archive, which has a fairly detailed Port view of Glory's Figurehead. From an article in a newspaper 'San Francisco Call' Sept 12, 1911 describing "Transformation of the Clipper Glory of the Seas" comes a spooky tale, actually a tragedy, about the live model for Glory's figurehead. Her name was Elizabeth le Forgue and she was one of the loveliest girls of East Boston. She was betrothed to a sailor named John Martin, who had promised to marry her upon return of his first voyage to 'Frisco in '69. Apparently he never returned. Either she drowned herself or was lost overboard from one of her father's fishing boats. When the sea gave up her dead, she was missing an arm. The tale goes that the same day she was lost, Glory of the Seas ran into some high seas and afterward her figurehead was missing an arm too. Sailors, being a superstitious lot, tried in vain to replace that arm but never succeeded. If you look at her figurehead today, you can tell her replacement arm is not of the same quality as the original.
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Keith Black, Positions of dolphin strikers vary with the vessels involved. The US Navy vessel pictured definitely has a 90 degree d.s. just like you describe. British Clipper "Cutty Sark" has an iron d.s. which is integral to her Bowsprit Cap. "Glory of the Seas" on the other hand, has a d.s. which is shackled to the Cap above and adjusts according to rigging. This 1907 image clearly shows it's not at a 90 degree angle. Druxey, I was too dismissive of your observation. Taking a closer look shows that the outermost edge of the Bow aligns with the section of Cutwater which meets the lower carved arch molding. I'm revising the sketch again to get this area right.
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Druxey, dimensions for the Bow have been taken from page 1 Ledger enlargement. However, blurry images make it difficult but not impossible to determine. I get your point though, good catch! Reexamining the tip of the Monkey Rail (section above Main Rail into which Upper Bowsprit enters. Taking a plum line from there, it appears that the Bow Line aligns with the scrollwork where Goddess Athene's left foot rests. I've scaled the Bow back accordingly. Keith Black, when Dolphin Strikers aren't rigged, as seen in Glory's launch photo, they hang straight down. Fully rigged, they tend to match the angle of the Bowsprit Cap, as seen in Glory's 1907 image. Rob, Unless you're deviously planning to sell my drawings (which I'm not accusing you of and doubt you would do) not only do you have my permission, I'm working as quickly as possible to facilitate the building pace you're used to. My goal is to achieve the most true to life recreation of McKay's Clippers, which are my favorite. To me, as I've mentioned before, the Mjelde Hull blueprint suffers from uncorrected serious perspective distortion. Mainly in the Bow, where the shortcomings are most dramatic. Compare the 1907 broadside to the 1869 fitting out and it's immediately apparent. In the fitting out photo, which is magnificent, the Broadside view is from her Starboard Stern. Since the Bow is at greatest distance from the camera, it's 'foreshortened' more profoundly. Glory's figurehead is 7 1/2 feet. It's publicized in a magazine. The carved arch she mounts to is just slightly longer, as can be seen in multiple sources. That means the two combined arch out at an angle of 15 feet. The Mjelde drawing just doesn't reflect that. Her Naval Hoods as seen in her launch, the San Francisco dockside and 1900's close up of her lovely figurehead all show a close dimensional width to the inside of the Main Rail above. To me the Mjelde image makes this to fat and way too stubby, robbing Glory of this beautifully coordinated combination of nautical devices. In my view, Donald McKay was a master of "form follows function" but he also did this with a sense of beauty and nautical poetry.
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Section 1 progress of the ledger size pages, "Glory of the Seas" Bow and her Grecian Goddess "Athene" figurehead. Getting these dimensions as accurate as possible should allow the rest of the recreation to come together more smoothly. Her underwater Hull is based on the 1869 launch image, the 1907 dockside blowup and my best effort to stay true to both.
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A more complete image of Glory at her launch. A blue flag with white stars flies on a post mounted to her Bowsprit. Another large American flag flies at her Stern. The detail is so crisp in this scene, I can count the strakes around her Starboard loading port. I count 9 strakes above the copper line, just below the port, 4 next to the port and an additional 7 just above and below the covering board of her Main Rail. I think I read that each of these strakes were 12" wide. That would mean the port is 9' above the waterline, 4' tall and 7' below the main rail covering board. That would mean the vessel is 20' from the waterline to the main deck. Since below the waterline is even deeper, it's beginning to look like "Glory of the Seas" is approximately 54' from keel to top of the monkey rail. This would be at the lowest level of her 7' sheer, meaning the Bow would be above 60'. A very substantial vessel indeed.
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Keith, you're so right. Ironically due also to how poorly sailors were compensated, who manned these magnificent Clipper Ships, it was extremely difficult to man these vessels. Webb's monster Clipper "Challenge" had the misfortune of being scheduled to sail just after McKay's "Flying Cloud." Since the 'cream of the crop' were all sucked up to staff her, the Master of "Challenge" (then the largest sailing Merchant Vessel in the World, just edging out "Flying Cloud") had to dig up 'the dregs' to find enough crew to sail. Results were totally predictable. "Flying Cloud" went on to shatter sailing records in her inaugural voyage while "Challenge" had an arduously long Hell trip. To heighten poor Donald McKay's tragic circumstances was the fact that he himself was generous to a fault when it came to how he treated all the employees of his own Ship Building Community, which he viewed as members of his own family...
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Rob, in Richard McKay's terrific book "Famous Sailing Ships and their Builder Donald McKay" there are 2 images of a Builder's Model Half Hull of Clipper "Staghound" which the modeler, a relative of Donald says he rescued from a terrible fate in the McKay Farmouse. The modeler states it was the sole surviving example. However, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston refers to the 2 examples I've shared as being originals too. They're located in the George P Putnam Hall and descriptions detail their provenance. Sadly, in his poverty and despair Donald McKay is said to have used all his others as firewood to heat his Farmhouse during cold Massachusetts winters, in the later days of his life. What a tragic loss to all humanity....
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Rob, in case you or anyone else wants to order prints of the images I've shared, they're from The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Not the Museum of Science which I incorrectly identified before. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/38517/half-working-model-of-great-republic;jsessionid=E871F707D700A8817F818CEE87BF1FC9
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