ClipperFan
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Here's another illustration of the Goddess 'Athene' who's lovely form graced "Glory of the Seas". The angle of inclination of the Bowsprit (nautical term 'steeve') is precisely measured based on dimensions in Michael Mjelde's first book. There's a highly detailed contemporary description of "Glory" herself, which is most likely reprinted from a Boston Daily Atlas article. Those dimensions are what I used to create the sketch of her Hull and sailplan (Fore and Main Masts are accurate but the Mizzen appears a little tall).
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These plans are from McKay's own hand, which were intended to be published in a book which sadly never came to pass. From Richard McKay's publication on Donald McKay's Clipper Ship, apparently there were dozens of similar illustrations, now all carefully kept in storage. These particular originals are available for much closer viewing on the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass (PEM Website). They show sister Clipper Bowed Packet Ships 'Star of Empire' & 'Chariot of Fame.' As these are both triple decked vessels and are near size to 'Glory of the Seas' they closely resemble her Hull.
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Rob, after seeing the incredible beauty you created of Great Republic, I am sure you will do Glory of the Seas justice. I just would love to see McKay's last masterpiece given the proper treatment she deserves.
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A cropped 1907 Starboard broadside of Glory of the Seas allows comparison to the scene at her fitting out. Side by side, a dramatic difference in Hull forms is immediately noticeable. As I continue efforts to reproduce an exacting reconstruction of this beautiful vessel, this is the most reliable source unveiled so far. Later images of Glory's hull after she was converted to a Salmon processing plan, aren't as accurate. There were major modifications to her deck which make it far more difficult to see her original sleek Hull and graceful sheer.
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By cropping the image of Glory of the Seas fitting out you can see how similar this looks to the purported hull as drawn by the naval architect for Mr Mjelde's books. Now that there are more broadside images available it's clear (at least to me) that the rendering is inspired mainly by this particular shot.
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With all due respect to Michael Mjelde's two wonderful, engrossing books on Donald McKay's last Medium Clipper "Glory of the Seas" the Hull profile published in both is grossly inaccurate. It appears to be based mainly on a published image of her at her fitting out available in the late '70s when his first book was published. Later images now available reveal a much sharper "Clipper" bow. Glory's Goddess Athene figurehead is published as being 90" (7 1/2 feet). Observed at her launch, it's clear her figurehead projects about 15 feet from her prow, since the carved arch which she's mounted to is slightly larger than the figurehead herself. Artists familiar with "perspective distortion" recognize that objects appear totally different based upon a person's viewpoint. The picture of Glory's fitting out is closer to her starboard stern quarter, slightly below, probably taken from a launch on the water and it appears that Glory herself has a slight lean to port. This perspective distortion must be taken into consideration when trying to evaluate her true Hull appearance.
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This is a spectacular vessel. Thanks for sharing. As for counting modifications, I will leave that to the professionals. I can say though, that it appears there's only one guy on that entire ship! I too agree that your beautiful reinterpretation of the figurehead is a welcome change to standard use of gold. In light of both the kaleidoscope of natural colors revealed by Wasa and the incredible, possibly wasteful use of genuine gold leaf in mass quantities, this approach is probably more accurate to the actual ship. Restrained use of Gold leaf actually heightens impact better.
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Hubac's Historian The triptych of "fleur des Lis" in the bow at first appeared to be relief carvings with lots of open space between them. Upon closer observation it's more apparent they're carvings on a cream colored background instead. That makes more sense as it's a critical area of the vessel that has to be sturdier to plow through the waves. From first hand experience I can verify that pure glittering gold can be overwhelming to the senses. I was in a German palace that had so much gold leafed carvings and statuary that after a hour it actually gave me a splitting headache. While this lavish embellishment can be done on dockyard models, it's more likely the full size ships had a minimum gold leaf highlights and the rest might actually have been natural colors or yellow ocher. Many nautical historians were stunned to discover the riot of all natural shading on the Vasa, for instance. Using this logic, the black and white illustration of the Soleil Royal's Quarter Gallery actually appears to show a red velvet crown with gold embellishments. The dolphins appear to show natural shades too, especially the right side one which is definitely darker above and lighter below. Here's my observation of how the crown appears.
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Hubac's Historian
I haven't been able to contribute much lately due to the need to earn an income. Here's a sketch of the crown for the quarter. This would probably need to be skewed slightly to align with the Quarter Galley.
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Hubac's Historian To answer your question about that Norse Mythology poster, unfortunately I lost track of it decades ago. However I'm sure I could duplicate elements of it. I remember seeing many glorious airbrushed images on cars, trucks and vans from the 70s. While coming up with a design is in my wheelhouse, unfortunately airbrushing isn't. I also don't want to hijack your topic. The work you're doing on this Heller vessel is just incredible.
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Hubac's Historian It will be an honor to collaborate with you. In the mid 70s I once drew an immense poster incorporating all elements of "The History of Norse Mythology". One of my biggest challenges was an eight legged horse with appropriate mounted Viking Warrior. How to get eight appendages to look biologically feasible as well as genuinely believable was a fascinating task. In the end, unless you looked carefully, the beast actually looked like it only had four legs but upon closer observation, there were indeed eight. I've been drawing realistically since the age of five and I pride myself on doing things right. To paraphrase a famous 40s Bogart line "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
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Hubac's Historian It will be an honor to collaborate with you. In the mid 70s I once drew an immense poster incorporating all elements of "The History of Norse Mythology". One of my biggest challenges was an eight legged horse with appropriate mounted Viking Warrior. How to get eight appendages to look biologically feasible as well as genuinely believable was a fascinating task. In the end, unless you looked carefully, the beast actually looked like it only had four legs but upon closer observation, there were indeed eight. I've been drawing realistically since the age of five and I pride myself on doing things right. To paraphrase a famous 40s Bogart line "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
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popeye2sea In order to accurately portray what I see, it will be necessary to print out this clearer image and trace over what appears to be there. As I mentioned to Hubac's Historian the type of highly stylized, embellished, gorgeously carved images displayed in Ships like Les Soleil Royal also utilize Tromp L'Oiel to make partial images look like they hide behind other ones. As with any effort to replicate what's not completely visible, our best efforts to interpret what we can see will also involve subjective interpretation.
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English history, especially their Kings, has never been my strong suit. At least I got the Charles correct. But thank you for setting the record straight.
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Hubac's Historian It's a relief to know that I didn't insult you with my alternate interpretation of Berain's work. In the essence of allegorical interpretation, it would be an interesting exercise to study French use of these mystical creatures. One thing is for sure, sailors are a superstitious lot. Then again taking on vast quantities of the world's oceans where there was no land in sight for months would take a certain amount of faith for sure. Dolphins have traditionally been harbingers of good will. This is a deserved reputation as the mammals themselves are kind hearted and gregarious in real life as well as fierce opponents of sharks. I like your analogy of the pixies also being a form of protection of Ship and crew. As for being forlorn seamen, note how almost universally these lovely women are topless or practically so. Berain particularly seems to like to use "Tromp L'Oeil" to achieve more implied depth than perhaps even the actual carvings on the vessel possess. As a youth, I had the opportunity to see highly ornamented churches, castles and cathedrals when my family was stationed in West Germany in the 60s. The lifelike works were simply overwhelming, especially the gilded ones. Even ordinary pieces of furniture had amazingly detailed carvings. Thank you for your compliment on my sketch. I would consider it an honor to collaborate with you on your 1670 Ship. Another of my favorite vessels is the old warship "Sovereign of the Seas" which was so ornately adorned that it ultimately cost King Charles II his head! Here's another project I've been working on for years. This is the Goddess Athena who adorned Donald McKay's last Clipper Ship, the 1869 "Glory of the Seas." It's widely accepted that this magnificent figurehead represents the zenith of Ship carving. Fortunately, while the ship is long since gone, her goddess figurehead is still available for viewing. She stands serenely at the top of ornate double stairs of the old "India House" in Mahattan, NY. ClipperFan is my tribute to all Clipper Ships. My personal favorites are Mr McKay's of Boston, MA. His works fascinate me and it amazes me how to this day he's been successful at concealing his Bow structure. Case in point, there are no complete Bow sketches of his famous Australian emigrant Clipper "Lightning." It's amazing. His own drawings just leave a blank area, unfinished. like you, I'm a stickler for accuracy. One of my 'pet peeves' is that I have yet to see an accurate bow on any McKay Clipper, with the exception of his "Great Republic." There are contemporary in depth descriptions from the Boston Daily Atlas which clearly enumerate Nautical devices like a curving Cut Water, Carved Arch Work and how the Figurehead sits neatly atop just tucked under where Naval Hoods join just below the Bowsprit. Yet if you look at any model, the figurehead is slapped on the Stem like an afterthought! So I'm gradually attempting to recreate truly accurate Bows of these glorious McKay Clippers. FYI as a previous resident of the Bean State and currently living in CT, my basketball teams are the Boston Celtics and UConn.
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Here's a more clear image of the same Quarter Gallery illustration. The Fairy on the left side is coming out from behind the roof, her left hand supports the Crown. It's anatomically impossible for the lower fish to be her. It's actually another fish, possibly a dolphin, you can see two eyes but the mouth is hidden by what appears to be sea leaves. Now it's more clear that the lady on the right is a full human form with butterfly wings, her right arm, foreshortened also supports the Crown.
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druxey so true. I just am in such awe of talent and in depth research being done by Hubac's Historian. It never occured to me to notice that the 5 window width of the Heller model is in complete disagreement with the wider 6 windows of Berain's gorgeous illustration.
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Hubac's Historian In the interest of your excellent pursuit of historical accuracy, I'm sharing this alternate observation of your "MerAngels". I respectfully submit that it appears they are actually "Fairies" with an Butterfly Wings and peacock eyes at their tips. They have full human legs, with knees. Her lower leg tucks neatly behind what appears to be a very sizable fish with an open mouth and two eyes drawn in a three dimensional fashion. I've included a rough sketch to illustrate this difference between the lady and fish. The diamond shape at the lower leg is the open mouth of the fish, there do not appear to be fins, it looks more like oak leaves at the base of the fish. Her right arm appears to be reaching up to hold the Crown but the image is too blurry to make out more than that.
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John Ruy You're making beautiful progress on this venerable Marine Models 'Charles W Morgan' replica. To settle the possible dispute about the 4 Stern Windows, I've posted a book I read years ago, written by Edouard A. Stackpole on the topic of the Charles W. Morgan published in 1967. One of the biggest surprises those restores made, were original frames for 4 Stern Windows that had been boarded over for decades. There are even pictures of the discovery. Before they felt comfortable re opening them, they did extensive research in the Ship's Logbooks. Only after finding a Log entry from the Captain's wife, referring to her opening the big Transom Windows to air the vessel out, did they feel right in their discovery. I realize you're making an accurate replica of the Morgan's current appearance as a Bark without Stern windows but I thought you might appreciate knowing about their genuine authenticity. I personally miss the old vessel as she appeared in the 60s as a fully rigged ship with painted faux cannon covers and the more elegant Transom. That's how I remember her best.
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Hi Ed, It was my distinct honor and pleasure to meet you when your incredible twin hulls of the Young America were on display at Mystic, CT in the Fall of 2016. It was hard to keep my jaw from hitting the floor, even back then when masting and rigging was just beginning. What you have created is a Clipper Ship in Miniature. I'm fully convinced, were it possible to enlarge this artisan craftsman, once the balance of strakes had been laid on to make her 'sea worthy' your miniature vessel would look and perform identically to her original! To say well done just doesn't do justice to what you have accomplished. FYI: I love your artist impression. No need to apologize to us mere mortals!
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