Waldemar

Thanks. The reconstructed design lines may indeed suggest some modifications to the stern. I'll show what's involved a bit later, in the correct order, as it's probably still a bit early for such details now, and the presentation graphics are not yet ready.

The results of the analysis of the design method applied to the construction of the iconic ship Mary Rose presented here, although perhaps no longer entirely unexpected at this latest stage of investigation undertaken, quite decisively complement and correct previous understandings of the history of shipbuilding in this early period. This case emphatically demonstrates that shipbuilding methods that can be called Northern European (as opposed to Mediterranean) are not, as hitherto thought, confined to the early modern Netherlands, from where they were supposedly spread over time to the other regions of the continent. On the contrary, the increasing number of examples being studied show that this is in fact a building tradition that is omnipresent throughout all northern Europe. Suffice it to say that long after the Mary Rose 1511, an exactly identical design method, with all its specific paradigms, was still applied at least 200 years later, for example, for the construction of the very successful Flemish predatory privateer ships, such as the highly regarded Neptunus of about 1690, and described by Chapman as an „extraordinary sailor”, or vessels of Louis XIV's navy of various sizes, such as the light frigate l'Aurore of 1697 (detailed presentation forthcoming). Even if one is not interested in issues such as the historical context of ship design, familiarity with these methods and the ability to apply them in practice may prove useful to today's authors of reconstructions in order to obtain reliable shapes. It is also worth adding that the ancient design methods, correctly applied, virtually guarantee the immediate fair shapes, without the later, punitive synchronisation of cross-sections, waterlines and buttocks, which was in fact not practised in this early period at all. This particular study is based on the published documentation of the ship in two excellent monographs of the Mary Rose — Mary Rose. Your Noblest Shippe, ed. Peter Marsden, 2009 and Tudor Warship Mary Rose, author Douglas McElvogue, 2015. In contrast, one need only caution against the disastrous in content and effect chapter ‘Hull Design of the Mary Rose’ in the first of these monographs, both in a general sense and for me personally. The attempt there to reconstruct the Mary Rose's design method seems to have led to an even more distortion of the lines of the shipwreck than nature has done in 500 years and, as a result, a lot of time was wasted sorting this out somehow. As always, I could also count on the invaluable help of my friend Martes. So much for the introduction, and before the actual detailed explanations, here are a few welcome renders showing a graphical overview of the results obtained:

A very attractive effect. To be honest, I personally even prefer such a more or less monochrome convention. It allows a better focus on shapes and structure, modelled, after all, with such care.

👍 Apart from the occasional printing errors (usually unintentional rescaling of graphics, one or two dimensional) and subsequent possible distortion of the paper, inaccuracies and errors in the original drawings themselves are quite common, especially when drawn by hand, but can also occur in computer CAD drawings if the software operator is not disciplined enough. Unfortunately, this has to be taken into account even when dealing with first class plans, otherwise problems will arise later if not checked beforehand.

Many thanks, Denis, for the demonstration. I was particularly curious just about this stage of model creation. I think it is enough to appreciate the essence of your methods, indeed so closely linked to the specifics of the software. Once again — great results .

Thanks a lot for the explanation, Denis, but to be honest, I wasn't referring to the mesh density of the 3D objects already made (for display, rendering, printing, etc.). Rather, I was referring to the prior stage of modelling the shapes of the ship's components sporting, after all, extremely complex geometry, and yet in such a way that all those thousands of components fit together perfectly (at least that's how I see it in your renders), taking into account all those carpenter's mortises and tenons etc., while still maintaining the rigour of the required shapes, individually and as a whole. I know that even in specialised CAD software, modelling such complex structures is very difficult, and I was curious to see what it looks like in Blender, just for the sake of comparison. And, it's absolutely clear that you are fully comfortable with Blender, as can be seen by the results you get .

Normally I pay attention to that too, but in this case it's all very carefully done indeed, especially compared to some wood models where the grain can run completely perpendicular (and quite absurdly it has to be said ) to the contours of the frames or other proportionally elongated elements. I'm rather puzzled by something else — is a mesh based 3D modelling program (as opposed to NURBS geometry) really optimal for such magnificently detailed structural models and yet of such extremely complex geometry for most components?

Rightly so. Resistance to side loads and minimal runout are critical features of these rotary tools, as indeed with all devices of this type, so that drill bits would not make cones in the air, making it nearly impossible to start the hole in the right spot (can be checked if buying personally in a local shop, best at highest speeds). Not to be overlooked are the numerous accessories that Proxxon offers for its rotary tools (e.g. drills presses of different types, router bases, etc., also of good quality straight away from the box or only after a small/easy adjustment). However, there is a detail, probably usually unnoticed or underestimated, for which I additionally appreciate Proxxon's rotary tools, namely the metal (i.e. rigid) neck in the shape of a perfect cylinder with a diameter of 20 mm, which is standard on their entire range of miniature drills. This makes it very easy to make various holders for Proxxon rotary tools yourself, while keeping decent geometry of the whole setup (parallelism/perpendicularity). Below is one of my self-made holders, which in the attached photo is in turn mounted in a lathe toolholder, but can also be mounted in vices, adapted to various accessories (including by other manufacturers), etc.

My experience with Dremel has not been good and my assessment is that the product is highly overrated. The main objections (but there are others) — huge vibration and deafening noise, especially at higher speeds. This is a result of the poor precision of the tool and mainly cheap plastic components. But perhaps the newer models of Dremel rotary tools are a little better, check with your dealer how it actually behaves if you can. For comfortable and precise work, I don't think there's an alternative to Proxxon, at least in the popular sector. Its 'strategic' components are very precise and made of metal. Quiet and vibration-free, even at the highest speeds. That said, the highest possible speeds are not really necessary, medium and low speeds are much more useful, provided the torque is sufficient. The lower the speed a rotating tool can achieve, the better, as it makes the tool truly more universal.

Thank you, too. Actually, in the broadest terms, all French sets of albums of this kind and from this period can probably be collectively called ‘de Colbert’, since they must have been made at the behest of this statesman. Nevertheless, it has apparently become accepted in French historiography to distinguish between these albums in one way or another for the sake of better precision of the message. I thought you might also like to take advantage of this opportunity. Anyway, I'll try not to bother again, only in a way the question about the rabbet arrangement somehow provoked this activity . And, well, I am quite curious, how will you ultimately decide on the issue of the limber holes?

Nice description, thanks, although a bit in the style of more puzzles or uncertainty than answers . If it's important, I'd suggest replacing the title of one of the works above, that is ‘album de Colbert’ (which is about the construction of a large warship) with ‘Dessins des différentes maniéres de vaisseaux que l'on voit dans les havres, ports et riviéres depuis Nantes jusqu'à Bayonne qui servent au commerce des sujets de Sa Majesté, 1679’, or briefly — ‘album de Jouve’ or ‘album du Ponant’ (it is assumed that the latter album is most likely the product of someone in Jean Jouve's workshop or just working for Jouve).

As the classic said: — check once, curse twice...

As I know life and its diversity, it could probably have been quite variable (for example, more or less fixed/loose planks in different arrangements), depending on the specific use of the boat, especially the type of cargo. In the monograph there is also an example of the same type of boat, although almost twice as big, sporting already a regular deck along the whole length of the boat.

Hi. Maybe a good idea, too. Anyway, I have looked up the description of the construction of this boat in the monograph and found only this brief, rather unambiguous entry (p. 8): Il n'existe pas de bordage intérieur ou vaigrage, uniquement une sorte de ceinture ou serre croisant les allonges à leur mi-hauteur. There is no inner planking or vaigrage, only a kind of belt or clamp crossing the futtocks at their half-height.

Both variants of rabbet arrangement you show are correct and have been seen on wrecks and plans of various vessels of the period. They are quite closely related to limber holes, which themselves are actually necessary for larger vessels equipped with bilge pumps. This is perhaps a longer story, however, if you consider that this small boat did not have limber holes, you can safely follow the plans in the monograph. Or, if you prefer to have some form of limber holes anyway, you can consider some of the following options for modifications to these plans (limber holes in red).