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Jim Lad

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Everything posted by Jim Lad

  1. An ugly duckling, perhaps; but a beautiful ugly duckling (if that's possible)! 🙂 John
  2. Keith, I've been following along on your build, but sadly not commenting (my oversight). I think you're doing a great job on this piece of nautical infrastructure. John
  3. Another small update. Although there seems to be little change on the model I've actually done quite a lot. I've done a lot of work on the pin rails, getting them more in scale and making new ones for the fore end of the poop to match the ones that were actually on the ship. I've also starting fitting the wooden cap railing around the poop (only the easy bits so far); made and fitted the new railing for the fore end of the poop - yes, I have the photos to show that that's what it was like on the final voyage and I've also got the basic bowsprit rigging and the jib stays rigged. Sorry for the especially poor quality of the bowsprit image, but I was in a bit of a rush, having remembered to take a couple of photos just as I was about to put the model away! 😑
  4. Hello Vytautas, and a warm welcome to the forum from 'Down Under'. John
  5. I've had a reply from my contact at the Mariehamn Maritime Museum. They tell me that it was a common fitting used when it was necessary to use a capstan on a different deck for a heavy job such as hoisting yards 0 remember that the yards on the 'Duchess' were all steel and thus very heavy to hoist. John
  6. I think perhaps we're going around in circles a bit with the mooring line thought, but I've had another idea - She had to change sails several times each voyage; could the fairlead have been used to help in hauling sails aft from the sail locker under the forecastle? John
  7. Keith, every ship coming alongside is heaving on mooring lines at an angle through a fairlead of some sort. In extreme conditions, nasty things can happen if you don't take care, but that usually involves the mooring line breaking, with often disastrous results for any nearby crew! John
  8. Andy, don't forget there were also a pair of capstans on the well deck under the boat skids. They would be perfectly placed for heaving the forward springs. John
  9. Thanks again for your input, gentlemen, but I think we may have forgotten the layout of the deck of this ship. Below is a sketch plan of the deck of the 'Duchess' from 'The Tall Ships Pass'. The fairleads are at the break of the poop, marked by the black arrow. There are capstans positioned along the deck marked by the red arrows and there is a steam cargo winch with warping drums extended out past the hatch coaming marked by the green arrow. I certainly agree that these large fairleads look like they're designed for a large rope, but I can't see them being of use for mooring lines unless the after mooring lines were routinely stowed under the forecastle when at sea, which a possibility, given the long sea passages she regularly undertook. John
  10. And although not painted in detail, that appears to be a Spanish ensign that she's flying. John
  11. Thanks for the input, Dafi and Veszett. The 'Duchess' has an extremely long poop stretching to between the fore and main masts. There's no clutter around there at all. Good thought on cargo derrick crutches, but the 'Duchess' didn't sport such fittings. The search continues! John
  12. Hello, and a warm welcome to the forum from 'Down Under'. John
  13. Thanks for that, Rob. Every time I find something else to be done on the model I feel like Doctor Watson being chided by Sherlock Holmes - "You look, but you don't see". John
  14. Thanks very much for that, Wefalck. I've also approached my contact at Mariehamn and he's also having a look for me. I could just make a pair of fairleads and fit them "because they're there", but I'd really like to know their purpose. John
  15. A good thought, Wefalck. What puzzles me a little is that the fore end of the poop was severely damaged in the donkey boiler explosion in 1935, so these fairleads must have been replaced after that; which means that they must have had an important role in the working of the ship. I will be fitting them, as the photos of the wreck show them still in place, but I'd just love to know exactly what their purpose was. John John
  16. Looking very workmanlike, Colin. John
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