druxey

Glad to see you and Captain Crozier back in the shipyard, E&T! Looking forward to following your progress in 2015. Best wishes.

Much closer! if you run some 'planking' lines across, you'll quickly see if there is a sharp bend anywhere across the surface.

Revenue cutters were fast because of the great spread of canvas they could carry, not because they were lightly built. They were rugged and robustly built, not lightly framed. I suspect 'double' framing was most likely. The dead flat distance might include part of the space as well as siding of the floor timber. I vote for your Option 1, for what it's worth.

Congratulations and a happy New Year, Doris. Please keep making time to make beautiful models!

Looking better, Alan, but the radius below the 'point' at the outer corner of the wing transom (pics 2 and 3 above) should increase more rapidly. Imagine trying to force a plank into shape around that, even across it at about a 45 degree angle!

Bravo! That rod looks great. Thanks for clarifying wrist/wrest.

Happy New Year and plain sailing in Billy Ruff'n!

The upper gudgeon straps do go through the transom and wrap around the post. Usually you can see a little of them on the side of the stern post. Ah, well, no-one is perfect! However, you are pretty close. A happy and healthy New Year to you.

Beautifully executed Michael. Silly question, though: I always thought it was called a wrest pin, rather than wrist pin. Or is it the old tomayto/tomahto thing? Either way, a happy and healthy New Year to you.

Congratulations on both the upcoming book and completing that very tricky piece of planking work at the stern. Beautifully executed! Every best wish for the coming year, Ed.

Gregor: the length of all the spars on the draught is given in yards and inches, not feet and inches. Therefore 22 10 is actually 66 feet 10 inches long. (In English measurement a yard is 3 feet long.) I presume that a flying jib would be only rigged under exceptional circumstances.

Auto-correct strikes again! Good one, Michael.

I agree that the aftermost opening would have a scuttle lid flush with the deck as you've shown it, Siggi.

Perhaps you are thinking of Arming and Fitting of English Men-of-War? This is by Lavery, not Goodwin. Both books cover the same era but have different content.

I agree with Siggi that, as the gases expand, pressure will diminish as the charge moves along the bore. The number of small wood splinters flying in the video Siggi refers to is also terrifying!

I would not be too concerned with minor variations in gun proportions. As there was shrinkage when casting, I doubt if the same caliber gun from different foundries would be identical. Even the weights of the individual cannon in a battery varied. The carriages definitely would be made to a height where the bore would be centred in the port: you are on safe ground!

That brings a smile to my face as well, Alan! Merry Christmas!

Russ: no formal bibliography, but various works are cited in the author's foreword. There is also a good glossary of nautical terms (probably unnecessary for this audience!) at the back of the book which I should also have mentioned.

I was fortunate enough to be presented with this book for Christmas. The fact that I'm already posting a review on Boxing Day tells you what a gripping read it is! There are many books about the founding of modern Australia in 1787-1788. Rob Mundle is a practical sailor as well as engaging writer, so writes about what he knows. He lays out the perils involved in the voyages, as well as the founding of the penal colony on what is now Sydney. The saga, interlaced with eye-witness accounts, is a compelling one. The historical background to the grand plan of transporting convicts from England is clearly sketched out. The First Fleet was remarkably well planned by Captain Arthur Phillip, especially given the politics and bureaucracy of the day. The preparation, the arduous voyage and the difficulties of the earliest days of settlement are vividly described. There are many anecdotes about the convicts and their activities, legal and otherwise. The first contacts with the Aboriginal population are also described, as well as the conflicts that arose. There are lengthy appendices with lists of seamen, marines and officers on the different ships in the fleet, as well as an alphabetical listing of the convicts, their ages and offences, sentences, occupation (if any!) and the ship they were assigned to. All in all, a book I thoroughly recommend. The First Fleet, Rob Mundle, ABC Books/Harper Collins Australia Pty Limited ISBN 978 0 7333 3236 4 (Hardback) ISBN 978 1 4607 0062 4 (ebook)

Planking would be 'dubbed fair' as Chidokan suggests.

Merry Christmas to you as well, Ben.

Snow is very convincing, Ed! Is there nothing you can't do? A very merry Christmas to you.

Lovely! Season's greetings, Jürgen!

Very, very nice work, Alberto. She is looking lovely.

The round metal bar carrying boom tackle across the stern was called a horse, I believe.