molasses

The link in the first post is bare bones basic. There are literally many thousands of copper alloys, each designed for specific purposes.
 
The brass sold for hobby use is a 75/25 copper/zinc alloy and it is in the half-hard condition. The brass in firearm cartridge cases is 70/30. Most copper alloys work harden which greatly increases the strength but also makes them more brittle. For example, if you draw annealed (also called "soft" or "dead soft") brass wire through a draw plate you'll have to anneal it after two draws. One draw will render it half-hard. It won't draw a third time, it will usually just break and if not will be so brittle it will break if bent.
 
Annealing of most copper alloys is done as described by wefalk: heat it until it glows then immediately quench in water. The result of heating until it glows and letting it air cool is very unpredictable. If brass is heated to about 800 F and quenched it will partially anneal to about half-hard.
 
Navy brass is an alloy of copper, zinc and tin which retains the brass color while also having the higher corrosion resistance of bronze. This is the brass alloy that was used on ships. Muntz metal is a 60/40 copper/zinc alloy with a trace of iron that was frequently used for hull sheathing at a much lower cost than copper after its invention in 1832. See the Cutty Sark website for an example of its use. It looks very similar to brass but a bit whiter.
 
True bronze contains 8% to 12% tin. Architectural and commercial bronzes are actually brass, with zinc instead of tin, and sometimes also contain lead. That's why modern "bronze" statues turn green while some of the older statues that were cast in true bronze remain the same deep reddish brown they were when cast 200 years ago.
 
Copper is also alloyed with nickel for high corrosion resistance, especially in seawater; the most widely used for this purpose - Monel - is 45% copper, 55% nickel. Another copper nickel alloy (usually with some zinc) known as German silver contains no silver, but closely resembles it. If you ever had a "silver" ring that turned your finger green it was made of German silver. Nickel silver is a standardized alloy of copper/nickel/zinc (60/20/20, again no silver) used (among many other things) for the rails in model railroading because the oxide that it forms is also white, protects the metal against further oxidation and conducts electricity. It is also used to make most professorial grade white metal musical instruments as opposed to the lower quality yellow brass instruments.
 
Sorry if I've presented more info than you want or need to know but I spent my entire adult life working with metal and am still fascinated and amazed by what can be done with it.

You can rig all the shrouds and backstays outside the bottle but you won't be able to set the masts into a hole or tube. You can use either hinges at the bottom of the masts or use one of two variations on what I call the "divot" method. For this just drill a very shallow hole - just up to the shoulder of the point of a bit the same diameter as the mast - leaving a shallow "divot" to locate the base of the mast. The base of the mast has a matching shallow cone to fit into the divot. Glue a length of thread into a small hole drilled in the center of the mast base and pass this thread through a small hole drilled through the hull at the center of the divot to draw the base of the mast into the divot. The thread can be omitted if you don't mind guiding the mast into place with a tool from outside the bottle. I've used both variations but prefer the thread when there are deck obstructions. It is possible to rig an entire vessel outside the bottle and pull the masts out of the divots which will collapse the rigging like pulling out the poles of a pup tent. Inside the bottle, all that is required is to move the bases of the masts back into the divots. However, this method requires clear space forward of the mast locating divots to allow the mast bases to slide on the deck into position. Having some fore-and-aft stays loose will allow moving the mast bases into the divots around or over obstacles.

 

Conventionally, all of the fore-and-aft stays (six on the foremast, four on the other four) will have to be routed out the bottle - 14 to 22 total, depending on how they're rigged. Here's three sketches of what happens to the fore-and-aft stays.

 



 

A brig with three yards on each mast, other spars (spanker boom and gaff) and all rigging but the fore-and-aft stays have been omitted. There are two variations on rigging these stays. First is to have the main topmast stay (middle one on the aft mast) route through the foremast (where it becomes the forestay) and through the deck. Similarly with the main topgallant stay (the upper one) through the foremast (where it becomes the fore topmast stay) and through the bowsprit. You won't be able to glue the fore topmast stay sail to the stay, it will have to slide on that stay. The alternative is to rig the main topmast and topgallant stays more realistically by passing the stays through eyes glued to the aft side of the foremast and down through holes in the deck and out the bottle. They can be routed through the same hole as the mainstay. Of course, all the forestays start on the foremast and go out through the hull and bowsprit in this variation.

 



 

Here we have the two variations on masts. The upper has the bases of the masts fixed in place by hinges. The stays are all the same length as those on the first sketch. Notice how much more line will be needed in order for the masts to fold down. If the stay continues through the foremast then the shortages are added together and it also shows why many staysails can't be glued to the stays when continuous stays are used.

The lower sketch has the mast bases loose. It seems possible to attach the stays at both ends to the mast and deck as shown but I would plan for the stays going through the bowsprit being control lines. On a five-master, the main mast stay(s) going through the deck may need to be loose as well. This could cut the number of stays out your bottle down to six or eight, maybe ten. I've never tried the divot method (with none of the stays being control lines - re-erecting a tent with only the tent poles) on more than two masts. I've learned that Murphy takes special interest in ship bottling and I prefer having options when - not if - something doesn't go as planned.

 

If you're intending to rig the shrouds and backstays loose and draw them with the pull of one string, it would depend on 150 tied and glued knots not failing. You would need to glue off all of those threads individually inside the bottle to make sure the standing rigging doesn't go slack if any of those knots fail with time.

 

Depending on how complete you intend to rig Preussen, I see eight or ten control lines in the fore-and-aft stays and two control lines for the spanker boom. Braces, yard halliards, topping lifts, clew lines, bunt lines, leech lines, reef tackles, etc. can be rigged outside the bottle and won't need adjustment inside the bottle, with a few exceptions such as tacks (and those are easy in the bottle but rarely done). I don't see any point in doing up-hauls, down-hauls and both the sheets on all the stay sails (and much of the listed running rigging) on a model of Preussen that isn't much longer than a pen. You're going to have a problem keeping the diameter of the rigging to scale; simplifying the rigging somewhat will help balance over-size lines. Even the finest fly tie thread is grossly out of scale for stay sail lines and many other small lines.

 

I've looked at Juliers' Period Ship Handbooks. I will definitely get the one that covers a kit I'm buying.
 
For example, I'm seriously considering Caldercraft/Jotika's Cruizer and when I do buy it I'll order the appropriate Handbook, but at present I'm researching several of the other 105 Cruizer-class brig-sloops I could build from that kit with minor mods. I'm inclined towards building one of the six that were captured or sunk by US ship-sloops during the War of 1812, perhaps HMS Epervier which was captured by USS Peacock and subsequently became USS Epervier.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I ordered used copies of the following:
 
The Construction and Fitting of the English Man of War: 1650-1850 by Peter Goodwin   [$74.50]
 
The History of the American Sailing Navy: The Ships and their Development (1998 edition) by Howard Chapelle   [$9.92]
 
The Search for Speed Under Sail, 1700-1855 by Howard Chapelle   [$22.00]
 
Architectura Navalis Mercatoria by Fredrik Chapman   [$9.66]
 
The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor: Or a Key to the Leading of Rigging and Practical Seamanship by Darcy Lever   [$5.36]
 
The Ship Model Builder's Assistant by Charles Davis   [$3.72]
 
American Sailing Ships: Their Plans and History by Charles Davis   [$2.50]
 
Used books are a terrific bargain. For example, new copies of Construction sell for $210 up to $499.50. For two of the books I'm paying more for the postage than I am for the book.
 
As a result of finding these bargains I'm still open to more suggestions and I'm sure others reading this topic will find them as useful as I am.
 
 
 
 

After finding MSW I quickly learned about Chuck's work (and Greg's) and now follow everything they post as well as those of several others. Chuck's Winchelsea has been an eye-opener for planking a hull for me. He definitely has a knack for clearly explaining methods for accomplishing complex tasks, unlike some people I've known who couldn't explain how to open a jar of model paint without omitting a key, but elementary, step or making it overly complicated. 
 
After googling most of the titles suggested I've added several to my wish list. Nearly fell off my chair when I saw the price for a used copy of Steel's Elements... at over $1000 plus shipping.
 
As the result of searching titles I found and downloaded pdf files for The Sea Gunner's Vade Mecum (Simmons) and an article, "Carronades" by Spencer C. Tucker, published in Nautical Research Journal (Mar. 1997). I discovered that books in the public domain listed on Google Books that aren't available on the English language website as electronic downloads are frequently available on their other language sites.
 
I received the two McNarry books mentioned above yesterday and can't put them down. Together they were less than $65 total, including shipping, and are used library discards but they are still in good shape. Ship Models in Miniature covers 65 of his models with descriptions and photos, many in color. He mentions his research in each description and lists NMM, Chapelle and Chapman most frequently. Shipbuilding in Miniature is a practicum of building in miniature which is useful for my present build and my interest in ships in bottles but can also be applied to details for larger models. For example, he discusses plating a hull with .001 inch copper plates, .080 inch x .020 inch (50' = 1" scale), more thoroughly and historically accurate than I've seen covered on MSW with much larger plates at a larger scale. He references The Cutty Sark: The Ship and the Model by C. N. Longridge (available in two volumes or as a combined volume).

I used the technique described by Chuck to make some ring bolts. I twisted 40 gauge (.0055 inch / 0.14mm) copper wire around .010 inch (0.25mm) piano wire to make the eye bolt. [is that "crazy small" enough for you, Chuck?] I made rings .030 inch (0.75mm) inside diameter, fished the ring into the eye, brought the ends into contact and glued them with ca transferred on the point of a needle. Here's a completed ring bolt. I made a total of twenty of them and, yes, they were very fiddly. 
 

I've looked at Juliers' Period Ship Handbooks. I will definitely get the one that covers a kit I'm buying.
 
For example, I'm seriously considering Caldercraft/Jotika's Cruizer and when I do buy it I'll order the appropriate Handbook, but at present I'm researching several of the other 105 Cruizer-class brig-sloops I could build from that kit with minor mods. I'm inclined towards building one of the six that were captured or sunk by US ship-sloops during the War of 1812, perhaps HMS Epervier which was captured by USS Peacock and subsequently became USS Epervier.

I'm posting a follow-up on Ogallala.
 
Upon finishing her I submitted photos to Bottle Shipwright, the quarterly journal of the Ships in Bottles Association of America (of which I am a member), and quickly learned that Ogallala would be the featured SiB in the March issue which I received a few days ago. Here's the cover. I'm not going to bore you with posting the photos from the article because they have already been posted here.
 

 
As an aside, I mentioned a couple times in this build log that I can't really see my work for what it is. All I can see are the deficiencies no matter how minor. Ogallala has been sitting in a box on a shelf since I finished her in late October - until today. I'm now able to see her as a whole and I'll admit I was impressed and very pleased.
 
If you haven't seen them yet check out my two current projects listed in my signature.

Thanks for the very kind comments. Here's the best of the photos of the finished Ogallala.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thank you to all who viewed this log and especially to those who contributed with 'likes' and with comments - you all pushed me to do my best possible work.
 
Now I can get back to work on Esmeralda. I learned a few things here I can apply to "The White Lady".
 

 
Dave
 
 

Ogallala is finished. 
 
 
Tensioned and secured all of the lines but had to redo one that was done wrong. Had to cut it loose at one end and glue another thread to it end to end, then re-tension the line, glue and trim it inside the bottle. Don't bother looking for the splice - you won't find it.
 
Cleaned the inside glass again then located the prairie disc and ship using the four threads from the wheels taped to the outside of the opening. Once in position I epoxied the disc to the glass in three places. When the epoxy cured I painted the inside of the bottle below the soil line and re-checked the tension on the four threads. I had intended to simply epoxy the other medallion over the opening to trap the threads but decided this may not be secure enough. I cut a block of basswood to fit between the medallion and the bottom of the prairie disc and epoxied it to the medallion. When cured I epoxied that assembly to the disc and the opening.
 

The medallion with the basswood spacer after checking the fit. I epoxied the
assembly to the disc and the face of the opening to trap the lines as well.
 
After the epoxy cured and the outside of the bottle / sphere was cleaned I took lots of photos. Here's two full view photos.
 

 

 
I'm still going through them all and will post more tomorrow or the next day. Click on the photos for larger versions.
 

 
Dave
 

I've been following this build because of its similarity in scale to most of my projects - and to learn from the wonderful work you're doing.
 
I found a source for enameled winding wire as fine as 45 gauge in small amounts. Google "Temco". A two ounce spool of 45 gauge is 7 miles long! according to their website. Bare wire should be .0017, this enameled wire measures .0035 as near as I can tell.
 
I also un-lay fly tying thread. The easiest way I've found is to feed a length of the thread through a wire loop (I use about an inch in diameter) fixed horizontally, then separate the three strands for about an inch so each lays over the loop, about equally spaced. Clamp a small weight (mini clothespins work well) to each of the strands and the bottom end of the thread. These weights will un-lay the thread for you, completely hands off. Just watch to keep the spinning thread and weight from tangling with the spinning strand weights.
 

 
I added this photo of a sample set-up with a short piece of 16/0 size, 2 strand fly tying thread. I usually start with about 3 feet (1 meter) of the thread and hang it over the edge of my table almost to the floor. As soon as I release the large clothespin gravity will take over and un-lay the thread. It goes rather quickly - I tried to get a photo without the large pin but that short thread un-layed before I got to the shutter button.
 
Also, definitely invest in an Opti-Visor. You will wonder how you ever managed without one. I use diopter #3 (1.75X magnification). That magnification gives me a comfortable focal distance of around a foot (30cm). Higher magnification requires closer focal distances and lighting the work becomes a problem.

I agree, I catch all kinds of errors in my photos that I don't see even with an OptiVisor. 
 
I agree with Daniel, where's the bottle? 
 
Beautiful work!

It's been done.

By Phil Mattson
 

Cruizers, part 6:  HMS Reindeer
 
The Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Reindeer launched on 15 August 1804, commissioned in September and set sail for the Jamaica station on 21 November with Commander John Fyffe in command. She was one of six Cruizers built from fir to speed construction and cut cost, a compromise that would significantly reduce their service lives. All six were started and launched within a period of three months from 22 May through 22 August.  Raven, the first Cruizer discussed here, was one of that group, wrecked in 1805. Another foundered in 1809. In 1812, two were broken up and a third placed in ordinary and later sold. By 1814, Reindeer was the only one of this group still in service and four years past her projected service life.
 
Under Commander Fyffe’s command on the Jamaica station from May 1804 through February 1807, Reindeer captured at least six enemy privateers and one sunk and participated with Magicienne in the cutting out expedition of a French merchant schooner from under a battery in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico. Reindeer also engaged two French Navy brigs of 16 x 9 pounder guns, sailing together, in a running battle and chase of over four hours until they managed to escape after taking damage from Reindeer’s fire. They were captured two days later by HMS Pique and taken into Royal Navy service. Reindeer, in January, shared with three other Royal Navy men-of-war the proceeds from the capture of an unspecified number of merchant vessels.
 
Commander Peter John Douglas took command in February 1807. Reindeer captured six privateers, three merchant vessels and re-captured an English vessel held by a French prize crew. After a chance meeting of Reindeer and four other Royal Navy vessels on 10 November 1808, the captains decided to capture the town and port of Samana, a base for many French privateers, in support of Spanish patriots attempting to overthrow French rule over the western part of the island of Santo Domingo. After the capture of the town and port (and French vessels sheltered there), Captain Charles Dashwood of Franchise handed Samana over to a Spanish officer, Don Diego de Lira, who guaranteed the safety of the French inhabitants on their plantations. The combined operations of these five ships netted two French privateer schooners and five merchant vessels in the week following the capture of Samana.
 
Reindeer, with Commander Douglas still in command, was in the North Sea for most of 1809 where she captured the French fast dispatch vessel Mouche No.13 on 8 March. On 4 November 1809, Reindeer set sail for Jamaica with Commander Christopher Crackenthorp Askew in command.
 
Reindeer, Commander Nicholas Lechmere Pateshall in command since sometime in 1811 or early 1812, with Polyphemus (64), and Thalia (36) set sail from Jamaica on 20 May 1812 to escort a convoy of about 100 ships bound for The Downs. They also carried news of the declaration of war by the United States, ratified and signed on 18 June, learned on the journey from a passing merchant vessel. A hurricane likely scattered the British convoy but the escorts collected some of the ships and continued to the destination. [The records, as far as I am able to find, are not clear on this except for the departure of the convoy and the sighting near Portsmouth of two of the escorts with a smaller convoy. Polyphemus separated from the convoy soon after it rounded the western tip of Cuba.]
 
The American Commodore, John Rodgers, within an hour of learning on 21 June of the 18 June ratification of the declaration of war, had ordered his squadron to set sail from New York to find and intercept this same convoy. This squadron consisted of Rodger’s flagship President (44), United States (44), Congress (36), Hornet (18) and Argus (16). They did not find the convoy but the President did engage the HMS Belvidera (36) on 23 June for the first naval action of the war. Belvidera did enough damage with her stern chasers - combined with the catastrophic chase gun explosion on the President that caused damage to the foremast, yards, sails and rigging, killed 16 men and wounded Rogers and many crewmen - to slow the President and allow Belvidera’s escape.
 
Reindeer arrived at Plymouth on 1 August 1812 for a refit that lasted until 11 September. It is likely that her 16 x 32 pounder carronades where exchanged for 24 pounders due to her age and having been built from fir although the records I have consulted cannot confirm the exchange during this refit, only that she was armed with them on a later date. It is also possible that the 32s were needed elsewhere and the change had nothing to do with Reindeer‘s condition. [see also post #13, which I had forgotten about, regarding these guns being replaced after Manners threw several 32s overboard during a storm. I gladly defer to uss frolick's expertise on this point.] This would reduce the dead weight on deck by 7,500 pounds and improve her speed and other sailing characteristics.  Commander Daniel Ross took command and set sail on the June 12 to begin his duties based from Plymouth.
 
Ross’s successor on Reindeer, Commander William Manners, captured six privateers and merchant vessels in 1813 with the first one on 2 February. They included two American privateer schooners, a French privateer lugger of 14 guns, a French merchant brig and two recaptured British merchant vessels held by unspecified enemy prize crews. Four of these were captured while Reindeer was in company with another British warship. One recapture was made by the Cruiser-class Derwent with assistance from Reindeer on 13 December.
 
Reindeer continued operating out of Plymouth through June of 1814.
 
The new American sloop-of-war Wasp, sister to the previously mentioned Peacock, was commissioned in early 1814 with Master Commandant Johnstone Blakeley in command. She remained at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, until receiving orders to attack British shipping in the western approaches of the English Channel and set sail on 1 May 1814 with a hand picked crew of 173 officers, sailors and marines, passing unobserved through the blockading frigates.
 
USS Wasp’s Specifications
Length:  117 ft
Beam:  31 ft 6 inches
Tonnage:  509 (burthen)
Rig:  ship-rigged sloop
Armament:  20 x 32 pounder carronades + 2 x 12 pounder chase guns
Complement:  173
 
In June, the Wasp, repeating the spectacular successes by Argus of the previous year, captured five British merchant vessels, scuttled four and turned one over to the accumulated prisoners. At 4:15 am of 28 June, about 225 miles west of Plymouth, Wasp began the pursuit of two merchant vessels to the northwest but soon noticed a third bearing down on her from a little north of east. This was the Reindeer with orders to find and destroy the Wasp.
 

Action Between USS Wasp and HMS Reindeer, 28 June 1814
By Edwin Hayes, 1819-1904, NMM Collection
 
Under an overcast sky with a wind from the northeast so light that it scarcely disturbed the unusually smooth surface of the sea, Manners on Reindeer and Blakeley on Wasp began a contest in seamanship over the weather-gage that continued for more than ten hours. By ten am, both ships were identified as enemy sloops with Reindeer maintaining the weather-gage. At about 1:15, with no weather advantage gained or lost, Wasp beat to quarters without shortening sail then at 2:00 fired a gun to windward. Peacock immediately responded in kind to accept the challenge.
 
The maneuvering continued until 3:17 with both vessels close-hauled on the larboard tack running parallel courses at less than 60 yards distance and Reindeer still holding a slight weather advantage off Wasp’s larboard quarter. Reindeer fired the only gun on either sloop that would bear – her 12 pounder carronade boat gun mounted on the topgallant forecastle loaded with round shot and grape. Two minutes later Manners fired again, and again, five times.
 
Seeing that Reindeer was very slowly pulling even with Wasp, Blakely turned to the wind at 3:26 and hauled up his mainsail while firing a rolling broadside from aft forward as each gun bore during the turn. Peacock then turned to as well to bring her starboard battery to bear and fired at a distance of less than twenty yards from Wasp. Both crews, working the guns with desperate energy, exchanged broadside for broadside for ten minutes until Manners realized his only chance for victory lay in boarding and let Reindeer’s head fall off towards her opponent.
 
The sloops ground together at 3:40, men hacked and thrust at each other through the open gun ports while dense smoke from the fire of the guns that still bore billowed up from between the hulls. Cheered on by the mortally wounded Manners, grimly determined British sailors appeared through the smoke onto the deck of Wasp met by the deadly musket fire from her marines in the tops and the cutlasses and pikes of her sailors on deck. Bleeding profusely from a grape shot wound through both thighs and with several other less serious wounds, Reindeer’s captain sprang sword in hand to the foremast shrouds to lead personally his willing crew back onto Wasp saying, “Follow me, my boys, we must board them.” At that moment, a musket ball smashed through his skull and he fell back dead onto Reindeer’s deck, his sword still clenched in his right hand. As Manners fell and his men recoiled at the sight, Blakeley seized the moment to order his men forward onto Reindeer. After a moment’s furious struggle, Wasp’s boarders slew or drove below the remaining defenders. The captain’s clerk, the senior officer alive on deck, surrendered the brig at 3:44, 27 minutes after Reindeer had fired the first gun and 18 after Wasp had responded.
 

Marines Aboard USS Wasp Engage HMS Reindeer
By Sergeant John Clymer, USMC, 1945, Collection of the National Museum of the Marine Corp
Depicting the moment of Commander Manners’ fall, at far left
 
Reindeer was cut to pieces in line with her ports, and her upper works, boats and spare spars were reduced to splinters. Both masts were badly wounded just above the deck with the foremast tottering. Including her courageous commander and both midshipmen, she had 33 dead or dying and 34 wounded out of her crew of 98 men and 20 boys. The sails and rigging of Wasp were well cut up. Six round shot and many grape were embedded in her hull and many more had penetrated her sides or entered through her gun ports. One 24 pound shot had passed through the center of her foremast. Out of her complement of 173 men, she had 11 dead or dying and 15 wounded.
 
In a comparison between Reindeer and Wasp of the weight of broadsides and the size of the crews, the disparity for each is very close to 2 to 3, the greatest of any of the actions between Cruizer-class brig-sloops and the nominally “equal” American sloops. The outcome was proportional to the difference in force. Roosevelt quoted Cooper, “It is difficult to say which vessel behaved the best in this short but gallant combat.” Roosevelt went on to say, “I doubt if the war produced two better single-ship commanders than Captain Blakeley and Captain Manners; and an equal meed [measure] of praise attaches to both crews.” Even James refrained from his usual defamatory, anti-American remarks, “The action of the Reindeer and Wasp may be pronounced one of the best-fought sloop actions of the war,” although he did resort to his characteristic distortion of the numbers.
 
After Reindeer’s surrender, Master Commandant Johnstone Blakeley and both crews set to work caring for the wounded, burying the dead and making repairs through the night and into the next day, 29 June. When the wind increased during the day, Reindeer’s foremast fell and the decision made to burn her rather than risk her re-capture. After the wounded were transferred to Wasp and a passing neutral vessel, and Reindeer’s 12 pound boat gun brought on board, Reindeer was fired. Wasp stood off to watch her burn and then set a course for L’Orient after her magazine exploded.
 
Three Royal Navy vessels and three US Navy vessels have borne the name “Reindeer” in her honor.
 
As an alternative subject for Caldercraft’s Cruizer, Reindeer would need a change in the armament to 24 pounder carronades (which are available), the addition of the 12 pounder carronade mounted on a gun carriage and the addition of the fore and aft platforms like those on Snake. Because of my research into these Cruizer class brigs, I am becoming convinced that the platforms may have been typical, but more research is needed to confirm this. In the six that I have researched for these articles the platforms were mentioned specifically or their existence implied in the sources.
 
 
Next:  HMS Avon
 
Sources: 
The Naval History of Great Britain by William James, 1824
History of the Navy of the United States by J. Fenimore Cooper, 1836
The Naval War of 1812 by Theodore Roosevelt, 1900
The Age of Fighting Sail by C. S. Forester, 1957
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Dept US Navy, (online)
 “NMM, vessel ID 374389”, Warship Histories, vol.iii, National Maritime Museum (online)
“HMS Reindeer (1804)”, “USS Wasp (1814)”, “Sinking of HMS Reindeer”, articles on Wikipedia (online)
The London Gazette, 16 citations listed in “HMS Reindeer (1804)”, Wikipedia
 
[Edited to include information from post #13 I had forgotten to include, also typo corrections]

I definitely appreciate your comments, and anything you choose to add (or correct if need be) is welcome.  I'm not a scholar or writer, I'm a modeler who enjoys learning about the human and historical connections of the subjects I'm considering for models.  I thought it would be interesting to other modelers to learn about some of the Cruizer-class brig-sloops that can be built from the Cruizer kit with relatively easy modifications, usually no more than a change in armament.  I can build only one of them - I'm leaning toward Raven at present but can easily change my mind.
 
The lashed-down un-mounted gun reference came from James' Naval History, so it doesn't surprise me that you found more in his Occurrences.  I'm finding James to be interesting reading as long as I have other secondary sources at hand to read in parallel.  He is good at presenting the facts from his original sources, but from time to time, when he draws conclusions relating to US Navy vs Royal Navy engagements in the War of 1812, he lets his intense irritation at the RN losses override his scholarship.
 
It's becoming quite clear that the armament of vessels was very much up to the discretion of their commanding officers such as was done with Raven and Peacock, and with the additions made to Frolic that clears up the discrepancy between Jones's report and her standard armament.  I was very disturbed by the possibility that Jones had exaggerated Frolic's armament and had it perpetuated by the US Navy; I'm pleased to learn of a plausible, documented explanation.
 
I'll write about Pelican next, and Avon shortly after that.  

Time to post some progress.
 
I'm basically focusing on deck details near and on the lower bridge just forward of the main mast.
 

The flying bridge with radar units on roof and the boat with davits and containers below the boat.
 
I drew the components I needed for the flying bridge on the computer and printed them out on card stock. 
 

Flying bridge parts with X-acto blade for size reference. Yes, I freaked out seeing
them life size and wondering how I was going to cut out all those windows (22).
 

But I surprised myself and all went well. Mostly complete flying bridge.
 
I made the radar cage from 40 gauge (.0035 inch / 0.09 mm) wire with top and bottom made from a narrow strip and two discs of card stock. Other radar is a bug pin with the head built up with a couple dips in gesso. The roof of the lower bridge has two holes drilled in it to receive the two pins which will be cut shorter later - they are much too useful now as handles. Some detailing remains.
 
I worked on the davits, boats and containers as single assemblies on bases from paper. This is essentially the same as on the ship (except the base is a thick steel plate) and works out well for me.
 

Six containers, two davits and a boat.
 
The containers were made from basswood sanded to diameter then cut off to length. I made lots so I could use those that were closest in length, even a couple thousandths difference in length at this size is noticeable. Davits and cradles made from 30 gauge wire. Boats were made the same as the others made earlier. The boats need thwarts, oars, rudders and tillers.
 
These three assemblies will be glued to their places after the ship is in the bottle. At least that's the plan. I may be able to install the boat & davits assemblies before but I won't know until later - it seems better to plan for the worst case at this point. 
 

I also made two of these racks with three more containers each.
I've assumed these containers hold inflatable life rafts - sixteen total.
 

One of three fire hose reels on deck.
 
Here's the group photo including the motor launch at far right which is now just a 
painted hull needing floor boards, seating, motor compartment, tiller and rudder.
 

 
 
Dave

I'm working almost exclusively from photos. I was unable to find any plans for Esmeralda or her sister ship Juan Sebastian Elcano. I did find a low-res drawing of the weather deck and the deck below which gave me my deck outline and helped with my best guess at the waterline shape. I also had the dimensions (OA length, WL length, beam, mast heights, etc.) which I used to extrapolate other dimensions from the scores of photos I collected from the web.
 

Deck plan used. The lower deck shows the hull shape at the lower deck which I used to make my best guess
at the waterline. The three images below are lower-res versions (for posting here) of high-res images (up to
6 MB) I found and used for my deck detailing.
 

 

 

 
I also used numerous on-deck photos and video tours of the weather deck for specific details and as checks against my extrapolated dimensions. In most cases I have two or more photos of a specific detail from different angles.
 
Spar dimensions were easy to derive; there are numerous photos of Esmeralda under sail in which the spars are parallel or near parallel to the plane of the camera lens. It's easy to compare that length to the WL length or the total mast height in several photos to come up with a number at E's scale (1/640).
 
That's my long answer. My short answer would have to be, "I'm eye-balling it."
 
Dave 

You can rig all the shrouds and backstays outside the bottle but you won't be able to set the masts into a hole or tube. You can use either hinges at the bottom of the masts or use one of two variations on what I call the "divot" method. For this just drill a very shallow hole - just up to the shoulder of the point of a bit the same diameter as the mast - leaving a shallow "divot" to locate the base of the mast. The base of the mast has a matching shallow cone to fit into the divot. Glue a length of thread into a small hole drilled in the center of the mast base and pass this thread through a small hole drilled through the hull at the center of the divot to draw the base of the mast into the divot. The thread can be omitted if you don't mind guiding the mast into place with a tool from outside the bottle. I've used both variations but prefer the thread when there are deck obstructions. It is possible to rig an entire vessel outside the bottle and pull the masts out of the divots which will collapse the rigging like pulling out the poles of a pup tent. Inside the bottle, all that is required is to move the bases of the masts back into the divots. However, this method requires clear space forward of the mast locating divots to allow the mast bases to slide on the deck into position. Having some fore-and-aft stays loose will allow moving the mast bases into the divots around or over obstacles.

 

Conventionally, all of the fore-and-aft stays (six on the foremast, four on the other four) will have to be routed out the bottle - 14 to 22 total, depending on how they're rigged. Here's three sketches of what happens to the fore-and-aft stays.

 



 

A brig with three yards on each mast, other spars (spanker boom and gaff) and all rigging but the fore-and-aft stays have been omitted. There are two variations on rigging these stays. First is to have the main topmast stay (middle one on the aft mast) route through the foremast (where it becomes the forestay) and through the deck. Similarly with the main topgallant stay (the upper one) through the foremast (where it becomes the fore topmast stay) and through the bowsprit. You won't be able to glue the fore topmast stay sail to the stay, it will have to slide on that stay. The alternative is to rig the main topmast and topgallant stays more realistically by passing the stays through eyes glued to the aft side of the foremast and down through holes in the deck and out the bottle. They can be routed through the same hole as the mainstay. Of course, all the forestays start on the foremast and go out through the hull and bowsprit in this variation.

 



 

Here we have the two variations on masts. The upper has the bases of the masts fixed in place by hinges. The stays are all the same length as those on the first sketch. Notice how much more line will be needed in order for the masts to fold down. If the stay continues through the foremast then the shortages are added together and it also shows why many staysails can't be glued to the stays when continuous stays are used.

The lower sketch has the mast bases loose. It seems possible to attach the stays at both ends to the mast and deck as shown but I would plan for the stays going through the bowsprit being control lines. On a five-master, the main mast stay(s) going through the deck may need to be loose as well. This could cut the number of stays out your bottle down to six or eight, maybe ten. I've never tried the divot method (with none of the stays being control lines - re-erecting a tent with only the tent poles) on more than two masts. I've learned that Murphy takes special interest in ship bottling and I prefer having options when - not if - something doesn't go as planned.

 

If you're intending to rig the shrouds and backstays loose and draw them with the pull of one string, it would depend on 150 tied and glued knots not failing. You would need to glue off all of those threads individually inside the bottle to make sure the standing rigging doesn't go slack if any of those knots fail with time.

 

Depending on how complete you intend to rig Preussen, I see eight or ten control lines in the fore-and-aft stays and two control lines for the spanker boom. Braces, yard halliards, topping lifts, clew lines, bunt lines, leech lines, reef tackles, etc. can be rigged outside the bottle and won't need adjustment inside the bottle, with a few exceptions such as tacks (and those are easy in the bottle but rarely done). I don't see any point in doing up-hauls, down-hauls and both the sheets on all the stay sails (and much of the listed running rigging) on a model of Preussen that isn't much longer than a pen. You're going to have a problem keeping the diameter of the rigging to scale; simplifying the rigging somewhat will help balance over-size lines. Even the finest fly tie thread is grossly out of scale for stay sail lines and many other small lines.

 

Thank you for contributing, Michael. The National Maritime Museum [online] is a wonderful source for plans and information. The ship histories have been particularly useful to me.
 
I wasn't aware that the four 18-gun Favourite class ship-sloops were a stretch (9 feet deck length and 3 inches beam) of the Cruizer/Snake, thank you.
 
Just a couple days ago, I came to the same conclusion that the Cruizer class, not the Cherokee class, was the largest class of sailing warships ever built when the actual number launched is considered, not just the number ordered.*
 
Of the 115 vessels ordered to the Cherokee brig-sloop plan, 11 were cancelled and 2 were not built (Forester and Griffin) but were re-ordered and built at another shipyard (but still listed a second time), for a total of 102 built.
 
Of the 112 vessels ordered to the Cruizer plans, 3 were cancelled and 4 were in the Snake sub-class (Snake and Victor in 1797-1798 and Childers and Cruiser [with an 's'] in 1827-1828), for a total of 105 Cruizer class brig-sloops built.
 
It is logical to include the Snake class with the Cruizer class because the hull plans were identical with only a variation in the number of masts. At least 4 Cruizers were altered to a ship rig and one Snake reduced to two masts. If considered as one class, the Cruizer/Snake sloops number 109 built.
 
It seems clear that more Cruizer class brig-sloops than Cherokee class brig-sloops were built and entered Royal Navy service.
 
*The assertion that the Cherokee class was the largest class of sailing warship ever built was attributed to J. J. Colledge (1969) & Ben Warlow (rev. ed. 2006) in Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy in the Wikipedia article "Cruizer-class brig-sloops". My analysis of the numbers of vessels built was based on this article, "Cherokee-class brig-sloops" and "List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy" from Wikipedia with slight corrections made after a little further research, primarily the addition of the Snake class ship-sloops of 1827-28.
 
David

I was curious about the number of plans for the Cruizer class (and variations) available at the National Maritime Museum. I found 79 plans of which 19 are downloadable (low resolution, 1280 pixels horizontal).
 
Here they are as of 24 December 2013:
 
Cruizer Class Plans at NMM.pdf
 
If you know of any others please let me know and I'll add them to the list and update this file.

I was curious about the number of plans for the Cruizer class (and variations) available at the National Maritime Museum. I found 79 plans of which 19 are downloadable (low resolution, 1280 pixels horizontal).
 
Here they are as of 24 December 2013:
 
Cruizer Class Plans at NMM.pdf
 
If you know of any others please let me know and I'll add them to the list and update this file.

Cruizers, part 5:  HMS Epervier
 
The Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Epervier (French for sparrow hawk) launched in December 1812, commissioned in January 1813 under Commander Richard Walter Wales and assigned to the Halifax station.
 
On 20 August 1813, she captured the schooner Lively followed by Active on 20 September.  Three days later Epervier, Majestic and Wasp captured Resolution.  On 5 October, Epervier and Fantome captured the American privateer Portsmouth Packet and on 3 November, they captured the Peggy. 
 
On 23 February 1814, Epervier captured the American privateer brig Alfred off Cape Sable, the southern-most point of mainland Florida.  Alfred, which carried 16 x long 9 pound guns and a crew of about 100, surrendered without a fight.  HMS Junon (38) was also within sight.  While returning to Halifax with Alfred, Commander Wales learned of a plot between some of the crew of Epervier and the prisoners to take over one or both vessels and escape to America.  Wales arrived in Halifax two days later after sailing through a gale.  There he notified his commanding officer (who was also his uncle), Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, that he did not trust his crew.  Warren dismissed Wales’ concerns and gave him orders for Epervier to escort a small convoy to Bermuda and the West Indies in company with the schooner Shelburne.  Before leaving on 3 March, Wales exchanged her 2 x 6 pound chase guns and 12 pounder carronade boat gun for 2 x 18 pounder carronade boat guns.2
 
On 14 April, Epervier sailed from Port Royal, Jamaica in company with a merchant brig bound for Bermuda; they stopped at Havana, Cuba where Epervier took on board $118,000 in coins.  They left for Bermuda on 25 April.  Early in the morning of 29 April, a Russian merchant ship going to Boston joined the convoy.  Shortly after that, another ship appeared to the southwest in pursuit.  This was the USS Peacock.
 
USS Peacock’s Specifications
Length:  119 ft
Beam:  31 ft 6 inches
Tonnage:  509 (burthen)
Rig:  ship-rigged sloop
Armament:  20 x 32 pounder carronades + 2 x 12 pounder chase guns
Complement:  166
 
Peacock was one of three new 22-gun flush-decked ship-rigged sloops-of-war that entered US Navy service in the fall and winter of 1813, the other two being Frolic and Wasp.  Peacock launched on 19 September 1813 at New York Navy Yard and commissioned with Master Commandant Lewis Warrington in command soon after.  She broke through the British blockade of New York on 12 March 1814 with supplies for the naval station at St. Mary’s, Georgia and after making the delivery headed south, eventually arriving near Cape Canaveral, Florida on 29 April.
 

HMS Epervier vs USS Peacock
29 April 1814
 
When Epervier saw Peacock, she changed course to the southwest directly towards her.  After Peacock, flying a British ensign and pennant, did not respond to Epervier’s signals, Wales signaled to his convoy that the unidentified sail was the enemy and the convoy set all sail heading northeast.  At about 9:40 am Peacock ran up several US flags and cleared for action.  In the two hours since both ships had sighted each other the wind had gradually veered from a little south of east to almost directly out of the south.
 
At 10 am, with Epervier close hauled on the port tack, Peacock, at half gun range with the wind over her starboard quarter, turned slightly to the north but Epervier kept her bowsprit pointed directly towards the bow of her enemy.  Epervier then turned into the wind, fired a raking broadside close off Peacock’s starboard bow and continued her turn.  Peacock fired her starboard battery at 10:20 during Epervier’s turn.  Both broadsides took effect aloft; Peacock suffered her only significant injury – a disabled foresail yard – during this exchange.
 
At 10:35, Epervier completed her turn on a course parallel to Peacock and fired an ineffectual broadside from her port battery.  Peacock immediately returned fire and continued with a bombardment from her starboard battery at Epervier’s hull.  Epervier’s main topmast fell by the side and then the mainsail boom fell to the deck smashing the wheel, rendering her unmanageable.  Epervier’s return fire had fallen to nothing by this time.
 
Anticipating that Peacock’s next move would be to come along side and board, Wales attempted to rally his crew to board her the moment the two vessels touched.  His crew refused.  Epervier struck her colors at 11:05 am.
 
Peacock suffered the one injury to the foresail yard, some damaged rigging and sails and two men slightly wounded.  Repairs were completed in less than 45 minutes.  Warrington pointed out that not one shot from Epervier had struck Peacock’s hull.  The prize master on Epervier, First Lieutenant John B. Nicolson, reported 9 dead or mortally wounded and 14 wounded, 45 shot holes in her hull and 5 feet of water in the hold, bowsprit severely damaged, most of the foremast stays and braces shot away, main topmast over the side, main gaff sail boom shot away and the mainmast shot through but still standing only because the sea was flat and the wind was light.  Jury repairs to Epervier were completed by sunset but only through great exertion to prevent her from sinking.  No doubt the discovery of $118,000 in Epervier’s lock room came as a great surprise.
 
The next day, the Americans sighted two British frigates.  Peacock successfully decoyed them away from Epervier and later escaped from their pursuit.  Epervier arrived in St. Mary’s, Georgia on 1 May; Peacock arrived on the 4th.
 
The victory of the Peacock over the Epervier was one of the most one-sided of the War of 1812, even though the two opposing vessels were not grossly disparate in strength.  It was stated that although Peacock's fire had dismounted some of Epervier's carronades, more of them fell from their mounts when they were fired.  Wales had carried out little or none of the gunnery practice that would have revealed defects in the guns or carriages before it was too late to remedy them.  Wales had also reported disaffection and unrest among his crew and, unusually for the Royal Navy in the War of 1812, they failed in their duty to fight to their utmost.  The court martial on 20 January 1815 revealed that Epervier had the worst crew of any vessel on her station.  In particular, her crew consisted mostly of invalids from the hospital.
 
After completion of repairs Epervier went into US Navy service with the same name and rate.  USS Epervier, under Master Commandant John Downes, sailed to join the Mediterranean Squadron under Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr., whose mission was to stop the harassment of American shipping by the Dey of Algiers. Epervier joined with Guerriere, Constellation, Ontario and five smaller vessels in the Battle off Cape Gata on 17 June 1815, which led to the capture of the 44 (or 46)-gun frigate Meshuda (or Mashuda).  Epervier fired nine broadsides into Meshuda to induce her to surrender after Guerriere had already crippled the Algerian vessel.
 
Two days later the Epervier and three of the smaller vessels of the squadron captured the Algerian brig of war Estedio, of twenty-two guns and 180 men, at the Battle off Cape Palos.  After the conclusion of peace with Algiers, Decatur transferred Downes to Guerriere.
 
After the Dey signed a treaty, Decatur chose Epervier, under Lieutenant John T. Shubrick, Guerriere's former first lieutenant, to carry a copy of the treaty and some captured flags to the United States.  Captain Lewis and Lieutenants Neale and John Yarnall came on board as passengers.  Epervier sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar on 14 July 1815 and was never seen again.
 
Peacock went on two more cruises in the War of 1812 with Lewis Warrington still in command during which she captured eighteen merchant vessels.  After the war, she continued to serve almost continuously until 1841, when she ran aground and broke up on a bar of the Columbia River in Oregon as part of the United States Exploring Expedition.  Her crew and most of the scientific data were successfully taken off.  She had undergone a breakup and rebuild in 1828 which reduced her armament to 8 x long 24 pounders and 2 x long 9 pounders and increased her displacement to 650 tons specifically for exploratory and extended duration cruises while retaining her overall length and sail plan.1
 
After the war, Lewis Warrington received promotion to Captain in command of Macedonian, then Java, followed by Guerriere.  He also commanded the West India Station during the last stages of the piracy suppression campaign, which earned him the title of Commodore.  He also served as Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard, multiple times as a Commissioner of the Navy Board, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Secretary of the Navy (temporarily, between the death of the Secretary and appointment of a replacement) and finally, as Chief of the Bureau of Ordinance until his death in 1851 at age 69.  Three destroyers were named in his honor in the early and middle 20th Century.
 
Epervier might make an interesting variation of Caldercraft/Jotika’s Cruizer with the fore and aft platforms and the armament change.  She could also be built as she appeared in either the Royal Navy or the US Navy.  The US Navy had hull drawings made which were redrawn by Howard I. Chapelle for his book ​The History of the American Sailing Navy.  These drawings also show the changes made for US service: increased mast rake, lowered gun ports and a low rail on top of the bulwarks at the forecastle platform.1
 
 
Next:  HMS Reindeer
 
 
Edits:  1  additions to text
2  "carronades or gunnades" to "carronade boat guns", see post #33
 
Sources: 
The Naval History of Great Britain by William James, 1824
History of the Navy of the United States by J. Fenimore Cooper, 1836
The Naval War of 1812 by Theodore Roosevelt, 1900
The Age of Fighting Sail by C. S. Forester, 1957
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Dept US Navy, (online)

Cruizers, part 3:  HMS Peacock
 
The Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Peacock launched on 9 February, 1806, coincidentally the same day as Frolic, and commissioned soon after.  Peacock over the next years developed a reputation of being a “yacht” for her tasteful deck arrangement and relocated shot racks, canvas lined breech ropes and brightly polished brass elevating screws and traversing wheel brackets for the carronades.  Someone, for an unknown reason, changed her carronades to 16 x 24 pounders instead of the class standard 32’s.  She probably had small raised fore and aft platforms, similar to those on Caldercraft/Jotika’s Snake; one report states that she had a carriage mounted 12 pounder carronade "on her forecastle" and a long gun (most likely a 6 pounder) as a stern chaser.  There is no space for these guns, as described, except on similar platforms.
 
On 26 October 1812, USS Constitution, Commodore William Bainbridge, with Hornet, Master Commander James Lawrence, sortied from Boston Harbor, just eight days after Wasp captured Frolic and one day after United States captured Macedonian.
 
On 12 December the two ships arrived at Salvador, Brazil where they found HMS Bonne Citoyenne with over a half million dollars in silver on board making repairs.  On the 26th, Bainbridge left Hornet alone to blockade Bonne Citoyenne and headed south.  He met, captured and blew up HMS Java on 29 December then returned to Salvador.
 
On 6 January Constitution departed for Boston.  Lawrence on Hornet continued the blockade until 26 January when the arrival of Montagu (74) forced him to leave.  Hornet headed north along the coast and took a few prizes.
 

HMS Peacock vs USS Hornet by Patrick O'Brien
24 February 1813
 
On 24 February Hornet pursued a British merchant brig into the mouth of the Demerara River where Lawrence saw HMS Espiegle (another Cruizer-class brig-sloop) at anchor, altered course around the sand bar that separated them, then soon noticed Peacock standing in from seaward.  He altered course at about 3:30 pm to gain the weather gage on Peacock.
 
USS Hornet’s Specifications
                    Length:  106 ft 9 inches
                    Beam:  31 ft 5 inches
                    Tonnage:  440 (burthen)
                    Rig:  ship-rigged sloop
                    Armament:  18 x 32 pounder carronades + 2 x 12 pounder long guns
                    Complement:  142
 
At 4:20 Peacock hoisted her colors; Hornet went to quarters and cleared for action.  They continued towards each other, close to the wind on opposite tacks, Hornet on the starboard tack.
 
At 5:10 Lawrence adjusted course to pass close to Peacock, maintaining the weather gage, and hoisted the colors.
 
At 5:25 the ships passed at very close range (“half pistol shot”) and fired their larboard broadsides as the guns bore.  All of Hornet’s fire struck Peacock while Peacock’s fire went so high that it did little damage other than killing one man in Hornet’s main top and wounding two in the fore top – the only casualties Hornet suffered in the battle.  Peacock turned down wind to fire a raking broadside into Hornet’s stern but Lawrence anticipated this, made the same maneuver more quickly, striking Peacock’s stern with Hornet’s starboard bow, and then opened a furious, raking fire with the starboard battery into Peacock’s stern and starboard quarter.  At 5:39, completely shattered and unable to bring any guns to bear in answer to Hornet’s cannonade, Peacock struck, immediately signaled distress, and then her main mast fell.
 
Hornet’s boarding party reported five dead, including Captain Peake, thirty-three wounded and Peacock sinking with six feet of water in the hold and rising.  Every effort was made by both crews to move the wounded to Hornet and save Peacock, but to no avail for Peacock.  She sank in 33 feet of water so quickly that she took three men from Hornet and nine from Peacock with her.  Most of the men on board when this happened saved themselves by climbing into Peacock’s launch as Peacock sank beneath it or climbing the foremast rigging.
 
Lawrence, aware that Espiegle, at last sighting anchored inside the bar at the Demerara River, could be looking for Hornet, ordered Hornet’s repairs.  By 9 pm, with the greatest of exertions, Hornet had new sails bent, rigging repaired, boats stowed and the ship cleared and ready for another action.  With 277 men on board and short of water, Lawrence determined to return home and got under way at about 2 am.
 
Hornet arrived in Martha’s Vineyard on 19 March and in New York soon after.  James Lawrence received promotion and command of the 38-gun frigate Chesapeake.  Bainbridge was assigned to supervise the construction of the first 74 built by the US Navy and take command when completed.
 
News of the fourth and fifth US Navy victories at sea in as many engagements between nominally equal ships upset the British public which was accustomed to naval victories even against nearly impossible odds.  The Admiralty was even less pleased and ordered that US 44-gun frigates were not to be engaged except with superior force.  The captain of Espiegle was court-martialed for not engaging Hornet and helping Peacock.  The US battle report had the engagement four miles from Espiegle but a reconstruction of the battle showed that Peacock was never visible from Espiegle and that the battle itself occurred 20 or more miles away.  He was reprimanded for not exercising his crew at the guns, in effect making him a scapegoat for Peake who had concentrated more on the appearance of his command than its fighting efficiency.
 
The Royal Navy re-named the ex-USS Wasp a second time to Peacock.
 
Peacock is the namesake for one of the three United States Frolic-class 22-gun sloops of war built during the War of 1812, the other two being Frolic and Wasp.  Two of these three will be heard from again.
 
Peacock might make an interesting variation of Caldercraft/Jotika’s Cruizer with small added fore and aft platforms with guns, the main battery changed to 24 pounder carronades and the addition of the “yacht” details. 
 
 
Next:  HMS Pelican
 
 
Sources: 
The Naval History of Great Britain by William James, 1824
History of the Navy of the United States by J. Fenimore Cooper, 1836
The Naval War of 1812 by Theodore Roosevelt, 1900
The Age of Fighting Sail by C. S. Forester, 1957
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Dept US Navy, (online)
 
Edited to correct a minor detail and typos

I was curious about the number of plans for the Cruizer class (and variations) available at the National Maritime Museum. I found 79 plans of which 19 are downloadable (low resolution, 1280 pixels horizontal).
 
Here they are as of 24 December 2013:
 
Cruizer Class Plans at NMM.pdf
 
If you know of any others please let me know and I'll add them to the list and update this file.

Cruizers, part 6:  HMS Reindeer
 
The Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Reindeer launched on 15 August 1804, commissioned in September and set sail for the Jamaica station on 21 November with Commander John Fyffe in command. She was one of six Cruizers built from fir to speed construction and cut cost, a compromise that would significantly reduce their service lives. All six were started and launched within a period of three months from 22 May through 22 August.  Raven, the first Cruizer discussed here, was one of that group, wrecked in 1805. Another foundered in 1809. In 1812, two were broken up and a third placed in ordinary and later sold. By 1814, Reindeer was the only one of this group still in service and four years past her projected service life.
 
Under Commander Fyffe’s command on the Jamaica station from May 1804 through February 1807, Reindeer captured at least six enemy privateers and one sunk and participated with Magicienne in the cutting out expedition of a French merchant schooner from under a battery in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico. Reindeer also engaged two French Navy brigs of 16 x 9 pounder guns, sailing together, in a running battle and chase of over four hours until they managed to escape after taking damage from Reindeer’s fire. They were captured two days later by HMS Pique and taken into Royal Navy service. Reindeer, in January, shared with three other Royal Navy men-of-war the proceeds from the capture of an unspecified number of merchant vessels.
 
Commander Peter John Douglas took command in February 1807. Reindeer captured six privateers, three merchant vessels and re-captured an English vessel held by a French prize crew. After a chance meeting of Reindeer and four other Royal Navy vessels on 10 November 1808, the captains decided to capture the town and port of Samana, a base for many French privateers, in support of Spanish patriots attempting to overthrow French rule over the western part of the island of Santo Domingo. After the capture of the town and port (and French vessels sheltered there), Captain Charles Dashwood of Franchise handed Samana over to a Spanish officer, Don Diego de Lira, who guaranteed the safety of the French inhabitants on their plantations. The combined operations of these five ships netted two French privateer schooners and five merchant vessels in the week following the capture of Samana.
 
Reindeer, with Commander Douglas still in command, was in the North Sea for most of 1809 where she captured the French fast dispatch vessel Mouche No.13 on 8 March. On 4 November 1809, Reindeer set sail for Jamaica with Commander Christopher Crackenthorp Askew in command.
 
Reindeer, Commander Nicholas Lechmere Pateshall in command since sometime in 1811 or early 1812, with Polyphemus (64), and Thalia (36) set sail from Jamaica on 20 May 1812 to escort a convoy of about 100 ships bound for The Downs. They also carried news of the declaration of war by the United States, ratified and signed on 18 June, learned on the journey from a passing merchant vessel. A hurricane likely scattered the British convoy but the escorts collected some of the ships and continued to the destination. [The records, as far as I am able to find, are not clear on this except for the departure of the convoy and the sighting near Portsmouth of two of the escorts with a smaller convoy. Polyphemus separated from the convoy soon after it rounded the western tip of Cuba.]
 
The American Commodore, John Rodgers, within an hour of learning on 21 June of the 18 June ratification of the declaration of war, had ordered his squadron to set sail from New York to find and intercept this same convoy. This squadron consisted of Rodger’s flagship President (44), United States (44), Congress (36), Hornet (18) and Argus (16). They did not find the convoy but the President did engage the HMS Belvidera (36) on 23 June for the first naval action of the war. Belvidera did enough damage with her stern chasers - combined with the catastrophic chase gun explosion on the President that caused damage to the foremast, yards, sails and rigging, killed 16 men and wounded Rogers and many crewmen - to slow the President and allow Belvidera’s escape.
 
Reindeer arrived at Plymouth on 1 August 1812 for a refit that lasted until 11 September. It is likely that her 16 x 32 pounder carronades where exchanged for 24 pounders due to her age and having been built from fir although the records I have consulted cannot confirm the exchange during this refit, only that she was armed with them on a later date. It is also possible that the 32s were needed elsewhere and the change had nothing to do with Reindeer‘s condition. [see also post #13, which I had forgotten about, regarding these guns being replaced after Manners threw several 32s overboard during a storm. I gladly defer to uss frolick's expertise on this point.] This would reduce the dead weight on deck by 7,500 pounds and improve her speed and other sailing characteristics.  Commander Daniel Ross took command and set sail on the June 12 to begin his duties based from Plymouth.
 
Ross’s successor on Reindeer, Commander William Manners, captured six privateers and merchant vessels in 1813 with the first one on 2 February. They included two American privateer schooners, a French privateer lugger of 14 guns, a French merchant brig and two recaptured British merchant vessels held by unspecified enemy prize crews. Four of these were captured while Reindeer was in company with another British warship. One recapture was made by the Cruiser-class Derwent with assistance from Reindeer on 13 December.
 
Reindeer continued operating out of Plymouth through June of 1814.
 
The new American sloop-of-war Wasp, sister to the previously mentioned Peacock, was commissioned in early 1814 with Master Commandant Johnstone Blakeley in command. She remained at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, until receiving orders to attack British shipping in the western approaches of the English Channel and set sail on 1 May 1814 with a hand picked crew of 173 officers, sailors and marines, passing unobserved through the blockading frigates.
 
USS Wasp’s Specifications
Length:  117 ft
Beam:  31 ft 6 inches
Tonnage:  509 (burthen)
Rig:  ship-rigged sloop
Armament:  20 x 32 pounder carronades + 2 x 12 pounder chase guns
Complement:  173
 
In June, the Wasp, repeating the spectacular successes by Argus of the previous year, captured five British merchant vessels, scuttled four and turned one over to the accumulated prisoners. At 4:15 am of 28 June, about 225 miles west of Plymouth, Wasp began the pursuit of two merchant vessels to the northwest but soon noticed a third bearing down on her from a little north of east. This was the Reindeer with orders to find and destroy the Wasp.
 

Action Between USS Wasp and HMS Reindeer, 28 June 1814
By Edwin Hayes, 1819-1904, NMM Collection
 
Under an overcast sky with a wind from the northeast so light that it scarcely disturbed the unusually smooth surface of the sea, Manners on Reindeer and Blakeley on Wasp began a contest in seamanship over the weather-gage that continued for more than ten hours. By ten am, both ships were identified as enemy sloops with Reindeer maintaining the weather-gage. At about 1:15, with no weather advantage gained or lost, Wasp beat to quarters without shortening sail then at 2:00 fired a gun to windward. Peacock immediately responded in kind to accept the challenge.
 
The maneuvering continued until 3:17 with both vessels close-hauled on the larboard tack running parallel courses at less than 60 yards distance and Reindeer still holding a slight weather advantage off Wasp’s larboard quarter. Reindeer fired the only gun on either sloop that would bear – her 12 pounder carronade boat gun mounted on the topgallant forecastle loaded with round shot and grape. Two minutes later Manners fired again, and again, five times.
 
Seeing that Reindeer was very slowly pulling even with Wasp, Blakely turned to the wind at 3:26 and hauled up his mainsail while firing a rolling broadside from aft forward as each gun bore during the turn. Peacock then turned to as well to bring her starboard battery to bear and fired at a distance of less than twenty yards from Wasp. Both crews, working the guns with desperate energy, exchanged broadside for broadside for ten minutes until Manners realized his only chance for victory lay in boarding and let Reindeer’s head fall off towards her opponent.
 
The sloops ground together at 3:40, men hacked and thrust at each other through the open gun ports while dense smoke from the fire of the guns that still bore billowed up from between the hulls. Cheered on by the mortally wounded Manners, grimly determined British sailors appeared through the smoke onto the deck of Wasp met by the deadly musket fire from her marines in the tops and the cutlasses and pikes of her sailors on deck. Bleeding profusely from a grape shot wound through both thighs and with several other less serious wounds, Reindeer’s captain sprang sword in hand to the foremast shrouds to lead personally his willing crew back onto Wasp saying, “Follow me, my boys, we must board them.” At that moment, a musket ball smashed through his skull and he fell back dead onto Reindeer’s deck, his sword still clenched in his right hand. As Manners fell and his men recoiled at the sight, Blakeley seized the moment to order his men forward onto Reindeer. After a moment’s furious struggle, Wasp’s boarders slew or drove below the remaining defenders. The captain’s clerk, the senior officer alive on deck, surrendered the brig at 3:44, 27 minutes after Reindeer had fired the first gun and 18 after Wasp had responded.
 

Marines Aboard USS Wasp Engage HMS Reindeer
By Sergeant John Clymer, USMC, 1945, Collection of the National Museum of the Marine Corp
Depicting the moment of Commander Manners’ fall, at far left
 
Reindeer was cut to pieces in line with her ports, and her upper works, boats and spare spars were reduced to splinters. Both masts were badly wounded just above the deck with the foremast tottering. Including her courageous commander and both midshipmen, she had 33 dead or dying and 34 wounded out of her crew of 98 men and 20 boys. The sails and rigging of Wasp were well cut up. Six round shot and many grape were embedded in her hull and many more had penetrated her sides or entered through her gun ports. One 24 pound shot had passed through the center of her foremast. Out of her complement of 173 men, she had 11 dead or dying and 15 wounded.
 
In a comparison between Reindeer and Wasp of the weight of broadsides and the size of the crews, the disparity for each is very close to 2 to 3, the greatest of any of the actions between Cruizer-class brig-sloops and the nominally “equal” American sloops. The outcome was proportional to the difference in force. Roosevelt quoted Cooper, “It is difficult to say which vessel behaved the best in this short but gallant combat.” Roosevelt went on to say, “I doubt if the war produced two better single-ship commanders than Captain Blakeley and Captain Manners; and an equal meed [measure] of praise attaches to both crews.” Even James refrained from his usual defamatory, anti-American remarks, “The action of the Reindeer and Wasp may be pronounced one of the best-fought sloop actions of the war,” although he did resort to his characteristic distortion of the numbers.
 
After Reindeer’s surrender, Master Commandant Johnstone Blakeley and both crews set to work caring for the wounded, burying the dead and making repairs through the night and into the next day, 29 June. When the wind increased during the day, Reindeer’s foremast fell and the decision made to burn her rather than risk her re-capture. After the wounded were transferred to Wasp and a passing neutral vessel, and Reindeer’s 12 pound boat gun brought on board, Reindeer was fired. Wasp stood off to watch her burn and then set a course for L’Orient after her magazine exploded.
 
Three Royal Navy vessels and three US Navy vessels have borne the name “Reindeer” in her honor.
 
As an alternative subject for Caldercraft’s Cruizer, Reindeer would need a change in the armament to 24 pounder carronades (which are available), the addition of the 12 pounder carronade mounted on a gun carriage and the addition of the fore and aft platforms like those on Snake. Because of my research into these Cruizer class brigs, I am becoming convinced that the platforms may have been typical, but more research is needed to confirm this. In the six that I have researched for these articles the platforms were mentioned specifically or their existence implied in the sources.
 
 
Next:  HMS Avon
 
Sources: 
The Naval History of Great Britain by William James, 1824
History of the Navy of the United States by J. Fenimore Cooper, 1836
The Naval War of 1812 by Theodore Roosevelt, 1900
The Age of Fighting Sail by C. S. Forester, 1957
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Dept US Navy, (online)
 “NMM, vessel ID 374389”, Warship Histories, vol.iii, National Maritime Museum (online)
“HMS Reindeer (1804)”, “USS Wasp (1814)”, “Sinking of HMS Reindeer”, articles on Wikipedia (online)
The London Gazette, 16 citations listed in “HMS Reindeer (1804)”, Wikipedia
 
[Edited to include information from post #13 I had forgotten to include, also typo corrections]