uss frolick

Would a flattened arch be called a "flarch"?

I nominate Talos for the "Best Naval Historical Find Of The Year Award"! Huzzah!

... And the circa 1820 W.A.K. Martin watercolor of her profile, showing the revised positions of her ten broadside ports.

I'm beginning to think they all were, at least before the war broke out, but that the detail was too fine to reproduce on 1/4th inch scale plans. I suspect a whole bunch of similar drawings went up in flames in 1814 in Washington, and again in Norfolk in 1861.

By the way, there is a contemporary drawing of Hornets eagle figurehead and tail-boards, not as beautifully drawn. The eagle looks about the same, but if I recall correctly, there is a drum in the trail-board. What is the significance of 17 stars? How many states were there in 1811? That is a Nautilus tucked into end, and doesn't the shape of Hornet's stern board remind you of the Chesapeake's?

Wow great view of Hornet's stern, Talos!! 1811 was when Hornet was completely rebuilt, (as opposed to a fanciful post-war rebuild) so she must have wore those carvings during her battles. I survived Irma, btw. Still no power, but I do have a working generator.

I made naval-pattern deadlights after Charlie for all my windows. Reinforced plywood, they fit into the cills, and attached with multiple barrel-bolts. Over the years I have painted them on both sides, and cut small light/vision ports in them using a door-knob cutter. Even if the house blows away, they will still stay in place. The larger windows have naval upper and lower half-lid-and-bucklers-style ports, just like Constitution had. The only issues are storage, warpage, and their great weight, especially with the upstairs shutters.

Hal, tell us what Rush wanted for the Congress! I haven't blown out to sea yet, and I still have power and the inter-webby.

I'm going to be signing off soon. Hurricane Irma is coming right at us!

Here is a copy of a post I made in 2014, regarding the America: "I found this xerox of a letter reprinted in an old book, "The History of the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, NH", page 15. I failed to preserve the author's name. Sorry. It is unclear whether John Paul Jones wrote the following or Capt. Robert Morris did later on, describing Jones's modifications to the America. Anyway, it describes in many ways the later Franklin/Washington Class 74's of 1813. "It had been intended to make the waste shallow with narrow gangways; the quarterdeck and forecastle to be short, with a large stern gallery. Instead of this, the quarterdeck was made to project four feet before the main mast. The forecastle was also long, the waste deep, and the gangways broad, and of equal height with the forecastle and quarterdeck. There was just room for the boats on the gangways. A breastwork pierced with gun ports, but of suitable height for musketry, and of the same strength and nature as the sides of the ship, ran all around the quarterdeck, gangway and forecastles, so that all the cannon on the quarterdeck and forecastles,could have been fought on one side, an advantage possessed by no other ship of her time. Above the breastwork, the poop stood on pillars 18 inches long, and projected eight feet before the mizen mast.. Round the poop a folding breastwork was made of light material, and of a strength to resist grape shot; it was made to fold down on deck, and could be raised in a minute, so it was impossible to perceive that the America had a poop at a distance of a quarter mile. There were only single quarter galleries, and no stern gallery." We know that Jones made many modifications to the Bon Homme Richard, but the number and nature were not recorded. I wonder if one or more of these mods had been made earlier to to the BHR. I will admit that I was never fully satisfied with Jean Boudriot's reconstruction. I think she looks too much like the pretty Indiaman Duc de Duras than Jones's deadly all- black-painted commerce raider. But I digress ... Jones continues: "The plan projected for the sculpture expressed dignity and simplicity. The head was a female figure crowned with laurels, the right arm raised, with forefinger pointing to heaven, as appealing to that high tribunal for the justice of the American cause. On the left arm was a a buckler with a blue ground and thirteen stars. The legs and feet of the figure were covered here and there with wreathes of smoke, to represent the dangers and difficulties of war. On the stern, under the windows of the great cabin, appeared two large figures in bas relief, representing Tyranny and Oppression, bound and biting the ground with the cap of liberty on a pole above their heads. On the back of the starboard quarter gallery, a large figure of Neptune, and on the larboard gallery, a large figure of Mars. Over the window of the great cabin, on the highest part of the stern, was a large medallion, on which was a figure representing Wisdom surrounded by danger With the bird of Athens over her head." The book's author added, probably correctly: "The danger surrounding Wisdom, was probably emblematically expressed by flashes of lightening." Addendum: This could be the only WRITTEN description of a Continental Navy ship's carvings, aside from the drawings of the Frigates Raleigh, Hancock, etc. I just love the description of Tyranny and Oppression "biting the ground"! "

Very little visually on the Do-Nothing-Congress of 1799. Perhaps there is tabular data in the Josiah Fox Papers at the Peabody And Essex Museum in Salem, Ma. You might want to check microfilms of Portsmouth newspapers, and with the Portsmouth Anthineum/ Portsmouth Marine Society. There is a ton of information on the replacement-Congress of 1839, also built in Portsmouth, but with battle honors in Mexico in 1846 and against CSS Virginia in 1862. There is a beautiful Roux painting of the Portsmouth built USS Washington, 1815. Ditto USS Portsmouth, 1844, etc.

In the old Time-Life book series on 'The Seafarers, there is a volume called 'The Frigates'. On page 160, a Algerian Artist had painted a beautiful tapestry about the capture of the Algerian flagship, the Frigate Mashuda, in 1815. She is here realistically portrayed dismasted, surrounded by Commodore Decatur's squadron. There is a stern view of the USS Guerierre shown firing into Mashuda. The artist must have actually seen the ships. Decatur's frigate, although small, shows interesting detail. The Guerierre has the three windows design, with two large white greek columns surrounding the center window, and two roses in the quarters. It looks like there is heavy, white lattice work, simulating a gallery, running across all three windows and the roses, beneath the stern boat. A shallower white lattice work runs beneath the windows, et al. Carved white rope work lines the outer edges of the counter all the way around. There may be other detail between the windows and the columns ... ? If anyone has this book and a working scanner ...

Do it!

The Connie's stern is a bit different. On Guerriere, the three gun-deck windows are as spread out as they can possibly be, to make 'room' to work three theoretical cannon, but on Connie's current stern, they are spaced close together, as though it was a five windowed stern with the outmost two windows planked over.

One old book I read was "The wood carver of Salem; Samuel Mcintire, his life and work", by Frank Cousins, from 1916. It is nearly all about his house carvings. Here is a free ebook: The pics are small, but look at the fireplace mantel photo before page 91. A good McIntire eagle is on a building before p. 143. The big coat of arms is the plate before p.141. https://archive.org/details/woodcarverofsale00cous There is a newer McIntire book out, but it is an expensive coffee table book.

The carvings on Chapelle's Essex are a close copy of a very rough ink sketch by Samuel McIntire (the Salem man who carved the Essex's figurehead, etc.) of the stern of an unknown merchant ship, currently held in the Peabody Museum of Salem. The sketch shows no windows. Another McIntire sketch, equally small, unidentified and rough, shows an official seal over a stack of flags/arms in the center, with cornucopias on either side, surrounded with a lot of vinery or "flora-nonspecificus". McIntire used an "eagle, wings pointed downward, on top of a seal, over a stack-of-arms" motif on many surviving fireplace mantels in the city. I suspect a version this is what Essex bore on the center of her taffrail. What very little that survives of McIntire's ship-carving ideas, shows that he didn't put any human figures on the taffrails. McIntire is known today for his carved eagles. One of the few actual carved items of his that survive, is a detailed seal of the state of Massachusetts, that hung in an open public place. The Indian in the center of the seal looks like the Essex's figurehead in the famous portrait. Books on McIntire's works (mostly house-carvings) show these examples. Five windows was probably just Chapelle's guess, based perhaps on the Chesapeake.

Essex has no stern drawings. If the Admiralty took off any plan it has not survived. Portia reconstructs only the 1799 stern with her original six windows, and seven counter timbers, in AOTS. In her earlier book (pamphlet actually) the Essex has five windows, with six counter timbers.

I'm happy to see such a clear view of the Constellation painting! It was listed as "lost" for many years, so perhaps somebody located it. I still wonder if the beloved Essex didn't get that stern too, when she was rebuilt in 1809. She traded in her six windowed stern (if the builder's glazier's bill is to be believed) for one with eight counter timbers (if Washington Naval Constructor Josiah Fox is to be believed), i.e., a new stern with either seven, five or three windows, the latter like the above. Imagine a counter timber on each side of all three windows of the Potomac, plus another pair for the extremities, and you get eight. Portia Takakjian's research on the Essex tells us that when she set sail in 1812, the Essex carried six 12-pounder chase guns - three on the gun-deck, and three on the spar-deck. Was this a crowded, foolhardy attempt to run all six chasers out the stern at the same time in an emergency?

One of them, I now forget which, maybe Forth methinks, was at the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. Whether she was close enough to fire her guns at Fort McHenry, only her log will tell. There is a sketch at the NMM of the Glasgow's figurehead - a full figurehead of a Scottish highlander - very extravagant for the time.

Just one small correction: The Endymion's fir sisters, Glasgow, Liffey, Forth, Liverpool, and one other, were redesigned to carry 28 main deck 24-pounder long guns, since at over 160 feet on deck, there was enough room to do so. Two of them fought at the Battle of Algiers in 1816, and the popular Glasgow survived to fight with the British fleet against the Turks at Navarino in 1828.

Interesting videos. Thanks for the heads up!

You might want to check the fittings page of Bluejacketinc.com . They have several different sizes of pewter carronade barrels. F0630 - 5/8" slide mt. $2.76 F0142 - 11/16" lug mt. $2.98 F0655 - 7/8" slide mt. $3.49 F0640 - 1-3/8" w/tamp. $5.10 F0304 - 1-3/8" open muz. $5.10 and regular pewter cannon barrels: F0101 - 1/2" $2.11 F0538 - 3/4" $2.62 F0540- 1" $3.12 F0100- 1-1/4" $3.42 F0099 - 1-3/8" $4.00 F0102 - 1-9/16" $4.15 F0103 - 1-7/8" $4.43 F0120 - 2-3/8" (Circa 1840) $6.53 F0121 - 2-1/2" (Circa 1840) $7.63

Best French 24-class? La Pomone, captured in 1794. Copied for HMS Endymion, and her fir copies of 1813, Glasgow, Liverpool, Liffey, etc. I still maintain that La Forte of 1793 was Humphries "French influence" inspiration for the United States Class, not the South Carolina of 1781, as Chapelle has stated. La Forte and her later sister-frigate L' Eqyptienne were 170 feet on their gun-decks, and carried thirty long 24-pounders . La Forte made a great name for herself raiding British Indianmen in the Indian Ocean, and especially so after she and three other smaller French frigates combined forces in 1796 to defeat and escape from two British 74's, HMS Arrogant and HMS Victorious, off Penang.