uss frolick

Will you be offering a rum-sipping sloth for the great cabin? A cello? Killick holding tray of toasted cheese and Aubrey's number-one scaper? The twins Sarah and Emily? .... ooooh, the imagination soars ...

Will you be offering a rum-sipping sloth for the great cabin? A cello? Killick holding tray of toasted cheese and Aubrey's number-one scaper? The twins Sarah and Emily? .... ooooh, the imagination soars ...

Will you be offering a rum-sipping sloth for the great cabin? A cello? Killick holding tray of toasted cheese and Aubrey's number-one scaper? The twins Sarah and Emily? .... ooooh, the imagination soars ...

Will you be offering a rum-sipping sloth for the great cabin? A cello? Killick holding tray of toasted cheese and Aubrey's number-one scaper? The twins Sarah and Emily? .... ooooh, the imagination soars ...

Will you be offering a rum-sipping sloth for the great cabin? A cello? Killick holding tray of toasted cheese and Aubrey's number-one scaper? The twins Sarah and Emily? .... ooooh, the imagination soars ...

Will you be offering a rum-sipping sloth for the great cabin? A cello? Killick holding tray of toasted cheese and Aubrey's number-one scaper? The twins Sarah and Emily? .... ooooh, the imagination soars ...

Charley, I am so sorry to hear of your family problems. Once the dust has settled, you will be happier as a free agent, especially being a young fellow. The first casualties of marriage are always your hobbies, but rarely hers. At least she doesn't have a horse, like mine has.
 
I would be interested in a copy of each, if you can swing it, and I would, of course, pay any expenses.
 
 

Hello Mark
 
I will have the opportunity to meet Didier Berti (the boss of ANCRE) on October 19 and 20 at the Evian exhibition. I will talk to him about your problem.
If you want to detail your request here or in PM, I can inform him more precisely.
 
GD

Here are a couple French naval subjects that I hope Ancre one day creates monographs for:
 
1. L'Unite/ La Tourterelle, 28 guns: The most beautiful class of eight-pounder frigate/corvette built for the French Navy. L'Unite could be captured and would, of course, become HMS Surprise of Patrick O'Brien fame. Detailed plans of both survive at the NMM.
 
2. La Renommee of 1806. A late Sane-designed 18-pounder frigate that would be captured in 1811, and become the famous HMS Java of Constitution fame. There is a large rigged model of Renommee that survives in the Musee de la Marine, so the specific unique details of the ship would not have to be reconstructed. It has been four decades since Ancre last visited the 18-pounder class with the lovely La Venus, but then there were no frame drawings. There are enough differences between the two to warrant a new look at the class.
 
3. The beautiful 24-pounder Romaine-Class Bomb-Frigate L'Immortalite. Her detailed drawings survive in the NMM, with carvings, and she had a rollicking career in both the French and British navies. From Wiki:
 
"The Romaine class was a class of nine frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. They were originally designated as "bomb-frigates" (Fr. frégate-bombarde) and were intended to carry a main armament of twenty 24-pounder guns and a 12-inch mortar mounted on a turntable in front of the mizzen mast. Experience quickly led to the mortars being removed (in most vessels they were never fitted), and the 24-pounders were replaced by 18-pounder guns. The ships also featured a shot furnace, but they proved impractical, dangerous to the ships themselves, and were later discarded.[4] A further eleven ships ordered to this design in 1794 were not built, or were completed to altered designs. Two vessels of the class became breakwaters in less than 15 years after their construction. The British Royal Navy captured three. One was lost at sea. None had long active duty careers. All-in-all, these ships do not appear to have been successful with the initially intended armament, but proved of adequate performance once their heavy mortar was removed and their 24-pounders replaced with 18-pounder long guns."
 
Please add your longed-for French vessel to this list!
 
 
 
 

Charley, I am so sorry to hear of your family problems. Once the dust has settled, you will be happier as a free agent, especially being a young fellow. The first casualties of marriage are always your hobbies, but rarely hers. At least she doesn't have a horse, like mine has.
 
I would be interested in a copy of each, if you can swing it, and I would, of course, pay any expenses.
 
 

How again can one obtain a copy of the Burrows plans?

Charley, I am so sorry to hear of your family problems. Once the dust has settled, you will be happier as a free agent, especially being a young fellow. The first casualties of marriage are always your hobbies, but rarely hers. At least she doesn't have a horse, like mine has.
 
I would be interested in a copy of each, if you can swing it, and I would, of course, pay any expenses.
 
 

Here are a couple French naval subjects that I hope Ancre one day creates monographs for:
 
1. L'Unite/ La Tourterelle, 28 guns: The most beautiful class of eight-pounder frigate/corvette built for the French Navy. L'Unite could be captured and would, of course, become HMS Surprise of Patrick O'Brien fame. Detailed plans of both survive at the NMM.
 
2. La Renommee of 1806. A late Sane-designed 18-pounder frigate that would be captured in 1811, and become the famous HMS Java of Constitution fame. There is a large rigged model of Renommee that survives in the Musee de la Marine, so the specific unique details of the ship would not have to be reconstructed. It has been four decades since Ancre last visited the 18-pounder class with the lovely La Venus, but then there were no frame drawings. There are enough differences between the two to warrant a new look at the class.
 
3. The beautiful 24-pounder Romaine-Class Bomb-Frigate L'Immortalite. Her detailed drawings survive in the NMM, with carvings, and she had a rollicking career in both the French and British navies. From Wiki:
 
"The Romaine class was a class of nine frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. They were originally designated as "bomb-frigates" (Fr. frégate-bombarde) and were intended to carry a main armament of twenty 24-pounder guns and a 12-inch mortar mounted on a turntable in front of the mizzen mast. Experience quickly led to the mortars being removed (in most vessels they were never fitted), and the 24-pounders were replaced by 18-pounder guns. The ships also featured a shot furnace, but they proved impractical, dangerous to the ships themselves, and were later discarded.[4] A further eleven ships ordered to this design in 1794 were not built, or were completed to altered designs. Two vessels of the class became breakwaters in less than 15 years after their construction. The British Royal Navy captured three. One was lost at sea. None had long active duty careers. All-in-all, these ships do not appear to have been successful with the initially intended armament, but proved of adequate performance once their heavy mortar was removed and their 24-pounders replaced with 18-pounder long guns."
 
Please add your longed-for French vessel to this list!
 
 
 
 

Hello,
 
I cannot tell you about the current projects at Editions ANCRE because the few authors (we are only three...) rarely communicate with each other. I have no idea what monograph JC Lemineur is working on and even if he has a project in progress. Since F. Fissore has specialized in small Italian ships, I doubt that he will propose a substantial monograph on a ship in the French Navy. On the other hand, Didier Berti, the boss of ANCRE, does not "request" a monograph on this or that ship but is content to publish and ensure the distribution of the books. It is therefore the authors, and they alone, who determine their future studies.
On the three wishes that you have expressed, (and without coming out of Aladdin's lamp), I can give you the following details.
- L' Unité, La Tourterelle: it so happens that I had started the study of this corvette in parallel with my current project. It is the latter that currently occupies me and probably for several more years. This corvette could indeed make the connection between the two other corvettes of the collection, i.e. between L' Amarante of 1744 and La Créole of 1838 and I have long noticed this "gap" between the two periods. For a future project perhaps.
- La Renommée/La Romaine: these two frigates are structurally very similar since they were built about ten years apart and their framework, since that is what interests you, is not really very far apart. The problem lies rather in the fact that these two 18/24 frigates are of the same generation as L' Egyptienne whose monograph was published less than five years ago. Frankly, I dont see myself doing a study on a ship almost similar to the one studied so recently.
The time needed to study a ship is significant, of the order of three to four years. This is why it is necessary to make a judicious choice in the projects and I try to produce unpublished monographs on little-studied subjects.
My current occupations apply to a ship few represented in the French Navy, it is an artillery pram otherwise called floating battery. The construction is very atypical as I like them but on the other hand, it is a very complicated frame both to study it and to build it for the (I hope) future models.
This ship dates from 1760 but you can see one of its "sister-ships" a little later here:
https://mnm.webmuseo.com/ws/musee-national-marine/app/collection/record/9024
 
GD
 

Here are a couple French naval subjects that I hope Ancre one day creates monographs for:
 
1. L'Unite/ La Tourterelle, 28 guns: The most beautiful class of eight-pounder frigate/corvette built for the French Navy. L'Unite could be captured and would, of course, become HMS Surprise of Patrick O'Brien fame. Detailed plans of both survive at the NMM.
 
2. La Renommee of 1806. A late Sane-designed 18-pounder frigate that would be captured in 1811, and become the famous HMS Java of Constitution fame. There is a large rigged model of Renommee that survives in the Musee de la Marine, so the specific unique details of the ship would not have to be reconstructed. It has been four decades since Ancre last visited the 18-pounder class with the lovely La Venus, but then there were no frame drawings. There are enough differences between the two to warrant a new look at the class.
 
3. The beautiful 24-pounder Romaine-Class Bomb-Frigate L'Immortalite. Her detailed drawings survive in the NMM, with carvings, and she had a rollicking career in both the French and British navies. From Wiki:
 
"The Romaine class was a class of nine frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. They were originally designated as "bomb-frigates" (Fr. frégate-bombarde) and were intended to carry a main armament of twenty 24-pounder guns and a 12-inch mortar mounted on a turntable in front of the mizzen mast. Experience quickly led to the mortars being removed (in most vessels they were never fitted), and the 24-pounders were replaced by 18-pounder guns. The ships also featured a shot furnace, but they proved impractical, dangerous to the ships themselves, and were later discarded.[4] A further eleven ships ordered to this design in 1794 were not built, or were completed to altered designs. Two vessels of the class became breakwaters in less than 15 years after their construction. The British Royal Navy captured three. One was lost at sea. None had long active duty careers. All-in-all, these ships do not appear to have been successful with the initially intended armament, but proved of adequate performance once their heavy mortar was removed and their 24-pounders replaced with 18-pounder long guns."
 
Please add your longed-for French vessel to this list!
 
 
 
 

I'd be happy with any of the above. The French vessels have a certain elegance that, in my opinion, is lacking in the British ships of the period. M. Delacroix is a member here. perhaps he has some insight into future Ancre publications.

Here are a couple French naval subjects that I hope Ancre one day creates monographs for:
 
1. L'Unite/ La Tourterelle, 28 guns: The most beautiful class of eight-pounder frigate/corvette built for the French Navy. L'Unite could be captured and would, of course, become HMS Surprise of Patrick O'Brien fame. Detailed plans of both survive at the NMM.
 
2. La Renommee of 1806. A late Sane-designed 18-pounder frigate that would be captured in 1811, and become the famous HMS Java of Constitution fame. There is a large rigged model of Renommee that survives in the Musee de la Marine, so the specific unique details of the ship would not have to be reconstructed. It has been four decades since Ancre last visited the 18-pounder class with the lovely La Venus, but then there were no frame drawings. There are enough differences between the two to warrant a new look at the class.
 
3. The beautiful 24-pounder Romaine-Class Bomb-Frigate L'Immortalite. Her detailed drawings survive in the NMM, with carvings, and she had a rollicking career in both the French and British navies. From Wiki:
 
"The Romaine class was a class of nine frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. They were originally designated as "bomb-frigates" (Fr. frégate-bombarde) and were intended to carry a main armament of twenty 24-pounder guns and a 12-inch mortar mounted on a turntable in front of the mizzen mast. Experience quickly led to the mortars being removed (in most vessels they were never fitted), and the 24-pounders were replaced by 18-pounder guns. The ships also featured a shot furnace, but they proved impractical, dangerous to the ships themselves, and were later discarded.[4] A further eleven ships ordered to this design in 1794 were not built, or were completed to altered designs. Two vessels of the class became breakwaters in less than 15 years after their construction. The British Royal Navy captured three. One was lost at sea. None had long active duty careers. All-in-all, these ships do not appear to have been successful with the initially intended armament, but proved of adequate performance once their heavy mortar was removed and their 24-pounders replaced with 18-pounder long guns."
 
Please add your longed-for French vessel to this list!
 
 
 
 

Here are a couple French naval subjects that I hope Ancre one day creates monographs for:
 
1. L'Unite/ La Tourterelle, 28 guns: The most beautiful class of eight-pounder frigate/corvette built for the French Navy. L'Unite could be captured and would, of course, become HMS Surprise of Patrick O'Brien fame. Detailed plans of both survive at the NMM.
 
2. La Renommee of 1806. A late Sane-designed 18-pounder frigate that would be captured in 1811, and become the famous HMS Java of Constitution fame. There is a large rigged model of Renommee that survives in the Musee de la Marine, so the specific unique details of the ship would not have to be reconstructed. It has been four decades since Ancre last visited the 18-pounder class with the lovely La Venus, but then there were no frame drawings. There are enough differences between the two to warrant a new look at the class.
 
3. The beautiful 24-pounder Romaine-Class Bomb-Frigate L'Immortalite. Her detailed drawings survive in the NMM, with carvings, and she had a rollicking career in both the French and British navies. From Wiki:
 
"The Romaine class was a class of nine frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. They were originally designated as "bomb-frigates" (Fr. frégate-bombarde) and were intended to carry a main armament of twenty 24-pounder guns and a 12-inch mortar mounted on a turntable in front of the mizzen mast. Experience quickly led to the mortars being removed (in most vessels they were never fitted), and the 24-pounders were replaced by 18-pounder guns. The ships also featured a shot furnace, but they proved impractical, dangerous to the ships themselves, and were later discarded.[4] A further eleven ships ordered to this design in 1794 were not built, or were completed to altered designs. Two vessels of the class became breakwaters in less than 15 years after their construction. The British Royal Navy captured three. One was lost at sea. None had long active duty careers. All-in-all, these ships do not appear to have been successful with the initially intended armament, but proved of adequate performance once their heavy mortar was removed and their 24-pounders replaced with 18-pounder long guns."
 
Please add your longed-for French vessel to this list!
 
 
 
 

How again can one obtain a copy of the Burrows plans?

I have found the title and a source for this print, although I'd love to get a larger color copy of it. The title is "An American Brig armed with Cannon' dated 1824, by Antoine Roux. Now, the title and the dates given for this are obviously incorrect since this is a watercolor of a schooner - not a brig - and the date places this painting well after the War of 1812. I still don't know what the original title was that Roux had given it, nor the date that this was actually painted, although 1806 is the best guess which places the location in Marseilles, France.
 
 

A smaller boat is very high up on my wish list too. Logic dictates that any ship definitely needs at least one boat to communicate with the shore and for various other tasks.
 
In ‘The Naval Cutter Alert’ Peter Goodwin writes about boats:
 
“… For conveying stores, dispatches and officers and crew, the Alert carried a single boat. (…) In all probability, 6- or 8- oared cutters varying between 12ft and 18ft in length were employed. Alternatively, a long boat either 14ft or16ft in length may have been used. (…) In December 1763 one such (Admiralty) order decreed that during winter only one small 4- oared boat should be allocated and that it should be carried rather than towed to avoid being lost. An order of June 1779 mentions 16ft boats for cutters while another of July 1783 recommends the addition of a second boat.
(…)
When not in use the boat was stowed on the upper deck between the main jeer and topsail bitts and the two elm tree pumps abaft. (…) When required the boat was either swung out or hoisted inboard from tackle suspended from the boom. Should the vessel encounter action the boat was towed astern…
The ships boat also served to convey boarding parties onto vessels ordered to be searched; and for laying out the kedge anchor for warping the ship; or for towing the ship when becalmed. ”
 
A contemporary model of the naval cutter Hawke kept at NMM shows a small boat stowed on deck.
 
 
I guess that all this information is also valid for any other ship or smaller vessel. So, each vessel must have had at least one boat. It may not always be shown on contemporary models because smaller vessels may have towed it quite often but for heavy weather there must have a been a possibility to take it aboard.
 
I really would appreciate a model of a small 12ft or 14ft boat which would also fit all your small models. With a small stand to place it on deck included, you should be able to sell at least one model to every serious model builder who bought one of your smaller kits 😉.
 
Peter