Sailor1234567890

The French built such pretty ships in those days didn't they?

Plenty had them above but as you alluded to, it places the booms right where the sail wants to be when furled. Trice up the booms before you can furl the sail. Added labour. Ships like Cutty Sark placed the booms below the yard to alleviate this. Placing it behind the yard and above doesn't solve the problem because you still have to lean over the booms to get at the sail to furl it. It doesn't seem to be a solution to the problem in my mind. But maybe it is and I'm not seeing why. I haven't sailed in any ships with stuns'ls so I don't know for sure.

Should the boom irons not angle forward? I've never seen boom irons angled aft like that. Booms forward and above the yard and below the yard but above and abaft the yard is new to me. Was she rigged like that? I know there are some oddly rigged ships sometimes as masters tried out their ideas so maybe she was rigged that way.

A ship today is required to carry a bell or other device that will reproduce the sound of a bell. This is listed in the international regulations for the prevention of collisions at sea or simply "the Colregs". I am fairly confident the requirement was there historically as well. The bell was central to much of the daily routine in the ship, I can't imagine there was a ship that put to sea without one.

There's a video series about handling a big square rigger using Sorlandet. Star of India at the maritime museum there also have some videos out. Fascinating stuff this handling of a big square rigger. There's a 10 minute video of James Craig's first 10 years since her restoration that has some awesome footage of her in plenty big seas. All are worth watching for those of us interested in the handling of big square riggers. 

Excellent figurehead you've got there Amalio.

Bob,

In order to assuage your fears of hiding such boat bling you can use lexan as the top of the box which would also allow a bit of extra light below. Not as traditional but very functional.

Sailor

Those Dorade Vents would not flood because the ventilator would be removed and the hole plugged in nasty weather. They are fine weather ventilators.

Vossiewulf, have you a thread anywhere elaborating a bit on how you carve those things? I'm trying to carve letters and am having a bit of difficulty.

Sorry for the slight thread drift Gaetan.

Cheers,

Daniel

I look forward to seeing her stern with the balconies. Most portrayals of her have the Trafalgar stern that she now has.

I hope you didn't take my comment as a criticism. I too am greatly enjoying your build(s). Still have an old CS 1:96 Revell hull for you on the condition you do something really cool with it.

Doris,

Out of curiosity, what does Royal Katherine weigh at this point? I imagine she's pretty heavy even though she's made of mostly paper....

That painting in your post #630... I don't think she's coming about in that image. I think she's hove to in order to take that tug that's off her starboard side.

Ed,

Back to the subject of the lovely photo of the top showing the lines led through the fairlead board in the top.... Do you have an image showing a little lower? I'm curious where the lines pass through the shrouds and how they do so as they are clearly outboard of the shrouds and ratlines in that image but we all know they belay below to the pins on the rail inboard of the shrouds.

Thanks,
Daniel

Cheesed lines like that are used decoratively. For inspections. They're impractical for daily use though. The first problem is they aren't free to run, they'll kink as they run through a block which is decidedly bad because each turn around the cheese ads a kink to the line. Next problem is that they get wet and the deck rots beneath them. Again, decidedly bad.

Saw today in the National (Scottish newspaper) that there's a contract to bring Falls of Clyde home to the Clyde to be refurbished and sent to sea as a green cargo carrier, sail training vessel, plastic collection and processing plant..... There's hope for her after all. :)

Wait..... You don't wear a tie and waistcoat in your shop? Am I the only one who does?  

Rob,

Are you saying that GR's courses would not have been set on the run down the coast? At 120 foot they are massive of course. I wonder what they would have weighed? How deep were they? Handling sails of that size would have been one heck of a lot of work for the crew. How big was the crew? 150 or more? She'd certainly be a sight to see. Anybody know of a rich crazy billionaire who might be interested in footing the bill?

Those were my thoughts as well. No stuns'ls... Too bad. Looking forward to seeing how she turns out though. Were there any other 4 masted extreme clippers built? I don't think so. 

Any mate worth his salt wouldn't bother adjusting the lanyards anyway, that would put the deadeyes out of line. Yes, he can fine tune the rig that way but normally, if any slack developed, the lashing holding the shroud to the upper deadeye was re-made so the deadeyes were always at the same level. It would of course require setting up the lanyards again but the point was to have the deadeyes all level so fine tuning using the lanyards wasn't really done. As Mr. Cleek said above, they were normally not very slack. It was a periodic maintenance thing to adjust them, not a piece of running rigging that was adjusted with any frequency. Love your progress, she's on beautiful ship. Probably my favourite American Clipper. Cutty Sark being my favourite. 

It would appear to me that there is enough information out there for some rich guy to actually build one full scale if he so desired. The work here is incredible. I love seeing your progress. 

Cheers,

Daniel

I hate to hijack your thread but how do you transition between the square portion and the rounded portion on your turnings of the clock pieces? They look very well done. I have heard that part is very hard to do but I have yet to turn anything like that. It's on my list of things to do but I want a bit more practice. I'm turning black locust which is incredibly hard. Tools need sharpening all the time. Thanks for any advice and the gun carriage is looking great. Look forward to seeing it completed. 

I love a small brig. Looking forward to following along and seeing your progress on her. 

Cheers,

Daniel

So.... Ed.... Whatcha gonna build next?  This is, as Maury said above, incredibly detailed. I can't imagine being able to get half the results you get if I had 10 lifetimes to do it in. 

Cheers,
Daniel