woodrat
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My first draft was twice as wide as the second. As a plan of action I will not be probing blindly with a flashlight. I will use as a sort of template the patia boats of the Bay of Bengal. These vessels had reverse clinker up to the turn of bilge and clinker to the gunwale. They were successful fishing boats and, as I will detail in a later post, have distinct theoretical advantages over clinker. this is a rough plan view of a patia. But I really have no idea of the beam to keel ratio of a hulc. All suggestions will be considered. Dick
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Quite so, Craig. Which is when it gets very confusing. Some would say that hulc is a generic term for a heavy seagoing vessel of any type including nefs. Let us say that for the purposes of this conjectural and very suspect model, a hulc has no keel (but may have a false keel), is reverse clinker planked (although it may be normal clinker), is banana shaped and has no stem or stern posts. The Winchelsea thingie is expunged from the list. Clear as mud in a beerbottle! Prof. Jonathan Adams has written on this subject somewhat sceptically (I cant imagine why!): Something is wrong, for if vessels of this type existed in any numbers, especially over a period of many centuries, then there must have been losses, abandonments and re-use. It would be odd then, even given the vagaries of the archaeological record and all the other factors that influence patterns of discovery, if none had been found. .................. But as we know that ships called hulks certainly did exist, including their equivalents elsewhere such as the Portuguese urca, in view of the number of medieval ships and boats that have been found, the implication is that among their number we may have been looking at hulks all the time. Adams, J. R.. A Maritime Archaeology of Ships: Innovation and Social Change in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe . Oxbow Books. So the implication is that the hulc as a distinct type may not have existed but was a whole horde of different hull types lumped together (even nefs) and that the funny looking banana boats are an artefact produced by deluded illuminators and by sculptors forced to fit pictures of ships on round coins and seals. That would be sad. So I prefer to believe on the basis of no science that it would be nice if hulcs were real and would like a lovely spurious model of one to put on my shelf. By the way, I have a cunning plan which may show how reverse clinker is not as silly as it sounds and indeed has theoretical advantages over normal clinker. The whale pictured under the boat is I think a representation of the voyage of St Brendan not the Bible Yours spuriously Dick
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As there is no extant picture of either, I would hesitate to conjecture. However, I hope I will not end up finding a boo..........
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Despite the better angels of my nature, I feel constrained to go where the prudent would fear to venture. The nautical archaeologists have despaired of one particular ship type: the "mysterious" hulc (also spelt hulk in english). This is a type of ship depicted on town seals, coins, illuminated manuscripts, baptismal fonts, church pews and probably toilet walls during the late mediaeval period. It seems to have largely supplanted the cog but also predated it. Having plodded through many learned disquisitions on the subject and squinted at dozens of poorly done illustrations of vessels which look strangely like those in the "Owl and the Pussycat", I have decided to dive down the rabbit-hole. The problem is that no-one has found a single wreck which can with a straight face be identified as a hulc. And this is a vessel said to be widespread from the baltic to Portugal and beyond for centuries. Curiouser and curiouser. And what are the supposed characteristics of this apocryphal beastie? It was, on the basis of town seals etc. to be a largeish banana-shaped vessel with often depicted reverse-clinker planking (reverse lapstrake), no keel, no stem or stern post, square sails and a funny looking collar round its neck. If you told a five year old " draw daddy a sailing ship", this is what they would draw. Nonetheless, whole forests have been denuded by learned nauticals writing exhaustive academic blatherings on this unicorn of the oceans. Academic reputations have risen and fallen on the deck of the Incredible Hulc. Here are some typical examples of the elusive animal which seems, like the Cheshire cat, to have faded away leaving only a quizzical grin. Is it possible to do a model of one of these things based on the above? Maybe not but perhaps it would be fun to try. As a first toe in the ocean, I spent last weekend at the drawing board trying to pull all the elements together into something that looked sturdy, workaday and able to withstand storms in the Baltic and Bay of Biscay. It also had to be somewhat banana-like. Here 'tis: I think it looks like your generic mediaeval ship and lacks only castles. I don't think it quite catches the eccentricity of the banana boats and I plan to rethink. "I see nobody on the road" said Alice. "I only wish I had such eyes" the King remarked in a fretful tone. "To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance too!" Cheers Dick
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An interesting study by Helfmann et al. [May 2019 Journal of Maritime Archaeology 14(31)] on mediaeval hulls looking at von Mises stress analysis of different hull types found: "The FEA results from this study demonstrated that three critical interdependent factors determined the relative strengths of shell-first and frame-based techniques: the number of transverse frames, the number of longitudinal reinforcements, and their relative locations." In particular they found that shell-first hulls were greatly stiffer than frame-first hulls UNTIL longitudinal stringers were added. The ninth century was a transitional time from shell-first to frame-first and the Yenikapi 12 showed evidence of both techniques. Longitudinal stringers were used. Dick
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Thanks Vaddoc, Binho and Steven. The consensus from the turkish archaeologists seems to be that it is likely to have been built in the Black Sea region. They also believe that the flat bottom was built first then frames added to the bottom. From this point the build proceeded as for skeleton construction. Dick
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I was being a little naughty about the hulc, Pat, but, now that I have thought about it , it's not that bad an idea. I might give it a go soon. I have now planked down to the first wale and will start on the flat bottom. Should be easy till I get to the trun of the bilgeawaiting a stealer Cheers Dick
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Thanks Pat. As you can see from early posts it was not smooth sailing. I look forward to your upcoming build of a northern hulc from the extensive excavations of this well recorded vessel. Best of westralian luck to you Dick
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Thanks, Pat. I wouldn't dream of it. Steven must be going cross-eyed by now. I may have a go myself, though. I think it would have a crew of 2. Dick
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I applaud your choice of subject and have something of a penchant for the working mediaeval vessel myself. I am happy to see you are referencing the excavation report. Do not hesitate to contact the archaeologists as they will undoubtedly be keen to assist you. Those trenails seem a little oversized. Does the thesis give information on their diameter. I find Byrnes trenail maker very cheap and easy to use to get accurate diameters of trenails (I use split bamboo to make them). Good luck with your build of a very interesting vessel. Cheers Dick
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Thanks Vaddoc, Silverman and Hellmuht for your kind suggestions. Framing is now complete. The only metal nails are between keel and frames as in the excavated original. From this point only trenails will be used ( and woodglue). I use bamboo trenails pulled through a Byrnes trenail maker. Cheerio Dick
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Thanks, Vaddoc. The original vessel, as excavated in the Theodosian harbour of Istanbul, used iron nails in the attachment of frames to keel but the rest of the construction used plank to plank dowels and plank to frame trenails. I have used pins into the keel but the wales are held to the frames with wood glue and 0.5mm. bamboo dowels, which was surprisingly rigid. Where do you get 1mm screws from? The mast leans on the stanchion which is in turn held up by a transverse throughbeam. I think. Dick
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Thanks, Steven. Some progress on the vessel. The framing is compleat. I have deliberately made the framing a little rough to match the roughly adzed appearance of the original. I think it would look odd if smoothly machined frames were depicted. The mast-step.The larger slot is for the mast and the smaller slot is for a supporting stanchion for the forward sloping mast. The mast-step timber is keyed into the frames. The first and third wales are in place Cheers Dick
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Further progess on Yenikapi 12 version 3 The backbone in its building board. The aim is to make midship frames and tail frames of correct shape and join everything with ribands to the keel and posts Each frame was made (by the original shipwright) using a floor timber extending up on one side to the level of the gunwale. On the other side, a timber was joined to the floor by an 'L' shaped scarf. The floor was flipped on alternate frames so that the weak scarf was not always on the one side The frames attached to the keel Ribbands have been attached which will guide subsequent frames. Much as the original would have been built. Cheers Dick
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This the backbone of the vessel at 1/16 scale. length about 57 cm. n note the holes in the keel for ropes that would presumably be used to kedge the vessel to a small grapnel. the keylock scarf joining the keel sections and the posts to the keel. an S-scarf joining the timbers of the posts.. Grey resin was used as a filler in the joins and was still present in the excavated wreck. Dick
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Thanks Carl. Unfortunately she will have to go live in a glasshouse and graciously make way for her replacement. Thanks, Steven and Druxey for following along as I slowly go back through time. Yes, Mark, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Fall of Satan. Appropriate for the times. Cheers, all Dick
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I have decided not to bend sails at this time, although I may reconsider this at a later date. I will have to make a display case for it. Dick
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Having taken 5 1/2 years off from this build to complete 2 mediaeval vessels, I feel that I have neglected the Fat Belly too long. I have restarted the build. Cheers Dick Cheers Dick
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I think it is possible at a larger scale and the bonus may be that it will be built with edge dowelling as was the original At 1:16 it would be 57 cm in length and 16.5cm in width. Already started on the Fat Belly. Cheers Dick
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No point at the moment. I have hit a brick wall. Due to the scale selected and the small size of the vessel, it was not possible to join the planks sufficiently rigidly around the form. So, after completing the planking, I removed the shell from the form and, to my consternation, the shell sprang into a narrower configuration due to its elasticity. In the process of correcting this, I destroyed the shell. 😧 So it's literally back to the drawing board. The solution, as I see it, is to do the build at a larger scale To do this I will need lines with greater accuracy in order to build at a scale 1/16 or even larger. In the meantime, perhaps I should do some more work on the Gros Ventre which has been languishing. 😩 Dick
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Thanks Druxey. It's only a humble family coastal trader but it is right at the point where shell construction changed to skeleton, which makes it interesting. Anyway, my ambition to build the frames individually fell flat on its face👺. The frames were turning out inaccurate with many breakages. So, reluctantly I abandoned this approach and decidec to build it shell-first over a mould. I feel better already. Cheers Dick
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This shows the building jig with keel and posts The frame supports and some early frames fitted loosely Cheers Dick
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Having largely finished my build of the 13th century Round ship, I am going back in time to the 9th century. At this time a transition was in play in the Mediterranean away from the shell construction using edge joined planks with pegged mortices to what would become the skeleton type of construction using full active frames. The vessel I wish to construct was positioned in between these techniques in that it had a mixture of shell and skeleton construction used in its construction. In addition , instead of using mortice and tenon technique to edge join the planks, it used an edge dowelling technique. I will utilise the description and reconstruction published by the author: Işıl Özsait-Kocabaş Istanbul University, Department of Conservation of Marine Archaeological Objects, Ordu Cad. Laleli, Fatih, ˙Istanbul, Turkey The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2018) 47.2: 357–390 Copyright for images from this publication resides with Istanbul University Yenikapı Shipwrecks Project, I will withold these. I hope to be able to demonstrate the techniques used by the original builder. The dimensions of the vessel are length overall (LOA) 9.24m, beam of 2.64m, and depth of 1.10m. The length-to-beam ratio of the vessel is 3.5:1. The wreck was found in 2007 at the site of the byzantine Theodosian harbour, one of the greatest treasure-troves of nautical archaeology yet discovered. The wreck of YP12 has good preservation of keel, framing and planking sufficient to do a viable reconstruction. The keel is rockered, that is slightly curved, and made from three pieces joined by keyhole scarfs The stempost and sternpost did not survive and have been reconstructed. I have temporarily installed the spine of the vessels on posts as I believe the original builder would have done. This may end up becoming the stand of the model. Cheers Dick
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I have fitted the rope Jacob's ladders for access to the "crow's nests". I have positioned them so that they would not foul the running rigging . This was before ratlines appeared on the shrouds, at least in the Mediterranean. Cheers Dick
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Mark, there were no reef points in these vessels. It was either furled or unfurled I have thought a lot on this, the yard (peciae antennarum) consists of two parts the upper portion or penna and the lower or carra. From my reading, the carra is always shorter than the penna. This is, I believe, to facilitate tacking or wearing during which the end of the carra must pass in FRONT of the mast base and so, if the carra is too long (equal in length to the penna), this manoeuvre becomes impossible. Hence, it appears that the yard is slung off-centre. The extension to the penna that I have put on to enlarge the sail exaggerates this. The forward mainsail is signicantly larger than the aft mizzen sail. In regard to the sails, I think a quartering breeze would be OK. I dont know about the weight. It would vary according to the size of the vessel but mediaeval blocks tended to be large. Especially the upper halliard blocks. Double blocks were in-line and so look much heavier than they are. Cheers Dick
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