woodrat
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To drill out the mortices you have to have a decent width of plank or you cant do it. Hence the large scale. This next is from my mycenaean build and I used a jig to do the mortices. But now I do them freehand. I can see why slaves were so prized in the ancient world. This type of repetitive, boring job would be given to them. Also the making of pegs.🥱 Cheers Dick
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The keel is jarrah. The planking is a hardwood and I think its meranti. Here is the first attempt at mortice and tenon Pine tenons. I have fixed all planks with mortice amd tenonand will peg them later. Pegged mortice and tenon carvel planking had been in use in the Mediterranean since the Bronze Age (see jmy mycenaean war galley build).
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A closeup of the keel section, showing the two keel rabbets. The outer rabbet is for the thinner sacrificial outer planking, The inner is for the thicker inner strakes. Dick
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Bit unfair to non Aussies. We are referencing an obscure but iconic australian comedy movie called "The Castle". It's mostly about the Vibe. The next step is to carve the rabbet for the garboard strake. But the garboard is not a simple plank, it's a carved polygonal plank and is vital for producing the "wine-glass shape of the hellenistic merchantmen. image from sketchfab Dick
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I have knocked up a mid hull mould to which the keel section will attached. This will also incorporate the mast-step eventually. Dick
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I have received some more detailed drawings by kind courtesy of Dr Pierre Poveda . The drawings are extracted from M. Rival : La Charpenterie Navale Romaine The following are excavated sections of the vessels bottom Further detail of the keel showing the double planking and floors For an idea of what the ship lloked like, it is thought that this mosaic of a very similar merchantman from Themetra in Tunisia is as good as it gets, Cheers Dick
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In this case I am standing on the shoulders of several decades of meticulous excavation and documentation by french archaeologists and aided by photogrammetric reconstructions to enable a credible idea of the hull shape.I claim no originality but am just doing a model in wood of what has already been done virtually. Laetitia Cavassa,PierrePoveda,VincentDumas,NinonBasuau,PhilippeSoubias.TheMadraguede Giens ship:Aphotogrammetryfromthepast:Completingthestudyofanexceptionalromanwreck. Under theMediterraneanII,UniversityofMalta;HonorFrostFoundation,Nov2022,LaValette, Malta. halshs-04015726 Dick
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There are many constructional peculiarities in this vessel which make it differ from later vessels. Having just had 3 weeks travelling I have had time to think. I have concluded that, in order to understand and demonstrate these peculiarities, it would be advantageous to construct a cross-sectional model. Otherwise it would just be another roman ship model. There is enough excellent excavation data to allow this. Dick
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I should refer you to my recent build of a mycenaean galley (link below) built shell first and carvel as was the Uluburun ship. And this was in the Bronze Age! There is nothing new under the sun! Dick
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The more deeply I delve into this , the tougher it gets. Not only was the original Roman vessel built shell-first but it was double planked externally. The framing was inserted after the completion of the shell. As to the hull shape, this has been a matter of academic spleen since it was excavated and remains controversial. Millenia on the sea bed with hundreds of amphorae pressing down have provided some interesting distortions I'm sure. Even so, below the turn of the bilge there was good preservation and the backbone is all there. So it seems that I should start with the quite complicated keel and stern post. Did the romans use any moulds to aid their planking, I dont know. Your guess is as good as mine. Cheers Dick
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Zackly. Which is why, when I hear the term "replica" applied to ancient and mediaeval vessels and to paraphrase Fat Herman, I reach for my gun. We, after all, are only making hobby models, so a little slack can be cut for us. Let us not get too precious. Cheers😎 Dick
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I have commenced researching this famous roman shipwreck. It was discovered off the coast of Toulon in 1967 at a depth of about 20 metres. The hull was largely intact, sufficiently so for reasonably reliable reconstruction to be made of its lines. It appears to be a very large merchantman of about 400 tons with a length of about 40 metres. At the time of its demise in the middle of the first century BCE it was carrying a cargo of wine in amphorae and glazed pottery. The cargo has protected the hull timbers. Excavations led by Andre Tchernia and later by Patrice Pomey of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique have revealed one the best preserved shipwrecks of the ancient mediterranean world and have made it a suitable subject for a detailed model. I hope to proceed much along the same method as I used for my venetian round ship reconstruction. Wish me luck! Cheers Dick
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The port side of the false deck has been fitted. This consists of rectangular floors fitted between rebated cross-beams. Each floor has a central recessed lifting ring. This false deck was meant to accommodate additional passengers such as scientists, artists etc in what was a cargo carrying vessel. The deck is meant to be temporary and would be removed after the completion of the voyage. The pictures are self explanatory. Cheers Dick
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This one. You can see how a mosaicist with little nautical knowledge would mistakenly think that the rudder went through the hull but is actually encased beside the hull. Dick
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I'm sorry Steven, but I feel I should put an oar into the water here. I think it would be an error to put your quarter rudders through the hull just to prove it could be done. Having oblique rudders makes no sense and would detract from an otherwise excellent model. Have a look at the Ostia ship as a solution. There, I've said it.🙂 Dick
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This vessel is of an era preceding the use of the large athwartship transom timber at the stern to support the sterncastle. In its absence, it will be necessary to insert curved support timbers which are seen in many of your illustrations. Dick
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This image is not detailed enough to be sure, but that sure looks like a "hockey stick" poking out the front of the mast . Above it is a smaller mast with a crows nest behind it. I have seen this image before but dont have a large version of it. Can you give me the reference? In my opinion the hockey stick was only used to pull the yard away from the mast to enable lowering as I tried to show in my Yenikapi 12I I have just found a more detailed pic which looks even more hockey stick like Cheers Dick
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As regards the rather bright ropes hanging over the side, there are a number of illustrations which show this. There is no need to imagine prayer beads or pearls. It was just sloppy seamanship. The ships were probably initially sketched at their moorings with their ropes all ahoo. As to their being bright, the following pic shows bright ropes over the side AND dark pendant ropes. I think the pendant ropes are tarred and the bright ropes normal hemp. The last pic clearly shows the anchor cable bright. It was just the way they painted rope against a dark hull. Cheers Dick
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Whatever you choose to do, the top must NOT project forward of the mast since the yard has to be able swing past the front of the top when tacking or gybing. This is what was done in latin rig of the time, as you know. This is John Pryor's concept: Dick
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Shown is the reconstructed (imagined) steering mechanism. At this stage of evolution only one steering oar would be present. It was later in the Iron Age that steering oars would appear on both quarters. As it was a requirement that the steering oar have the capacity to be rapidly rotated into a horizontal position during beaching, there must have been a mechanism whereby the steering can be released rapidly from its upright and pulled into a horizontal position by an up haul. I have shown a possible mechanism whereby this could be done. Dick
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Exactly, Grant. They would hug the coast, beach it at night and snug down in inclement weather. They also would have many stone anchors for ballast. But still not a very stable vessel although the oars would help stability a bit Dick
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