AON

After 3 years working on a side project, I have finally completed the transcription of every newspaper article I could find mentioning the very first HMS Bellerophon, her crew, and builder. The 156 typed pages contain more than 520 items, from 84 different newspapers, covering the years 1731 to 1836. The last 63 items being the period serving as convict hulk. Through calls at various ports, weather, court martials, the Haitian Revolution, battles (Retreat of Cornwallis, Trafalgar, Nile), providing protection off Newfoundland (where I am certain my ancestors saw her), the capture of Napoleon, escape of convicts, attempted murder of the captain, including the builders marriage, bankruptcy and death. Then finally her being ordered to be broken up. There is even the false reference to an earlier bomb ketch of the same name. It is now being reviewed. If anyone is interested in receiving a copy, please PM me with your e-mail address and I will send you a PDF. It is FREE, no charge, as I cannot imagine there being a very large group interested in this collection, so attempting to sell it would be foolish. This will be Volume 2 of the book to accompany my build. Volume 3 will be a record of the journey of the build itself... which I admit is moving at a snails pace.

Spritsail and spritsail topsail yard arm BANDS and EYEBOLTS From Steels mast making 1794 plate 1, or Ree's plate VIII, we can see the image of the spritsail yard. There are eyebolts and metal bands at each end of the yard arm. The bolts measure approximately 1 inch (25mm diameter) which at 1:64 scale is 0.0156 inches (0.04 cm). The copper wire I used is 0.02" (0.05 cm) diameter which makes it 1-1/4" (3 cm) at 1:64 scale. First I added the metal bands at each end of the yard arms. The metal band is about 1-1/2" to 2" (3.8 to 5 cm) wide as best as I can measure. The extreme end of the yard measures 7" (18 cm) diameter on the larger yard and 5" (12 cm) diameter on the smaller. To scale these are 0.11" (3 cm) and 0.08" (2 cm) diameter . They are much too small for me to roll a copper strip and solder, so I used the method suggested in The Fully Framed Model (TFFM). I took a sheet of white 20 lb bond paper (regular photocopy or printer paper) and coloured a small portion with black permanent marker. I turned it over and coloured the other side so the ink would soak through completely. Having had the ink soak through meant I would not have a white edge after cutting the strip. I then cut a strip about 1/8 inch wide (3 cm), applied diluted glue to both sides and applied it to the yard. It did overlap to create a bit of additional thickness. To make the eyebolts I wound the smaller wire around a 16 gauge (0.064 inch or 0.16 cm) wire to form the eye. At 1:64 scale this is a 4 inch (10 cm) inside diameter (ID) eye. Although the Ree's/Steel's drawing suggests smaller ID, I could not imagine a smaller hole in an eyebolt on a yard arm on a ship tossing at sea. I pulled this tight against the mould wire with pliers to get a good circle shape. The overwrap was cut back and adjusted to contact standing end as solder will not fill gaps. I found my parallel pliers were the perfect tool to re-straighten this tiny wire as it grips the complete length rather than pinching one end. (Thank you Druxey!) I could have rolled it out but might have damaged the bent eye. I used a copper-phosphorous solder (thanks to Ed T in his post of 4 April 2014 in his build of HMS Terror on this forum) as I had bought it back in 2016 for this build and had not yet used it.... has it been that long? This will be used in lieu of silver solder as it is less pricy and chemically blackens well as it is copper based. I do not have silver solder. I could have used regular plumbing (soft) solder on these eyebolts as they will not be under any stress nor will they be chemically blackened. I hauled out my never used butane torch and GRS soldering station (Gesswein Canada)... It took awhile to realize my first problem was the torch was empty... luckily I had purchased a refill bottle way back when I got the torch. Thanks to a soldering display by Ray Peacock of our local club I saw the usefulness of the soldering station and so bought one and have had this sitting at the ready for the better part of a year. My first two attempts at soldering were terrible. I've soldered copper pipe in my home but this is different. The hole or void in the eye plugged up completely on both and I disintegrated (melted) the first. I found that if I cut a tiny piece of solder, warmed up my eyebolt and moved the piece of solder against the joint it would get sucked in. I then turned it over and re-heated to try to eliminate any blobbing. The copper wire was blackened with permanent marker as I was reluctant to chemically blacken something so tiny as the process is actually oxidation or surface corrosion and I had already vapourized one eyebolt. Possibly I shouldn't be concerned, but this is what I did and why. Using a #70 (0.028 inch or 0.07 cm diameter) bit and pin vise I drilled holes into the each end of the yard arms, centered as best I could. I trimmed the standing end of the eyebolts (about 1/2" or 1.3 cm long) and slipped them into the yards. Presently they are dry fitted. If experienced modellers tell me the eyes are too large I can take these out and replace them.... should I? I've yet to make blocks, sails, rope, and attach them to the two yards. The sails will be furled. The parral trucks and ribs are made for the spritsail topsail yard but I do not have the proper rope as yet. Everything is presently back in the storage box to keep it safe.

To all that have been enjoying these posts, I have run out of papers to review. I hope others might add to this topic and keep it going. After about 3 years of working on this project, I have completed my collection of posts pertaining to the first HMS Bellerophon, her crew, the builder, and her time as a convict hulk (re-named Captivity). 156 pages, 520 items, 84 different papers from 1731 to 1836. Through calls at various ports, weather, court martials, the Haitian Revolution, battles (Retreat of Cornwallis, Trafalgar, Nile), providing protection off Newfoundland (where I am certain my ancestors saw her), the capture of Napoleon, escape of convicts, attempted murder of the captain, including the builders marriage, bankruptcy and death. Even the false reference to an earlier bomb ketch. Give me any date and I can tell you what she was doing! It was quite a ride for me and will become book 2 of 3 accompanying my build. Now it needs to be reviewed and corrections made.

Well, no one bothered to draw, hang and quarter me over the fox story.... so, before I disappear for a few days due to another eye injection, I will leave you with this story of a 'leader of men' going out on his terms - August 1815, France, after Napoleon surrendered.

and time moved on... progress in 1815 with steam boats

and... wars are over. So do what ever you want, the Admiralty needs a break - 1815

Thank goodness he didn't decide to go down with the ship - 1815

The war with the USA end a mere twelve days later on the 18th - post dated 6 Feb 1815

LASHES THROUGH THE FLEET: A form of punishment in the old days of the British Navy for the more serious crimes committed on board. It could be awarded only by sentence of a court martial. The man undergoing sentence was placed in a boat in which a ship's grating had been lashed upright across the thwarts, and rowed alongside each ship lying in harbour. While bound to the grating he was given twelve strokes with a cat-o'-nine-tails by a boatswain's mate of the ship off which the boat was lying. After each infliction of a dozen strokes a blanket was thrown across his back while he was being rowed to the next ship, and it was usually necessary to ‘comb the cat’. A naval doctor was always in attendance in the boat to make certain that the man undergoing punishment was fit to receive further instalments of his sentence as he came alongside each ship. In each ship visited the crew were mustered on deck and in the rigging to witness the punishment, drums on board beating out the ‘Rogue's March’ as the boat approached.

And this is one mans story of what happened... - 1815

Oh, what to do with all this surplus stuff? - 1814

I hear a new verse in my head to 'What do you so with a drunken sailor?' When I took my PL course the first thing they made us do a 6 AM was jump off the jetty, be it high or low tide, didn't matter. And I can attest to the fact that looking down was worse than looking up (for me). Then they made sure we could tread water for a minimum of 30 minutes. And they didn't care that the water was damn cold or that the boats officer had a photo of a 15 foot shark they'd caught off that jetty hanging on his wall. Then they taught us to make a flotation device from our trousers to buy us more time. Of course that only counts in a day and age where ships can turn on a dime in most weather conditions, otherwise I suppose, you are fish food. I've read enough 200 year old publications now to know swim or not, your chances back then were from not good to really. really bad..

The number of sailors that could not swim was absolutely amazing. - 1814 Did he not hold on to the horse (safety lines)?

and... what an idiot.. 1813