HM Schooner Ballahoo by georgeband - Caldercraft - Haddock drawings

[tkay11]

Very nice and neat, George. I love those Seahorse blocks, and have switched to using them. Excellent for 1:96.

 

Tony

[georgeband]

I have reached a minor milestone and the bowsprit assembly is now attached to the hull. The box in which I keep Whiting has also had an extension to accommodate the new spar. Part of the delay has been from deciding how to simulate a served (or serviced or dressed) rope and there is a separate thread about that. The answer for me is to paint a linen thread, or paint one of the fine ropes from Ropes of Scale for something like a shroud which is only served over part of its length. Painting Gutermann polyester sewing threads gives a rough and bumpy finish because the threads are too hairy. Little alterations to the belaying plan also took up many hours which I have not logged. Making and fitting the bowsprit assembly took 49 hours spread over one year. 

 

The gammoning loops through a metal bracket which was inspired by one I saw in Admiralty drawing ZAZ6112. This drawing could be an early proposal for the Fish class schooners. The bracket is also a convenient place to belay the martingale and the horses. 

ZAZ6112 extract

I replaced the bowsprit shrouds that I had prepared previously and attached the new, painted, linen ropes to their deadeyes with seizings which look much neater. The outhauler tackle in the photo below is a bit slack and has been tightened now. 

The next step for me is to prepare drawings for the fore mast (lower and top). I have the basic dimensions - lengths and maximum diameters -  but I know I will spend hours working out all the details and modifying the belaying plan. 

 

George

 

[Dr PR]

George,

 

Nice work. Research and figuring out how to make and rig things takes much longer than actually doing the work. Also, I find that even after the research I may still be trying to decide which of several possible ways to do the job I will choose.

 

One of my favorite sayings is "Maybe it is a good thing I am slow because I might be going in the wrong direction."

[georgeband]

For the last two weeks my modelling effort has been at a computer screen with a pile of reference books next to me. The purpose? To draw the masts so that I can start building them. As Phil has mentioned on his posts, there are a good number of near-contemporary references which give different answers about sizes and shapes; the number of options appears to be more than the number of authors. I have relied mostly on Lever and Steel for contemporary records and on Marquardt (Global Schooner), Petrejus (Brig Irene), and Peterssen (Rigging) for recent opinions, and then made my own decisions. The drawings for the fore masts (lower mast and topmast) are below and the main masts are similar. 

 

The numbers on the left are distances from the top or from the deck. A number with a description such as '5.9mm round' give the cross section of the mast. Comments in italic show various features. 

• Partner cover. This tarred, canvas cover is to stop water entering the hull around the mast. Making one from wood will be tricky. Has anyone invented a clever way of doing this?
• Pin rail. This has eight belaying pins and I have placed it perpendicular to the mast and not parallel to the water line. One cleat below it is for the spread yard truss. Any objections or suggestions for alternatives?
• Copper sheathing. I expect to use half of a hull copper piece on the mast: 6mm high and 9mm long is about right and the shipwrights would have access to them. 
• Cross trees. My belaying plan has two topmast shrouds on each side, so two cross trees should extend from the trestles. I chose the aft and middle positions because they line up better with the lower shrouds. Does anyone have information to support this, or an alternative?
• Hounds. Phil made a good case for defining the hounds as the line where the trestle trees rest on an extension of the mast. This is self-consistent and admirable but unfortunately several authors use hounds to describe the widening of the mast. This is apparent on the topmast which has hounds to support ropes without any trees. I think the dual meaning will remain and the only solution is to define it for your application. 
• Eyes and bolts. I have not shown these on this iteration of the drawings and will have to check the belaying plan carefully before I do. 

Drawing for the fore topmast comes next. The stick is 4mm square at the heel and 1.5mm round at the top, and to paraphrase Steel it would be very wasteful of wood. He states that the normal practice was to add planking around the heel so that it fills the fore hole in the trees better. I plan to use a 3mm dowel and at the heel I will reduce the size to 2mm square then add planks on all four sides. 

The hounds on the topmast are octagonal and I will repeat a technique I used on Sherbourne many years ago. This is to make the mast without hounds, then wrap layers of glued paper around the mast to build up the diameter, and finally cut back the laminated paper to get the octagonal section. 

Christmas is coming and the physical mast making will have to wait until next year. 

 

Best wishes to all. 

 

George

 

 

[Dr PR]

George,

 

Excellent research! Here are some comments about the questions you ask.

 

1. I made the partner covers from plywood. As you noted carving them out of wood will be tricky because you know they will break in half just as you are adding the final touches. The plywood has better strength than plain wood.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19611-albatros-by-dr-pr-mantua-scale-148-revenue-cutter-kitbash-about-1815/?do=findComment&comment=911535

 

2. Having the pin rail perpendicular to the mast seems reasonable to me.

 

3. The cross trees look good. I would use the two aft most as as you did.

 

4. "Hounds" is a multiple meaning term, almost arbitrary. The area below the trestletrees is referred to as the hounds. However, I have seen one reference that said the hounds were additional pieces applied to the sides of the mast, and sometimes extending down 1/3 the length of the mast above the partners. Some authors call the cheeks the hounds. So the meaning of "hounds" and the length of the hounds is entirely arbitrary, and varies from vessel to vessel. It is essentially anything below the mast top.

 

This is all and good until an author starts talking about the "hounded length" of a mast - the length from the foot/heel of the mast to the hounds. Many of the calculations for mast properties are based upon hounded length. But what part of the hounds? To the top, the bottom or somewhere else? To the top of the trestletrees or the bottom? Rarely does and author tell. We are supposed to already know the "right" answer, or to read their minds.

 

Harold Underhill (Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier, Brown Son and Ferguson, Ltd., Glasgow, 1972, page 5, Figure 4) is the only author I have found who gives a definite answer to what hounded length refers to, and he shows the hounds as the bottom of the trestletrees for determining hounded length.

 

Harold Underhill does give a definition of "hounds" in Sailing Ship Rigs and Rigging (Brown Son and Ferguson, Ltd., Glasgow, 1969, page 110):

 

                Hounds - A change in the diameter of the mast to form a rest for the eyes of the rigging, crosstrees, etc.

 

So now we know!

 

In any case I think you have done your homework and can justify the decisions you are making for your model.

Edited December 12, 2024 by Dr PR

[georgeband]

Thank you for your comments, Phil, which provide welcome reassurance that I am not speeding off in the wrong direction. I have now expanded the mast drawings to show the rigging, an activity which again combines research with second-guessing what might have been done 200 years ago. 

 

The drawings for the fore mast, below, are supplemented by tables to name the numbered ropes and to show in which order they are placed over the hounds. The fore topmast is crowded with ropes and blocks (15 altogether that rest on the hounds) but they have to go somewhere. 

 

   

The main mast has simpler rigging but still needs decisions about where to place each rope or block. All these drawings and notes will be my guides when I return to model making next year and I fully expect to change my mind about some of the placements. 

 

George

 

[Dr PR]

Nice plans George!

 

When you look at a full rigged model you see lots of lines going here and yeah, it looks pretty busy. But when you really study the rigging it is amazing how many lines actually converge on the mast tops!

[georgeband]

Foremast under construction

 

I have been whittling away making lots of bits for the fore mast and have mostly completed the lower section now. The topmast 'stick' is ready to be attached and rigged but that will be a job for next month. 

 

This is the lower section. From left to right we have 
Step for the mast cap
Masthead with shrouds looped over
Trestle trees and cross trees
Cheeks (hounds)
Copper plate for gaff jaws
Mini clothes peg to hold the shrouds
Hoops for gaff sail
Pin rail and belaying pins
Single cleat
Waterproofing ring over the partners

The photos below show some of the details. I have not found out how to reduce their size so please forgive the messy look in places from the magnification. 

 

The cheeks (or hounds if you prefer) have simulated bolts on the sides. I finally have found a use for the little brass nails in the Caldercraft kits! The copper plate is half of a plate I used for the hull (Amati) and I imagine that a coppersmith would have used the same thing. John Roach's logbook records visits by a coppersmith. 

I put bolsters on the trestle trees and a rope grommet over the bolsters and here is the first pair of ropes: the pendant and first shroud seized together. The rope is 0.6mm linen thread that I painted brown to simulate serving and the seizing is 0.15mm fly tying thread. I also realised that the cross trees I had drawn were too long so I reduced them for the model. 

Four loops go over the masthead and this has to be done before fitting the mast cap and topmast. The second pairs of shrouds are from Ropes of Scale 0.6mm dark thread. 

The hoops for the sail are from laminated paper. I chose a cream colour which provides some contrast with the mast and suggests new wood. I calculated that I would need 11 for this sail and have fitted 13 just in case. 

The mast ring with belaying pins was inspired by the schooner in Peterson's book on Rigging Fore and Aft Craft. I added one cleat below it because I needed one more belaying point. 

The design of the 'partner ring' comes from my imagination as a way to waterproof the gaps between the mast and the partner planks in the deck. I guessed tarred canvas which is held in place by turns of rope. 

Next jobs on this mast are to drill holes for eyes in the back of the mast head. The ones I had predrilled are too widely separated and the lowest of them is covered by shroud loops. The topmast and mast cap are ready and waiting. 

 

George

 

[tkay11]

Very neat, George. I like the use of the laminated paper.

 

Tony

[Dr PR]

George,

 

If you want to make the pictures smaller just double click on them after they have been placed. You can change the dimensions - be sure to check the box to keep the same X/Y proportions.

 

If you want to place two pictures side by side, make the first one left justified and leave the second one with no justification.

 

If you make a picture left justified you can place text to the right of it.

 

If you use no justification text will start below the picture.

[georgeband]

Tony, Phil,

 

Thank you for your comments and the tutorial on sizing photos. I had spent a long time searching for menu options and right clicks to do this, and now have also found that CTRL with a right click opens up a new world for me. 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the topmast to show what can be done with laminated paper. The first shows the heel which has a square section, 4mm to a side, which I built up on a 4mm diameter dowel and then carved back. The second shows a hound of a different colour that sits halfway up the mast and is the locator for a lot of ropes. The sheave for the topsail halyard is drilled through its base. The mast truck at the tip of the mast is another paper winding (not shown here).

One piece of advice for this technique is to use plenty of PVA and let it soak into the windings otherwise they can start splitting off. I had a couple of casualties with the heel of the topmast but they were easily fixed. 

Here are the hoops for the gaff sail waiting to be sliced off - just cut along the dotted line. 

 

George

 

[georgeband]

Second thoughts about the shrouds

 

Having fitted the shrouds to the mast head of the fore mast I checked my references again and now doubt my interpretation. I followed the drawings in Peterssen (pp 74, 75) with the pendant at the fore end of the group, then a served shroud, then two more shrouds which were only served over the top quarter as for square rigged vessels. Marquardt (pp 171-3) states that the order was reversed on schooners with the pendant set at the aft end of the group and the aft-most shroud fully served. The justification he gives is that the aft shroud would be in contact with the gaff sail and had to be protected from wear. This sounds quite logical to me, especially since a lower square sail was unlikely to be carried below the spread yard. The rake of the mast also makes it less likely for a square sail to touch a shroud on its mast. 

 

Option 1. I trust the model that Peterssen has drawn and ignore logical arguments, and leave my model as it is. 

Option 2. I assume that Peterssen's model does not necessarily represent all schooners or might be mistaken, and the logical arguments put forward by Marquardt prevail. I strip off the shrouds from my model and reposition them. 

 

The repair is more irritating than difficult if I follow option 2 and at the moment I am leaning towards that choice. Does anyone have evidence that the shrouds and pendants on a schooner mast were positioned in reverse when compared with a square rigged vessel? 

 

George

 

[tkay11]

I am sure that the more knowledgeable in the forum will have lots to say about this, but I thought I'd throw in Boudriot's instructions for the shrouds on the Jacinthe schooner of 1825. It does seem to say that all the shrouds were served as far as the catharpins. The measurements are in mm for the scale of the model at 1:48.

 

"After fitting the softwood bolsters to the trestletrees the shrouds are got overhead in the following order for the foremast. The first eye has two short legs forming the fore winding-tackle pendants . The second has two legs , and forms the aftermost shrouds to port and tarboard. The third forms the remaining two shroud on the port
ide. and the fourth the last two to starboard.

In the case of the mainmast the order is as follows: first pair, pendants of the main winding-tackles; second pair, starboard hroud ; third pair, shrouds on the port side.
The Ø of the deadeye is 270 (10") , Ø of the laniards 22. Winding tackle: fall Ø22 , blocks (upper blocks treble, lower blocks* double) 217 long (8"). The eyes of the shrouds and tackle-pendants are served with spun-yarn down as far as the catharpins. Ratlings Ø 8."

 

Tony

[Dr PR]

Well George,

 

You have come up with a puzzle there!

 

Personally, I would go with putting the tackle pendants on first, and not last. Why? You are modelling a British ship, and the Admiralty was notoriously conservative about how things were done - and any change to the "right" way was resisted. And on their ships the mast tackle went on first.

 

Marquardt was German and most familiar with northern European vessels - and those in Australia after he moved there.

 

Petersson's rigging was based upon a model of the American made schooner Experiment, built in 1808 and sold to Sweden. He says the model was not an exact replica of the Experiment. Many in America followed Royal Navy standards, but each ship yard had their way of building vessels.

 

The only certain thing I have found about rigging for sailing vessels, and especially schooners, it the it is probable that no two were built and rigged the same - not even in the Royal Navy. Ship owners, Captains and bosuns all had their "right" way to rig things.

 

Unless you have the actual rigging plan for the Ballahoo, for the time period you are modelling it, I think you can do whatever you want with your ship!

 

I agree with your reasoning for serving the after shroud to avoid chafing with the gaff sail. The fore course wasn't commonly rigged so it wasn't a concern for chafing the forward shrouds, and the spreader yard was usually fixed in position and not raised or lowered, so it wasn't a chafing hazard.

[georgeband]

Tony, Phil,

Thanks for your comments and information. It is a puzzle with incomplete evidence for either option. 

I'm off on holiday for a while (no grandchildren this time) and will ponder the alternatives over a glass of something fizzy. Perhaps someone else will join in with a definitive answer 

 

George 

[tkay11]

I'd agree with Phil. Do whatever you think best serves the ship you are building. Your logic is good.

 

Have a good holiday!

 

Tony