Eagle of Algier 1753 by Mirabell61 - FINISHED - 1:48 - Chebec - Nils Langemann

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hi Nils,

Not much room to work on that detail dense deck. Fantastic work.

Regards

Richard

[Omega1234]

Hi Nils

 

Oustanding!!!!  I must say, that I wouldn’t want to have been a sailor on that boat....talk about ‘cramped’...!

 

Cheers.

 

Patrick

[Mirabell61]

Thank you Richard and Patrick,

 

with respect to the cramped deck conditions it is hard to understand how these ships could carry 200- 400 men (depending on size)of the ship). 

I already had problems to believe that the Swan Class sloops could carry a crew  of up to 300....

I found this nice article on the web, describing a chebecs characteristics...

 

Nils

 

Xebec (Chebec)
GALLERY
Posted on October 28, 2012
 The xebec owes much of its design to the earlier galleys of the Mediterranean. The root of the name probably comes from an Arabic word for small ship, and is rendered into English in three forms: xebec, chebec, and zebec, though the word exists in many other languages as well, indicating its popularity (or at least knowledge of its existence) in the rest of Europe.
These ships had long narrow hulls, and were fitted with oars like their galley predecessors. They were intended to be fast and maneuverable, whether under oar-power or under sail.
17th and 18th century Christian shipping in the Mediterranean was threatened by the Barbary corsairs, who were Muslim pirates based in Northern Africa. The vessel of choice for these pirates in the early days was the galley, whose oars allowed them to overtake merchant vessels caught in light wind. But as time wore on, the trading nations responded to the threat by deploying warships to tackle the corsair problem. Galleys were swift and carried many men, but were not designed to stand up to the broadsides of modern warships.
In response, the Barbary Corsairs evolved their galleys into a new design that would stay competitive with the warships sent against them. In order to mount broadside guns, they widened the hull for extra deck-room and stability, and they removed many or all of the rowers to make room for broadside guns. These changes shifted the motive power of the vessel away from oar-power and onto the three huge lateen sails. And thus, the graceful and distinctive form of the xebec was born.
 
Their foremasts are typically raked forward, while the main and mizzen were either straight or raked slightly back. The massive lateen yards were so large that they were frequently composed of two spars lashed together — more like masts than typical yards. Most xebecs did not have a bowsprit, but their beakheads frequently featured a long prow.
A few of the western nations tried square sails on the xebec’s mainmast and sometimes even the mizzenmast. The square-rigged mainmast would have topsails and even topgallants, and the mizzen would have a square topsail (while still maintaining the lateen lower-sail). A xebec rigged this way was known as a Polacre-Xebec.
Commonly, though, the standard lateen rig for xebecs had a single triangular sail on each mast, and had none of a square rig’s topsails or topgallants. The lateen rig offered many advantages over the square rig, the most significant of which was the ability to pinch far closer to the wind than square sails could. This meant they could both quickly catch up to and quickly flee from square-rigged vessels when sailing close to the wind.
 
The corsairs favored the xebec for its speed and maneuverability, and for its shallow draft which also aided in escaping larger vessels. These qualities were recognized by many of the European navies, and the vessel was quickly adopted into the Mediterranean squadrons as commerce-raiders and anti-piracy cruisers. As warships, xebecs mounted as many as 36 guns on their topdeck. Depending on the weight of the guns, this made them competitive with naval sloops of war, and even with some of the frigates of the day.
The xebec under sail was a beautiful sight, and it is said that the design was one of the fastest and most agile in the Mediterranean. Some of the same qualities that made it so successful in light seas also made it unsuitable for rough weather. The low freeboard and the shallow draught made the vessel vulnerable to swamping, and it would roll heavily on anything more than moderate waves. Thus, the advantages that the xebec has inland make it a poor choice for open-ocean sailing.
 Xebecs were also lightly-built vessels. Unlike the massive, bulky timbers of ships of the line, xebecs were delicate and graceful. They were gazelles, not war-horses. Their tactics in battle reflected this. Xebec captains were loath to engage a foe of equal armament in a gun-battle. Instead, they relied upon their speed, maneuverability, and sweeps to pick their battles, and deposit large numbers of boarders on the decks of their enemies.
The xebec’s qualities of speed and shallow draught, and the ability to sail extremely close to the wind, are highly prized by traders as well — particularly those engaged in the coastal trade and its close cousin, smuggling. While it requires a somewhat larger crew, and has a smaller cargo capacity than other vessels of similar size, its sailing characteristics and combat ability make it an excellent choice for those interested in a swift and powerful coastal vessel.
Mediterranean corsairs greatly favored xebecs and purposefuly built them with a narrow floor to achieve a higher speed than their victims, but with a considerable beam in order to enable them to carry an extensive sail-plan. The lateen rig of the xebec allowed for the ship to sail close hauled to the wind often giving it an advantage in pursuit or escape. The use of oars or sweeps allowed the xebec to approach vessels who were becalmed. A corsair xebec would have carried a crew of 300 to 400 men and mounted perhaps 16 to 40 guns according to size. In peacetime operations, the xebec could transport merchandise. Its draft allowed it to hide in shallow coves, and escape from heavier pursuers over reefs and shoals. Even the huge lateen yards were useful during boarding where they could be dropped onto the victim’s deck, creating a makeshift bridge for the boarders to clamber across.
 As swift and ferocious as these vessels were, xebec captains were constantly aware of their many limitations. The same sails that gave them such an advantage while sailing were extremely vulnerable to dismantling fire. It only took losing three yards to leave a xebec dead in the water. In addition, xebec hulls were light and sleek, and they didn’t hold up well under heavy fire. Even their shallow draft had a downside, as they sailed poorly in rough weather and high seas.
Xebecs were sometimes employed as light warships in the national navies, often to combat these pirates and privateers who also found the vessel so appealing. And in fact, the same sailing characteristics that make xebecs so suited for the hunt are also appealing to coastal traders who value speed and draft over cargo capacity.
 

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2018 by Mirabell61

[Piet]

Right off Nills, I really like the gun tackle jig you set up. This is a clever way of not having to rig the guns on the ship. Makes everything the same and the result is a neat rigging job and it simplifies the job.

Love the pics with all the guns rigged in different configurations.

 

Cheers,

[Mirabell61]

Thanks Piet,

 

yes, it works well with making the gun-tackles seperately, I did all the 40 boat tackles for my KWdG davits also this way and could reflect to that procedure again....

 

Nils

[popeye the sailor]

really like the way you rigged the cannons too.......shows clearly how they were rigged or stowed.   she's shaping up fantastically!  very well done   

 

1st class model you have here!

[Mirabell61]

Thank you for your nice comment Denis,

it is very much appreciated, I hope to show some pics of the beginning with the masting soon....

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Update :

 

for the mainmast I made a preliminary dummy mast-top to see how the shrouds and stays will be lead, and how it would look like.  Some sufficiant clearance to the mast is required due to the thickness of the mighty lateen yard, and hoisting it up to the top position. The main mast begins with 10mm square through the deck and reduces to appr. 8mm octagonal in section at the top. A parral set will hold the yard close to the mast. The mast-top again is 10mm square and fitted with brass rollers, for operating the falls

 

For the bottom boom of the mizzen mast sail support, I`ve fitted a dummy to check out the angle and alignment. I `ve been thinking of adding a light sun shade canvas and attaching some additional spars to the appropriate framing there

 

the bow sprit  is from 6mm square and reduces to appr. 4,5 mm round at the end. It is resting on two spacer lugs giving clearance to the figure head, and tied down with two rope ends......

 

Nils

arrangement bow sprit

 

 

 

Dummy mast top

dummy boom for tying the mizzen sail bottom line, and frame work (perhaps for sun protection canvas, together with some spars)

 

 

 

 

the decoration of the aft transom plate is held quite simple and will not be overloaded with additional decore.....

 

 

Edited March 22, 2018 by Mirabell61

[Chasseur]

Wonderbar Nils!

[Mirabell61]

thanks for your kind comment Jeff,

much appreciated....

 

Nils

[mtaylor]

Beautiful and inspirational work, Nils. 

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Mark,

for your nice comment...

 

Nils

[cog]

I have been absent for a while, and you have made some wonderful additions to her. Looking forward to the rigging ...

 

Cheers

[Mirabell61]

Hi Carl,

 

thanks for your words, I`m pleased you like progress. It will take some time with the rigging, have just made the 3 masts.....

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Update :

 

started the main mast rigging today. New to me are the toggle conections in combination with the violin block tackles of the shrouds. Even the shroud fastening to the bulwark is made with a sticked through loop and a toggle stick on the outside bulwark. There will be six violin block tackles for the main mast. 

This ship bears no ratlines with the shrouds, as the sails are operated ( the large yard) and controlled from deck.....

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by Mirabell61

[archjofo]

Hi Nils,

nice progress on the model.

[Mirabell61]

thanks very much Johann,

 

am pleased you like the progress...

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Update :

 

all 6 shrouds of the main mast are on, together with the 6 haul lines for tensioning the tackles, these are now the only lines oft the main mast standing rigging.

Note all the toggle connections ( as shown in Amati plan)

 

Nils

 

some of the rigging members

 

 

 

all belaying points are exactly in the foreseen place

 

the rounded spacer lugs are necessary to give the yard sufficiant movability and clearance to the mast

 

 

[Piet]

Very nice work Nils. I marvel at the ingenious way rigging the shrouds.

 

Cheers,

[michael mott]

Nils just catching up.... wow what a lot of work you have achieved in 6 months. A great looking model it is.

 

Michael

[Mirabell61]

Thank you very much Piet and Michael,

for your kind comments...., much appreciated..

 

Piet,

yes, this way of rigging the shrouds was new to me...

 

Michael,

many thanks for looking in again, its been quite some time since I last heard from you

 

Thanks also to all the "likes"..

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

small update :

 

this is the the tackle for hoisting (fall) and lowering the main lateen yard, it will be mounted on the aft side of the main mast. The holding lines coming from the yard will go through the two pulleys at the mast top. Active are 5 sheaves, so its quite a long running end to be coiled afterwards....

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2018 by Mirabell61

[KeithAug]

Nicely done Nils- very neat.

[DocBlake]

Beautiful!   Very nice job.

[Mirabell61]

many thanks to you Keith and Dave,

for your nice comments, much appreciated...

 

Nils

[popeye the sailor]

superb rigging Nils........do you normally use jogs to create the pulley assemblies?    I think it's ingenious........I can never seen to estimate how long to make one that will fit  

[Mirabell61]

18 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

superb rigging Nils........do you normally use jogs to create the pulley assemblies?    I think it's ingenious........I can never seen to estimate how long to make one that will fit  

Hi Denis,

 

with ref. to your question I would like to answer , (......do you normally use jogs to create the pulley assemblies? ), please helpme along, as I`m not familiar with the term "Jogs" in this case....

 

Nils

[Mirabell61]

Update :

 

foremast also rigged (standing rigging), but yet without the large lateen yard....

 

Nils

 

 

 

 

[rafine]

A wonderful piece work Nils.

 

Bob

[AntonyUK]

Hi Nils.

Making exelent progress with the Chebec. 

I like the method of rigging the masts on this ship. The huge pulley block looks superb for the main lateen yard.

Your sailor cannot find any deck to stand on😭.

 

Regards Antony.