"Made Mast" Diameter

[michaelpsutton2]

During the waning decades of the 18th  or the opening decades of the 19th centuries does the given diameter of a made mast include the side and/or front fish or is it just the spindle?

[popeye2sea]

Most of the references I have read give the max diameter as being at or near the deck level.  The mast tapers above and below this point.  If that is so then the diameter would not include the fish plates or other filler pieces.

 

Regards,

[michaelpsutton2]

That actually makes sense. ou are of course correct. Te given diameter is at the partners. The fish terminate some what above that point. I should have realized that

Thanks

[Mark P]

Hi Michael;

 

One thing which may be of help to you with masts,  depending upon what ship you are making:

 

The NMM have some quite detailed drawings in their plans archive,  showing how masts were made,  all drawn to scale with many sections.  These start to appear in the early 1780s,  when the supply of 'New England' masts made from single trees was disrupted by American independence. 

 

These cover a range of ship types,  though all Royal Navy.

 

All the best,

 

Mark P