USS Constitution 1794 by tmj - Original Hull Design

[Tim Murphy]

Please note, All the first six frigates are built to the same basic design. 3 heavy and 3 light.  All would be different because they were built in 6 different yards and different 

builders. All had the same basic materials. White Oak, Live Oak, Broad Leaf Pine, White Pine,

Tar, Pitch, Felt, Iron, Copper, Hemp. They are Sister Ships. All similar, All different.
All built with the Backbone of America in them. Something that the British and French did not 

have. 
Think about that!

 

 

[Marcus.K.]

On 12/26/2019 at 12:47 AM, tmj said:

Has anyone reading this actually seen Humphreys original draft, in person? I'm wondering if 'time' and mishandling of the original drawing is the culprit behind the blurred and lackluster details... or is the problem simply due to simple photographs being turned into .PDF files?  

Hello tmj,

 

I recently stepped over a drawing, which seemed to be older than the "traced" PDF the Navy Heritage departmend spreads as "Doughty´s plan". In fact that PDF says in its header (and that bottom line) that its just a copy of a dawing from "C&R Plan N° 38-4-2-a" if I read that line in the bottom correct:

It is unclear who did this tracing - and when! When I was learning "technical drawing" (I am a dinosaur: I learned to do it with pencil and ink on one of those huge drawing boards I still own - before I learned to use CAD!) the information in a header with name of responsible, date and drawing-number was the very first thing which was checked by our teachers. A drawing with a gap in this information was not accepted.

 

I found out there in world wide web ONE drawing, which seem to be older - and may be this C&R plan.. but unfortuntly its not really readable! .. and unfortunatly without any hint for it´s origine.

Why do I think this is an older version?

 

Because the lines and texts written in the hull seem to match perfectly with the PDF´s .. but the text in the PDF´s header on the right side misses - and instead it has it´s seemingly older header on left side. More importang: the rim of the paper seems to be much more timeworn and frayed than the PDF´s rim.

 

But would Doughty have specified his plan as "Constitution"?

Do we know if Doughty did specific drawings for each of the three big 44 frigates?

 

I am frequently reading that there are "Doughty Plans" and "Fox Plans" .. but I never saw any plan refered to Fox? In the PDF Doughty is at least mentioned - but as we see: the PDF is not "his" plan - but a copy.

 

Also the whereabouts of the original(s) is pretty obscure. No one seems to know? .. and more thrilling: no one seems to care?? I was asking the USS Constitution Museum and the Naval Heritage Command - but just got this PDF you have too. The precision in answering was pretty poor. But I have to admit: that was some years ago - maybe I should try again.

 

Anyone any idea?

[Marcus.K.]

Today I accidently stepped over the 2nd "original" plan of Old Ironsides .. the "Joshua Fox"-drawing. Of course it´s only a poor copy of the original - but its clearly NOT the other - so called Doughty plan we have in the above post.

Gillmer compared the two layouts in his Book "Old Ironsides - raise, decline and resurrection of the USS Constitution" and concluded that the Ship itself has more similarities with Doughty´s plans.

 

 You may find it in THIS PDF - on Page 99 - and you may download the book.

 

It contains also a lot of other early ships plans - USS Boston, USS Essex, some of the smaller units .. even Gun Boats..

Enjoy!

Edited Monday at 05:24 PM by Marcus.K.