Lapwing 1816 Revenue Cutter

[Jaager]

Craig,

 

That sounds like more fun.   I would so this using the Station Sandwich Method. (I developed it, so of course I would.)  Anyway, The only frames that I would need to loft would be the midlines of the bends at each station. About as many as the molds (bulkheads).  Actually, I would not draw them.  I would extract their curves from the Body plans.  Draw the moulded dimension,  site the deck level, port sills, wale,  - Mirror and meld.  The spaces would be filled with Pine, bonded using double sided tape.  I would regularize the bend locations.  For most vessels, the stations ARE the midlines of the bends.

Because of the bevel, even between most stations,  a perpendicular hole within the body of a frame will not hit all of the frames in that grouping.  BUT, perpendicular holes outside the shape of the center most station and outside the moulded shape curve of the outermost station WILL work to align the group of bends and spaces.  Once group of frames and spaces are bonded together, ( PVA for the spaces above the LWL and tape for the spaces below) the bevels for the group are sanded.  It is a strong unit.   Your vessel is two bends per station.  I would glue up one bend before assembling the sandwich.  The other bend would be actually one frame of the bend at each station.  Depending on your scale, 1/4" or 3/16" should be OK, 1/8" shaky,  the tape should hold the timbers below the LWL at the ends.  If the deadwood is chosen to be continuous bow to stern in your build, it would be a keel width piece that fills the space between the bends above the keel.  PVA bond that, and the unit is even more secure.  

Locator dowels inside the frames at each station will exactly align two sequential station sandwiches. The shape is identical.  When everything (all of the sandwiches) between the hawse timbers and the stern framing is assembled, the whole hull is solid and can be final shaped outside and inside as a strong unit.  The glue on the double sided tape does not like ethanol, so the spacer Pine pieces can be removed when it is done.  I wait until the clamps and keelson is fitted.

The keel, stem and sternpost go last.  The hawse timbers and stern framing  have to be done the same way any other framing method, although I use the temporary filler, shape as a solid method there too.

 

Bottom line, 

12 + 15 +1 = 28 bends  - traditional method - 3 x 28 = 84 frame outlines - outside and inside curves to plot.  112 if you use the staggered frames as the plans have it.

15 stations = 15 curves to extract (no plotting or drawing needed) and 15 moulded shapes to draw, my way.   And I do that and easy way.  I have a series of disks with diameters in scale from 15"  to 3".   I position a disk that is the diameter of the scantling thickness at each known level (cutdown - outer edge of keelson,  floor head,  fut 1 head,  deck, rail - whatever the scantling table gives me).  I place transitional diameters between them.  Then I draw a line that is at a tangent to the disk, to get the moulded shape. It takes a lot less time than typing this did.

In all candor I would probably have to plot station 15.  I do all this using a raster based drawing program.  The lines are slightly faceted, but sanding the wood solves that.

[iMustBeCrazy]

A bit to digest there, the headache doesn't help. (real headache, not caused by you).

 

Using CAD I'm able to use segments of the sheer plan stations, draw in the head and heel, offset a copy by the moulding at the heel and rotate the head to the moulding at the head, compose (join) the four lines in to an object (futtock etc) and so draw each timber in each bend retaining the curves. I'll probably stick to this method. 39 vertical bends and 23 cant frames plus a couple of extra little bits.

 

The other bit is I want these to be drawings of how to build the ship, so each bend and each cant frame has to be drawn anyway.

 

Perhaps you begin to see why I chose my user name.

[Treebeard]

Hi Craig; may I ask what software you are using to draft the frames? 

What a wonderful project.   Thanks for putting this up.

 

Guy

[Joseph Byrne]

Hi,

I am researching the career of an officer who commanded the Lapwing in the 1830s and found your posts very informative. Thank you so much for that.  I see you date the launch of Lapwing to 1815 but Australian references to the cutter ascribe it to 1808 and its construction to a yard at Mevagissey in Cornwall.  Sadly no source is provided.  1815 looks to me a more likely date given the other cutters in the class follow immediately afterwards so I was wondering if you could tell me what biographical source you might have used.  I am particularly interested in date and place of launch, number of crew and guns borne.

Regards,

Joseph Byrne

 

[druxey]

There were several Lapwings, according to David Lyon's The Sailing Navy List. This is an authoritative book.

 

1) 1764-5

2) 1785-1828

3)  1808-44?

4) 1825-1864

 

The 1808 ship was, according to Lyon, a coastguard ship built, as you say, in Megavissey, Cornwall. He notes that she was still in service in 1816 (page 333). Possibly built to the same draughts as Fancy of 1817, whose lines and deck plans are extant. (page 334).

 

Perhaps your Lapwing of the 1830's was number 4, above? This vessel was built in Chatham Dockyard. Keel laid July 1823, launched February 20, 1825. She was a packet ship in 1829 and hulked in 1845. This ship was one of the numerous 10-gun brig/brig sloop Cherokee/Cadmus/Rolla class, armed with 2 6=pounder long guns and 8 18-pounder carronades. The packets carried only 3 guns. Nominal crew was 75 men.

 

I hope that the above is of some help.

[Joseph Byrne]

Thank you for such a prompt and helpful reply, druxey. Having so many Lapwings operating in British waters at the same time only adds to the confusion.  There was, for example, a merchant Lapwing.  Then HMS Lapwing, packet, which was carrying mail from the Americas to Falmouth in the early 1830s at the same time as HMS Lapwing, cutter, was prowling the waters off Grimsby in search of smugglers.  A trawl of contemporary newspapers shows that notices relating to the movement of Lapwing, cutter, only begin to appear from 1808 - which supports the David Lyon launch date. Thank you for the Lyon source which, I now see, was probably the origin of the Australian reference. Apologies to modellers for invading your thread.

[iMustBeCrazy]

10 hours ago, Joseph Byrne said:

I see you date the launch of Lapwing to 1815 but Australian references to the cutter ascribe it to 1808 and its construction to a yard at Mevagissey in Cornwall.

Oh what a can of worms you have opened

 

1 hour ago, druxey said:

1) 1764-5

2) 1785-1828

3)  1808-44?

4) 1825-1864

1/ was a cutter but only lasted less than a year so we can eliminate it.

2/ was a Frigate

3/ is a puzzle

4/ was a Brig and as Druxey says may be your ship.

 

The 1816 date is that given by the RMG, there doesn't seem to be any direct evidence.

 

The RMG have drawings of the Lapwing (1816) dated March 1817 to be used for the construction of the Fancy (1817), Kite (1817), Racer (1818) and Sprightly (1818).

 

However the Lapwing is reported as having run aground 25/Jan/1817 so the above drawing is dated after Lapwings launch.

 

Was this Lapwing built in 1808? I doubt it, her lines were used for several vessels from 1817 through to 1828 (Speedy and Nightingale). If they were that good, why the gap from 1808 to 1817?

 

One of the references stating she was built in 1808 at Mevagissey also says she has two masts so who knows?

 

So she was built somewhere in either 1808 or 1816 and stayed in service until 1849 before sailing to Adelaide in 1850.

 

The following is a collection of notes and cuttings:

 

Lapwing
      
Revenue Cruiser (Cutter)

    ADM 119 - Board of Customs and Admiralty: Coastguard and Revenue Cruisers, Ships' Musters
        ADM 119/66 - 1824 Oct. 10 - 1836 Jan. 5 and
        ADM 119/67 - 1836 Jan. 6 - 1849 Aug. 17

 

From "The Colchester Gazette, And General Advertiser for Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Herts 25/01/1817"

    The Lapwing Revenue Cutter is on shore and bilged, in Mill Bay, but will be got off if the weather abates. Crew saved.

From "Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser 28/01/1817"

    The Lapwing Revenue Cutter is on shore and bilged, in Mill Bay, but will be got off if the weather abates: Crew saved.

 

From "Flindell's Western Luminary and Family Newspaper 24/12/1822"

    The Swallow, Fancy, Lion, and Lapwing revenue cutters ordered to Milford, under the command of Sir J. ??? of the Cheerful.

 

From "John Bull "For God, the King, and the People!" 22/06/1834"

    H.M. Revenue Cut., Lapwing, Lt. J. G. Raymond, R.N., Commander, captured on the 16th instant, after an active chase in a strong breeze, off the Lincolnshire coast, a fine fast-sailing French smuggling lugger Fox, of Dunkirk, Jos. Louis Lembrouck, Master from Flushing, with a cargo of six thousand pounds of foreign tobacco and a crew of seven men, three English and four French.

 

South Australian Register  Wed 30 Jan 1850:

A cutter, of 124 tons, described as the fine revenue-cutter yacht Lapwing, was to sail from Plymouth, for Adelaide, on the 1st November,
and the owner and commander, J. F. Crawford, had advertised for a few first-class passengers.

South Australian Register Fri 1 Feb 1850: Ditto  Mon 4 Feb 1850

Lapwing (Revenue cutter yacht). 124 tons, J. V. Crawford,
(for Port Adelaide, calling at the Cape de Verds and the Cape of Good Hope, if required). To sail from London 20th October and Plymouth on the 1st November, with
first-class passengers only, at £60. H. F. Penny, owner.

 

Adelaide Times Fri 22 Mar 1850:

The Lapwing cutter, from this Port, had not arrived at-the Cape on the 26th of Jan., but was advertised-as hourly .expected.

 

South Australian Register Mon 1 Apr 1850:

The cutter Lapwing left Port Prayer, Cape de Verdes, on the 9th January, all well.

 

Adelaide Observer Sat 11 May 1850:

THE "LAPWING," FROM ENGLAND AND THE CAPE.
This beautiful cutter yacht arrived yesterday, under the command of Captain Crawford,
bringing the owner, H. F. Penny, Esq., his lady and family, and Mr Hogarth, as passengers.

The Lapwing left London on the 9th December, arrived at the Cape on the 4th March,
and sailed thence for this port March 23rd, bringing papers to the 16th only. The cargo
is valuable, consisting of merchandise, &c., belonging to the owner, who is a brother of C.S. Penny, Esq., of this city.

 

From "The Shipswrecks of Port Elliot 1853-1864

      Although described as a ketch in the 1852 Custom House Register, the Lapwing was referred to elsewhere as a cutter and as such was sketched by the Port Elliot Harbour Master in 1856. She was built in 1808 at Mevagessey, Cornwall and served as an English revenue cutter for over forty years. Among her commanders was South Australias first Harbour Master, Captain Thomas Lipson.

On 10th May, 1850, she arrived at Port Adelaide from England with ten passengers and a full cargo after a leisurely 152 day passage. Several weeks later she was purchased by Ephraim Teakle, a Port Adelaide storekeeper, and put into service in the intercolonial trade making regular voyages to the Swan River settlement in Western Australia and to Melbourne. In 1852, the Adelaide merchants George Hall and William Paxton, and Henry Simpson, a master mariner of Port Adelaide bought the vessel.

On her first voyage for her new owners, Henry Simpson took the little Lapwing to Guam with a cargo of flour. In 1853 she was purchased by William Francis for 1,000 pounds to trade between Port Adelaide and Encounter Bay. She made over forty voyages to Port Elliot, the majority under William Francis and he was on board when she was wrecked.

As a revenue cruiser, the Lapwing had been built for speed and on her arrival in Port Adelaide was described as a beautiful little cutter yacht; in later advertisements she was termed a clipper cutter, a clipper trader and a fast sailing cutter. Her fast sailing qualities were enhanced by a great rise of floor which unfortunately did not help to keep her upright when she went ashore at Port Elliot.

The Lapwing was built of oak of carvel construction, copper fastened with two masts, a running bowsprit, a square stern but no figurehead. She was 62.6 tons with dimensions of 60.8 x 19.8 x 9.9 feet.
(-)     
      
Inspected from the beach on 25 April 1997. Swell too big to get on the site. Same coordinates given to Flying Fish as do not know if this is the Lapwing. Colin Sibley and Colin Lovell from the Port Elliot Surf Lifesaving Club in attendance.
      
      Lat:-35.5328 Long:138.689
      
      Site Affected By: Southerlies

Best View Time: February to March, Northerlies.

      
      6/09/1856 12:00:00 AM
      September  1856
      Port Elliot, South Australia.
      
By 5th September 1856 Lapwing had been in Horseshoe Bay 23 days, having discharged sundry stores for the settlers and taken on a cargo of 102 bags of wheat and timber for the return voyage. The vessel was laid to at the outer moorings.

During this time the vessel Swordfish arrived and was secured to the lighter inner moorings nearby. In securing the Swordfish, the Harbour Master was unable to lay out the regulation amount of anchor chain without fouling Lapwing.

At dawn on Friday 5th September a gale blew up from the north west. The wind increased in strength and at about 10am it suddenly turned SSW sending huge seas rolling in between the breakwater and Pullen Island. The Lapwing and Swordfish were exposed to this heavy swell and the Swordfish began to drift towards the beach, dragging its moorings.

The Harbour Master decided that the only way he could save the Swordfish was to secure it to the outer mooring where the Lapwing was riding out the storm.

The moorings held for the rest of the day until 6pm when the Lapwing started to drift and the stern of the Swordfish came close to the surf.

At 8pm the Swordfish ran aground, the stern striking heavily in the surf. By midnight it had become embedded in the sand. Fortunately it remained upright with its bow facing towards the sea. Luckily damage was limited to a smashed rudder. (The vessel was later towed back to Port Adelaide where it was slipped and a new rudder fitted.)

The Lapwing was less fortunate. Initially it appeared to be riding out the storm in safety. However at 1am on the 6th September the anchors dragged and the vessel gradually drifted inshore. An hour later it struck the beach. Unfortunately, before an attempt could be made to pull the vessel off, it swung broadside to the swell, heeling over seawards.

The crew sought refuge on board the cutter Gem and got off safely, but when two crew members later attempted to return to the Lapwing, their boat capsized in the surf and both drowned.

Within 24 hours the Lapwing was a total loss with wreckage scattered over Horseshoe Bay.

An investigation three days later  found the cause of the wreck was the bad holding ground of the inner anchorage, the exposed position of that part of the harbour and the confined space available to moor vessels there within close proximity to the shore. The inner mooring was later replaced by a heavier one.

Undoubtedly the Lapwing would have survived if the Swordfish had not been fastened to its moorings. It was felt locally that the government was clearly at fault as the inner mooring was much too light.

The location of the wreck has not been positively identified. It is believe that the Lapwing lies within the surf zone, but there is some confusion as two other wrecks (Josephine Loizeau and Flying Fish) are in close proximity in the north east half of the bay.

[bruce d]

11 hours ago, Joseph Byrne said:

an officer who commanded the Lapwing in the 1830s

Hello Joseph, can you share the name of the officer? That should eliminate a lot of the guesswork.

[Joseph Byrne]

Thank you bruce d and especially iMustBeCrazy for such a detailed response to my query.  The officer I am researching is Lt Thomas Ross, a Corkman, and Lt Raymond's immediate predecessor as commander of the Lapwing, cutter.  It was Ross's first and only command.  He  joined the Lapwing on 6 July 1832, was promoted Commander on 19 April 1833 and was replaced by Raymond on 31 May 1833.

The next time I make it to the National Archives, London, I will examine the Lapwing logs more fully  but for the moment I have tried to tease out the issues raised via a newspaper trawl.

 

Like you, iMustBeCrazy, I cannot reconcile the dating of the Lapwing plan to 1817 and the construction of further cutters in the same class in successive years with newspaper reports of the movement of Lapwing, cutter, from 1808 right down to the 1830s.  Lapwing, cutter, was almost continuously in service from 1808 when she first appears so styled. She was driven ashore at Mill Bay in late January 1817 but was repaired on a slip and ready to be launched by 1 March (Royal Cornwall Gazette, 1 March 1817) and had a busy year of cruising thereafter. (Lt Thomas Lipson, who has an Australian link, as you say iMustBeCrazy, was commander of Lapwing, cutter, in 1819 when she is described as boasting 12 guns - Saunder's Newsletter, 20.03.1819)  Lapwing, brig sloop, 10 guns, was launched in February 1825 at Chatham, and was ordered back to Chatham in January 1827 to be prepared as a packet (Hampshire Chronicle, 28.02.1825, and Eastern Gazette, 09.01.1827).  So, from 1825 the movements of a cutter and a brig sloop/packet bearing the same name are reported regularly in shipping news, one around the coast chasing smugglers, one carrying mail from the Americas.  In 1845 the packet was deployed as a store and breakwater at Plymouth and in 1850 the cutter sailed for Australia.

I am inclined, on balance, to read the dating of the Lapwing plan as the date of the drawing and not the launch date.  As we have seen, Lapwing was out of the water for a period in 1817 and available to be surveyed. It is interesting to note that Kite and Fanny are also dated 1817 on the plan yet their launch date was May 1818 (Trewmaker's Exeter Flying Post, 14 May 1818). 

Thanks for your interest in this.

[druxey]

There are, generally speaking, three kinds of plans:

 

I) Initial 'class' design lines (often with an annotated list of ships built to those lines and the yards they were to be built at).

II) Plans sent out to contracted shipyards with contract specifications, copies as below.
III) 'As launched' plans sent back to the Admiralty as a record of the actual construction. Usually launch date is noted on these.

 

If your plans are dated prior to launch, they are most likely copies of Type II retained by the Admiralty.

[iMustBeCrazy]

The earliest drawing available online is ZAZ6430 which is dated 12th March 1817 which is two months after she ran aground.

 

It includes a note for the order of Fancy Kite Racer and Sprightly, In pencil next to that orders for four more to be built. Also in pencil a note of a copy sent somewhere dated 1834!

[druxey]

Then your Lapwing has to be one of the 1817 group. All appear to have been built at PlymouthDockyard (Lyon).

[iMustBeCrazy]

2 hours ago, druxey said:

Then your Lapwing has to be one of the 1817 group. All appear to have been built at Plymouth Dockyard (Lyon).

ZAZ6429 (June 1817) and ZAZ6430 (12th March 1817) both have the notation "A copy was sent to Plym. Yards 26th June 1817 for the Fancy and Kite and another (copy) to Pembroke (Yard)  the same day for the Racer and Sprightly." The pencil notation on ZAZ6430 is for another two at each yard but is undated and I don't know if they were built, I haven't see anything to prove they were.

 

Lapwing was launched sometime before 25th Jan 1817 when she was reported as having run aground. Where and when she was launched in unknown to me.

 

Edit, a list of ships built at Pembroke http://www.gwpda.org/naval/images/pembroke_app_a.pdf gives Racer and Sprightly (1818) and also Skylark  (ZAZ6377) and Swift (ZAZ6378)  (1820) which were built 'on the enlarged lines of the Lapwing' (ZAZ6347) so that might explain the pencil notation.

Edited January 23, 2022 by iMustBeCrazy

[Joseph Byrne]

Thank you so much guys for all your assistance and good luck with your model, iMustBeCrazy. It has been so enjoyable reading all your posts. I hadn't anticipated  getting as much detail as I have in relation to  Lapwing.  I will post again with the relevant text when the bio is completed.  Take care.

[oakheart]

On 1/23/2022 at 5:37 AM, iMustBeCrazy said:

Lapwing was launched sometime before 25th Jan 1817 when she was reported as having run aground. Where and when she was launched in unknown to me.

Hi Craig, I made it here, some really nice research. Have you completed the drawings?

I am just starting out on my interpretation of the Rattlesnake built at Folkstone ( sister to Alert ) so all of the information gathered here

will help me on my way.

 

Tim

[iMustBeCrazy]

39 minutes ago, oakheart said:

Have you completed the drawings?

Sorry to say, no. I realised I didn't know enough about the construction of ships (or their drawings) so I started working on drawings of boats and am working my my back up. I am learning and expect to come back to Lapwing sometime.

[iMustBeCrazy]

A Christmas update, currently working on an new rendition for a possible PoB but ran out of time today.

 

False deck and false keel are probably done, moulds (bulkheads) are mostly done, keel needs a little 'fettling' and just getting started on the stern.

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[iMustBeCrazy]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:56 AM, iMustBeCrazy said:

False deck and false keel are probably done, moulds (bulkheads) are mostly done, keel needs a little 'fettling'

These bits are done I think.

 

I cut some wood and they seem to be going together alright.

I mocked up the stern area and found out that a flat stern wouldn't work (and to a lesser extent a flat transom).

 

So, back to the drawing board. Curved stern and timber transoms.

 

After MUCH stuffing around I came to the conclusion that the stern is not just curved but is a section of a cone! The curve at the rail is tighter than that at the counter.

 

The following image also shows me trying to work out the outboard ends of the transoms, first with a flat bevel and not with, hopefully, correct curves.

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by iMustBeCrazy

[iMustBeCrazy]

On 12/30/2023 at 9:21 AM, iMustBeCrazy said:

hopefully, correct curves.

Nope.

 

Maybe? Closer anyway.

Please, somebody give me an adz and a lump of wood.

 

[iMustBeCrazy]

I think the transom/s done, starting to look good.

Counter and counter timbers next.