Effie M Morrissey 1894 by allanyed - FINISHED - Scale 1:48

[allanyed]

I have not personally built nor have I seen a fully framed model of a Grand Banks fishing schooner so I thought it would a fun project to try.   There is a lot of information available on the Effie M. Morrissey, including a reasonable set of plans that are available from the Library of Congress, she is available to visit in her modern configuration, and there are folks in Massachusetts that have been more than willing to answer questions,  so she seemed to me to be a good choice.   

 The following is a compilation of her history from the internet, “so it must be true!” 

She was designed by George McClain and was the last fishing schooner built for the Wonson Fish Company.  She was built with white oak and yellow pine and took four months to complete.  She was launched February 1, 1894.  Her hull was painted black and her first skipper was William Edward Morrissey, who named her after his daughter Effie Maude Morrissey.  She fished out of Gloucester for eleven years then began fishing out of Nova Scotia.

 In  1914, ownership moved to Brigus, Newfoundland where Harold Bartlett used her as a fishing and coasting vessel along the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts.

In 1925 Harold Bartlett sold her to his cousin, Captain Bob Bartlett, an Arctic explorer.  Bob Bartlett had an auxiliary engine installed and reinforced the hull for use in the Arctic. In 1926 with  financial help from publisher George Putnam , Bartlett began 20 years of exploration using the Effie.

When Captain Bartlett passed away in 1946, Effie was sold to the Jackson brothers to carry mail and passengers in an inter-island trade in the South Pacific.   On their voyage to the Pacific she developed problems at sea, forcing the crew to return to New York.  On  December 2, 1947, the boat caught fire  while docked at the boat basin in Flushing, New York.

The schooner was repaired and sold to Louisa Mendes in Massachusetts at which time she entered the packet trade  in a trans-Atlantic crossing to Cape Verde. Upon reaching the islands, Captain  Mendes  re-registered the schooner under the name Ernestina, after his own daughter, and used her in inter-island trade. Ernestina made a number of transatlantic voyages and fell into disrepair at Cape Verde, where she remained until the late sixties when there was interest  in the U.S. to save her. In 1977 the people of Cape Verde made a gift of Ernestina to the U. S.

In August 1982 her hull was completely rebuilt and she sailed to the United States. 

In August 1988 the schooner made a return trip to Brigus, Newfoundland, on the 113^th anniversary of  Capt. Bob Bartlett’s  birth.

Ernestina was designated as a National Historic Landmark i with restoration being completed in 1994, and in 1996 became a part of the  New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.  She is currently owned   by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

 Effie  is the oldest surviving  Banks fishing schooner; the only surviving 19th century Gloucester-built fishing schooner; one of two remaining examples of the Fredonia-style schooners (the other being the Lettie G. Howard,) the only offshore example of that type; and one of two sailing Arctic exploration vessels left afloat in the United States.

 

This is the fourth model going onto the building board in the attached photos.  The model will be based on how she looked in 1894.  In the photos you can see that the  keel has a piece temporarily attached so it will sit at about a 2 degree angle to match the "drag" and make it easier to check that the frames are 90 degrees to the water lines (building board plane.)  I am using Castello box for the keel and  deadwood.  The plans do not show a shelf along the bearding line of the fore or aft frames.  Looking at photos of a rebuild of the schooner Virginia, there are no steps nor shelf.  I have no idea if there was one on the original build.  More to come, I hope.

 

Allan

 

 

 

[realworkingsailor]

This should be a very interesting project, can't wait to follow along.

[captainbob]

Sounds like fun.  I'll be watching.

 

Bob

[trippwj]

Pulling up a seat as well - I have a soft spot for these old New England boats!

[runner63]

Joining the gang to follow along and watch with interest

 

runner63

[tarbrush]

Alan,

what an interesting history. I look forward to following your build.

[EdT]

Glad to see your posting this project, Allan.  I'm looking forward to it.

 

Ed

[Michel]

Joing friends to follow  your build.

Michel

[allanyed]

Thanks everyone.  I will post progress over the next two days, then I'm outta here for a week in Loreto, Mexico with a bunch of friends for some male bonding (aka fishing, beer drinking, poker playing, and alas, a lot of naps now that we are getting a bit long in the tooth.)

Allan

[druxey]

Well, a schooner shouldn't take as long to build as a frigate, Allan! All the best on this new model and also for your annual getaway.

[michael mott]

Allan what a great project I will definitely be following along.

 

Michael

[allanyed]

I drew the individual frames based on the body plans.  First  I aligned the profile drawing that shows the station lines with the framing drawing.  I could then identify the frame numbers with the station line numbers which otherwise had no correlation.  I had saved the L ofC drawings in TIF so they had decent resolution and could be inserted into a drawing using TurboCad. Once inserted they were checked and adjusted to be sure they were at the proper scale on the drawing.    I used the body plan to draw the frames at the station lines which I assumed are correctly shaped on the drawing.  I then divided the space between station line frames for the appropriate number of frames between stations (usually four or two).  I realize they would probably not  be spaced evenly on the body plan in real life, but at this scale and cutting them a tad heavy, they will fair nicely, using the frames on the station lines as the guides.  Besides,  it was much easier than drafting each frame using the more traditional, and accurate, methods used by many of our friends here.

 

The frames are doubled, each being 6 inches wide (12" total width) and moulded 7 ½  inches.  Other than at the floors, the moulded dimension does not appear to change, just remains 7 ½” for most of its height.   I used   7 ½” circles along the outboard edge of the frame as guide for placing the circles, then drew the inboard edge of the frames "connecting the dots" and maintaining the line parallel to the outboard line.   The frames lie on 24-inch centers, thus there is always 12 inches space between the frames.

 

Rather than building the frames floor and futtock, I used  poplar sheets that I planed to 1/8 inch thick.   These are  glued together with the grain running 90 degrees to each other.  Lots of glue, clamps and weights are used to be sure there were no air pockets.  Total cost for the wood for the frames was about $35.  Had I used Castello boxwood, my favorite, it would have been a much higher cost even if I built the frames futtock by futtock to conserve wood and costs.  The doubled frames are still quite strong, even using the softer wood.  With the grains running opposite to each other, it easy to see that they are doubled as on the actual vessel.   I set the belt sander table to 92 degrees to give the bottom of each frame the angle needed to have them at 90 degrees to the table and account for the 2 degree drag of the keel.

 

I marked the location of each full frame on the keel while laying  the keel on the framing drawing. The drawings give no indication of the use of spacers between the frames at the keel or elsewhere, but I will use them regardless to give support at the keel and a rigid frame work.  These are all 1/4X 1/4X 1/8.  The drawings show that there is a keelson which will add a lot of support as well.   A square is used to be sure the frames are perpendicular to the building board as each is raised.  

 

Hope some of this makes sense.

 

Allan

[captainbob]

Hi Allan,

 

Makes a lot of sense and looks like a good start.

 

Bob

[allanyed]

I realized that the body plan did not account for the step and deck elevation difference from frame 24 and aft so I modified the body plan and frame drawings.  I also found that the clamp for the weather deck beams on the cross section plans at stations 5 and 9  give dimensions of 3"X9" but the individual cross section drawings show two different sizes.  I do not know if the given dimensions are correct or the drawn dimensions.  To further complicate matters, an expanded view in the cross section plans shows a  strake labeled as a sheer strake fayed to the inside of the frames and a clamp fayed to this sheer strake.  Neither of these is dimensioned individually and the cross sections do not show this lamination.  A drawing of the framing in the forward half the hull does appear to show this lamination.  

 

Several more frames have been raised, so she is starting to take shape.  I printed the frame drawings on pressure sensitive label paper, then cut each frame out and place it on the wood.  It is then a matter of cutting them out and sanding them close to the lines before peeling off the paper.  Brand name  label material is a bit expensive, but store brand is much less costly and works the same. 

 

Allan

[jaerschen]

An interesting project that you started Allan. I'm looking forward to see more.

[allanyed]

A bit of progress has taken place.  Frames are made and partially faired.  Couple strakes have gone on which has beefed up the rigidity of the framing a lot.  I did not do much fairing inboard down low as the lower hold is filled with cement for a good portion of the hull.   Still debating about putting in the lower deck and cabin details.  If I decide to cut out sections of the framing to expose areas inboard, at least the area where the frames are removed will get some finishing work.   With Effie having gone through several transitions, her inboard layout also change a lot.  I am probably staying with how she orginally came off the ways, so her layout inboard was simpler and certainly more austere than in later modifications.  Keel, stem, deadwood, keelson are Castello box, the frames are poplar.  Poplar is normally a bit soft for my own taste, but as all the frames are doubled, and the grain is running opposite on each pair, I had no breakage and the fairing has shown them to be pretty nice to work with, so far. 

Allan

 

 

[druxey]

Coming together nicely, Allan!

[allanyed]

Thanks Druxey,

 

The plans from the Library of Congress are pretty good so it has not been terribly difficult, but alas, there are errors that I have found in the drawings and these take time to solve.  Without much in the way of other sources on the hull construction I am having to use common sense and techniques I have seen in books on older ships.  I hope to be visiting Effie (now Ernestina) in late August/early September to hopefully find some answers to some of the questions that have  arisen.

 

Allan

[captainbob]

Starting to take shape and looking like a sleek ship.  Nice framing.

 

Bob

[michael mott]

The framing looks great so far Alan.

 

Michael

[tarbrush]

she looks great Alan, I just love the sight of a ship in frame!

[allanyed]

THANKS GUYS.

 

I am looking forward to how detailed I can get at this scale (1/4") compared to Michael's Bristol pilot cutter.  That has sort of set the bar for me, particularly the iron work.

 

Allan

[allanyed]

The hull planking is on and first sanding complete.  Hand sanding to a fine finish will be next.  I left a section of planking off to expose the framing, but I have decided against installing most of the below deck items inside the hull.  I left a little DNA on the keelson after a little slip of a chisel, so there is no denying who built this thing.

 

I put in a few inside planks for strength and the two mast steps are in place.  The deck frames are started.  There are a few carlings where there are deck structures and to set up the masts' partners.  Once the deck is framed the stanchions and bulwarks will follow.

 

Allan

[Trussben]

Wow, really nice work Allan, I think I will hang around and watch more.

 

ben

[Jim Lad]

Looks like most of this happened while I was away on holidays.  Lovely job, Allan!

 

John

[Elia]

Allan,

 

With your update today I've now just noticed your POF banks schooner. Very nice! You are moving along smartly. I'll happily follow along.

 

Cheers,

 

Elia

[allanyed]

Ben, John, Elia,

Thank you.  As soon as winter sets in and snow covers the golf courses, Effie should move along a bit more quickly.  Going slow though does have the advantage of being more of a relaxing project for a change, easier to pay attention to the details and less rework. 

 

Allan

[ChrisLBren]

Really nice work Allan on an interesting subject.  Look forward to following this build,

Chris

[allanyed]

The deck beams are coming along.  The pattern on the plans is odd in at least one place.  The photo 9-13-13B of the deck beam locations has a black arrow showing  what I mean.  This may be a result of one of the refurbishments made since she was originally launched.  There are also more typical uses of heavy beams, narrow beams, carlings and ledges, lodging knees and hanging knees.  The mast partners are relatively simple designs.  The hanging knees are in fact hanging standards as they fay to the bottom of the beams, not the sides of the beams.

 

I added a few of the knees where I plan to leave a bit of the deck uncovered.  I am also installing the after cabin bulkheads and deck as I may leave the sliding cover open.  There will also be a ladder going from the weather deck down  to the cabin deck.  

 

Allan

 

 

[The Sailor]

A schooner!! Very nice framing and deck beams.