ancre La Volage - 1693 (English Edition)

[James H]

La Volage – 1693 (English Edition)
‘A long bark of the western Ocean’

Written and prepared by Jean-Claude Lemineur

Published and available from Ancre from €112 (depending on plan scale)

 

 

This new monograph is concerned with the study of a long bark, the Volage, built in Dunkirk in 1693, in the middle of the War of the Great Alliance by René Levasseur, the first master shipwright who succeeded Hendrick who died in 1689. The Volage was a warship of Louis XIV French Royal Navy. Armed with ten 4-pdrs, with a burthen of 50 tons and a 50-man crew, she was one the biggest of her class with a length of 63 1⁄2 feet. In the Navy records of 1696 to 1702, reported as being good, and even sharp under sail. Really built for privateering, she possessed nautical properties that allowed her to overtake her prey, and therefore, to be highly appreciated by Dunkirk privateers.

It was aboard a similar bark that Jean Bart began his talented career as a privateer captain in 1674 during the conflict with the United Provinces of the Low Countries. The Volage participated in the guerrilla warfare initiated by Vauban and from 1693, by the Royal Navy itself against English trading fleets, within the framework of the War of the Great Alliance. Her activities probably continued during the War of Spanish Succession. Ordinarily, she insured the safety of the French coasts, protecting merchant vessels from piratical raiding. Her missions extended to the protection of fishing fleets on the Newfoundland Grand Banks. She was stricken from the Navy list in 1706, hauled ashore and rebuilt at Dieppe, probably for a private ship owner.
Adapted and Taken from Ancre’s La Volage information sheet.

 

MSW recently received a pack of three titles from French specialist publisher, Ancre. La Volage is the first of these I will look at. From the outset, this is an impressive set for the collection. Here is an overview of the title: 

 

Presentation of the book.

The book is presented in a blue fabric-covered 24cm x 31cm box containing a 104-page brochure that includes the sources, history and plates in a reduced scale, along with commentaries and a 16-page colour brochure containing details of rigged and timbered models, as well as the 31 plates at the 1/26th scale necessary to build the structure.

 

Chapters

 

• Chapter 1: History and origins of the long bark. The Volage’s own characteristics
• Chapter 2: The careers of the Dunkirk master shipwrights. List of the barks built from 1671 to 1727
• Chapter 3: The use of the sources and determination of the underwater hull lines. Volumetric characteristics of the underwater hull Notes and decoration and paint of the shipwright.
• Chapter 4: Study of the rigging. Notes on the masts, sails and blocks
• Chapter 5: Commentaries on the 31 reduced plates
• Chapter 6: Routing of the rigging lines

 

 

List of the plates 

 

• Plate N° 1 Schematic elevation and body plans
• Plate N° 2 Schematic plan view
• Plate N° 3 Construction of the stern
• Plate N° 4 Construction of the hawse pieces
• Plate N° 5 Midship frame and forward frames 1 to 4
• Plate N° 6-11 Frames 6 – 11
• Plate N° 12 Timbered elevation
• Plate N° 13 Lengthwise section
• Plate N° 14 - 16 Cross sections at some frames 
• Plate N° 17 Plans of accommodation
• Plate N° 18 Plan of the bilge
• Plate N° 19 Plan of the empty deck
• Plate N° 20 Plan of the deck with furniture
• Plate N° 21 Plan of the deck and castles
• Plate N° 22 Plan of the finished deck and castles
• Plate N° 23 Bare elevation
• Plate N° 24 Dressed elevation
• Plate N° 25 Front view of the stern
• Plate N° 26 Construction of the head and the ship's boat 
• Plate N° 27 Furniture and artillery
• Plate N° 28 Masts
• Plate N° 29-30 Sails and boat's frames 
• Plate N° 31 The Volage under sail

 

What is a Monograph?

If you’ve never seen a Monograph before, the idea is that you practically receive as much information about a subject as is possible to need to be able to build a specific vessel, plus having the historical content to hand to digest too. They really are a delight, even if you are only a collector, and without the ability or means to translate the information into a finished model ship.

If you do want to look at creating something from the sheer mass of information given in La Volage, your finished hull will have these dimensions, scale-dependent:

 

1:24

• Length: 100cm (fully rigged 120cm)
• Width: 28cm (fully rigged 40cm)
• Height: 30cm (fully rigged 110cm)

 

1:36

• Length: 67cm (fully rigged 80cm)
• Width: 16cm (fully rigged 27cm)
• Height: 20cm (fully rigged 74cm)

 

1:48

• Length: 50cm (fully rigged 60cm)
• Width: 14cm (fully rigged 20cm)
• Height: 15cm (fully rigged 55cm)

 

La Volage is a little over A4 in size when it comes to the attractive fabric strengthened box in which it’s supplied, and there is quite a bit off weight behind it with the 104-page perfect bound book, printed on extremely high-quality paper and with nice, clear illustration and layout. The 31 sheets of plans (known as plates) are large in this scale, and all are superbly printed with fine lines that measurements can be directly taken from as a comparison.

One could ponder for many hours, weeks and months over the minutiae of detail supplied. A 16-page colour brochure is also included which shows you what La Volage will look like when built, in various stages of construction. Remember of course, that this type of publication will present an actual representation of the vessel that will translate directly into what we call a POF model, but of course with some skills, the lines can be utilised to design your own POB project.

 

Conclusion

Ancre’s monographs really never disappoint in their sheer depth of information, presentation, production quality and of course, subject matter. La Volage is no exception. This really is an exquisite set and with me only ever really having built British ships, it’s extremely interesting to see how the French are in comparison with layout, style, shape etc. La Volage is most certainly a very beautiful barque and one which is less of a lifetime project than something like the Saint Phillipe which I reviewed a couple of years ago. A much more manageable size in 1:48, and even in 1:24 if you have an average size workshop. I certainly won’t comment on display space needed afterwards!

 

Having the colour booklet with a completed model will also not just give inspiration but gives you a rough idea of what you need to be aiming for. The book not only grounds you in the history surrounding the vessel and its origins and protagonists, but also into the construction of what was undoubtedly a beautiful ship. Amazing to think that you can actually build a complete, miniature ship from this set, down to every smallest detail.

 

La Volage – 1693 is available in English, French and Italian languages, and plans are available in 1:24, 1:36, and 1:48 scales. Check out the options on the Ancre website.

 

My thanks to Didier Berti of Ancre, for sending this Monograph out for review here on Model Ship World. To purchase directly, click the link at the top of the article.

 

 

 

[Kevin]

i have the time, only wish i now had the skills

[Wahka_est]

Seems like a great monograph. Maybe not too complicated for beginner?

Does it contain rigging info with block sizes etc. Havent ever hold any monograph in my hand...

[igorcap]

The decor on the sample is very primitive, sorry. You can do much better.

[allanyed]

Just a general question.  The name appears to be a carved plaque.  The English did not have any name on the stern except for a short period in the late 18ty century, and then they were painted, never carved.  What was the norm for French vessels?

Thanks

Allan

[mtaylor]

51 minutes ago, allanyed said:

Just a general question.  The name appears to be a carved plaque.  The English did not have any name on the stern except for a short period in the late 18ty century, and then they were painted, never carved.  What was the norm for French vessels?

Thanks

Allan

I can't speak to earlier than the 1700's but from the on they were carved as part of the decorations and fixed to the stern.