How an 18th Century Sailing Battleship Works

[Tossedman]

I stumbled across this video on YouTube this evening. Quite interesting.

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by Tossedman

[OllieS]

This is great! Pretty much everything you need for general knowledge in 25 minutes.

[mrcc]

Excellent video!

[Louie da fly]

A few minor points regarding terminology, but overall, an excellent video!

 

Steven

[allanyed]

 

2 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

A few minor points regarding terminology, but overall, an excellent video!

Interesting video that obviously took a lot of effort to put together and as you point out, some terminology inaccuracies. 

 

At time mark 2:48, Jake states there are wooden air ducts fore and aft.  This was a new one for me.  I have never seen or heard of this on any contemporary plans or written sources.  I suspect that if they are there, they are a modern contrivance.  Anyone know if these were really on the Victory or any other ship back in the day?

 

Allan

[Toolmaker]

A very enjoyable watch

Thank you

 

Paul

[mtaylor]

10 hours ago, allanyed said:

 

Interesting video that obviously took a lot of effort to put together and as you point out, some terminology inaccuracies. 

 

At time mark 2:48, Jake states there are wooden air ducts fore and aft.  This was a new one for me.  I have never seen or heard of this on any contemporary plans or written sources.  I suspect that if they are there, they are a modern contrivance.  Anyone know if these were really on the Victory or any other ship back in the day?

 

Allan

I wonder if he's talking about the gratings on the decks?

[Louie da fly]

59 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

I wonder if he's talking about the gratings on the decks?

No, he shows them in the video. They are definitely ducts - square wooden tubes for and aft, angled up at the ends.

[mtaylor]

I saw that and am really confused by it.   I've never seen anything like that.   I did see one way back in the Usenet days were someone had set up the areas (pantries) around the mizzen mast on a 3-decker and made them into.... dumbwaiters to move food for the officers.  Somedays, things just get weird I guess.

[Montaigne]

I stumbled upon this too the other day searching for something else on Youtube, and it’s a great watch! Especially for me who know pretty much nothing about ships of the line (my main interest have always been historic research ships and boats in general). 

[allanyed]

Montaigne,  While it obviously took a lot of work to make this video and it really does look nice and something most of us could not produce, it does give out some misinformation.  In addition to showing air ducts which I am pretty sure never existed in the 18th and 19th century ships of the line, some other examples are the flat deck beams, stating that lines are coated in black tar, and incorrect rigging of the breech ropes.  This may have been changed on the modern day version but looking at a contemporary plan of Victory, the video has the galley stove in backwards. 

 

Allan

[mrcc]

Don’t think the guy that produced this video was a naval architect or naval scholar but nonetheless it was incredibly well produced and gave us a great 3D understanding of a working ship of the line. Best to take it for what it is and not needlessly question the video and it’s historical accuracy. 
 

Afterall it was published on Youtube!

[Montaigne]

1 hour ago, allanyed said:

Montaigne,  While it obviously took a lot of work to make this video and it really does look nice and something most of us could not produce, it does give out some misinformation.  In addition to showing air ducts which I am pretty sure never existed in the 18th and 19th century ships of the line, some other examples are the flat deck beams, stating that lines are coated in black tar, and incorrect rigging of the breech ropes.  This may have been changed on the modern day version but looking at a contemporary plan of Victory, the video has the galley stove in backwards. 

Thanks, the air ducts got me thinking too, like, wouldn’t they just get air from all the gun ports? It’s gotta be the draftiest place imaginable, even with the gun ports closed, I would imagine. 
 

In their defense though, they do say the following in the beginning:

“We’ve based our model on the HMS Victory, however our goal is to present a high quality teaching model, with period correct generalizations, as opposed to a  history lesson on the Victory herself.”

[OllieS]

2 hours ago, Montaigne said:

Thanks, the air ducts got me thinking too....
 

In their defense though, they do say the following in the beginning:

“We’ve based our model on the HMS Victory..

WhenI went round Victory last Summer is was actually quite stuffy in the hold and orlop so the air ducts being a modernish improvement for the benefit of the public makes sense to me. No windows this far down for some unfathomable reason  

[Montaigne]

1 hour ago, OllieS said:

WhenI went round Victory last Summer is was actually quite stuffy in the hold and orlop so the air ducts being a modernish improvement for the benefit of the public makes sense to me. No windows this far down for some unfathomable reason  

Ah ok, thanks for clarifying. 

[CaptnBirdseye]

Historical accuracy aside, a beautifully created teaching and training aid (which is what i beleive the maker was trying to acheive). 

[BenD]

Historical inaccuracies aside, I liked the video. It would have taken ages to produce that D3 model and then make a flythrough deck by deck. Quite impressive. 

[dafi]

Good one and wonderful! In our german site the question about the "vent trunks" came up too. Those are shown in the Vic today and are also displayed in the AOTS by McKay and this where the name was taken from. That´s why me too I incorporated them in my build, long before going to deeper resaerch and questioning sources like the modern authorities 🙂

 

My believe is that the principal source of the video is AOTS as other small bits fit in there too.

 

All the best and enjoy the show, DAniel

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by dafi

[ccoyle]

Watching the video gives one a renewed appreciation of what people were able to accomplish using only wind, ingenuity, and manpower.

[Montaigne]

9 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

Watching the video gives one a renewed appreciation of what people were able to accomplish using only wind, ingenuity, and manpower.

Indeed, that’s a very good summation.