Gjøa 1872 by Harvey Golden - Roald Amundsen's Cutter built at Rosedahl, Norway

[Harvey Golden]

Dear All, I'll be scratch-building a 3/8"=1' scale model of Amundsen's Gjøa from the lines taken for the Historic American Merchant Marine Survey (1936-37) by W. Place and A. Eichler at San Francisco.  Supplemental information will come from Amundsen's published accounts, more recently published diaries,  and photographs taken during the expedition and ones taken more recently of the Gjøa, which is now on exhibit at the Fram Museum, Oslo.  Hope you find this of interest!    -Harvey

 

 

[Harvey Golden]

I'm pretty low-tech and don't know my way around fancy CAD programs and the sort, but I have learned to make do with simpler approaches using a computer to scale and print sections/molds.  This can be a daunting process, but this is how I've done it for at least 40 ship & small-craft models:

1. Photograph (or scan) the sections.

2. Using Preview (or whatever image app), cut the bow and stern views apart, and flip-copy-paste to get full sections, such that they appear as thus for the bow:

3. Close-crop the sections the widest part (at station 6)-- get the breadth at this point.

4. Drop the image into Microsoft Word, and enlarge/shrink the image so it is as wide as it should be IN-SCALE for printing-- remembering of course to subtract the planking thickness.

5. Ditto for the stern sections, ensuring they are matched size/scale.

6. Print, cut out, and paste to bulkheads. 

 

There is of course a bit more to this-- I had to draw the curves of the deck on each station, and I trimmed off mold patterns at the deck.  The bulwarks will be built up on false timber heads.  The transom of the Gjøa is not 'expanded' (depicted perpendicularly to its rake) in the plans, so I had to loft that out by hand, as shown here-- rough work, for sure, but will be fine-tuned later: 

This again was photo'd and scaled on Word-- the stations are spaced 7', so scaled they needed to measure 2-5/8" on Word before printing. The breadths of the transom were pulled from the plan-view.

 

Here is progress on the hull so far . . . I do things a little odd, in that I place the keel and stem on later-- this makes the clamping of garboards and adjacent lower planks easier for me (I plank down from about 2/3 the way up the hull). 

More later!

[Montaigne]

Ahoy, looking forward to following your build. Gjøa is one of my favorite ships, and I have one that my father built; the small Model Shipways version with a solid hull.

[Harvey Golden]

The Gjøa's boats are a bit confounding to me. The drawing I have shows three boats dangling from the davits-- one transomed flat-bottomed vessel (a dory?) about 15' long on the stern, and two shorter ones (~12'?) on the stern quarters.  For better or worse, the photos in Amundsen's journals show an elegant long double-ender with "Gjøa" plainly written on it.  Of no help is that the same book shows the flat-bottomed vessel (with transom), and also a pram-- Amundsen clearly refers to the pram as a dory in his journal, though this cold be a translation matter.  Other photos show a much shorter non-pram rowboat in the water, which Amundsen refers to as "one of the sail-cloth boats"-- possibly a small folding job of the period, or something concocted en-route.  In several pictures towards the end of the book, there are whaleboats hoisted on the Gjøa, but it is clear that they are entertaining people from other ships.  It's a hunch, but the actual dory and the two pram set up on the HAMMS drawings (which was possibly the source for the kit-plans) was probably gleaned from the plan and elevation drawing in Amundsen's account (1908:4), shown below (the boats may not have even been with the Gjøa when it was surveyed in the 30s.  Anyhow. . . not sure if I'll go with the arrangement shown below, or the dory, pram, double-ender as hinted by the historic images. 

Photo of a pram, a sail-cloth boat (described thus by Amundsen in his recently published journals [see first post]), and an Inuit kayak (pg. 110):

The flat-bottomed boat w/transom (1908:111): 

[Bob Cleek]

Growing up a kid's bike ride from Gjoa when she sat in her dry berth at San Francisco's Ocean Beach in Golden Gate Park, as shown in the postcard above, and with a father who worked in the maritime industry as an accountant for Dollar Steamship and American President Lines, I was quite familiar with her and her history and never passed up a chance to check her out up close. Even in the mid-fifties, she was sadly neglected and pretty well stripped bare, although they did get around to building a cast iron fence around her. As you know, when she reached San Francisco, the local Norwegian community, which was strongly connected with the sea (and known locally on the waterfront as "squareheads,") acquired her and dragged her up on the beach. This was in late 1906 and the devastated San Francisco was in the midst of rebuilding after the Earthquake and Fire in April of 1906, so that was quite a remarkable feat in terms of economic priorities. At that time, the area was sparsely populated sand dunes running a few miles inland. There she sat ashore, facing the setting sun and the Pacific Ocean a few dozen yards from the breakers. That exposed location was hard on the wooden boat and she got little care, but it seems they threw a coat of paint on her every so often, at least. Money was short and, as time passed, Amundsen's accomplishment came to be underappreciated. I'm sure that her boats were gone in a flash. They certainly weren't around when I was a kid, although I read somewhere that after the War in 1949, the year I was born, they'd done some major work on her. They'd built an iron fence around her, but the high school kids used to jump the fence and climb aboard with a few six packs, break in, and party on her, at least until the cops got wise to it and started chasing them off! I was out of town when they hauled her off to Norway in the early seventies, so I missed watching them move her. I was glad she was brought home to where she and her crew would be more appreciated. It seems they've done a complete restoration on her, as she certainly deserved.

 

It looks like you have a good handle on modeling her. I look forward to following your scratch build!

[Harvey Golden]

Thanks Bob!  Nice to hear a personal story about this ship.  I've only seen her once-- in Oslo when she was still out in the weather and looking very rough. I was much more interested in her than the Fram, though the Fram can't disappoint. She's all fixed up and cozy inside now.

H-

[Harvey Golden]

I've started one (or all?) of the Gjøa's prams.  First time ever doing lapstrake ... let's just say they'll swell up once its in the water. Photos show the keel propped up, planking underway, and all planks on.

Amundsen's Expedition collected three Nattilingmiut kayaks (among many other cultural objects), and I've decided to include these for display on deck.  Two of the kayaks were complete, but the third was a partially dismantled frame that may have been cut-down for storage-- I'll model the two intact ones.  The kayaks are the oldest preserved examples from this group of Inuit and are at the Oslo University Museum.  Here is a scale drawing of one of them, and progress on these--lastly a photo of the nearly finished Pram with the kayaks, still in progress:

Historic shot of Ugpik in his kayak, probably one of the ones Amundsen collected:

 

[Paul Le Wol]

Harvey, this is a very interesting project. I’m looking forward to following your progress 

[Harvey Golden]

Just popped the hull off the strong back, and it is looking good-- will plank the rest of the sides and bulwarks next as well as add the keel, stem, and rudder post. The molds gave very nicely faired results-- perhaps dumb-luck!

One last shot of the two kayaks and the pram: The pram weathered up nicely (black wash and brown wash-- acrylic), and I've added inwales, knees, and oarlock bases. The kayaks will be covered with tissue to mimic the seal skin covers on the originals.  

J. Garth Taylor's book on Amundsen's collections will be helpful in modeling the three dog sleds that Amundsen purchased from the Nattilingmiut at Gjøa Harbor-- it has photographs and measurements of each one. 

 

[Harvey Golden]

Planking continues on the Gjøa's hull; the boats and kayaks are coming along. I opted for an old sheet of fine yellowed tracing paper to use for the kayaks' skin coverings-- they are translucent and roughly the color of the sealskin originals.  I had to cut gores into the sides to prevent bunching-up, so the 'skinning' is more akin to sheathing it with bark. The first kayak looks good, with deck lines and deck fittings in place.  The flat-bottom skiff is also well underway-- just a double-ended rowboat to go and then the ship's boats are done. 

 

[Harvey Golden]

The hull is planked, and the stem and keel are in place (stern stem to come next).  Cedar on plywood bulkheads with ash stem and keel. The bulwark framing (false frame extensions) are also getting fitted. 

[wefalck]

Interesting project and nice rendering of the boats!

 

In summer 2019 I took quite a few pictures of her in the museum in Oslo, focusing on various details. If you need them, I could email them to you. One has to ignore the strange colours, as the museum guys chose to dramatice the exhibition with variously coloured lights  🤨

Edited May 3, 2023 by wefalck

[Harvey Golden]

The stern timbers are in place and the screw aperture is cut.  A lot of sanding, filling and priming.  Getting ready to strike the waterline. The decking is almost complete-- I'll do a float test before completing the deck in case it needs more ballast. (I've put in a fair amount of ballast already, so any additional will be to fine-tune/balance the vessel-- I don't make these as functioning models, but I like to put them on the water for photos . . . and even to swim with them in the summer).   Looking forward to building up the bulwarks, which will hopefully keep me from breaking some of the timber heads off several times a day. 

[Harvey Golden]

More ballast needed!  About half-way up the dry pink should do it (Nice of the local waters to mark the hull so well).  Am aiming for the waterline shown in the historic photo taken at King William Island; seems to riding ever-so-slightly bow-high in the image.

 

[Harvey Golden]

Slow progress lately-- mostly just cleaning up the decking.  I did get the iron strapping on the stern post.  I use heavy paper with dots of glue for rivet/drift heads.  Up ahead: the bulwarks.  Historic photos and modern photos of the Gjøa-- as she is today-- show entirely different methods of scuppering.  I'll go with the early method, which seems to be intermittent square openings, whereas today she seems to have long narrow gaps between the bulwarks and the level of the deck. ...I wonder why it was changed? 

[Harvey Golden]

A bit more progress: Hull more or less done (aside from detailing) from keel to bulwark caps/rails (or whatever they are called).  Will be slow going while the weather is good . . . bear with me.   Have found that plans that seem extremely detailed tend to blur into the mists as one progresses with a model.  That one line on that one drawing made perfect sense and was the highest credit to the surveyor-draftsman . . . until I had to make what it represented(!)  A big thanks to Wefalck for sharing photos he took of the Gjöa, and a big thanks in general to MSW for facilitating such connections. 

 

P.S. This thing is a lot bigger than I was expecting.  I am completely mystified as to how that may have happened.  And at 1.9kg/ almost 4# with ballast . . . 

 

😉

[Harvey Golden]

Slow going during the summer: Got the hawse outlets in (bow and stern), and more work done on the bulwarks.  Further fine-tuning of the color scheme, too, which is proving a challenge as it seems to have been adjusted many times over the years in San Francisco, and is currently displayed in a scheme that doesn't match historic images taken during the Passage (There is a bit of guess-work regarding the colors.)  I've started marking out the structures' footprints; will also add the shelf around the bulwark and transom, and cut the several square scuppers (as opposed to the longer thinner ones she now has).  Things ought to pick up in the fall!

[Harvey Golden]

Not much progress, though a bit of a breakthrough with regards to the Gjøa's boats.  It seems the kits for this ship have a skiff and two prams with them, and the drawing of the Gjøa in Amundsen's own published popular account of the voyage shows the skiff and two prams as well (below).

But in the recently published "Roald Amundsen's Diaries" (Fram Museum, 2017), a historic photo shows what I naively thought was a whaleboat with "Gjøa" painted on its side.  A closer look at the rudder made me think it may be a Norwegian local type, and it sure resembles an Oselvar type, not unique at all to Hardanger, where Gjøa was built (detail below from pg. 23).  

The Oselvar seems to be painted (who knows what color!), and has what look like added wash-strakes forward.  Anyhow, it seems the Gjøa's true compliment of boats on the famous voyage was: 1 pram, 1 oselvar, 1 skiff (which Amundsen refers to as a dory), and a canvas canoe that is mentioned and appears in some images.  

 

So...  from the drawing at https://www.oselvarverkstaden.no/historia/

 

I tried to fill the ledges of the lower ribands to make the model appear more like the lapped-strakes of the original in the inside, but it clearly needs more.  Perhaps I should have snipped-out the bamboo ribands to achieve this. . .  live and learn, fill and patch!

[Harvey Golden]

Some recent progress: The king post and bowsprit are dry-fitted.  I'm starting to make cabin sides and other deck furniture (the windlass supports are shown).  There are shelves inboard of the bulwarks that have been perplexing me for a while, but I've finally settled on laminating them from fine strips instead of scarfing in the curves and fairing-- a matter of getting a plank to bend against its width.  These aren't fitted or shown, but should appear with the next update.   Also visible in the photo is some iron strapping set around the stem as ice protection.  These aren't on the Gjøa today, but are visible in historic images taken while she was in San Francisco. They are made from paper with dots of glue for drift heads.  Note on the bowsprit: I've doubled the 'grain' with a felt-tip marker to be more in scale (compare left-to-right).

[wefalck]

I didn't check against my photographs, but it is probable that the 'shelves' inside the bulwarks are actually the pin-rails. These rails took up the belaying pins on which various rigging lines would be fastened.

 

There were various ways in which these pin-rails were constructed. Sometimes they were bolted simply in front of the bulwark stanchions and sometimes they were notched for the stanchions. A third version, which I think was not used on GJØJA was to widen the main rail to take up the belaying pins. If a monkey-rail was fitted, this may look like a shelf that runs down the whole length of the ship. However, I think GJØJA had simple bulwarks without monkey-rail.

[Harvey Golden]

Thank you Wefalck.  These shelves do seem to be used as pin-rails here & there; they run from the transom to the catheads.  I'll have to look up "monkey rails."   Your photos continue to be of great assistance!

 

P.S. Upon double-checking, the HAMMS drawings do label this piece as "Pin Rail."

Edited October 4, 2023 by Harvey Golden
P.S.

[wefalck]

On these small ships typically every second or third frame ran up to the level of the main rail and served as stanchions for the bulwark. On larger ships the stanchions were separate timbers that were attached to the top of the frames.

The 'monkey-rail' serves to heighten the bulwark in parts or all along the ship. Short stanchions were set into the  main rail where the top of the main stanchions were. These stanchions carry a rail that is thinner and narrower than the main rail. The outside can be planked or the space between the stanchions left open.

[Harvey Golden]

Lots of progress-- comparatively, anyhow. Some Bluejacket fittings showed up, so more work on the windlass and catheads.  The hand cranks are situated on the top of the bitt, so I had to make a new base with pivot (The Bluejacket winch is for a side mount).  I also had to lengthen the handles a bit with some micro-woodworking involving mortise and tenons on two tiny scraps of wood tenoned into the ends of the center piece.   (The bent laminated unpainted strips are the full-length pintails still waiting to be mounted up near the cap rail.)  Many, many more details to come for this area of the ship.

I've also built the deck house and engine room skylights.  The house is planked (cedar veneer) glued on heavy paper (The house's skylight is in progress).  The skylight is paper with perfectly sized brass grommets I had leftover from another project.  The glass is from packaging material, and it was my lucky day to find out that a standard hole-punch made the perfect size panes for the grommets. Need a little puttying at the connections of the deck and house and skylight. . .

Not sure if the companionway had drop-boards or doors . . . the model will have doors.  (Edited: The Plans show doors!  ...My mistake (and correct solution).

Edited October 15, 2023 by Harvey Golden
Error

[Harvey Golden]

Recent Progress: The nearly full-length pintails have been installed.  These are glue-laminated to proper bend, then attached-- a bit of a clamping nightmare.  The winch been held up due to not having any suitable gears laying about; a little 'mixed-bag' of clock parts from eBay solved this issue, though some smaller ones are still en-route (The gear drives a messenger chain to the pumps and a another pair of winch heads further aft).  The king post was a lovely fit through the deck, and while admiring my incredible workmanship, I dropped it all the way through, never to be seen again, hopefully.  A drop of glue followed it up so it wouldn't rattle and remind me of my stupidity.  The new one is pretty nice, though.  More of the winch mechanism will follow, as well as cap-rail re-enforcements, etc.

I've also go the mast made (tapered and painted)-- from a 1/2" poplar dowel.  No lathe here, nor any better ideas than hand-turning it on a bench sander.  The chain plate channels have also been added (a pair on each side of the cap-rails).  Several more deck houses and apertures to make, and other odds and ends and then the rigging will begin in earnest. 

 

[Keith Black]

19 minutes ago, Harvey Golden said:

No lathe here, nor any better ideas than hand-turning it on a bench sander.

 Harvey, sorry to hear about the king post. I've done somewhat the same thing, pride before the fall and all that. I suggest chucking the dowel for the mast into a hand drill. It works well but beware, a drill used for turning will suffer earlier failure than had it been used for just drilling holes. I smoked mine after a couple of years using as a lathe. 

 

 You're doing a lovely job. 

[Harvey Golden]

14 hours ago, Keith Black said:

  I suggest chucking the dowel for the mast into a hand drill. It works well but beware, a drill used for turning will suffer earlier failure than had it been used for just drilling holes. I smoked mine after a couple of years using as a lathe. 

 

 You're doing a lovely job. 

Thank you Keith-- I thought about doing this, but decided the bench sander would be easier to handle and set up.  I do use my drill my dowel making though, and know what you mean about 'smoking a drill'(!)

Best,  H-

[Srodbro]

I have only just discovered you build log, but will follow closely as I am building the Model Shipways kit version of Gjoa. 
 

If I may ask:

Have you any opinion on where one would stand to steer this vessel?  Below is a pic of the kit instructions showing the tiller, and a scaled crew. I don’t imagine one would climb atop the cabin. The plan you show in your log seems to indicate lines from the tiller end to the corners of the cabin. Even using those lines, it seems to me there isn’t a good place to stand to efficiently reach them. 

[Harvey Golden]

Dear Steve, 

I saw your project just the other day-- looking good!  We seem to be roughly at the same stage.  To be honest, I didn't even notice the lines attached to the tiller in the lines published with Amundsen's account; the plans I'm building from are from the 1930s Historic American Merchant Marine survey, and they don't show the lines. I suspect (but don't know) that the lines would be to set the rudder at desired deflect instead of being used to actually control the vessel moment to moment.  There is a compelling photograph, though posed, about 20 years after the expedition that may shed light on this: (second image down)

https://amundsen.mia.no/resource/1903-1906-gjoa-ekspedisjonen-gjoa/

 

Question is: Is the master goofing or showing how it's done?

 

As she sits now in Oslo, the Gjöa does have the steering lines rigged to the tiller (attached to iron stanchions at the rear corners of the house).

All the best, 

Harvey

[Harvey Golden]

The forward companionway:  Here's a bit of the process I'm using in making the deck structures...

I use card stock to form the shape of the structure-- very easy to work with.  Dimensions are slightly under, as this will all be sheathed in wood strips. 

Almost done with the card foundation-- just some reenforcing strips to add.  The interior is blackened and the holes for the deadlights are punched. 

Sheathing in cedar strips.  The sills are also of cedar, beveled as shown.  

Deadlights in and sheathing finished.

Roof of card glued on and some initial paper trim placed.  Hatch is framed. . . and later removed as I didn't like it, and there wouldn't be a header, as the roof was hinged and doors ran to the very top...

All trim in place; hinges added to roof (and joint scored); hatches in place with brass knobs.

Painted and in place.  The white glue in the deadlight should dry and disappear as it dries. 

Yes the roof is rumpled a bit. I don't know what the original material was, but I suspect either sheet metal or perhaps more likely cross-planked and then canvased. I might scratch those hinges off and cover it with book cloth. . . not sure yet. FWIW, I like the rumpled look. 

H-

[Harvey Golden]

Ending the year with more deck houses installed, including the two 'outhouses' (dry-fitted, so a tad crooked yet).   The galley and a bow skylight are in place, and also a few details such as the stack from the engine skylights, two water casks (positioned as-per historic photographs).  The barrels are just 'craft-store' kitsch with the carved hoops sanded off and replaced with steel (paper, actually) hoops.  The companionway got a book-cloth cover (painted black) to match the galley's roof.  I've also started cutting the scuppers in the bulwarks . . . hard to tell how many there were from old photos, and the photos taken of the ship at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park show many changes over the years.  They were definitely of a different form than the Gjøa has now (one is visible in the upper photo, to the right).  Anyhow, here she is to greet the new year: