SOPHIA ROSE 1853 by Chuck - 3/8" scale - Block Island "Cowhorn" double-ender - prototype for Syren Ship Model Company prototype

[Chuck]

Many of you know that I am building the POF Speedwell currently.  I also have several other projects underway but none of those are ready for a build log yet.  These extra projects will not be updated very often and I plan on taking my time with them.  This particular project is a commission of sorts.  It will be made entirely of Boxwood because its a tiny open boat even at this scale.  There are few models of these graceful common fishing boats out there.   Thats a shame.  But one I have seen and admired was made by Spencer Delrin.   I have seen it many times and always said that I would build one.  Now comes my chance.

 

No two Block Island Cowhorns were alike.   These were not built to a plan at all.  They were made over and over again locally and each time they were slightly different.   There are plans available which were made by who else but Howard Chapelle.  These are the plans I am using.  

 

I have been researching them for months now.   I have chosen to name this the Sophia Rose which was an actual cowhorn on block Island that was lost at sea in 1853.  All hands were lost in a gail and the crew died trying to swim back to shore.  There is an account of this in the Rhode Island Gazette Obituary from that time period...it was the local paper.  It was owned by Barker Burnell and his brother Jonathan.   My daughter's name is Sophia so I figured why not, although I wont tell her that the two brothers drowned and were lost at sea.

 

This will actually become a limited edition all boxwood kit which will be raffled off at a future Joint Clubs conference.  I will make just 10 of these boxwood kits.   Five for the Conference,  and 3 for MSW members.....and 2 I will keep.

 

Although I may also release it later in Yellow cedar.   The all-boxwood versions will only be made into 10 kits fully rigged.

 

A replica which is actually very accurate....

 

 

Chapelle's Plans

 

Spencer's Model...really beautiful...also at 3/8" scale.

 

And some old photos as these Cowhorn double enders were used right up until the 1900's

 

There were dozens on the Island every season (anywhere from 50 - 70) fishing.  A common site from the 1820's through their prime in the 1850's and 60's.  

 

 

 

[Chuck]

The project has actually begun....

 

It will be built much like the Medway longboat kit and Queen Anne Barge kits..

 

More to follow but this is the keel.  All finished up in Boxwood.  As I mentioned this will proceed very slowly.  I actually have over a year to complete it.

 

 

Dry fit after removing char.  Basically just on the outside of the keel and inside of the notched pieces.   These parts are precision laser cut so no need to sand or remove the char from the scarf joints.  

 

On the stem, there is a sheave for hauling in various lines like the anchor cable.   So a slot was filed into it which was centered.   I followed the plans for its depth and shape.   Then a laser cut sheave was added which is actually a working sheave.   Slide it into the slot and stick a length of wire or in my case some 20lb black fishing line.

 

 

Thats it for now...

 

I hope you will follow with interest.

 

Chuck

 

[BobG]

It's really great to see you making this model, Chuck. I love these small, working boats and this is a very interesting one. I think it would be a wonderful addition to your line of models and I hope it will become one of your one regular offerings in the near future. 

[ccoyle]

Awesome! I love to see some off-the-beaten path working boats being built!

[Bob Cleek]

39 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

Awesome! I love to see some off-the-beaten path working boats being built!

Ditto! Lovely as they are, we really have more than enough models of warships from the Age of Sail. For too long, modelers, and kit designers, have overlooked the rich history of and abundant information about inshore working craft as modeling subjects. I should think such boats would be a rich vein to mine for a model kit designer because they are of a size which permits the portrayal of rich detail at large scale while, at the same time, producing a model small enough to display in a home smaller than an English manor house.

 

I anticipate this will be a valuable building log. 

[Ryland Craze]

I was really impressed by Spence's model at the Northeast Conference. It's awesome that you're making a kit of this boat. I'm a fan of the smaller models. I will have to start saving enough money to buy a bunch of raffle tickets at the next Northeast Conference.

[Chuck]

Thanks guys...

 

Here is a look at one of the plan sheets.   To show the boat and what it would look like with sails.  This is the rigging plan.   

 

[Tim Murphy]

Ryland, I totally agree with you on getting ready to purchase a bunch of tickets.

Next years North East show is starting to look like a great show. I can not wait!

Tim Murphy 

 

[Diver]

I to like these small working vessels.  I hope some day to have the ability to scratch build a model of one of these West coast Trollers.  They were the mainstay of the inshore salmon fishery.  They fished with hook and line like a sports fisherman, except they had many lines

[Chuck]

Yes I love these small workboats as well but I am really partial to smaller open wooden craft.

 

I will rig her with furled sails but there are two other options.

 

Here is an Alfred Brownell model of another "Block Island Cowhorn".  It is rigged without sails.  And also without a topping lift.   Many if not most of these small boats did NOT have a topping lift.   I have developed plans with a topping lift but it would be very easy to omit it but more difficult to model and show the boom in position without gluing it or pinning it.  Normally it would be just left on deck as it was a workboat and they were sloppy unlike disciplined navy sailors.  This model also shows the leeboards which I may also include.

 

See how sloppy the decks were on these.  The boom was removed from the mast so it could be brought in and left on top of the thwarts.  The wharfs were very crowded and this made it easier to cram more fishing boats in there.  Notice how they were stacked two deep in the wharf.

 

Plans will include rigging and masting with and without sails...

 

Including a separate sheet with sails drawn with patterns for full size sails AND furled options which are made shorter so they look in scale when furled.

 

 

 

 

Another very interesting way to display these models is rigged without sails but with the bolt ropes for the sails.  It creates a nice outline where the sail would be.  This enables you to model it without the topping lift.  Just like on the actual boat, the bolt rope on the sail raises the boom to its proper height when the sail is set.

 

This model is from around 1900 and is in the Mystic Seaport collection.

 

 

Although the twelve boxwood kits in 3/8" scale will be given away for FREE at the show and here at MSW,  if there is enough interest I will certainly make more but only out of Yellow Cedar.....This may even allow me because of the personal expense to me on those 12 boxwood kits;  to increase the scale to 1/2" on the any production runs, but they wont be part of the limited edition of 12 signed kits.   But I am aware that there is not as much interest in these as your usual warships...but I can sometimes tire of those and this is a refreshing project for me to fill those gaps in-between while working on Speedwell.

 

A nice painting of a block island boat showing them in use...

 

AND an early photo of the same type but used as a pleasure boat or yacht.  No topping lift on the photo.  Note why they needed a leeboard....which there were typically 3 lengths from bow to stern on each side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Arthur Goulart]

Chuck,

I've been silently admiring your work over the last few months. I'd really like to build one of your kits, but I can't really justify it atm. See, I live in Brazil, currency conversion makes costs pretty proibitive, add to that 60% import tax (I mean... That's insane). That, and I'm fiddeling myself through building a MSW Bluenose, but it's more of a scratch build project at this point, because the kit is really that poor, anyways, that's a tangent. The point is, I'd definetely buy that small boat if you were to sell it as a regular project. It looks like it will be a quick, well put together, relatively inexpensive kit, and I'm all for it.

 

Cheers!

[Chuck]

Just a quick test of the frames in position.  This is all just dry fit.  Everything looks great so far.

 

I am headed away tomorrow morning on a short road trip so no shop time.   But when I get back work will resume on the SOPHIA ROSE and SPEEDWELL.  These boats were meant to be beached as a fun fact when room at the wharf was not plentiful.  Anywhere from 2 to 5 fisherman were on these small boats.

 

Chuck

 

 

[Beckmann]

This is a lovely project. I like it very much. And these little working boats should not be forgotten. So many folk earned their daily bread on them.

[druxey]

Great subject, Chuck! And off to a good start.

[Edwardkenway]

I'd be interested in this boat, it'll make a cracking little project.

Very nice, precise work as usual, from Chuck.

[JacquesCousteau]

Out of curiosity, are there any updates on this build? I know you've been very busy with the Speedwell, new blocks, and other items, so it makes perfect sense that it's on the backburner. But it's a very interesting build. These small workboats are fascinating and under-represented in kits, especially at the level of detail and accuracy you're going for. And this method of making the frames looks like an excellent way around the challenges of building many thin frames without doing a shell-first construction with frames added in afterward. Is there any chance the kit would be available someday in 1:32 scale?

[Chuck]

Not Really.   Its not a dead project at all.   Its just far back on the list.  

 

Thank you for asking.

 

Chuck