Odd number of rowers on whaleboat

[LucienL]

Hi there. I am currently building the boats for the HMS Beagle and have been following the anatomy of the ship as a guide. This is the whaleboat

There are six thwarts total and 5 tholes, presumably the aft-most thwart was for someone to control the rudder.

As far as I can tell, this is what the plans suggest

I'm just not sure if this is right as this would result in an odd number of rowers that would make the boat difficult to keep straight. If anyone knows whether this is something that may have been done, please let me know.

[DonSangria]

I think the aft-most thwart is also for a rower and the boat is steered from the part No.11 in the drawing.

 

PS: Nice to see you're still (or again) active on the beagle!

Edited April 24 by DonSangria

[LucienL]

I see, that would make sense, although this part is much higher up than the thwarts. I wonder why they haven't drawn that on the plans though. I'm not a fan of the asymmetry so I think I will add an extra thole for the last thwart. Thank you.

 

Progress has been a bit inconsistent on the beagle, but the boats are coming along pretty well. I've been meaning to post an update for a while and probably will soon now.

[allanyed]

4 hours ago, DonSangria said:

I think the aft-most thwart is also for a rower and the boat is steered from the part No.11 in the drawing.

I agree that the steersman did not sit on the aft most thwart.  This boat is single banked so there would likely be three tholes on each side for the six rowers.  The last drawing showing two tholes MIGHT be a mistake.  Looking at contemporary models and drawings in W.E. May's Boats of Men of War and more in the RMG Collections, so far, I cannot find an odd number of tholes on any boat.  Out of curiosity do the other six boats that Beagle carried show this oddity?

 

Allan 

[LucienL]

Hi Allen the plans outline 2 different types of whaleboats (25 ft and 28 ft), both of which have only 5 tholes. The whaleboats made up 3-4 of the Beagle's boats. There are two other single banked boats in the plans, the yawl (the Beagle's largest boat) and a gig that was built/purchased as a replacement for one of the lost 25 ft whaleboats at some point around the ship's second voyage. The plans for both these boats have 6 tholes (or rowlocks in the case of the gig). I've included the plans for these two boats.

The two other boats, the dinghy and the cutter are both double banked.