Hooker Ship 82 ft. by Rik Buter - scale 1 : 64 - 1757 design Pieter Pauluszoon van Zwijndregt - first wooden ship build

[Rik Buter]

Hello, I would like to show you the build of a 82 foot Dutch hooker ship at a scale of 1 : 64. I used the 1757 contemporary building plans drafted by Pieter van Zwijndregt (Pauluszoon). I got the plans from the book ‘In Tekening Gebracht’ by A.J. Hoving and A.A. Lemmers which deals about 18th century Dutch shipwrights and their designing methodes. Pieter van Zwijdregt was a member of a very prominent family of shipbuilders that were active at the shipyards of Rotterdam. The book tells about a controversy that was going on in the Dutch Republic between the two biggest shipbuilding parties of that time: Rotterdam vs. Amsterdam.

[Rik Buter]

Amsterdam had installed an englishman (Charles Bentam) in 1727 as the master shipwright at the admiralty dockyard because the English were able to produce and work from construction-drawings.The general idea was that all the shipwrights in Holland were still building as they were taught by their predecessors and there wasn’t any progress. The quality of the hull was a result of the varying craftsmanship of a particular shipwright and the available wood. This is why in 1738 Amsterdam was chosen over Rotterdam to design new ships for the Dutch navy. 

[Rik Buter]

In 1755 a powerfull Dutch administrator wrote an article in a scientific magazine of the time, in which he states that the Dutch shipwrights are incompetent and very convervative and did not have any scientific knowledge of ship design. He had not taken into consideration the van Zwijndregts though. Mid 18th century Pieter van Zwijdregt had already done scientifyc tests with a towing tank to examine the resistance of different hull shapes. Also there are very skilfully made construction drawings of a warship called the Twikkelo in the Maritiem Museum in Rotterdam which clearly show geometrical based design. Now this Twikkelo was build in 1725 by Paulus van Zwijndregt, Pieters father. That means that the knowledge of mathematics had already been developped by Paulus before that time.

[Rik Buter]

So of course this negative assessment provoked the van Zwijndregts. In 1757 Leendert van Zwijndregt (Pieters brother) produces a book about Dutch shipbuilding and in that period Pieter himself is working on a manuscript as well, which was never published but from this manuscript comes the drawing that I am using to build this boat.    

 

So I started by puting the drawing in the right scale of 1 : 64 and then translating it for a 6 mm. and 9 mm. mdf. board construction.

There is a sideview and 9 frames.

[Rik Buter]

[Rik Buter]

The van Zwijdregt drawing also contains three waterlines, which I named E, F and G. and translated onto the model. I printed them as well and used the cut-outs to check if the build was going well.

[Rik Buter]

I painted the frames and filled up the areas with a lot of curve with balsa wood. 

[Rik Buter]

view from the stern

[Rik Buter]

Keel + stempost attached.

[tmj]

Nice looking start!

[Rik Buter]

I did some tests of different kinds of varnish and washes on different kind of woods. Mainly limewood and walnut. I also did tests with steam bending. Especially with 3 mm. thick wood, the walnut was easier to bend. So I decided to make the wales out of 3 mm. walnut and the rest of the planking out of 1 mm. lime wood. The wales had to be bevelled first, then curved lengthways with the 'Chuck-method' (using a travel-iron) and then steambended.

[Rik Buter]

the first wales up on the model. Notice there is no rabbet for the wales, just for the planks.

[Rik Buter]

one of the cool things about the van Zwijndregt construction drawings is that he put the wales on it so you can very accurately transfer them onto the model. And from there you have a base for the rest of the planking.  There is a hardly noticeable but very imported trim of the wales towards the stem and the stern.

[Rik Buter]

starboard wales finished

[Rik Buter]

the mainwales finished

[Rik Buter]

the upper wale is on the model and I put some deck beams on it. And because I want to cover the main hatch with a grating, I put in a small piece of the cargo-deck. 

 

 

[Rik Buter]

view from the stern with the main wales and upper wale.

 

[Rik Buter]

I painted the upper wale black. The upper plank of the hull ( I don't know the name for that one ) I made out of bendable beech because the curve was so severe. That part is going to be painted green. 

 

[Rik Buter]

I put pieces balsa wood in between the frames so I could sand it down a bit more easily. Then I started withe inner planking. I also laid the outer rim of the deck so I can work towards that with the inner planking. 

 

[Rik Buter]

After the inner planking was ready I made a stance out of a piece of oak floorboard. I don't like it too much though. What I really do like is the strong sheer of the boat. That was actually one of the main reasons why I choose this one from the set of drawings that accompanied the book. I was really curious what it would look like on a three dimensional ship or model. I have tried to put the wales as accurate as possible on the frames so that the sheer would come out smooth. What I also like is the shape of the bow that starts to become visible at this stage. It reminds me of the bow of a so called 'Lemster aak' which are known for their outstanding sailing qualities. The more I look at this boat, the more I start to believe that this Pieter van Zwijndregt was quite genius.

 

[CiscoH]

beautiful start Rik

[Ronald-V]

Love the lines of this ship! 💫 Always loved the Dutch designed ships ❤️

 

Why is it called "Hooker ship"?  😛

Edited July 15 by Ronald-V

[Rik Buter]

Thanks CiskoH.

 

Why is it called a hooker ship. Well I read that it was initially a fishing vessel with very long lines with hooks on them, so called 'hoekwant'. So they called those ships 'hookers'. There are a few drawings from Groenewegen that depict a hooker ship while they are actually catching fish that way.

 

                               

 

They are standing along the board or railing, pulling in the lines with the hooks. In order to create more working-space along the boards, the channels for the mainstays are placed backwards. That is also the case with the design I am building from.

 

However I was wandering if perhaps there was a more specific quality in the shape of the hull that would make this ship a hooker ship and, for instance not a galliot.

                                     

These are two drawings from the same series by van Zwijdregt. I couldn't really tell the difference but one is a hooker and the other a galliot. Maybe one is build a little higher. But then I remembered I read an old piece of text somewhere about hooker ships, so I looked it up.     

                                                                                            

So there is this old text about shipbuilding dating from 1837 written by F. N. van Loon. And it also contains a chapter about hooker ships in which he says that it is a strange kind of ship that is known for its resilience. There is a fleet of about 80 fishing-ships and they have the habit to stay onto the North Sea for 16, sometimes even up to 20 weeks. All that time they do not go ashore. They are even able to anchor at sea and he explains in short how they do that. Then goes on to tell us that the circular shape of the bow and the stern attributes to its exceptional seakeeping together with its ballast of water and salt and sand which is stored in compartments all over the bottom of the ship.That way they are always able to keep the vessel's draught at a constant level. To successfully sail on the North Sea with its short high waves in turbulent weather, every loaded ship needs a certain amount of empty cargo space above sea-level. 

 

Aha, that is why the hooker ship has such a high cargo space. And that is the difference with a galliot. I made a test and put the lines of a galliot in blue colour on top of the drawing of the hooker that I am building and enlarged it to the same length (while keeping the original aspect ratio of course).

 

 

The difference at the red arrow of 90 cm. (about 3 feet) might be the difference between a wet or a dry deck. Now if you have to stay at sea for 20 weeks that is pretty valuable I guess.  After this 'discovery' I was checking the book with the Gerrit Groenewegen drawings again to see if it remained intact.

Once you know it, you see it.

best regards

 

 

[Ronald-V]

Thanks! You are very thorough in your research.

[TheDuckDetective]

Very interesting, I'm currently doing some preliminary research on the Twikkelo to see what I might need in knowledge and materials if and when I am to build a model of her. Seems like I'll have to get my hands on that book by A.A. Lemmings and Ab Hoving.

 

Your Hooker is looking absolutely splendid! Traditional Dutch boats and their beautiful lines always intrigue me even though the types and the minute differences between them all, often, elude me.

I can tell a Hoogaars and a Hengst appart, but thats about it.

 

Best of luck with this build Rik!

I look forward to seeing the rest of it.

 

Rutger

[Rik Buter]

 

                 

 

Before I started with the planking, I took measurements between the wales and the top of the keel on all the frames. Oddly enough they kept being quite even all the way up to the outer two frames at the bow and the stern. That means that the rising sheer of the wales exactly makes up for the declining or shrinking of the hull towards the front and the back.  

           

Frame 5 is the middle frame out of 9, that is where the bottom of the hull is widest. Frame 8 is the second to last at the stern. 

I think it goes to show that the shape of the hull is not designed at the drawing table using mathematical formulas but it 's the other way around. The van Zwijdregts developed formulas or geometrics to describe the shape of a hull that emerges from the building methode they used. That is what is so interesting about these drawings. They are technically adequate but they still breath the 17th century hull shapes that were obtained by building methodes from carpenters. They have this eloquent and intuitive feel for hydrodynamics.

 

 

[Rik Buter]

Rutger, thanks for your reaction. The Twikkelo, that would be awesome! Quite a lot of tumblehome for a Dutch ship, which is always cool I think, but which in later designs almost disappears.

 

   

 

In the book 'In Tekening Gebracht' they speak about a ship model at the Rijksmuseum that is called MC 498. It is built in England in 1738 but it was apparently ordered by Paulus van Zwijdregt after his design. If you could somehow get to see that model from up close, that could be of great help. 

And about getting your hands on the book of A.A. Lemmers and Ab Hoving; you should get ALL the books by Ab Hoving. That guy is brilliant! Not only does he know all the history and does all this cool model building projects. He is a really good writer, very eloquent and knows how to tell a story. I wish there were ten of him. At least ten.

[Rik Buter]

                 

 

I put on the top of the bulwarks or railing. What surprised me, was that the pieces right behind the stem post and right in front of the stern post didn't need any bend. So for a while there the railing is straight. You can't really tell something like that from the construction drawing. I also planked the top of the cabin.

 

                   

[Ronald-V]

So beautiful!

[Ab Hoving]

Hallo Rik,

 

My compliments for your work and your research. They both make sense.

 

@TheDuckDetectiveAs for the book 'In Tekening Gebracht', I'm sorry to tell you that is has been sold out for years. Maybe second hand (try Boekwinkeltjes.nl)? I do have an English translation though, so if you are interested I can send the pdf.

 

As for the model NG-MC-498, you can find pictures of the model at the Rijksmuseum site and I have a draught after my own measurements.

Let me know what you like.

 

Best,

Ab

Edited July 17 by Ab Hoving