A few random questions re: keel & stem construction (18th century)

[3DShipWright]

G'day Friends,

 

I have a couple questions regarding the joints of the keel and cutwater pieces. These pertain to my historically accurate build of the HMS Pandora, though for the most part these are very general questions:

 

1. Boxing of the Stem. I was led to believe that these pieces have this name because they actually clamp or 'box in' something - my question is what? Do they box in the back ends of the gripe, cutwater, stemson, gammoning piece, and gammoning knee? Or do they box in the front ends of the apron pieces? Or both?

 

2. Joint Between the Keel and Rising Wood. I know things become somewhat fuzzy when talking about the rising wood and various deadwood components atop the keel, so for simplicity's sake, I'm only asking about the wood inboard of the can't frames of the bow/stern; I'm talking about the rising wood that supports the perpendicular frames. It seems to me that the rising wood is a separate piece than the keel, but I don't know where that transition occurs - does the transition happen at the back rabbet line or at the inner (upper) rabbet line? I assume it's the latter but I would like to confirm.

 

3. Horseshoe and Dovetail Plates. How do the horseshoe and dovetail (a.k.a. fish) plates interact with the copper plating? Are these pieces later covered with copper link the rest of the ship that sits below the water line? If so, how is that done? Are the plates recessed into the pieces they hold together so they are essentially flush with the outer surface? Are they just very thin to begin with? Were they themselves made of copper on later vessels?

 

Thank You!

[Gregory]

You might look at Thukydides log for Perseus.   He is doing a lot of research regarding the stem.

 

(sorry I can’t post a link right now)

[druxey]

There are a number of good books on construction of this era that will explain all that you've asked about, and much more. Take a look at he SeaWatchBooks web site for a good selection.

[3DShipWright]

@Gregory and @druxey - Thank you both!

 

It was quite eye-opening to learn just how informal and variable stem construction was, especially compared with how precisely designed, documented and measured other components were. Scantling tables give us precise dimensions for gun ports, height above the decks, etc. One could write a novel on room and space calculations. But the stem pieces? 'Well, that depends largely on the shipyard and available timber.' Like, really???

 

Don't get me wrong, as a 3D artist, I enjoy modeling the parts where I have more creative leeway. I'm just surprised, is all.

 

Anyway, that's not to suggest I'm going to go completely off the cuff. What I think I'll do is to study up on multiple types of stem construction for similar ships of that period, that way I can ensure all the small joint details of my version of Pandora are historically plausible, if not historically accurate.

 

Thanks again,

-N.