Cutter Luisito by GioMun - 1/48 - A small cutter built to survive a shipwreck in southern seas

[GioMun]

Hello. I´d like to share my new project. 

 

It is about a little cutter, wich was built after a wreack of another bigger ship, in order to go back to civilization. A model and a surviving tale. 

 

Chapter 1.  Introduction and History

 

Luis Piedrabuena (August 24, 1833 – August 10, 1883) was an Argentine sailor whose actions in southern Argentina consolidated national sovereignty at a time when these lands were virtually uninhabited and lacked state protection. His biographers consider him one of Patagonia's greatest heroes. Piedrabuena rose to the rank of Naval Lieutenant Colonel, equivalent to Commander. Today, he is commonly known as Commander.

 

 

When his brig, Espora sank in March 1873 on Año Nuevo Island, and the possibility of salvaging the ship was ruled out, Luis Piedra Buena, its commander and owner, decided to build a boat to escape the difficult situation he and the crew members of the sunken vessel found themselves in.

It is still unclear whether the cutter was armed with timbers from the Espora or with the trees on the island, which was very close to the wreck, an ideal forest for using in the construction of the boat. The original type of Wood used, was ¨lenga¨, (Nocthofagus pumilio).  The work was carried out by him and one or two crew members; the others were ill or simply uncooperative, which makes this feat even more impressive, not only because of his effort, but also because it was not based on any plans. He used his memory and knowledge of what was teached to him by Capt. William Horton Smiley, a whaler who was a friend of his father, and gave him the chance of learning sailing skills, and ship construction, and also, remembered the forms of chilean launches tipycal of the Patagonia, wich are very similar to Luisito.

In just over two months of work, he built the cutter Luisito, amidst storms and southerly winds. He named the cutter "Luisito" in honor of his deceased first son, who bore that name. Once the ship was completed, he left Isla de los Estados and arrived a few days later in Punta Arenas (actual Chile).

Once the cutter was launched and ready, it set sail to Punta Arenas, arriving after 11 days of sailing in May. After a stay of several months, amidst the southern winter, it sailed from the Isla de los Estados, and during that voyage, in August, it rescued the six shipwrecked people from the English brig Eagle, who were half-dead from hunger and cold on a rock. It led the rescued shipwrecked people to Punta Arenas and rescued them again, this time those from the German ship Dr. Hansen, whom it brought back to Punta Arenas.

Piedra Buena continued to travel along the southern coast with the Luisito.

In 1875, Piedra Buena had to travel to Buenos Aires, where Congressman Dr. Félix Frías needed his knowledge of the south to apply it to the border issues with Chile. In order to raise the necessary funds for the voyage, Piedra Buena decided to sell the Luisito, a sale that would be finalized in early 1876.

 

Ship Information

Length: 10.66 m

Draft: 1.52 m

Average Draft: 1.40 m

Displacement: 14 tons

Full deck, with a hatch at the Stern, and a storage locker at the bow.

One mast, with a trapezoidal sail, jib, and staysail.

Tiller.

Wales around the hull.

 

Chapter 2.  Early stages of the model

 

So, the model is built in 1/48 scale, POB, in brazilian pine mostly, (araucaria angustifolia), and some parts in rauli (nothofagus Alpina). 

I had the structure laser cut, for more precision, a practice that i will incorporate in my models from now on.

 

The model construction started with the assambly of the structure, and the bulding of a slipway, as usual.

 

After stat stage, i made some fillig between stations, in order to give the model more strength and a surface to do the planking and nailing.

 

 

Next, installed the keel, sternpost and stem, and of course set up the wales. First i had to build the transom, in order to correctly install the wales.

 

 

 

So that is all by now. See you in chapter 3, with planking.

 

Greetings.

 

Giorgio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MAGIC's Craig]

Giorgio: 

Welcome aboard and thank you for sharing this history and your construction of the model of LUISITO.

I will follow along with great interest.

Craig Johnsen

[Keith Black]

 I'm onboard for the journey, Giorgio.

[JacquesCousteau]

Very interesting project, I'm looking forward to following along! I came across Piedrabuena's fascinating story while I was working on my lancha chilota model, which as you note is a similar type of vessel. I have to wonder how common these small sloops were on the Argentine side of the Straits of Magellan, I haven't found all that much yet about Argentine workboats from the period. I'd be curious to know how the plans were made, as I'd guess they're a reconstruction. Very nice start!