Bower anchor project by Sizzolo

[Kenchington]

I don't think I could do as well at 1/1 scale! 

 

And I have tried: Not an anchor ring but one on a mooring buoy.

 

Trevor

[Desertanimal]

You may have said, but what’s the diameter of that ring? 
Chris

[Sizzolo]

1 hour ago, Desertanimal said:

You may have said, but what’s the diameter of that ring? 
Chris

30mm after parcelling and  puddening

[Sizzolo]

I made some more progress. Still likely to finish the ring tomorrow. 

note, 13 strands chosen as it aligns with Steel’s estimate of the average (at least I think it was Steel… so many references). Due to a nicely working ropewalk I was able to calculate the exact diameter required. 
 

I also ran a quick test on applying thinned wood glue and then my mix of Stockholm tar (25%tar, 75% boiled linseed oil). The test was perfect - I was worried the glue would generate a barrier but the tar/oil still had a decent effect. 

Edited October 29 by Sizzolo
adjusted pic size

[Thukydides]

I am really enjoying this build log, learning so many things I was not aware of. I don't really have anything to add apart from great job.

[Sizzolo]

The fiddly bit is done!

Edited October 30 by Sizzolo
adjusted picture size

[Sizzolo]

More progress today.

Work on some shackles for the chains. 

Anchor ring tarred with a mix of 75% boiled linseed oil, 25% Stockholm tar. Ends of the puddening received a thicker dose of Stockholm tar as I saw this in a reference (apologies, I need to start writing down references when I see them). 

Cable fully wormed. I’ll add some seizing at intervals near the ring before the starting point of the Keckling/ serving - so most of the worming will be hidden. 

 

I’ll try and take better pictures in sunlight when it’s all put together. 

Edited October 31 by Sizzolo
resized pictures

[Sizzolo]

Some very useful information here, and fantastic pictures:

 

https://anthonylonghurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Signals-94_pp02-11_Endeavour-standing-rigging.pdf

 

I'm hoping to make time to read his Anthony's other published works later:

https://anthonylonghurst.com/#published

 

I'm trying to identify the diameter of the serving rope. I can make a good estimate based upon pictorial evidence but it'd be nice to see a table with measurements.

[Sizzolo]

Better picture of the upper half (in daylight!)

Edited October 31 by Sizzolo
added the original plan

[Sizzolo]

Brief test during the lunch hour on serving the cable. This is 0.7mm serving rope : too thick I think...

Edited October 31 by Sizzolo
changed image size

[Kenchington]

Maybe not much too thick, as you are serving a cable to protect from chafe on the seabed, not serving standing rigging to keep the weather out and protect against chafe from the sails.

 

Trevor

[Sizzolo]

18 minutes ago, Kenchington said:

serving a cable to protect from chafe on the seabed

You know what - I'm going to go with that. I've seen reference to serving, then rounding, and on top of that likely keckling and platting near the end of the cable. Aesthetically it looks nice, it won't take a million years (as with anything thinner by hand) plus I can do a short amount of serving with thinner stuff near the anchor, underneath this thicker 'keckling' to represent the multiple layers of protection (plus there'll be chains on top).

[Sizzolo]

Happy halloween everyone. Apologies for nothing particularly scary apart from fiddly rope-work after a couple of whiskeys! Here's the end of the cable nearest the anchor - based upon assessment of a variety of sources so not necessarily accurate for 1800. A dose of my Stockholm tar mixture will neaten things up a bit.

 

[Sizzolo]

Not much of an update - just adding some snaked seizing to the wormed end nearest the anchor.

Reference: Boudroit '74 Book 3, p 104: "If a rope is simply wormed, (i.e. not parcelled and served as well), the worming must be secured at intervals by special seizing called snaked seizing."

I'm just going to leverage that reference here for aesthetic reasons to make the model more interesting - there's no reference to say this was done at the anchor-end of a cable. 

Edited November 3 by Sizzolo
added the reference.

[Sizzolo]

Steel: The Elements and practice of Rigging and Seamanship" 1794:

"TO PREVENT CABLES FROM CHAFING by friction...care taken to stop the service with spun-yarn at every six or eight turns."

 

This is a pic of stopping the service but, not using separate spun yarn so just a test. I'll try a section with separate 'stop's.

Edited November 5 by Sizzolo

[Sizzolo]

I think this is more appropriate: for spun yarn I used 2-thread, 2-strand rope with 0.35mm diameter. Spot of superglue on the reef knot to keep it secure. Again, the eventual Stockholm tar will neaten things up.

It's going to take a while to do the roughly full 4 fathoms (60cm to scale) but should be worth it in the end.

Edited November 5 by Sizzolo
typo

[Kenchington]

56 minutes ago, Sizzolo said:

stop the service with spun-yarn

Was Steel any more specific about what he meant?

 

I can see every reason to clap on something to prevent a break anywhere along the service causing the whole thing to unravel. (It's even a problem I have with my boat's mooring pendant. A rope washing about in water can shed its service all too quickly!) But it needed to be done in a way that neither promoted wear on the seabed nor risked jambing in the hawse while weighing anchor.

 

Trevor

[Sizzolo]

1 hour ago, Kenchington said:

Was Steel any more specific about what he meant?

Unfortunately not. That's all he said as far as I can see:

https://maritime.org/doc/steel/part10.php

 

Completely agreed with your points. I suspect the 'stopping' was either similar to my first method which was just a half hitch in the service itself, or, more likely was sewn into the service with a palm, using finer thread which bound two turns together but not protruding as much as the ones in my model which are just wrapped around two turns. Or (another thought) was a line that used fitted down the contlines of the turns and lashed - again being more concealed. I'll probably stick with my method 2 as it's taking long enough as it is    It's lunchtime now though so I guess one more method....

[Sizzolo]

I think this is better:

This probably makes more sense and wouldn't promote chafing or damage to the hawseholes.

 

[Kenchington]

1 hour ago, Sizzolo said:

a line that used fitted down the contlines of the turns and lashed

Trying to think this one out.

 

The whole task was massively heavy. First the cable had to be supported above the deck (assuming that the work was done on board, and it rather sounds like something the crew would have to keep on top of). Then the rope (itself something substantial) had to be passed around and around the cable (and around ... and around: Serving even the standing rigging of my little boat needed an estimated 30,000+ turns!). Every turn had to be hauled tight.

 

Amidst all that, stops had to be passed. How?

 

Maybe pause in the heaving, pass two looser turns around the cable. Then pass turns of spunyarn  around those two looser turns, taking advantage of a contline in the cable. Heave the serving turns tight, pull the spunyarn tight, knot its ends, bury them under the serving and continue.

 

Then, after applying another 6 or 8 turns of serving, pause and do it all again. And continue until you have served over 10, 20 or more fathoms of cable. What an incredible labour!

 

 

If that is roughly how it was done, I think that your third version captures the appearance very well.

 

Trevor

[Sizzolo]

Thanks Trevor. Yes I think your assessment is sensible. It probably demonstrates just how busy sailers were during their shift. After a few years of practice they probably got quite fast at it when the cable was regularly re-served and repaired.

 

I'm glad I did two methods first as, yes, the third is subtle enough to add an element of interest to the model without making it look like a twiglet. 

[Sizzolo]

More progress pics! I accelerated a bit so didn't make time to take pics as things developed - lots of work on the buoy. I spent a while making rope until the diameter of the buoy-rope (cable) was correct (2.2mm). I tried using my charts to estimate the number of threads and type of thread would result in a 2.2mm cable but kept just missing it. All sorted now though although to make the full 40m (1.25m in 1/32) I'll need to splice two together (the model will need to show the full length as it travels from the anchor to a coil in the ships longboat). I practiced a bit of splicing and - what a pain!  I'm also going to try the fiddly buoy-rope-knot as described in Steel. You might spot a thimble test at one end of the buoy rope - that's 2.5mm OD brass tube after a bit of shaping.

 

For the hoops - Steel says "In the merchant service they are wormed and served; but not in the king’s service." so that saved me a bit of time!

 

Any ideas what Steel means by "Another thimble is turned into the thimble in the other end, for bending the buoy rope to"? As it stands, I could just model it based upon his previous statement "with a thimble in one end, and an eye at the other".  I guess he might mean that as a previous step one thimble was added and the final step is to add another thimble at the other end too? Likely...

 

 

 

Seizing completed on the anchor end of the bower cable. The keckling is taking forever as 5cm of serving needs 1.3m of rope (which in turn needs three strands of 4 threads .. . so 1,560cm of thread to make 5cm of serving...). Then there's the fiddly seizing every 8 turns. Good idea to have radio/tv playing at the same time!

 

[Kenchington]

12 minutes ago, Sizzolo said:

Any ideas what Steel means by "Another thimble is turned into the thimble in the other end, for bending the buoy rope to"? As it stands, I could just model it based upon his previous statement "with a thimble in one end, and an eye at the other".  I guess he might mean that as a previous step one thimble was added and the final step is to add another thimble at the other end too?

I would need to see more of his text, to get the context. However, my first reading of what you have quoted would be that the eye at one end of the buoy was left as a "soft eye" (meaning only rope) and used when fishing the buoy out of the water, then lashing it down aboard ship.

 

The other end of the buoy would have had two interlinked thimbles, giving metal-to-metal contact when there was tension on the buoyrope. One of those two was held in place by seizing the ropes that pass around the buoy, thus forming a "hard eye". The second thimble was available for the buoyrope to be spliced around, when the work reached that stage.

 

Conventional, teardrop-shaped thimbles are slightly open at the narrow end. It isn't easy to work one into the other, to interlink them, but it can be done if neither thimble yet has any rope passed around.

 

Trevor

[druxey]

A very informative discussion of actually seeing what Steel describes carried out in detail! Thank you, Sizzolo and Trevor.

 

By the way, I found applying the line over the buoy rope at 1:48 a real challenge. Your example is beautifully done.

[Sizzolo]

1 hour ago, Kenchington said:

two interlinked thimbles

I think you're right again Trevor: Also - Lever to the rescue!:

Page 69 from The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor:

"the bights at each end are then seized with a round seizing (see page 9), and double crossed. There is often a thimble (m) seized in the bights, round which is another thimble, and to it the buoy rope is bent. A laniard (1) is spliced to the upper eye of the slings."

 

It seems to align very well with what Steel is describing, and your assessment. So - two good sources and some wisdom... helps a lot!

 

Now I've got to figure out how to make a thimble in a thimble with the brass tube I have. . . .fiddly!

 

[Kenchington]

32 minutes ago, Sizzolo said:

how to make a thimble in a thimble with the brass tube I have

That sounds like one of those impossible Chinese wooden puzzles 😀

[druxey]

One of those thimbles will need to be split!

[Sizzolo]

My lunch break was a bit longer today! Buoy rope knot (according to Lever)

"One end is unstranded for one yard in length, stopped with rope-yarn, and one of the nine smaller strands taken out of each of the three larger strands,.."

"...which are then laid together again."

"The three smaller strands are double-walled right-handed close to the stop, then laid up their contlines,.."

The hardest bit was building the wall. I tried about 6 times until generating the right method. The coloured flags helped keep track of which rope to weave and when etc.

 

Next is to do a long splice to I can make the rope 103cm long... (referencing Lever again for the length.)

 

Edited Thursday at 05:22 PM by Sizzolo

[druxey]

Well done!

[Kenchington]

"Well done" is an understatement: I have never even managed a proper wall knot at 1:1 !!!