I have a question regarding the length of the gun breeching lines ring bolts.

[cbill]

 

Hello everyone,

Regarding the ring bolts used to secure the breeching rope and the gun tackle, we often see them passing through the bulwarks on various ships, but this seems rare on First-Rate vessels. Why is that?
Here are some images where they can be seen going through the bulwarks, but not on the HMS Victory, for example.
Were there different types of anchorages used for ships of this size?

 

Thank you in advance

 

Edited Sunday at 02:13 AM by cbill

[Lieste]

The frames are original, and there is evidence of bolt holes adjacent to the ports when she was stripped and being re-planked. The planks are new, and the breeching bolts cosmetic only. They would almost certainly have been through bolts when originally constructed.

[druxey]

Through bolts, forelocked, were used for ease of replacement of damaged ones. The same was true of chain bolts, where the forelocked ends were on the inboard sides.

 

Victory has been through so many repairs and replacements in a very long life that this feature was lost somewhere along the way after her active service.

[dafi]

I always understood that this was much more a french feature and the english preferred the bolts not running through but being secured by a heavy wood thread in the frame? Could this be correct?

 

XXXDAn

[Morgan]

That is also my understanding, ignoring Victory who has had more skins than a snake, other survivors such as Unicorn and Trincomalee have their eye and ring bolts clenched on the frames, beneath the outer planking.  Also, other British ships captured on celluloid and in old photos don’t show externally fastened bolts.  British Pathe news reels can be found on YouTube are a good source.

 

Gary

Edited Monday at 11:13 AM by Morgan

[druxey]

A clenched bolt, under planking, would be very awkward to replace easily. Perhaps the idea of a 'heavy wood thread' is confusing this with a ragged bolt. This was more permanent, with arrow-like projections along the shaft that allowed easy driving, but prevented the bolt from being withdrawn again. Until relatively recent times - the early to mid 19th century - threaded bolts were hard to manufacture.

[cbill]

Thank you all.

I found some additional information in this discussion.