Royal Navy Fireship COMET 1783

[bobcat]

Hello,

 

Just a quick note to tell you that David Antscherl's new book The Royal Navy Fireship COMET 1783 is now on the SeaWatchBooks web site. David has produced a beautiful model. Look for it at seawatchbooks.com.

 

Thanks,

 

Bob Friedman

[solemar]

FYI, another great book for the library, to go with the Swan-Class books............

        I'll be ordering mine soon

 

http://seawatchbooks.com/114002

 

The Royal Navy Fireship COMET of 1783 

A Monograph on the Building of the Model
          by David Antscherl

      8 ½”x11”, 160 pages, case bound with jacket, color section, 6 sheets of plans.

This book describes a late eighteenth century fireship built by a private yard for the Royal Navy. Although built for the express purpose of setting on fire, Comet was lavishly decorated in high Georgian style. She was also in of the first naval ships to be fully armed with carronades.

 

This book describes Comet’s brief history, then details her construction where it varied from standard sixth rate of the period. This work contains a color section showing David’ beautiful model and six sheets of plans. Readers will find this a useful continuation of David’s series on sixth rate sloops.ages, case bound with jacket, color section, 6 sheets of plans.

Edited October 2, 2014 by solemar

[catopower]

Wow, what a beautiful looking model and ship! 

 

But I have to admit to not understanding the whole reasoning behind building such a beautiful vessel, just so you can set fire to her.

 

I would think you'd just find some old merchant ship and send her off to her doom (and the enemy's too, hopefully). Or was it considered so great a duty that the ship would be bestowed great honors before going to its death. I guess I'm going to have to buy the book to find out!

 

Thanks Bob for releasing what looks like another fascinating title!

 

Clare

[druxey]

The author will be giving a talk on this fireship at the upcoming NRG Conference as well.

[Ferrari66]

Hello,

 

very interesting subject; the model produced by the Author is beautiful. Any further details about the plans? Is a framing plan included in the drawings?

 

thank you very much

 

Alessandro

[druxey]

All the frames, etc., are fully lofted on the plan set, Alessandro.

[Ferrari66]

thanks Druxey,

 

probably this will be my next book (with Allan's work about scantlings & dimensions).

 

Alessandro

[allanyed]

I had the privilege to preview this book and see the model while under construction and I can say that it is a must for any scratch builder or kit basher.  There are a lot of new areas covered that are not to be found in the TFFM series such as an extremely detaled description on building the galleries, not to mention the design and construction of a ship with the specific purpose of being a fire ship.

 

I was supposed to be proof reading for errors but  I became totally engrossed in the text and illustrations and enjoyed the read as much as I found an appreciation for its usefulness to the model builder.

 

 

Allan

[AnobiumPunctatum]

This book looks like a good Christmas present for myself

[lagrayjr]

I just received a copy of Comet of 1783 by David Antscherl over the weekend. To say the least the book is outstanding. What I found most interesting was David's detailed description of the fire room and how it works. I personally had no idea about a fire ship and am amazed at the complexity of the structure. David does not repeat what he has written in TheFullyFramed Model; however, the Comet does show the detail differences in a fire ship. In addition the book includes a very detailed description of building quarter galleries and the armament of the ship which is 18 pound carronades. These are not covered in the FFM books. This book is a must for  anyone who is interested in 18th-century British naval power. Congratulations David for another outstanding contribution to our literature. Laman

[uss frolick]

On the night of September 2nd, 1814, the wounded USS Wasp was briefly chased by a former British fireship, HMS Tartarus, following the former's victory over HMS Avon. But by then, the Tartarus had been converted to a heavy sloop of war, as had her sisters, and she was rated at twenty guns. She reportedly mounted twenty-two 24-pounder carronades on her main deck, with eight 18-pounder carronades and two long nines on her upper deck, or thirty-two guns in total. Fortunately for the Americans, the Tartarus sailed off in the wrong direction after the Wasp altered course in the dark ...

[druxey]

Tartarus was one of the Thais class of fireship, built to the same lines as Comet, but far less decorated. Wasp was lucky, as Tartarus and her sister ships were very fast.

[tlevine]

I received my autographed copy of Comet this weekend at the NRG show and have made it through the first few chapters.  As one would expect, the book is well written with numerous sketches and full-color photos of the completed hull.  There are six sheets of plans which include all of the frames fully lofted.  A great addition for anyone interested in 18th and early 19th century military ships.

[Chuck]

I received my copy and read through the entire book.  Its a just a great book and I have already picked up a few tricks from it.  There are quite a few nice techniques described in this book that will help you as a model builder construct fittings and ship's details that would be part of any Eighteenth Century vessel.  I highly recommend it.  Well worth a look!! even if you dont plan on building the Comet.   

 

Chuck

[ASAT]

Can some tell me the scale of the ship/plans? I looked on the site but I don't see it mentioned....  Thanks,

 

Lou

[dvm27]

Comet's plans are drawn to the scale 1:48, or  1/4" = 1'.

Edited October 24, 2014 by dvm27

[alangr4]

I am delighted to report that the Royal Navy's Fireship Comet safely negotiated the Pacific (sans pyrotechnics) and docked in Canberra.

 

Should keep me occupied for weeks and as others have reported:

 

(a) complements nicely the four volumes of sloops by the same author and Greg Herbert; and

 

(  provides additional valuable insights into the dark arts of this craft).

 

It is wonderful to track the progression and evolution of David Antscherl's various builds over the years from Polyphemus, through Resolution and now Comet.

 

One wonders what comes next?

 

It will be well thumbed before the year is out and a great addition to the library.

 

One small gripe (from one located in the Antipodes) mine is not signed. Sigh!  

 

Great stuff nonetheless.

 

Cheers

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan

 

 

Edited November 4, 2014 by alangr4

[Mike Y]

Pardon for a silly question, but where can I find more photos of that beautiful model? There is one tiny pic on a page with book description, but I can't google anything extra.

[alangr4]

Mike on the Nautical Research Guild's web site two of the models I mentioned Polyphemus and Resolution feature in the member gallery. For Comet colour pics feature in David's book. It is worth buying for the pics alone.

 

Alan

[Jaxboat]

There was mention of USS Wasp earlier in this blog. There is an excellent article about Wasp and her Captain in the latest issue of Naval History which is put out by the US Naval Institute (USNI) . Both the ship and her Captain were seasoned warriors. I am surprised no one has tackled a model of her.

Best

JAXBOAT

[Mike Y]

Mike on the Nautical Research Guild's web site two of the models I mentioned Polyphemus and Resolution feature in the member gallery. For Comet colour pics feature in David's book. It is worth buying for the pics alone.

 

Alan

 

Thanks for the info. It is just a bit, hmm, strange to have a model recently built, but with no pictures on the internet!

Planning to have TFFM and the Comet book as a Christmas present for myself.

[uss frolick]

JAXBOAT, USNI Press published a rather comprehensive book about that cruise a few years back called "Blakeley and the Wasp", I think, although I forget who wrote it.

[dvm27]

David Antscherl has given me permission to post a couple photos of his lovely Comet here. The model is not finished - it is in the process of being fully rigged.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2014 by dvm27

[Trussben]

She's a beauty and that's for sure !!

 

Ben

[BobF]

I just finished writing a review on this book for my club newsletter.  So, I thought I'd share it with the rest of you.  I certainly agree with all the positive comments that have already been made.

 

BobF

Comet of 1783.pdf

[alangr4]

 

Great review Bob. You sum up the strengths of David's book very succinctly.

 

Alan

[algeciras1801]

I have to admit to not understanding the whole reasoning behind building such a beautiful vessel, just so you can set fire to her.

 

I would think you'd just find some old merchant ship and send her off to her doom (and the enemy's too, hopefully). Or was it considered so great a duty that the ship would be bestowed great honors before going to its death.

 

 

Clare

 

The Royal Navy employed merchant ships to begin with but they were deemed too slow to keep up with the ships of the line and fire-ships eventually developed into quite complex vessels which made converting existing ships harder so the Tisiphone class (to which Comet belongs) was introduced.Of the nine vessels in this class of ship only Comet and Conflagration were actually used in their intended role

Edited December 31, 2014 by algeciras1801

[catopower]

Mike on the Nautical Research Guild's web site two of the models I mentioned Polyphemus and Resolution feature in the member gallery. For Comet colour pics feature in David's book. It is worth buying for the pics alone.

 

Alan

 

Actually, the NRG directors apparently decided to eliminate the gallery. The MSW gallery is now the only way the NRG specific stuff is being shown. I'm not too thrilled about the call myself.

 

But on the upside, I just got my copy of this wonderful book. Well written and beautiful photos of an exquisite looking model. The plans are in a separate folder that comes with the book. I'll probably never get around to building something as beautiful as the author's model. I just look at the book and drool mostly...

 

Clare

[alangr4]

 

That is indeed a pity Clare. There were some nice vessels on display.

 

Perhaps NRG will transfer the photos to this site at some stage.

 

Alan 

[Trussben]

Received a copy of this beautiful book as a Christmas present from the Admiral, spent a few days reading and my compliments to David for yet another fine read.

As said before it doesn't reitterate TFFM but it does build on and give more info and insights on building RN ships of that era, especially interesting is a breakdown of building quarter galleries which is an art of itself.

I have placed on the bookshelf right next to my copies of TFFM. Wish mine was signed by the author as well.

 

Ben