Shipwright
Of Wooden Ships & Sailing, Construction, Maintenance, Repair & Rescue.
277 topics in this forum
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- 23 replies
- 2.5k views
Biting the bullet, dipping into the retirement account, and buying a traditionally-built wooden sailing dinghy. The type is known as a "Catspaw" and here's a pic of one: It is 13' long, lapstrake construction, and has a spritsail rig. Just the thing to mess about in at 18th C. events and Pirate Fests...!
Last reply by Coastie04, -
- 9 replies
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When the USS United States captured the HMS Macedonian during the War of 1812, the chagrined British commander reported that the American vessel had "howitzers in her tops." That rather amazed me. I think of howitzers as being very heavy guns. How could the mast stand up to the weight and recoil of a large gun being fired on the top? How big of a howitzer would they put up there? And, most importantly, was this done during the Golden Age of Piracy?
Last reply by Dread Pyrate Greyhound, -
- 5 replies
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Can any of you old shellbacks help a sailing novice write a realistic scenario for my novel? What needs to happen in this scene is that the captain makes a disastrous mistake that could destroy the ship, and the ship is only saved by the prompt action of the first mate (thus beginning to show the heroine that her contempt for the mate and attraction to the captain are ill-considered). Any scenario that meets the above criteria will work, but the scenario I had in mind goes like this. The ship is a heavily armed frigate-built East Indiaman-type merchant vessel named the Cynosure. It has twelve sixteen-pounders on the gun deck, twelve more on the main deck, and twelve t…
Last reply by Daniel, -
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Captain Kidd's Adventure Galley, brand spanking new out of Deptford, was so leaky that he had to abandon her in Madagascar in 1698. In 1612, Thomas Best's Red Dragon, only a couple of weeks out of port and in calm weather, broke her main yard. Examination showed that the yard was made out of hemlock and was rotten, "which sheweth the badnes of the tree, the want of care in Mr. Burrell [the "great shipbuilder of the day"] and of honestie or skill in Chanlar." During the 1620-21 expedition to Algiers, the English vice-admiral wrote that of his six royal ships, three were completely unfit for sea, "being very laboursome and unable to carry out their lower tier of ordnance…
Last reply by Coastie04, -
- 20 replies
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OK, I was scolded at FTPI last year for calling rope 'rope' and not 'line.' Now I find this in Alexander Hamilton's A New Account of the East Indies (17th - 18th Centuries): "...every Thing in the Ship fast, our Yards lowered as low as conveniently they could be, and our Sails made fast with Coils of small Ropes, besides their usual furling Lines." (Hamilton, p. 485) I take it rope may have been called 'line' when it was attached to the masts and sails (or It may not have been. In fact, I have no idea.) However, he also calls the stuff rope in the same sentence. So I am thinking I was wronged at FTPI, when looking for what was small coils of whatever-you-want-to-call-it…
Last reply by DSiemens, -
- 8 replies
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-When ship hull copper plating was used? If my memory serves me right there is plating on cutty shark’s hull and (I am not completely sure) HMS Victory’s hull, but how old copper hull plating is?
Last reply by Commodore Swab, -
i plan on trying to do some woolding on a small mast, i have found some instruction on how go about it. there is one or two things i'm not sure of. the first is the instuctions say to put a leather button under the head of each nail, is the button a washer in shape to keep the rope from working up the nail and freeing itself, or something else? the other is the nailing method as you progress along, my instuctions say "every turn when hoved tight is fastened with a leather button and nail, each nail being regularly below the other to the middle turn, and then above." can anyone break this down for me. thanks, also i don't have an illustration, one would be great.
Last reply by Dutchman, -
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http://www.sailtraining.org/documents/ASTAFlyer.pdf?PHPSESSID=d419658c63c1956ba44704831e1b5cce
Last reply by Island Cutter, -
- 7 replies
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Read this via AOL and what a find! Not exactly pristine, but... WOW! The images were something else to look at. This would be rather interesting to keep watch over and see what more they find. ~Lady B 18th-Century Ship Found at Trade Center Site By DAVID W. DUNLAP In the middle of tomorrow, a great ribbed ghost has emerged from a distant yesterday. On Tuesday morning, workers excavating the site of the underground vehicle security center for the future World Trade Center hit a row of sturdy, upright wood timbers, regularly spaced, sticking out of a briny gray muck flecked with oyster shells. Obviously, these were more than just remnants of the wooden cribbing used i…
Last reply by MarkG, -
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I'm curious as to the length of time sailors generally planned for when traveling between the Old World and the colonies as well as between the colonies themselves. I know it would not be exact but a rough estimate would be of interest. Example: roughly how many days travel between Boston and Port Royal.
Last reply by jendobyns, -
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I know there was a thread about shipwrecks being found, so here's a new one.... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090201/ap_on_...wreck_discovery "TAMPA, Fla. – Florida deep-sea explorers who found $500 million in sunken treasure two years ago say they have discovered another prized shipwreck: A legendary British man-of-war that sank in the English Channel 264 years ago. Odyssey Marine Exploration hasn't found any gold this time, but it's looking for an even bigger jackpot. The company's research indicates the HMS Victory was carrying 4 tons of gold coins that could be worth considerably more than the treasure that Odyssey raised from a sunken Spanish galleon in 2007, co-fo…
Last reply by LadyBarbossa, -
- 14 replies
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We are building a boat for a build your own boat race, there is going to 6 of us paddling and one at the helm (tiller) we want to incorperate a working square mast on it, so in some of your opinions, how would we make the sail work? we already have a 6 1/2 foot mast on it that is a solid 4 by 4, and we're working on the rudder right now. It has to be team made, man and/or wind powered, and viking themed. last year it was pirate themed and we won agianst the three time winners (of course, because they faced a REAL pirate!! LOL)
Last reply by Coastie04, -
- 18 replies
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The brig Astrid ran aground near Cork and sank shortly after leaving port. The reports state that an engine failure, combined with strong wind and current were the culprits. All 30 crew and trainees were evacuated safely, and now she is holding fast to the rocks with little movement. surveyors and divers are apparently going to consider possible salvage of the nearly 100 year old vessel, but it's too soon to make any real predictions along that front. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2376754/Major-air-sea-rescue-plucks-thirty-volunteers-tall-ship-Astrid-runs-aground-rough-weather.html http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/divers-and-surveyor-to-con…
Last reply by Coastie04, -
- 4 replies
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So, I have a foc'sle. and even cooler is that it is inside a reproduction 17th century ship! What I don't have is documentation either written or drawn about what this wonderful little area on the the vessel is supposed to look like. About the vessel, she is a 42 ton square rigged topsail ketch circa the 1670s. She's small, around 75' in overall length and 53' on deck. Used for coastal trading work here in the new world, travelling as far out from Charlestowne as Barbados and as far north as Massachusetts. Now back to the foc'sle, architectually she's not all to large, but has two larboard and two starboard berths and a ladder betwixt them that opens to the forward ha…
Last reply by MarkG, -
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Article here.
Last reply by Captain Jim-sib, -
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I be on the look out for the gems out there that be available but not as well known. Do ye know of one and would like to share ye experiences about it? I especially be looking for someone with experience on the Elissa out of Galveston. Anyone, Anyone?
Last reply by peglegstrick, -
so anyone know anything about batteaus? I feel another project, someone stop me. Its so close to me yet my plate is full. something would have to go. http://www.batteau.org/
Last reply by Mr.Tignor, -
- 6 replies
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Greetings, I am new to the site. For a lecture on family history research I am seeking two images. Line drawings will work fine. I need one of an old sailing ship / ship of the line becalmed on a flat sea, and one of a smiliar ship being pulled by a longboat. Any advice on where to look? I have tried doing google image searches but have not found anything appropriate. Thanks in advance for any assistance Paul
Last reply by Coastie04, -
- 7 replies
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I don't understand either of these two routes. I understand that you take the trade winds to the West Indies, but aren't the Azores way too far north for the trade winds? I thought the trade winds blew about between 10 and 30 degrees, with the horse latitudes about 30 to 35 degrees, and the prevailing westerlies between 35 degrees and the poles. The Azores are at about 38 degrees North. Shouldn't they be in the westerlies? The detour to Brazil when en route to the Cape of Good Hope also matches with my memory. But the southern trade winds blow from the east and southeast, don't they? Wouldn't they be dead foul for a ship trying to reach the Cape of Good Hope from B…
Last reply by Daniel, -
- 12 replies
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Slowly trying to accumulate knowledge here (but damn it's like trying to drink from a fire hose! Soooo much information out there!), and wanted to see if I understood this correctly. (I am looking at the picture of the Royaliste on www.theroyaliste.com) The gaffs are the spars angling diagonally from each of the masts, correct? It seems that they are mounted to a pivot at the base of the gaff. Yes? If so, do they only pivot up and down? Or is it part of a rig that moves side to side as well? Why would a gaff-rigged ship be preferred over other types of rigging? Does it give better speed, more maneuverability, an extra place to hang swabbies from? Thanks.
Last reply by Cap'n Fishking, -
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I am new to the world of black powder cannons. I am looking to buy either a 2/3 scale 6 pounder fronhern iron works, or the same version from dixie gun works. Both look the same except for th price. I want to find out out if hern iron works are steel lined as are the dixie iron works? Everything have read about herns has been extrmly positive and I would assume it is steel lined, but want to make sure before I purchae. Any help that can be offered would be greatly appreciatd.
Last reply by Commodore Swab, -
- 4 replies
- 2.1k views
- Foxe. Has the Golden Hind replica a wheel and if it does have one (like I have seen in some photos), Why? During 16th century there were not ship’s wheels (not until c.1700-1715 when they started to be common in larger ships). Is the reason so simple that it is easier to steer ship with wheel and authenticity was less important than functionality? Btw the ships wheel is often error in movies like Cutthroat Island (which is sets in 1668)... Source of this information: There is plenty so this is definately truth. Here is one source but there is more... http://blog.handcraf...the-ship-wheel/ If some did not know that during even in Gaop wheels were rare..... but man…
Last reply by Coastie04, -
- 7 replies
- 2k views
When you go up onto a mast-head or yard you "lay aloft"; when you're going below decks you "lay below," and when you're coming up from below deck onto the upper deck you "lay topside." But what is the correct phrase for coming down from the yard or mast-head onto the upper deck? I've seen the phrase "lay down from aloft" in Harland, but that phrase seems unduly cumbersome compared to the others. Was it generally used?
Last reply by angelgal918, -
- 4 replies
- 2k views
I've been trying to look for some information and maybe somebody here can help. Im trying to find out the draft of a 1730's Spanish ship around 325 tons as well as how high off the water the poop deck might be.
Last reply by Commodore Swab, -
- 15 replies
- 2k views
Ok so where on board was the head? or was there one, did they just relieve themselves by going over the side or climbing out on the bow sprit, whats the deal? why do i want to know this? i have no idea. Aaron
Last reply by Tartan Jack,
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