How did you careen ships in the tideless Caribbean?

[Daniel]

Careening: the act of beaching one's ship, turning it over on its side, cleaning the bottom and adding/replacing hull planks. WIthout careening, teredoes and barnacles and seaweed will first slow and then destroy the ship.

Now, even a small vessel will have a draught of five feet or more; the brigantine St. Lawrence II, for example, has an 8.5 foot draught. So as you sail your ship toward the beach, you will run aground in five to eight feet of water. Obviously,it will be difficult or impossible to work on the bottom while standing in the middle of crashing surf. In ordinary seas, the solution is presumably to ground the ship at high tide; when the tide goes out, your ship is left high and dry and ready to work on.

But the Caribbean Sea has no appreciable tides. How do you careen there? We know that pirates did careen in the Caribbean; Captain Lowther was captured while careening on Blanquilla, off Venezuela. Did the pirates somehow drag fifty- or sixty-ton sloops out of the water and onto the dry beach, and then back again? And what did they do with big ships like the Queen Anne's Revenge or the Royal Fortune?

Edited September 20, 2013 by Daniel

[Coastie04]

Essentially, find a nice beach, lighten the ship as much as possible (remove ballast, cannons, supplies, water, upper masts, yards, anchors possibly, etc) and tow her aground. Then attach tackle to the top of the lower masts and use them (attached to rocks/trees/anchor) and shift remaining weight all to one side in order to cause the boat to list as much as possible. Work on the exposed hull before reversing the process to get the other side. Wait for a high tide and tow or use an anchor to refloat the boat. Then, reload the gear and be on your way. Obviously, this is the cliffs notes version, but hopefully it will steer you in the right direction.

[Coastie04]

Since a picture's worth a thousand words, here's a few to give a good idea of how to careen vessels.

An Old Whaler Hove Down For Repairs, near New Bedford, a wood engraving drawn by F. S. Cozzens and published in Harper's Weekly, December 1882:

The old way of careening a vessel is tested out by sailing ship enthusiasts from Arendal. In the old days, before slipways and dry-docks, sailing vessels were hauled over sideways by heavy blocks and tackle fastened to the mast. The winch of a tractor, solidly secured, did the job in this instance. Photo by Erik Holand:

[Daniel]

Great pictures! I see that there was some sort of raft or platform used to avoid having to stand in the water while working on the bottom. But I didn't realize that it was not necessary to get the ship entirely out of the water before careening.

Thank you very much!

[Coastie04]

And, though a little off topic due to the large tides we have in Alaska, a couple of pictures of my very own Sanctioned Mistress on the grid, essentially careened, but on an even keel in a larger tidal region. Essentially, drive up and tie up, make sure you're over the girders properly to avoid rudder or prop damage, then tend lines and wait for the bath tub to drain. It's a lot cheaper than getting hauled out.

OK, mainly this was just an excuse to get pictures of my boat on this site again!

[Commodore Swab]

On average here in the keys we have around 2 foot tides. I have been thinking about ways to redo my bottom but have been at a loss with a 39 inch draft without hauling the boat. If there is anyone that can give me a heads up it would be apperciated.

[Captain Jim]

Thou shalt remember to secure and caulk thy gun ports else thy ship shall not rise upon the tide.

[Dutchman]

to careen without a tide swing is doable but takes some planning. all of the above techniques are correct but is missing a step in areas with little tide fall. Go to the charts and find a place with deep water next to shore. These can be most often found on the back sides of sandbars or islands at the mouths of rivers with a strong current when the tide ebbs. beach along side one of these, then use the above techniques to haul the vessel over. I would carry cribbing to block up the bow and stern since all the weight and force will be at the widest point of the hull. If you have a few crusty old commercial fishermen I bet they may be able to direct you to where they used to do this in the days before boat yards with fancy lifts.

[Coastie04]

Most sailboats today would almost go over on one side by theirselves and wouldn't need additional hauling over like their round bottomed ancestors. Also, if you have a fin keel, don't think about it! Although some hulls MIGHT be strong enough to take that kind of stress, fin keels aren't designed to be hauled over quite like that, and can dig in to mud/sand and get stuck while trying to right the boat. It can literally rip out your keel. Same can go with an unprotected rudder.

Additionally, make sure that wherever you decide to careen (if you do), that there aren't any environmental reasons not to. Changing zincs isn't really a big deal, but scraping and painting can be. I'd hate for fines to be more than the generally safer lift haulouts.