Iron-Hulled Wool Clipper

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

It looks marvellous Bob.

Peter.

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Very nice, Bob

The rigging and sails are always a treat to study and admire

Wire ropes allow a nice bow for realism

The sails are lovely and realistic

What does the stern sail do mainly?

You certainly…….Know the ropes?

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thanks. It is called the spanker, and they say it assists with the steering, but I have never sailed in a square-rigger, so don't really know much about sailing them.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I have now completed setting and rigging all the fore-and-aft sails. I began the model on the 11th of June last, but have only worked on it for a total of 29 days. That comes to a total of 50 hours, and includes making the display case and sea base. After completing the t'gallant, royal and skysail yards, I will commence setting and rigging the 16 square sails.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Pleasant surprise – I don't think anyone has shown this much interest for some time – topped the 1,000 views!

Have now set and partially rigged the three lower square sails. Only 13 more to set & rig now. All the yards have been made and painted.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I have now fitted and rigged the three courses and the three lower topsails.

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Looking better and better, Bob

Like I said earlier……The rigging and sails maketh the model

How do you actually terminate the ropes, at the dead eyes?

Are you painting the rigging?

I really do like the colour of the sails too

They look very much in scale

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

The ends of the shrouds & backstays are glued directly to the rail. The deadeyes are only"suggested" by small blobs of paint. The rigging is tinned copper wire blackened with a broad felt-tipped permanent marker pen. The sails are white airmail paper with lines printed on both sides in light grey using the computer printer. Close-up photographs like this tend to show up all the errors. It looks much better in real life, and will look better still when it gets in its sea.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I have now set and partially rigged the three upper topsails. Only 7 more square sails to fit and rig now!

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I completed the rigging today. Now I can relax with the less demanding task of completing the display case and carrying case!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Really, really, beautiful, Bob

The sails and rigging looks lovely…….The black and white colours are just perfect

Is this, one of your best?

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Hard to say. Caithness-Shire, below is one of my favourites, but the wool clipper may look better when it gets in the sea.

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hi Bob

Looking at the vertical height of each sail……..I'm surprised that the heights are not uniform?

Some are taller at the uppers compared to others lower down, being not as tall

What's the logic behind this, please?

Your model is really exceptional………Well done

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Very logical. Starting from the bottom, the lowest square sails were known as "courses!" In the wool clipper, the next two up were lower and upper topsails, then came a single t'gallant, and then a royal. The main mast had a skysail above the royal. Naval ships usually had single topsails right up until the end of the era of sail. That was because a naval ship could have two hundred men in one watch, and they could handle the big single topsails without too much trouble. A merchant ship of the same size, or even larger, may only have 15 or 20 men in a watch, so the topsails were split into lower and upper, so they were easier to handle. In very bad weather, it usually came to "all hands on deck," in a merchant sailing ship. Large merchant ships had double t'gallants as well, but this one was only just over 1,000 tons and they considered that a single t'gallants was OK. The royals and skysails being a lot smaller were always single sails. The Caithness-Shire was a stumpt t'gallant barque, meaning she had courses, lower and upper topsails, lower and upper t'gallants and no royals at all. That was to save money on rigging. The yards were all slightly longer than normal to make up for the missing royals. They had a stumpy look and got the name "stump t'gallant" or "jubilee rig" because they first appeared in Queen Victoria's jubilee year.

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Many thanks, Bob

I sorta guessed there would be many good reasons for the unusual sail sizes

Next point……..I notice, there are no flags on your model?

Should there be any?

Finally, the old Chestnut………Why are these ships not unstable and top heavy?

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Flags do not last long at sea, and it is rare to find a merchant ship of any type in the open ocean flying flags. If we saw a warship or another company ship coming along, we would maybe put an ensign up so we could dip it in going past, or sometimes you may see an ensign up on Sundays in calm weather. For the most of the time, there was nothing. It was only in port that flags were put up, ensigns and courtesy flags, Blue Peters etc.

As for sailing ships being top heavy, most of them were not. You could say that galleons and ships like the Mary Rose and Vasa were not as stable as they might have been. Merchant sailing ships were not long and thin as is usually supposed, they had massive hulls with beam/length ratios often also low as 5:1, and had an awful lot of hull under water like this cross section of a big steel windjammer shows – look at the load water line on the right hand side. If the hull was 3,000 tons, and the masts and spars weighed a couple of hundred tons, why should they be top heavy?

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thank you Bob

That is very interesting

You've certainly put the top heavy query into perspective!

Bob

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

And even then, I think one can fairly say that the top-heaviness of the Mary Rose and the Vasa was not so much due to the masts and rigging, but to the many tons of iron-mongery in the form of artillery that they carried above the waterline. Yes, there were also – at least and certainly in the case of the Vasa – constructional errors which compunded the inherent problem of carrying a heavy load of cannon and shot – and having a whole series of holes cut into the sides of the ship to accomodate said cannon – but the problem that the construction failed to solve was that of artillery, not of rigging.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I would agree with all that, the sails and rigging would have been very light compared to the hull. But I never understood why those ancient ships had so much above water, and so little under it!

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Here is an image of the Firth of Cromarty ashore. When fully loaded, the waterline would be just below the boat hanging down the side. From this image, you will get some idea of the enormous amount of hull under water. As the masts and spars were all hollow metal tubes, there was not all that much weight aloft when compared to the hull, and the cargo/ballast, contained therein!l.

Bob

**LINK**

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

And here is the Firth of Cromarty in happier times.

Bob

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ship+firth+of+cromarty&biw=1280&bih=887&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJob29ls3PAhVMVxoKHXBhDuQQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=iw3f9jITyBSv_M%3A

Edited By Bob Wilson on 09/10/2016 08:17:16

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thank you, Bob

The first picture does show the mass of the hull, well and truly, but the centre of rotation is the important thing?

When fully rigged in a good blow, the wind force would add to the top heaviness enormously

I should image, there were a few close shaves with sudden squalls?

I once saw a sailing ship, being supplied with new sails in Antwerp……The old sails were stored below and were dragged up the stairs by an army of cadets. Each sail weighed many tons!

The old sailors must have had a hard life?

A fascinating era

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

They didn't carry full sail in bad weather. And in any case, the sails would split and burst before the ship was blown over. It was not considered bad seamaship to lose sails, but obviously they didn't like to lose them because they cost money and effort to produce. The officer on watch was constantly alert for signs of squalls coming along and sail could be reduced very quickly indeed by letting go the halliards. That would allow the moveable yards to come crashing down onto their caps. The sail might well be lost, but better that than losing the ship. When they arrived in the tropics they would change the sails and put the old worn ones on. Then as they sailed further south, they would change them again and put the best quality ones on for the impending bad weather either off Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Here they are stowing the foresail on the steel barque Garthsnaid in a real corker of a storm. They are rolling heavily, and the ship is only carrying the two lower topsails. They were perfectly stable, and as long as nothing carried away, and a good hand was at the wheel, there was no emergency, but life was cold, wet, and miserable, with the constant danger of being injured or washed overboard. The courage and endurance of the crews of merchant sailing ships was in no way inferior to that shown by the crews of warships, but with merchant ships there was never any glory or recognition other than that of a job well-done, a cargo delivered safely, and a speedy passage. In fact during the great war, many merchant seamen ashore were handed white feathers because they were not in uniform after they had risked life and limb to keep the sea lanes open in the face of enemy action as well as the dangers of the sea, graphically illustrated by this image!

I would recommend anyone to read more on the subject – a real eye-opener, but not many will bother!

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

See my post in All Things Floating, for amazing sailing ship video on Utube.

Bob

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