Classic Sailing-Ship Models in Photographs

R. Morton Nance

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486145877
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Marine Transportation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Loving tribute to the often startlingly beautiful sailing vessels of a bygone age, charmingly depicted in over 120 handsome photographs and 28 drawings. Flemish Carrack, c. 1450; the Norske Löve, 1634; the 90-gun Albemarle, 1680; a Venetian trading Galeass, 1726; a Dutch East Indiaman, c. 1740; and the Great Republic, an American clipper, 1853.

NOTES ON THE MODELS ILLUSTRATED.

Frontispiece. This model is based on the previously described print by “W.A.” Note the steep-tub on the quarter, for unsalting meat, part of the shifter’s duty being to get into the tub and tread the salt out; the boat, which in being raised or lowered by the tackles passes just where the skids are placed, showing their use as protecting the side; the cargo-port, used long before gun-ports; the craneline bags or “pokes,” their mouths distended by hoops; the bowsprit grapnel; the guns, mounted on the aftercastle, and one in the mizen-top, and the top-netting shown on the fore-top, where also is placed a huge dart intended when cast down to pierce the bottom of an attacking galley. The blocks are all without strops, like those of galleys.

Pl. 1. This gives us Church-ships, votive and commemorative, in situ, the best possible way in which they can be seen. Carpaccio gives us two great ships, or carracks, and a galley, all of circa 1500, and thus fairly new when painted. With them are numberless other votive offerings, candles, flags, etc. Well as Carpaccio shows the decorative value of ship models, this is even more delightfully seen in the interior of the Groote Kerk at Haarlem, the models of which are described elsewhere. The lantern-like object at the bow of the largest ship is one of the “Castles of Damietta,” chained to another on the other side. The middle ship is shown in Plate 15. The hoy, or galiot, is given the lateen mizen that was later exchanged for a gaff sail. Her spritsail is set, and like the English hoy, Plate 69, she has no leeboard.

Pl. 2. This ship’s underbody is but a gold cup, but the detachable upper part is close enough to the “W.A.” carrack to merit a place among models. The dragon figure-head in “W.A.’s” print is exactly the same as the gargoyles given by him to his architectural subjects and not necessarily a close copy: here it is greatly exaggerated in size. Guns are added at the forecastle, which like the aftercastle is far more ornate than “W.A.’s.” The cargo-port is copied, chased on the surface, as a hinged door. The rigging is merely set up with toggles to holes in the sides. The craneline-bags have closed mouths and the single top-cranes are set, wrongly, before the tops. The form of the blocks is interesting, so also is the crew in varied dress and pose. As usual in later “nefs,” a banquet is in progress on the poop.

Pl. 3. No very precise description of this great ship, whose building “wasted all the woods of Fife,” and that, when built “cumbered all Scotland to put her to sea,” is in existence. Mr. Patterson in making this “reconstruction ” was guided by that of Lindesay of Pitscottie, and by some drawings supplied by myself, largely a matter of deduction, since no detailed ship-picture of this date is known, though there are earlier and later drawings which supply the loss to some extent. The forecastle is still of the 15th-century form; the poop is more solid, and overhangs above the outligger and the square-tuck stern. The spritsail is stowed against the forecastle and the fore-tacks lead to a boomkin, which may have appeared in large vessels by this time. There are two mizens, the smaller of which, the “bonaventure,” is here rigged galley-fashion. The gun-ports are a recent addition at this date. Nettings are shown defending the waist and “castles.”

Pl. 4. This, as already stated, is of doubtful origin, but in many particulars conforms to one’s expectations of what a church-ship of circa 1525 would be. The absence of guns would suggest, were it not for the shape of the stern, a date still earlier, cf. Carpaccio’s ships, Plate 1.

Pl. 5. Comparison of this Venetian ship with Jal’s drawing brings out, as already noted, some instances of “restoration.” The backstays and the over-large rudder may be added to those mentioned.

Pl. 6. The drawings of Le Testu have given most of the information needed for the form and rigging of this model, which, as intended to hang, is left solid. Note the half-top on the mizen-mast and the shields on the after sides of the tops. The topsails are still small, and the fore-tacks lead to a boomkin, the chique. The martnetts are conspicuous, rising from the lower yards, as in W.A.’s carrack and in prints after Bruegel.

Pl. 7. This is finished in more detail than the last, and shows amongst other things the method of furling topsails that remained usual for over a century (see Plate 85), and the open gallery, with arched timbers leading from it to the ship’s side (see note to Plate 80). The spritsail is still furled alongside of the beak. The martnetts now hang in festoons below the furled sails; the ensign-staff is fixed at the corner of the poop, as in Plate 6, and again in Plate 19.

Pl. 8. Adding to the previous description of this model, one may note the decoration of warriors and tritons on the sides and galleries. Open port-lids are represented by crudely cut lions’ heads, and a lion forms the figure-head. The carving is thickly covered with paint, but the monogram, “C.4,” is plainly visible on the...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• INTRODUCTION
• THE GROWTH OF THE SHIP-MODELLER’S ART.
• THE DEVELOPMENT OF SQUARE-RIGGED SHIPS.
• NOTES ON THE MODELS ILLUSTRATED.