18 - Ratlines

Fabricating the bowsprit shrouds provided me with some insight into how I might go about installing the ratlines on the mast shrouds. Fortunately, the white glue that I was using for most of the construction dried clear and thus made it suitable for securing the ratlines to the shrouds. Now the purist might suggest that the ratlines should be tied off, but with the number that I was facing, that was not going to be an option. In fact, once the glue drys, the result looks quite acceptable, IMO, even close up.

Next, I had to determine how many ratlines I was looking at. I had a couple of good photographs of Bluenose II that clearly depicted the ratlines, to the extent that I was able to count the numbers involved. I could even determine when the ratlines changed from spanning three shrouds to spanning four (near the mast head where the shrouds taper close together). As a double check, I also calculated the numbers based on the vertical separation, which according to Jenson, is about 15 inches. The results agreed within one or two lines, which was fine by me.

I then produced a paper template based on these numbers and marked off the critical dimensions of mast height and locations of the chainplates/deadeyes at deck level.

Template for affixing ratlines to the shrouds.

Here I've set up the shrouds for the port side forward mast. (The template has not yet been placed on the board, underneath the shrouds.)

Positioning the shrouds in preparation to affixing ratlines.

From here, it was merely a matter of cutting suitable lengths of thread to form the ratlines. In the case of the forward mast shrouds that was 36; for the main mast shrouds, it was 41. In the photo below, the board is set up for the port main mast shrouds and the first run of glue points has been run up the centre shroud. Two more runs would be required for the shrouds on either side - and near the top where the shrouds taper close together, the ratlines span four shrouds.

Gluing ratlines to the shrouds using the template.

It is to be noted that the orientation of the shrouds differs from side to side, i.e., there is a port and starboard configuration. This is due to two issues. First, the shrouds are not centred on the masts but actually are secured to the deck rails slightly aft of the masts. Secondly, the deck rail itself, particularly at the foremast location, angles upward. Consequently, these variations must be taken into account when orienting and applying the ratlines, otherwise the ratlines will not be horizontal when the shrouds are eventually installed.

Once the ratlines had been secured, it was time to add the shear pole that is positioned across the row of top deadeyes. I used white glue to initially set the rod in place, then followed that up with thread to replicate Jenson's drawings. (Note also that the shrouds have been painted since the last post.)

Shear pole in position.

Shear pole in process of being lashed to the shrouds.

Lastly, I needed to adjust the deadeyes and secure the lanyards. Once again, Jenson's drawings provided a clear description of what the end result should look like. (The more astute among you may notice that my top deadeyes aren't quite the pear shape he illustrates - something I didn't notice until it was too late!)

Overview of shroud deadeyes.

Details for tying off the lanyards.

Following Jenson's drawings, I positioned each deadeye set identically and tightened each lanyard accordingly. However, I have not tied the lanyards off as I may have to do some adjusting once the shrouds are in place on the ship. 

Here are the four sets of shrouds.

Four completed sets of shrouds, ratlines and chainplates.

A close-up of the deadeyes and chain plates.

Closeup of chainplates, deadeyes and shearpoles.

And during a trial fit to see how they will look once installed.

Mock-up of shroud installation.

Must admit that I'm glad to have this out of the way. It took some time to complete but I think the detail achieved will add to the overall appearance of the model when installed.

This brings me right up to date with the project. Not sure what is on tap next so you'll just have to watch this space!

17 - Shrouds

Back in Post 12 , I undertook to rig the deadeyes and chainstays with lanyards, forming the kit that would eventually be used to tension the mast shrouds. I guess I had been procrastinating since I hadn't figured out how I would eventually fit them to the hull and rig the shrouds. Besides, it looked like it might be a fair bit of work!

Previously fabricated chainstays and deadeyes.

Finally I could put it off no longer so took a look at the full size items to see what was involved.

Deadeyes at deck level.

Shrouds connected to deadeyes.

I noted that each shroud was white-coated where it looped around the deadeye and up to the end of the seizing. For future reference, I also noted that the ratlines were not stretched taut between the shrouds but rather sagged quite significantly.

I had also happened to catch sight of a video of the stepping of the masts on the recently refurbished Bluenose II and saw that the shrouds were already fixed to the masts and the upper deadeyes were already in place (and white coated as per the picture above). I considered following a similar approach with my model but on reflection, I felt that that would be difficult to implement. Even if I were able to get the shrouds properly tensioned, fitting the ratlines (which involved gluing) would be problematic, not to mention tedious.

Although the shrouds on the full size vessel do not terminate at the top of the mast but continue unbroken down to the other side, I figured I could cheat a bit on this aspect. In other words, I would fabricate complete shroud assemblies for each side of the ship (four groupings in total), using a template board. This would allow me to pre-position all the pieces in their correct locations, attach the ratlines and then easily(?) mount the finished assemblies to the hull and mast.

With that resolved, I first experimented with the shrouds and deadeyes. It was apparent that painting the shroud after looping it around the deadeye was a non-starter. Also, I needed to make sure that the length of the seized portion was equal for all shrouds. By applying paint to selected portions of the shroud, I was able to pre-whiten the length that went around the deadeye and a smaller spot of paint would indicate where the seizing needed to terminate.

I also thought that a jig might be useful in positioning both deadeyes so that each shroud would be similar. Here is my attempt at such a jig.

Experimental jig for making deadeye sets.

However, this proved to be difficult to work with. In fact, I found I was able to adjust the scale deadeyes in exactly the same manner as the full-size versions, so I shortly dispensed with this jig, although in the following pictures I was still trying to work with it.

Here is the end of a shroud, painted in two locations: (a) where the shroud will loop around the deadeye; and (b) a small spot indicating where to terminate the seized end. I didn't want to paint the full section as I intended to glue the ends together and was concerned that the paint might impair adhesion.

Shroud marked for looping around deadeye.

Here is the shroud initially looped around the deadeye.

Shroud looped around deadeye.

Once the loop was formed, used a clamp to hold it in position.

Clamping shroud in preparation for gluing.

 A dab of cyanoacrylate ("crazy glue") completed the first part of the job.

Shroud glued in place around deadeye.

When I took a closer look at the resulting assembly in preparation for rigging the shrouds and ratlines, I decided that the twine I'd previously used for the lanyards was too small - and not the right colour. Since rigging the deadeyes, I had subsequently used a larger scale thread for the bowsprit shrouds and felt that this would better serve as the lanyard for the deadeyes. Plus it was black!

Nothing to do but snip the threads in all 18 deadeye sets and start over! But this time, it was a little easier, since the end of the thicker thread could be stiffened with a bit of glue and once dry, allowed for easy reeving (threading).

Threading the lanyard through the deadeyes.

And a few loops later, pretty much back to where we were at the end of Post 12!

Complete looping of lanyards.

Having got that sorted, still needed to finish off the seizing. Using the same size thread, started at the deadeye and worked my way out. (As an aside, the line used for seizing should theoretically be about 1/8th the diameter of the line being seized but I didn't have the patience to go to that detail! Also note the thicker lanyards are in place by this time.)

Preparing to apply sizing.

Wind out to the mark and we're ready for trimming and some white paint to finish the job. Also used a dab of cyanoacrylate to secure the ends of the seizing. 

Sizing complete, ready to trim and apply white paint.

As before, merely repeat 18 times and we're ready to tackle the ratlines.

'Til the next time.

16 - Ship's Wheel

This will be a short post, as it only involves the ship's wheel and the associated cabinet that houses the rudder steering mechanism.

In keeping with the other features of this model, the original ship's wheel that came with the model was woefully undersized and resembled the full-scale version only by virtue of being circular in shape!

Original kit version of ship's wheel.

Here is a shot of the full-size wheel on Bluenose II, which I assume would be roughly the same size as that on the original Bluenose.

After determining the scale dimensions of the wheel, began construction by soldering four pieces of copper wire together to form the spokes. Then formed a circle with larger gauge wire and soldered this to the spokes. Sanding this flat achieved a reasonable representation of the rim.

All that remained was to slide eight small pieces of wood on the end of each spoke to form the handles and solder a small disk to the centre for the hub. The result is probably OK from a distance; close-up, it's not all that great - but better than the original!

Scratch-built ship's wheel vs kit original.

   The wheel box was also straightforward. I used narrower deck strips to replicate the cladding. 

And a side-by-side comparison:

Original versus scratch-built ship's wheel and steering box

Next time, I'll show what I've done for the shrouds.

15 - Anchors and Catheads

Having gotten the windlass out of the way, figured it would be timely to take a look at the anchors. Certainly the plastic versions that came with the model, were, as with many other items on this model, a far cry from resembling anything like the real thing.

Plastic anchors included with the model.

From the plan view of the forward deck, Jenson depicts a different anchor on either side of the deck.

Anchor location.

Jenson doesn't provide a lot of detail but he does include a sketch of one type of anchor, as well as the overall dimensions. In this sketch, he refers to two different types: a 'Fisherman' anchor and a 'Kedge' anchor but only provides a detailed drawing of one type:

Description of Bluenose anchor in Jenson's book.

Not knowing a lot about anchors, I did a little research on-line. According to Wikipedia, the Fisherman anchor is known by a number of names:

" The Admiralty Pattern, "A.P.", or simply "Admiralty", and also known as "Fisherman", is the most familiar among non-sailors. It consists of a central shank with a ring or shackle for attaching the rode. At one end of the shank there are two arms, carrying the flukes, while the stock is mounted to the other end, at ninety degrees to the arms. When the anchor lands on the bottom, it will generally fall over with the arms parallel to the seabed. As a strain comes onto the rode, the stock will dig into the bottom, canting the anchor until one of the flukes catches and digs into the bottom.

The basic design remained unchanged for centuries, with the most significant changes being to the overall proportions, and a move from wooden stocks to those of iron. Since one fluke always protrudes up from the set anchor, there is a great tendency of the rode to foul the anchor as the vessel swings due to wind or current shifts. When this happens, the anchor may be pulled out of the bottom, and in some cases may need to be hauled up to be re-set. In the mid-19th century, numerous modifications were attempted to alleviate these problems, as well as improve holding power, including one-armed mooring anchors. The most successful of these patent anchors, the Trotman Anchor, introduced a pivot where the arms join the shank, allowing the "idle" arm to fold against the shank."

The picture below illustrates the Fisherman anchor:

Fisherman anchor with loose iron stock.

As this anchor didn't match Jenson's drawing, I looked a little further and found pictures of anchors that resembled his depiction. As near as I can interpret, he referred to this configuration as a 'Kledge' anchor.

Bower (or Kledge?) anchor.

The accompanying text offers the following description:

"Ships had a variety of anchors. This is a bower anchor. A ring at the top, which was threaded through an eye, attached the anchor to its cable. The crosspiece, called a stock, has bands around it. The long, vertical bar is the shaft, at the end of which are the crown and two arms extending to either side. The large triangular pieces are called palms or flukes and each has a pointed tip known as a bill. Bower anchors, carried on either bow of the vessel, were the largest of the ship's anchors. The starboard bower was called the best bower, and the larboard bower, the small bower (even though it was usually the same size as the other one). This particular bower anchor probably came from a 74-gun ship of the line, possibly one of the Royal Navy vessels that blockaded Newport, Rhode Island."

Interestingly, Jenson provides several different names (Club, Fishing and Banks) for the anchors in his overview drawings, compared to the names he used elsewhere.

However, the important thing is to replicate the two types of anchors and not worry too much about terminology!

I didn't take any photos of the build process as it was fairly straightforward. The only tricky part was creating a hole on the respective shanks to mount the stocks. A little bending of sections of the brass wire I was using for the shanks, combined with a bit of soldering, produced acceptable results. 

Here is what I ended up with - think they compare quite favourably with the plastic originals! Note that I hadn't installed the rings at this point nor the reinforcing bands on the Kedge anchor. 

Kedge and Fisherman anchors relative to plastic kit versions.

To complete this area of the deck, I fashioned the catheads (davits) used to assist in releasing and retrieving the anchors. From Jenson's description, there was only one cathead on-board and it was moved as required from one side of the deck to the other, using permanently installed sockets, as depicted here:

Cathead mounted to port.

and the cathead moved to the other side:

Cathead mounted to starboard.

However, I decided to make two in order to rig both anchors simultaneously. 

From the same Wikipedia article:

" Handling and storage of these anchors requires special equipment and procedures. Once the anchor is hauled up to the hawsepipe, the ring end is hoisted up to the end of a timber projecting from the bow known as the cathead. The crown of the anchor is then hauled up with a heavy tackle until one fluke can be hooked over the rail. This is known as "catting and fishing" the anchor. Before dropping the anchor, the fishing process is reversed, and the anchor is dropped from the end of the cathead."

Again, Jenson doesn't provide a lot of detail but I came across a picture on-line, as well as a drawing in the Model Shipways Kit No 2130 Bluenose Instruction Manual. (Model Shipways Manual)  

Full scale catheads on the Bluenose II.

Model Shipways Kit #2130 instructions for catheads.

With these as guides, was able to fashion a couple of catheads, including the sockets, that should do the job.

Catheads mounted on both rails.

Note that the anchors now have rope-wrapped rings and the jewelry chain I picked up at Michaels looks to be just about the right scale size for the anchor chain! They even had a smaller chain that I can use for the hoist chain! (Wonder where all the dust came from!)

That's it for now. Next time, I'll cover the wheel box.