Cutting the planking

The Yellow wood planking is cut to 3mm X 1.5mm strips from wider 1.5 mm strips, for the hull planking of the Schooner I am building. At first this was a difficult task, but as time went by it became easier. Yellow Wood has a very close fine grain and bends quite well if wetted  and heated. Once the planking is completed and sanded well,  I will aplly a few coats of oil (Furnigloss) to give a natural finish.

H.M.S Halifax Plans

HMS Halifax was a schooner built for merchant service at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1765 and purchased in 1768 by the British Royal Navy for coastal patrol in North America in the years just prior to the American Revolution. She is one of the best documented schooners from early North America.

The schooner was built by a group of Halifax merchants with government support as the Nova Scotia Packet, to establish a reliable packet service of mail and passengers between Halifax and Boston in 1765.
The managing owner was, Joseph Grey, the son in law of the commissioner of the Halifax Naval Yard where the schooner was likely built.Launched in late September 1765, the schooner made her first voyage on 15 October 1765 under the command of Benjamin Green Jnr. Weather permitting, the packet sailed every
eight days between Halifax and Boston and made 23 round trips during her merchant career. In July 1768, the Nova Scotia Packet was chartered by Commodore Samuel Hood in Halifax to take dispatches to
Portsmouth, England. Hood also recommended that the schooner be purchased by the British Royal Navy. The schooner was renamed Halifax and purchased by the Royal Navy on 12 October 1768 to meet a
need for more coastal patrol schooners needed to combat smuggling and colonial unrest in New England. The careful record of her lines and construction by Portsmouth dockyard naval architects, and the
detailed record of her naval service, make the schooner a much-studied example of early schooners in North American. After being surveyed in September 1768 she was commissioned in October and fitted out at Portsmouth between October and December. Her first commander was Lieutenant Samuel Scott, who sailed her  back to North America in January 1769. In 1769 the Halifax confiscated and towed the schooner Liberty, later HMS Liberty, belonging to John Hancock. Halifax returned to Britain for a refit in December 1770, and the following year was under the command of Lieutenant Abraham Crespin. Lieutenant Jacob Rogers took command in 1773, and was succeeded in 1774 by Lieutenant Joseph Nunn. After an active career on the coast on North America she was wrecked on 15 February 1775 at an island near Machias, Maine.

A later schooner named Halifax serving in North America was recorded as being purchased in 1775, though her lines were identical to the Halifax sunk that year, and she may therefore have been salved and returned to service.

H.M.A.V Bounty

HMS Bounty (known to historians as HM Armed Vessel Bounty, popularly as HMAV Bounty,
and to many simply as "The Bounty"), famous as the scene of the Mutiny on the Bounty
on 28 April 1789, was originally a three-masted cargo ship, the Bethia, purchased by
the British Admiralty, then modified and commissioned as His Majesty's Armed Vessel the
Bounty for a botanical mission to the Pacific Ocean.

Bounty began her career as the collier Bethia, built in 1784 at the Blaydes shipyard in Hull.
 Later she was purchased by the Royal Navy for £2,600 (roughly £260 thousand / €474 thousand / $613
thousand in modern currency) on 26 May 1787 (JJ Colledge/D Lyon say 23 May), refit, and renamed Bounty.
She was a relatively small sailing ship at 215 tons, three-masted and full-rigged.
After conversion for the breadfruit expedition, she mounted only four 4-pounders
(2 kg cannon) and ten swivel guns. Thus she was very small in comparison to other three-mast colliers
used for similar expeditions: Cook's Endeavour displaced 368 tons and Resolution 462 tons.

                          

Name:           Bounty
Builder:        Blaydes shipyard
Cost:           £1950
Acquired:       26 May 1787
Commissioned:   16 August 1787
In service:     15 October 1787
Fate: Burned,   23 January 1790

Class and type: Armed Vessel
Tons burthen:   220 26/94 tons
Length:         90 ft 10 in (27.69 m)
Beam:           24 ft 4 in (7.42 m)
Depth of hold:  11 ft 4 in (3.45 m)
Propulsion:     Sails
Sail plan:      Full rigged ship
Complement:     44 officers and men
Armament:       4 × 4 pdrs
                10 swivel guns

Plans for the Replica of the 1963 "Bluenose II" Schooner which is based on the original "Bluenose"

What a beutifull design of a working fishing Schooner, that not only caught fish but raced and won. The "Bluenose II" was built based on the original drawings of the "Bluenose", she was launched in 1963.

The Dimensions of the model in 1/48 Scale are:

1. Length of deck = 916mm
2. Beam = 167mm
3. Draught = 104mm
4. Length of bowsprit (projection) = 112.5mm
5. Length of waterline = 708mm
6. Height of main mast (above deck) = 792mm
7. height of fore mast ( above deck ) = 750mm
8. Length of main boom = 521mm
9. Length of fore boom = 204mm
10. Length of main gaff = 323mm
11. Length of fore gaff = 204mm
12. Total length of the model = 1028.5
13. Total height of model = 896mm

Below are some of the drawings (not yet to scale) of the "Bluenose".

Cannon Update First prototype complete

Below is a pic of the cannon on top of the truck's fith wheel (scale of the truck is 1/10 scale of the cannon is 1/84) just to show the scale of the projects I am used to doing.

The first prototype cannon is now complete and painted, I have managed to order some Hematite rod in 8mm to turn the rest of the cannon. Hematite is a nylon type material and is usually black in colour, the colour making it perfect for Canon. Not to mention the fact that it is very easy to turn on the lathe giving a smooth finish with little sanding. I think it is time to find my tungsten lathe tips that I have stashed away in a cupboard in my workshop. The tungsten tips will make turning quite easy as they keep a good edge even on hard steel like tool steel, so the hematite should be no problem at all.



Dec Update 64 Gun French Galleon

I have now started on the cannons and the gun carriages, have just realised how small they are. Finally started to revamp my new work station (ship yard). There are 64 Cannon with 48 visible and 16 dummy barrels. So there are 96 carriages sides and 192 wheels. 48 complete cannons and 16 dummy's are a rather large task.

 The first of the gun carriage sides cut from Rhodesian Teak, 1 of 96 hip hip frikken hooray only 95 to go.

A cannon in the Lathe, the stock is a 6mm hard wood dowel

A new beginning and an on going task of working and building a new work station still a lot of work to be done. The post form counter top will go on next and drawers to be assembled.



Update 64 Gun French Galleon second layer hull planking

Well at last the second layer of hull planking is complete on one side and most of the gun ports have been cut out. Some of the sanding has been done, now that I am on leave and revamping my work station work should be a bit more frequent and a bit more organised.

The Victory's Launch in the foreground, as you can see the Couronna is not as big as the Victory.