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Thread: New Boat 4 Sled

  1. #1021
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    " Bring what ya got" is familiar litany to SSS sailors. This morning at Essex, CT, Maritime Museum, I boarded a unique single handed vessel, the TURTLE. Actually, it was a working replica of the original TURTLE, which was the first submarine to be used in warfare back in 1776, during the Revolutionary War.

    David Bushnell, then a Yale student, began building underwater mines in his dorm room. Deciding that a submarine would be the best means of delivering his mines in warfare, Bushnell built an eight-foot-long wooden submersible that was christened the TURTLE for its shape, really just a large wooden barrel, barely big enough to stand up in.

    TURTLE was entirely human powered. One crank propeller pulled her forward, another raised her up and down. There was a small barn door rudder, and a 1" diameter drill bit for attaching the TURTLE to the underbody of an English man-of-war.

    Like most singlehanders, TURTLE required more hands than the crewman possessed to propel and steer, all the while looking out through small ports.

    Singlehander Ezra Lee piloted TURTLE unnoticed out to the 64-gun HMS Eagle in New York Harbor on September 7, 1776. As Lee worked to anchor a time bomb to the hull, he could see British seamen on the deck above, but they failed to notice the strange craft below the surface. Lee had almost secured the bomb when his boring tool failed to penetrate a layer of copper sheathing. Lee retreated, and the bomb exploded nearby, causing no harm to either the EAGLE or the TURTLE

    During the next week, the TURTLE made several more attempts to sink British ships on the Hudson River, but each time it failed, owing to the unwieldy design of the barrell/submarine.

    Only Bushnell was really able to competently execute the submarine’s complicated functions, but because of his physical frailty he was unable to pilot the TURTLE in any of its combat missions. During the Battle of Fort Lee, the TURTLE was lost when the American sloop transporting it was sunk by the British.

    Despite the failures of TURTLE General George Washington gave Bushnell a commission as an Army engineer, and the drifting mines he constructed destroyed the British frigate CEREBRUS and wreaked havoc against other British ships.

    The replica of TURTLE into which I climbed was built 40 years ago, and launched once. I'm sure RAGTIME! would have felt right at home. I, less so. Bring what ya got. Even if it's a TURTLE.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=turt...0CD4QsAQ&dpr=1
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    Last edited by sleddog; 07-03-2015 at 12:45 PM.

  2. #1022
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    Lee was one gutsy guy.

    "I'm sure RAGTIME! would have felt right at home." That took a second. I think Sled is referring to this old post.

    Seeing that series of "remembering" posts reminds me that I never told the story about the little red-haired girl I met at Bethel Island. She was just like the little red-haired girl in "Peanuts" (and I reacted to her like Charlie Brown did) AND she had an El Toro, named BILBO. Her family's Newport 30 was named HOBBIT. That was when the Hobbit stories were still all sweetness and light. So was she. (Sigh.)
    Last edited by BobJ; 07-03-2015 at 04:59 PM.

  3. #1023
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    Here in New England it is not hard tripping over sailing history. My host, BP, is a direct descendent of Capt. Nathaniel Palmer. Palmer, as a 21 year old, in 1820 sailed his 47 foot sloop HERO south in search of much prized seals. He found none in the vicinity of Cape Horn, so kept sailing south.....

    On Nov. 17, 1820, Palmer and his five crew sighted Antarctica, the first Americans to do so. They were also the first to discover the S. Orkney Islands at latitude 60 S. Today, Palmer Land, the Palmer Archipelago, and Palmer Station are named in his honor, as his the icebreaker RV NATHANIEL B. PALMER.

    Capt Palmer went on to become a noted Clipper Ship captain and designer. His designs were fast and seaworthy and Palmer is credited with being the co-developer of the Clipper Ship.

    Yesterday, after sanding and prepping, I varnished BP's classic 1937 Herreshoff 12-1/2 PRIVATEER. There's a lot of wood in PRIVATEER (16' LOA). Today, I again don my Painters Union gear and paint PRIVATEER's hull (Hatteras off-white with green bottom.)

    I've a lot to live up to. PRIVATEER won the 1976 National Champs, and in 2006 won the Herreshoff Festival "Best in Show" restoration.

    Good Sailing to the 2015 Long Pac fleet!
    Last edited by sleddog; 07-08-2015 at 03:10 PM.

  4. #1024
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    Yesterday, after sanding and prepping, I varnished BP's classic 1937 Herreshoff 15 PRIVATEER. There's a lot of wood in PRIVATEER. Today, I again don my Painters Union gear and paint PRIVATEER's hull (Hatteras off-white with green bottom.) Good Sailing to the 2015 Long Pac fleet!
    Hi, Skip! Boy, it would be great to see a photo of you in your Painters Union gear with that boat. Both treasured sailors in the same shot.

  5. #1025
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    In the case of Essex, MA, it took a village to build a schooner. Visiting Essex Shipbuilding Museum yesterday, I found buildings along the waterfront housing different materials, tools, and remains of what were once five shipyards building more two masted wooden schooners for New England commerce and fishing trades than any other place in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vHPK0t3ymM

    In this day of carbon fiber, electric winches, and hi-tech rope, it was enlightening to see ships that were built of wood using trunnels (tree nails), essentially oak or black locust pegs driven into holes drilled into the ship's planking and frames. The trunnels had a slotted head into which a small wedge was driven, thereby securing the trunnel into its hole. The advantage of trunnels over metal fastenings is they did not decay the surrounding wood. Also, contact with water causes wood to expand so that the trunnels gripped the planks tighter as they absorbed water.

    I asked our tour guide about ballast in the big Grand Banks schooners built in Essex. His answer was surpising. Ballast was internal: Ice in the bilges to keep the fish cold, and fish in the holds was the ballast. The more fish caught from the 12, two man dories, the stiffer the schooner became. ???

    The Essex schooners were launched on their sides on greased skidways. No railways or Travelifts needed. But high tide was mandatory, as the river at Essex is only about 9 feet deep and 100 feet wide.

    The schooner races between the Canadian BLUENOSE and the Gloucester GERTRUDE L. THEBAUD are the stuff of legend. THEBAUD was an Essex built schooner, and schoonerman turned actor Sterling Hayden was her navigator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_F6zL3TUdA

    I came away from Essex Shipbuilding Museum, with a new respect for what came before. Across the street, a bronze bell cast by Paul Revere in 1767 tolled in the church steeple.
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    Last edited by sleddog; 07-11-2015 at 01:20 PM.

  6. #1026
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    Just down the street here on the Boston waterfront, a key event in American history transpired in 1773 when American patriots dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor to protest taxation "without representation."

    The Boston Tea Party, as it became known in history books, precipitated the Revolutionary War. Fighting British troops, things were going poorly for General George Washington and his ill outfitted soldiers until, in 1781, the French Marquis de Lafayette brought ships and reinforcements, leading to the decisive victory at Yorktown.

    Lafayette's flagship was the 32 gun frigate L'HERMIONE, which crossed the Atlantic westward to America in 1780.

    In 1997, some HERIMONE lovers in Poitou-Charentes district of France on the Atlantic, north of Bordeaux, had the idea of recreating Lafayette's ship and sailing her back to the U.S. to celebrate ties between the two countries.

    It took these visionaries 17 years, six schools, and 30 companies to complete construction of the new, 213 foot L'HERMIONE. Traditional construction was used where possible.

    After a shakedown cruise, the new L'HERMIONE crossed the Atlantic this spring, and safely arrived in Yorktown, Virginia, on June 5th.

    I was fortunate to see L'HERMIONE this Saturday on her arrival in Boston. The French Tri-colour waving bravely was the size of a small house. The bronze cannon in the gunports weighed in at a hefty 2.5 tons each in Lafayette's time. Fife and drummers greeted the ship as Captain Yann Cariou expertly backed L'HERMIONE into Rowe's Wharf. Grand Marshal Henry Kissinger stood nearby, bent on his cane, ready to welcome the crew.

    It seemed half of Boston was on hand to welcome L'HERMIONE. And just down the waterfront was another tall ship, the magnificent SAGRES, the sail training ship of Portugal and sistership to the USCG EAGLE.

    Good thing the Boston fireboats directing celebratory geysers of water skyward weren't about to run out of water.
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    Last edited by sleddog; 07-13-2015 at 09:01 AM.

  7. #1027
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    "Wooden Boat" had a nice article on "L'Hermione" (air-mee-OHN). The National Maritime Historical Society's "Sea History" had an even better one (I think). One of the interesting background things is that although the original "L'Hermione" was lost in a wreck, the British captured a sister ship in 1783 and took the lines off, preserving them in the Admiralty's files all these years. This allowed the Association Hermione-La Fayette to build an almost duplicate ship, using traditional shipbuilding, sail making, hemp and manila rope "walking", black smithing technology. Hidden away are the two engines, generator, and current required safety equipment. I am a little puzzled, however, in that every photo of the ship sailing shows the guns served and ready to fire. Most of the time similar ships sailed with their guns, which weighed 2.5 tons, safely secured and the gun ports sealed against incoming seas. I know that Nelson's ship-of-the-line, HMS "Victory's" current "guns" are fiberglass so the even heavier weight of the originals doesn't cause damage to the decks - perhaps "L'Hermione's" are lightweight replicas, too?

    In the same "Sea History" edition is an article about the current "U.S.S. Constitution" re-build that's going on at the Charleston Navy Yard. There are some old photos, one showing the hull with planking removed. The framing is revealed and is so closely spaced it's hard to see that it's framing and not vertical planking.

    Comparing two somewhat similar frigates in one magazine is interesting. I wish I could be on the East Coast to see "L'Hermione" up close and personal.

  8. #1028
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    Yesterday's tour of the Portuguese Naval Academy tallship SAGRES was an eye-opener. SAGRES was one of three steel sisterships built by Germany in 1937, and confiscated after the War.

    SAGRES is 295' overall, flies 23 sails, totalling 21,000 sq. feet on three masts, and is crewed by 17 officers and 55 second-year cadets (15 women). SAGRES is bark rigged by definition, meaning she has a square rigged foremast and mainmast each carrying five massive yardarms. The mizzen is fore and aft rigged. The height of the mainmast is 150'.

    For docking purposes only, there are two capstans with 6 foot spokes manned by 10 crew each. All trimming of sails is manual, taking six or more crew for each sheet, guy, or halyard. SAGRES under sail is magnificent, with linen white sails each carrying the distinctive red Order of Christ Cross. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki...ortuguesa..jpg

    Talking with the cadets, all of whom spoke English, was enlightening. There are three, 6' diameter, steering wheels, and a fourth emergency steering wheel aft. Three cadets are at the helm at all times, increasing to six during docking maneuvers.

    It was revealed that on this current training cruise, SAGRES had reached an average of 13 knots one afternoon at a heel angle of 15 degrees. The cook then complained his pots were sliding off the stove, and they had to take in sail.

    Everything on SAGRES is shiny: paint, varnish, bronze. I saw zero rust, no rope unwhipped or poorly coiled, and perfect harbor furls in the sails. Good job!

    Last evening SAGRES departed Boston for the Azores, then Amsterdam. I wish them Fair Winds.
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    Last edited by sleddog; 07-14-2015 at 01:52 PM.

  9. #1029
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    "There are three, 6' diameter, steering wheels, and a fourth emergency steering wheel aft." Would we still make them carry an emergency tiller, "capable of being fitted to the rudder stock"? Okay, I'm meddling.

    She's a beauty. Thanks for these posts Sled.

  10. #1030
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    Category 4 Hurricane Dolores, with 115 knot winds, is currently SW of Cabo San Lucas and traveling NW at 15 knots. Her projected track will take her into the sphere of influence of the now underway Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpac Race.

    Dolores will rapidly diminish in intensity as she travels northward into cooler ocean waters. Hurricanes cannot maintain their integrity in ocean waters 81 degrees or cooler.

    Nevertheless, Dolores' remnants have the Transpac Thursday and Saturday starters scrambling. Uncharacteristic light headwinds will greet this portion of the fleet. Thoughts of race records falling are being replaced by forecasts of a record slow race, at least for the medium and big boats. The Monday starters are already launched, and making fast progress towards Hawaii. The overall winner of the Transpac will likely come from this group.

    In response to pessimistic weather routing, the big trimaran LENDING CLUB withdrew this morning from the Transpac, to pursue her own agenda. Spin doctors, and sailing politicians are in telephone conversations about what to do to gain headlines in absence of wind. It will be interesting to watch what the maxi-hybrids (motor assisted) WILD OATS XI and RAGAMUFFIN, both from Australia, plan, as both are entered in Transpac to gain the outright Los Angeles to Honolulu sailing record, not the Race Record (Barn Door Trophy.) which is only awarded to non-hybrids.

    For those wondering what a "hybrid" sailboat is, in the current lexicon, a "hybrid" ship's engine, or generator, runs 24/7, providing instant or stored electrical or hydraulic power for continuous canting of the keel to provide stability, and to power the winches to provide fast trimming of very large sails.

    It can be debated whether a hybrid is a sailboat at all, or a motorboat. There is no propeller turning. But the fact remains a hybrid would have difficulty trans-ocean racing without the engine running.

    Meanwhile, WILD OATS' navigator in the Transpac, Stan Honey, will not be making the Race. Stan was launched across COMANCHE's cabin in the recent Trans-Atlantic Race and banged the back of his head. Though initial reports of Stan being knocked unconscious were sensationalized and in error, Stan's doctor has advised him to lay low and not sail on WILD OATS until all possibility of a concussion is ruled out.

    It will be interesting to hear Stan's report, and whether he thinks helmets are in order on board boats averaging 25 knots, like COMANCHE was when Stan sustained his injury. My very best wishes to Stan for a speedy recovery.

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