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Old 07-19-2019, 02:13 AM
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Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"

Okay guys, you’re in for a real, “treat”, let me tell you the story of the, “celebrated filibustering tug” (gun-runner) “THREE FRIENDS”, sit back, make yourself comfortable and let me tell you the tale.

Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, a local businessman of Jacksonville, Florida in the late 1800’s and two friends, laid the keel in 1893 of a small steam ship only 112 feet in length with a beam of 24 feet, very, “sleek” in design and fast, it was noted as, “showing her heels to many”, in the 1890’s I’m not sure if that was complimentary or derogatory, they christened it the, “Three Friends”.

After less than a year of unsuccessful commerce, he decided a more profitable endeavor would be as a, “gun runner”, smuggling arms, men and supplies from Florida to Cuban revolutionaries in their war of independence from Spain.

The little ship made a number of highly successful runs, smuggling men and arms south, it’s exploits were publicized even though the practice was officially not encouraged by the U.S. Government.

Aware of Broward's identity, the Spanish ambassador to the United States demanded that the American be stopped and his ship impounded.

U.S. authorities tried to catch him, but Broward eluded them by loading The Three Friends under cover of darkness in secluded locations, hiding her behind larger ships as she left the St. Johns river, and picking up Cubans and munitions from other ships at various points near the mouth of the river.

Except when trying to evade capture, Broward never pretended not to be a filibusterer, he gained notoriety around the state for his daring deeds.

After Cuba won it’s independence from Spain, the little ship and it’s exploits were well known, on one such a occasion, the Chief Engineer was reported to have thrown, “hog back” (what ever that is) onto the boiler fires creating a, “smoke screen” to evade capture off of the coast of Cuba by Spanish gunboats.

After the Revolution, on the little ship’s merits and maritime exploits, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward ran for and became Florida’s 19th Governor in 1905, he died a year after leaving office in 1910 at age 53.

In summary, The Three Friends supplied arms to the Cuban insurgents who overthrew Spanish rule, only two years before the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor in 1898, some blamed Spain, while Spain blamed the revolutionaries, this led to the Spanish-American war.

Here are a few images:
Napoleon Bonaparte Broward (guy in suit)
Chief Engineer (guy not in suit)
The, “crew” (guys who have never seen a suit)
and a few photos of the ship and Cuba’s recognition of it in their bid for independence.
Attached Thumbnails
Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-01.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-03.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-07.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-08.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-09.jpg  

Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-10.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-11.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-13.jpg  

Last edited by FRD; 07-19-2019 at 02:25 AM. Reason: unable to insert text
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Old 07-19-2019, 02:28 AM
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Second Life

Settling into it’s retirement, in the early 1930’s the mast were removed, a dual windlass winch was added to the bow and it was converted into an oil-fired, “harbor tug” serving as a, “ceremonial ship” welcoming, “dignitary ships” that entered the St. John’s river visiting Jacksonville, Florida, most notably the U.S.S. Constitution when it visited in the early 1930’s.

As fate would have it, through the linage of heritage, the ship was eventually left to Mr. Broward’s grand daughter who did not have the expertise to operate it or the financial where with all to maintain it, allowing it to sink, tied to it’s moorings in 1947.

It sank into the river bottom until dredging of the shipyards was done in the early 1970’s when the only thing salvageable was the triple expansion steam engine of which we were given escorted, “exclusive access” at a, “gated”, highly secure storage facility. (even more so now)

The engine was massive, built by Murphy and Sons machinery and foundry on Bay street in Jacksonville.

Measuring over 16 feet tall (5m) and weighing in excess of 25-1/4 tons, it incorporated three overhead cylinders, each being progressively smaller than the next.

As steam exhausted from the largest, high pressure cylinder to the intermediate cylinder that then exhausted finally into the low pressure cylinder, it was a fairly efficient form of steam engine.

Here are a few images of the Three Friends as a harbor tug and a few images of the recovered engine, Marji standing nearby to add a size perspective.
Attached Thumbnails
Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-01.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-02.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-03.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-04.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-05.jpg  

Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-06.jpg  
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Old 07-19-2019, 02:31 AM
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The Museum

Fast forward a century to 1993, the Jacksonville Maritime Museum Society (JMMS) first approached me, they wanted a model designed to commemorate the centennial of the famed gun-runner that was to take place in 1996.

They had some very specific criteria:
(1) The model would have to illustrate all phases of the ship’s progression.

(2) The model would have to be in grey scales, their reasoning is, all of the reference materials were in black and white and as the curators of Jacksonville’s maritime history, they didn’t want to speculate as to the ship’s actual coloration, by printing in B/W, there would be a substantial cost savings.

(3) They wanted the graphics to reflect the mid, 1890’s, “garnishment” from an 1895 handbill was provided.

With this specific criteria, “in hand” I designed TWO COMPLETE VERSIONS (1895 and 1935) from the waterline up, they were to share a common hull and stand from the waterline down.

I was as well to design an acrylic display stand for the museum, additional distribution was done by Lou Dausse and PMI for the museum.

Back in 1993 I was using a , “state of the art” home computer and printer, it was an IBM 386 with a, “whopping” 8 MB of RAM! (I had to pay extra for that)

While the model it’s self was to be commercially printed on an offset press, the layout was done on a 24 pin, “dot matrix” printer (24 DPI), the graphics are primitive by today’s standards but there is certainly no lack of detail.

This was the VERY FIRST model I had ever designed exclusively using a computer as all of my previous models were hand-drafted, full color and printed on an offset press.

It was this model that secured the commitment of Lou Dausse (PMI) and Jeff Johnston (NOAA) to document the recovery expeditions of the U.S.S. Monitor.

Unfortunately, the Museum has been, “history” for a few years now, the, “beginning of the end” came when they lost their, “cultural grants” due to a, “lack of diversity” (if you get my drift) from that point forward, I personally believe that it then failed as a direct result of, “mismanagement” at the highest levels.

An assembled copy of this model was presented to Governor Broward’s daughter during the centennial celebration who, at the time, was well into her 90’s

I find it rather, “ironic” that the paper model outlived the museum.

Here are a few images of the original model.
Attached Thumbnails
Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-04.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-12.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-14.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-cover.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf-illus.jpg  

Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf-parts-01.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf-parts-02.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf-parts-05.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf-parts-06.jpg  
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Old 07-19-2019, 02:34 AM
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The Model

The model(s) are comprised of 122 parts on seven parts sheets, it includes as well historical information, 9 illustrations with full rigging details, parts are numbered from A-1 to G-20 while kept as simplistic as possible, there are enough, “fiddly-bits” to keep even the most advanced modeler, “busy for awhile”.

It’s in a strange scale, 1/120 (I have no idea why)

A large format print measuring 11” x 17”, while I understand completely that the, “standard purveyor” may be reluctant to publish large format prints, this model may still be available to you.

To procure a download of this model, please PM me personally and I’ll tell you how you can download this authentic, “piece of Americana”.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I really enjoyed assembling this model, it was very pleasant to look at when fully rigged and assembled, as well as fairly easy to assemble, having only 122 parts, I believe I assembled four, complete, “pairs” and enjoyed doing it each and every time.

I would really like to see someone do a, “build thread” of this (why should I have all of the fun?), other than the rigging, they are really two, pretty simple models.

I do anticipate that there may be a day in the future, if there is an interest, of completely re-drawing it using contemporary technology to bring it up to today’s standards.

It’s been 23 years since this model has, “seen the light of day” I had forgotten all about it until a recent inquiry brought it back to my attention, with that in mind, I decided to scan the original and make it available to the general public.
Attached Thumbnails
Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf01.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf02.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf03.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf04.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf05.jpg  

Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf07.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf08.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf09.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tf10.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tfmodel1.jpg  

Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tfmodel2.jpg   Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-tfmodel3.jpg  
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Old 07-19-2019, 06:47 AM
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Procurement:

Procurement requires $6.50 U.S. and a Paypal account.

(Marji may be cheap but she's not free!)
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Old 07-19-2019, 08:20 AM
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Paid and downloaded. Beautiful model, and a bargain at this price. Will try to print out on legal cardstock later.
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Old 07-19-2019, 08:38 AM
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I think the Museum printed and sold about 500 copies, they originally printed 250, sold out and then printed 250 more.
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Old 07-19-2019, 10:01 AM
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Hi, Fred!

I have at least one copy from PMI, and for years I debated whether to digitally remove the grayscale dots or use this as a pattern for a painted model (either in cardstock or styrene). If you do update this model, I'd jump on it immediately, as I love your work on this little ship. The fact that you can build TWO complete waterline versions is an amazing bonus. Of course, in a digital format you could always print out a second underhull, too!

Glad to see this re-released, Fred. She's a real beauty -- very fine lines for a tugboat, but then that really wasn't her intended purpose...

David T. Okamura
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Old 07-19-2019, 11:23 AM
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legal card 80%

At 80% I got it to fit on legal cardstock.
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Exploits of the famed gun-runner, "THREE FRIENDS"-sam_0085.jpg  
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Old 07-19-2019, 11:34 AM
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David- Good to see you my friend!, yes, I may very well re-draw it, I think that with the expertise I've gained over the past two decades, I could really make some SERIOUS improvements.. I would probably see if I could put it out in a smaller format.


I'm, "getting to the bottom" of my large format prints, I've only one more to go, the Sternwheeler "Columbia Gorge", the large formats were well suited for their intended purposes but in this digital medium, smaller prints are more desirable.
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