another 17th century Dutch workhorse

[Don Boose]

I have re-read Post #91 several times and have poured over the images, learning a lot in the process and enjoying the illustrations. Thank you for providing this kind of historical and technical information.

The "Chapman error" reminded me of the American naval architect and curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution, the late Howard I. Chapelle, who wrote many books on American sailing ships and craft. He was highly respected and his body of work is of enormous value, but he, too, made an occasional error, which always caused much discussion among maritime history and naval architecture enthusiasts and professionals.

Don

[abhovi]

Oops...
I never thought my wondering thoughts would arise all this. First of all, thank you all. As I said before, every now and then it is good for one's peace of mind to experience some appreciation, be it earned or not.
A group build sounds like a marvelous idea, but what to build? There are no real difficult ships, but there are no simple ones either, as far as I can see. If anyone has a suggestion, we probably can come to a plan.

But let me help Ikraos out of his misery first. I understand your confusion. The draught I copied from Chapman's book was from a bigger sheet, with various other ship types. The body plan of one of those ships is in your blue circle and has nothing to do with this hoeker. Sorry for the confusion. Just take the one in the red circle, cut it in two over the heart line, tape the two halves with the printed side against an outside window and copy the lines that shine through. Make another copy of the body plan, cut it in two halves and glue the pairs on a sheet of paper. Check well wether the width is correct. You now have the frames for the front and the aft half of the boat.



Here is mine (I incidentally kept it, normally all these preparations disappear into the dust bin, but you are lucky this time :-)). Oh, and in case you can read Dutch: 'voor' means -front- and 'achter' means -aft- and yes, I mixed them up :-))).

The rest is simple. In case of doubt, don't hesitate to ask.
Ab

[abhovi]

And just in case anyone is curious about the 'hoeker'.... almost finished, here is quick snapshot, better pictures next time.

[Don Boose]

A very nice image of this bluff-bowed little working ship with sails aback.

Don

[elliott]

A lovely little boat, in its own way. Tell me, do the black sails signify something?

[abhovi]

Thank you, Don.
No Elliott, it does not have some hidden meaning. It is just that sails that were not used daily, often were treated with a means of conservation to prevent rot. I don't know the English term for 'taan', but it has been used for centuries.

[Erik Zwaan]

Hi Ab,

Wonderful work, the pictures that show the whole process of adding and finishing the skins to the ship's skeleton are very instructive - the hands of a craftsman.

By the way, the English word for "taan" is just tan, and like many other basic words show that both languages stem from the same germanic origin. There has been considerable influence of Dutch in English sailing terms, originating from the 17th century, and perhaps this word is one of them. "Starboard" is another one (stuurboord) as well as "skipper" (schipper) and "capstand" (kaapse staander = early kind of winch).

I remember having a German teacher in my high school days who explained the common origin of words like "tuin" (Dutch for garden), "Zaun" (German for fence) and the English word "town". Their pronounciation is quite similar and they all have in common "something fenced off" (remember that a town used be surrounded by walls). Anyway, sorry for this side step in your thread. Time for coffee and a "cookie" (another Dutch word that made it into American-English: koekje) and back to work.

Cheers,
Erik

[abhovi]

Thank you Erik, for your etymological explanation. You always impress me with your command of English, but apart from being an excellent model builder you seem to be a linguist too :-).

[abhovi]

Here are some more pictures of the finished model. Consider them as previews. Better pics in due time. The general idea is that the ship is drying its sails in a calm. As you can see the vessel is lightly armed with four swivel guns. A ship loaded with catch was too attractive a prey for those damn English....

[Michael Mash]

Lovely work.
I think even the English would appreciate it.
Mike