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HMS Sovereign of the Seas - Bashing DeAgostini Beyond Believable Boundaries

Making the King Charles I coat of arms underneath his statue promised to be weeks of work building it from scratch, so I natyurally looked for shortcuts. I found this asset online which was scanned from a plaster sculpture, and matched the version of the coat of arms on the Sovereign in most features, especially compared to other assets available. However, it was rough, being a laser scanned object. I edited it and here are the results.

Original object
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After editing and fitting to the Pett Painting
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Best available scan of the object from the Pett Painting
Coat of Arms.jpg
 
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I found this old unstropped block on eBay for $32 and I couldn't resist. The wood was dry and had some cracks, but a little mineral oil brough the color back. The sheaves were stuck and could not rotate. So, some PB Blaster penetrant oil and taps with a planishing hammer and I got them rotating like they were on ball bearings! Perhaps I can make a strop for it. There's a video on YouTube that shows you how. I wonder how old it is? When did rope stropped blocks stop getting made?

As bought:
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After cleaning and oiling:
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Hi Kurt;

That is a very nice purchase. Well done! Looks to be made of oak, or possibly ash. I would say 19th, possibly 20th century.

Ratty
 
A question for @CharlieT and others who know 17th century ships: The timberheads along the forecastle railing have sheaves in them. Naturally these were common to 18th century ships, but would these be using commonly on the railings of HMS Sovereign of the Seas? Much of the running rigging on the Sovereign was either belayed on cleats mounted on the shrouds or to the timberheads of the railings. It seems logical that sailors require these sheaves in all the timberheads used for belaying to allow heaving of the line, and belaying to the timberheads.
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Hi Kurt;

The answer is we don't know for sure. Inventories of ships around this time list all the main sheaves used, as these were made of bronze, and so quite valuable. These are located in the bitts, cat-heads, masts, and a few other places. No sheaves in the timberheads are mentioned; so if they did exist, they were made of wood. The spritsail rigging belayed to the forecastle timberheads, possibly via a multi-sheave rack-block on the gammoning; but nothing is written of this in any detail, as far as I am aware.

Ratty
 
Wow! I need to commission you to do the upper gallery carving for my Norske Love. ;) I have been too busy with airplanes too start that carving. But from what I’m seeing you could do far better than me!
 
Love the block! Internally stropped blocks became the norm in the later part of the 19th century so yours could be older if not a reproduction piece. Are the sheaves LV or metal? If it is an older block they would likely be LV. Hard to tell from the color. Regardless, nice find!!
Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
Love the block! Internally stropped blocks became the norm in the later part of the 19th century so yours could be older if not a reproduction piece. Are the sheaves LV or metal? If it is an older block they would likely be LV. Hard to tell from the color. Regardless, nice find!!
Allan
Click to expand...
I think it's modern because the sheaves appear to be galvanized cast steel. The condition made it appear at least 90 years old, judging from the deep cracks in the oak.
 
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