Aft Brace bitts

[Don Case]

I think what I'm confused about are called the aft or mizen brace bitts. On the Discovery1789 the original drawings show bitts at the bottom of the fore and main masts but don't show bitts at the base of the mizen mast. Half of John Mckay's drawings do show them and half don't. Looking around I found that some ships have bitts with belaying pins, and some have ringbolts in the deck and cleats on the mast. Is there a reason for the difference or are they just "different" and its builder's choice?

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

I think what I'm confused about are called the aft or mizen brace bitts. On the Discovery1789 the original drawings show bitts at the bottom of the fore and main masts but don't show bitts at the base of the mizen mast. Half of John Mckay's drawings do show them and half don't. Looking around I found that some ships have bitts with belaying pins, and some have ringbolts in the deck and cleats on the mast. Is there a reason for the difference or are they just "different" and its builder's choice?

These belaying points very from ship to ship. It is rare when we know what the ship we are modelling should use for belaying lines. The best you can do is find an example from a ship close to your nation and time period and base your guess on that.

 

[Don Case]

Thanks Kurt. I've been using the numerous Swan series builds as a rough guide and it has helped a lot. Sometimes, though, I start to think that I'm just building a Swan clone. I keep looking for differences to distance the Discovery from the Swans. I would hate to finish and have someone say, "That looks just like my Vulture." I guess they are all pretty similar though. I'll go with the eyebolts. It will leave me with some room to put the binnacle.