Can't find the name of this part

[icecreamviking]

for the life of me, can't find the name of these beams that project from the bow. this picture is of the replica ship L'Hermione, which I am principally interested in. but as far as i can see these beams are present on most square rigged ships of the 18th century, and are maddeningly unlabeled in many diagrams. I'm trying to find detailed reference of how they attach and what their range of motion is, model kits are a bit too reductive for my purposes and it's an absolute devil of a time combing through the photos of this ship for closeups of the Bow assembly.

 

[Kurt Konrath]

I also am at a loss for the name, but I think they are used to help raise or lower the anchor which is why they are moveable in function.

I believe they were hood to the spade end to pull it up and lower it down while the main weight of anchor is handled by Cathead lines.

 

[icecreamviking]

I also am at a loss for the name, but I think they are used to help raise or lower the anchor which is why they are moveable in function.

I believe they were hood to the spade end to pull it up and lower it down while the main weight of anchor is handled by Cathead lines.

ah that's a useful clue! if they are some kind of auxiliary to the catheads they might technically be some kind of davit

 

[Short John Bronze]

On my current build of Royal Caroline the tips of these projections receive fwd directed braces from the fore yard. They could possibly be uses to direct spritsail sheets. They never look robust enough to deal with anchors. I have no idea what they are called.

 

[icecreamviking]

On my current build of Royal Caroline the tips of these projections receive fwd directed braces from the fore yard. They could possibly be uses to direct spritsail sheets. They never look robust enough to deal with anchors. I have no idea what they are called.

i did find a video just moments ago that depicted the tackline of the foresail being held taught by this beam, but again, no name given

 

[Corsair]

Boomkin
Thats what the AotS book on the Pandora calls it.
In the book for the Essex, they call it a bumpkin..
In the book on the Endeavor it is also called a bumpkin.
On the book in the Diana they call it a boomkin.

 

[icecreamviking]

Boomkin

you absolute champion, thank you!

 

[AllanKP69]

did find a video just moments ago that depicted the tackline of the foresail being held taught by this beam

That is exactly what it was designed for when they were first tried about 1680 and finally came into general use about 1710.
Allan

 

[Bilge Ratt]

Corsair and Allan are quite right.

This projecting timber is indeed called a bumkin, or boomkin, and was used to haul the weather tack taut. Before the boomkin, the fore tack was led through a hole in a timber fitted between the head rails of the ship, and before that it was led through a piece of timber on the underside of the knee of the head, with holes in it for this purpose; both port and starboard tacks leading through adjacent holes. Sometimes this timber was carved in the likeness of a serpent: see example below from a draught of the Sovereign of the Seas, dated to 1637. If it was plain, without carving, it was known as a 'comb'; presumably after the fleshy decoration on the head of a cockerel.

The pictures below show this sequence of develpment.

The final picture is a model in the NMM identified as the Hercules/Thunderer, but which I believe is the Hero (Hero was a woman, as is the figurehead; and there is no way that the figurehead makes one think of Hercules. The decoration on the ship is also similar to that of a draught of the Hero) Anyway, the boomkin is rigged, using a shoulder block; although the rigging is modern, and was added in the Museum in the 1980s, I believe it was (possibly by James Lees?)

Ratty

BELLONA, 74 GUNS, 1760. These boomkins are fitted into the beakhead bulkhead; they were also sometimes fitted into the knightheads.



BOYNE, 1692. ONE FAIRLEAD ON EACH SIDE OF THE BOWS.



SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS, 1637.



HERCULES/THUNDERER (HERO? CLASS VESSEL WITH BELLONA, I BELIEVE) RIGGED BOOMKINS IN BACKGROUND.