Firelands Historical Society - Robert Bruckshaw Ships

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DLRood

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First, Thank You for allowing me to join your forum.
My name is Dan Rood and I'm past president of Firelands Historical Society located in Norwalk, Ohio.
Our museum recently received three ships built by Robert Bruckshaw who was from our town.
Boston, Faulkland and Serapis. We would appreciate any information that could help us understand
the history of Robert Bruckshaw and his contribution to model shipbuilding.
drood1@neo.rr.com
567.219.9001
 
HI DAN DAVE STEVENS (LUMBERYARD) IS THE EXPERT ON BRUCKSHAW AND HAHN AS BEING MENTERED BY BOTH, HE IKNOWS THIS STUFF BETTER THEN ANYONE ALSO MEMBER AND A MODERATOR OF SOS GET IN TOUCH WITH HIM. GOD BLESS ALL S5TAY SAFE DON
 
DLRood said:
First, Thank You for allowing me to join your forum.
My name is Dan Rood and I'm past president of Firelands Historical Society located in Norwalk, Ohio.
Our museum recently received three ships built by Robert Bruckshaw who was from our town.
Boston, Faulkland and Serapis. We would appreciate any information that could help us understand
the history of Robert Bruckshaw and his contribution to model shipbuilding.
drood1@neo.rr.com
567.219.9001
Click to expand...
Hi welcome aboad!!

@Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) will have more information about this
 
donfarr said:
HI DAN DAVE STEVENS (LUMBERYARD) IS THE EXPERT ON BRUCKSHAW AND HAHN AS BEING MENTERED BY BOTH, HE IKNOWS THIS STUFF BETTER THEN ANYONE ALSO MEMBER AND A MODERATOR OF SOS GET IN TOUCH WITH HIM. GOD BLESS ALL S5TAY SAFE
Click to expand...
Thanks Don. I'll send him a message. We are very excited to have these ships at our museum. Some small repairs are needed and cleaning as well. Looking for some expert advice on taking care of this. We are working on a large display in Robert's honor. Planning on working on it this winter and have a revealing in the spring. Hope to have some of the contributors from this forum visit and advise us.
 
Bob taught Harold Hahn model ship building and Bob and Harold taught me model ship building.
i spent countless hours in Bob's basement watching and learning.
When Bob passed away Charles a member from the Nautical Research Guild took a large part of Bob's personal library for "safe keeping' and it was never seen again.


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what was not taken by the NRG which by the way when pressed as to what actually happened to the Bruchshaw library they replied with "we know nothing, saw nothing or heard nothing" there is a photo collection that did end up in the library of the Inland Seas Museum when they were in Vermillion. some stuff i ended up with that were actually in Harolds collection which i have.




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the history of Robert Bruckshaw and his contribution to model shipbuilding.

it was Bob Bruckshaw who came up with the idea of building hulls in a jig, Hahn an engineer by trade improved on the idea and today using a jig to build hulls is a standard used all over the world.
 
by the way

The Firelands was part of the Western Reserve of Connecticut in the Northwest Territory.
In 1786, Connecticut ceded most of its western lands to the U.S. government, in preparation for the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The state kept its claim to an area of land in the northeastern portion of the Northwest Territory known as the Connecticut Western Reserve.
Connecticut chose to sell most of the land in the Western Reserve to finance the state's educational system. Approximately 500,000 acres were reserved for Connecticut citizens who had suffered property losses during the American Revolution.
This portion of the Western Reserve became known as the Firelands or the Sufferers' Lands. During the Revolution, British troops had burned several Connecticut towns and many of their residents had lost everything they owned. They were able to start over again in the Northwest Territory. A company called the Ohio Corporation distributed the land to eligible applicants. Much of the settlement of the region did not occur until after the War of 1812.
 
Dave - Wonderful articles, information and reminiscences. You were blessed to have known this gentleman. Thank you for this post.

Regards, John
 
DLRood said:
First, Thank You for allowing me to join your forum.
My name is Dan Rood and I'm past president of Firelands Historical Society located in Norwalk, Ohio.
Our museum recently received three ships built by Robert Bruckshaw who was from our town.
Boston, Faulkland and Serapis. We would appreciate any information that could help us understand
the history of Robert Bruckshaw and his contribution to model shipbuilding.
drood1@neo.rr.com
567.219.9001
Click to expand...
Dear Dan,
First of all I would like to send a warm welcome here on board of our forum.
I am very happy, that you get already a lot of information directly from Dave......
btw: wonderful models built by Mr. Bruckshaw
I am looking forward to see much more of the models you received for your museum, so I guess there could be filled several topics with highly interesting talks
 
back in the day a small group of professional model builders and historians formed the core of the Nautical Research Guild including Howard Chapelle from the Smithsonian. At one time the center of activity was at the Inland Seas Maritime Museum and we often had high profile people coming to the meetings like Merritt Edson who was one of the early people who had a hand in creating this hobby. Before Bruckshaw and Hahn got involved the NRG was almost dead it was Bob and Harold who would spark new life in a dying guild. Bob would host small meetings at his house in Norwalk before the group became part of the museum and the ship model contest. It was not easy getting into this crowd. I still remember the first time talking to Bob and Harold. I approached them with a question about a model i was buulding it was the Berlin by Billings models. The reply was well seemed more of an insult. Bob asked "is this one of those European kits?" i said yes his reply was "toss it in the trash and when you get serious about model ship building come back and see me." Well! ok then, a bit out of my league i see. It was Bob and Harold who had the museum connections Harold was already a nationally known artist with his work in museums and a lot of awards under his belt, not in model ship building but in etchings, paintings and drawings. It was Harold Hahn who took me under his wing my guess because at the time i was doing my 4 years schooling in graphic arts and working as an apprentice, Harold had a keen interest in etching and printing so we connected with that common interest. It took time before i got an invite to come over Bob's house on a Saturday afternoon. it was Bob who taught me how to read ship drawings and ship drafting maybe because drafting was part of my school subjects and i had the basics.
After Harold passed way i was given his entire personal library and from those archives here are letters between Harold and Bob.

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