mast construction....

P

Phil N

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Hi, this is my first time at posting a question so if it is wrong please point me in the right direction.
I am building a model of the Black Pearl and it is mostly from scratch. My question is, this ship was sailing somewhere around the 1740's and I have seen various mast construction pics of ships in this era so, does a ship in this era have "mast cheeks"? I have seen some pic that show cheeks and so that don't. What is the correct answer?

Phil Neldon (new member)
 
Welcome to SofS! I also suggest you look at the many Build Logs in this forum. (Access from the Home page then scroll to Build logs and look at the index for Wood ship models). You will get a lot of good ideas. Again, Welcome! I took a screen shot of the index for you....Screenshot_20250313-175720_Chrome.jpg
 
Welcome to SoS Phil
From James Lees' The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War, British ships from 1640-1660 had short cheeks that only covered the hounds. After 1660 they were extended to reach 2/5 of the distance between the mast caps and the partners when bibs were also introduced. In 1745 they were lengthened to reach a point halfway between the top of the hounds and the partners. After 1773 they were extended again to 2/3 of the way down the mast between the hounds and the partners. As I am pretty sure there was no real ship called the Black Pearl in 1745 this sounds like a fantasy ship so it's your model and your choice with no wrong answer. Hope this helps.
Allan
 
To throw a bit of a wrench into the chronology noted above, Vasa (1628) has a foremast made from a single timber, without wooldings, but long cheeks (or fishes) of oak reach about a third of the way from the top to the deck. These are bolted and nailed in place. The mainmast is a made mast, also with long cheeks/fishes, similar to those illustrated in Jim's post above. These are attached with bolts and nails, as well as wooldings and a pair of helical iron bands let into the surface of the mast and nailed in place. The wooldings are let into the surface of the mast to about a third or half of the rope diameter (which was about 25 mm).

Fred
 
fred.hocker said:
The wooldings are let into the surface of the mast to about a third or half of the rope diameter (which was about 25 mm).
Click to expand...
A good throw of the monkey wrench Fred, love it. This seems like it would weaken the mast, but it does avoid the need for the wooden hoops that helped keep them in place on British ships. :)
Allan
 
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