The Plans
In general, most plans for wooden sailing ships contained only the very basic information such as the principal dimensions of the hull, which is the length. The width and the depth of hold. Added to the principal dimensions is the deck layout and the hull lines which give the builder the shape of the hull. The rest of the needed information is left up to the knowledge, skill and imagination of the shipwright. In order to draw up a set of working plans and to reconstruct a historical correct model of the Oneida we will have to rely on other sources besides the original plans. A primary source of information on the construction of a naval vessel such as the Oneida is the navy’s “establishments” or specifications for the building of naval ships. The establishments list every part that goes into a ships construction and the size of the piece known as scantlings. Next we will use the archaeology information gained from the wrecks of the Eagle, Jefferson, the wreck found at Misery Bay alleged to be the Niagara. First thing done is to digitize the original plans into a CAD program. With that done we now move on to drawing 1.
DRAWING 1
What we are looking at here is called the disposition of frame. Simply put it’s the location of all the whole frames in the body of the ship and their sided dimension. This information was found in the establishments under the term “room and space” which means the distance taken up by one frame and the space between the frames. In modern terms it means the frames were set 24 inch on center. As for the width of a frame, that is also found in the establishments under the sided dimensions of the floors and first futtocks, this totals 16 inches. When 16 inch frames on 24 inch centers are drawn on the original plans of the Oneida the frame locations match up to the locations of the gun ports. This is as close as we can get to historicaly correct without finding the wreck of the Odeida and measuring the framing. The Eagle a larger ship had an average of 20 inch frames on 24 inch centers, the Jefferson also built by Henry Echford had 17 inch frames set on 22 inch centers. with the location of the frames set we now move on to drawing two.
DRAWING 2
This is the sheer plan which gives the shape of the hull. The sheer plan was digitized from the original Oneida plan. The green lines are the center of each frame. The blue lines at the bow are the cant frames. The purple line , black line, magenta line and the second black line are the waterlines. These lines are set on the original drawing ½ inch apart. The red line is the deck and the blue line is the sheer at the caprail. These two line float, or move up or down according to the location of the frame being lofted. The sheer drawing will be used to generate the shape of all the frames. The red line is the location of frame number 9. Snipping out a section of the sheer drawing at the red line we can demenstrate how a frame shape is lofted in drawing 3.
DRAWING 3
The first illustration in this drawing is a snip out of the sheer plan. What has to be done is draw a line from the center line up to each of the waterlines, deck line and the sheer line. In CAD the lines are rotated and the four waterlines are placed ½ inch up from a base line and ½ apart, the deck and sheer line are placed at the proper height which is taken from the profile drawing. Draw a line starting where the center line and the base line meet continuing to the end of each waterline. This gives a general shape of the hull at frame location 9. In the third illustration the line just drawn is faired to a smooth curve. Each frame is lofted in this manner and placed in the body plan. With all the frame shapes in the body plan each line has to be adjusted so they don’t cross or touch the line next to it. A final faired body plan is shown in drawing 4. A frame is drawn by taking the outside shape from the body plan and the inside shape from the molded dimensions found in the establishments. Looking at the illustration of a frame you can see small lines located along the frame shape. These lines are the molded locations for the frame. Starting at center the establishments give the first molded dimension as 11 inches, the next line is located at the floor head and its molded dimension is 9 inches. Moving up the frame the molded dimensions are 11, 9. 7, 5 and 4. Finally the frame shape is mirrored, the deck line drawn in and the knees added.
DRAWING 4
This drawing is the inside profile and the body plan. In this drawing are the shapes of the keelson, keel, stem, apron and deadwood which make up the backbone of the ship. Also is the location of the deck beams, capstan, sky light and hatch ways. The body plan has been placed in front of the profile and sits on the base line so the deck line and sheer line can be moved to match its proper height along the hull.
DRAWING 5
Finally after hours and hours of lofting frames its now time to spend hour and hours breaking the frames down into their component parts called futtocks and placing them in a cutting file for the laser cutter.
DRAWING 6
Here is the deck layout with its deck beams drawn in black and the smaller beams called ledges drawn in green. Carlings are the beams running from bow to stern, used to support beams and ledges where they break to form a hatchway. From archaeological information it was found the Eagle and the Jefferson were built by Eckford and both ships didn’t have deck knees. Deck beams were held to the sides of the ship by sandwiching there ends between a heavy deck clamp and a heavy waterway timber. If this is the case for the above two ships then why are deck knees shown in the deck layout of the Oneida? Eagle and Jefferson were built durning the war when speed in construction was an issue and the navy dept. would tend to overlook short cuts to get the ships out on the lakes. Jeffersons deck broke away from the sides of the ship durning a storm, she was repaired and sent back out on the lake. Both the Eagle and the Jefferson as well as the brigs built on lake Erie fell apart soon after the war ended. The Oneida was built unrushed three years before the war and was still sailing twenty years after the war. No doubt she was built strong and as woosley said “only the best white oak was used so you know the Oneida was built to the high standards of the Naval specifications of the Establishments.
DRAWING 7
Oops there is no drawing seven. But if there was it would be of the cant frames in the bow as well as the hawse timbers. There would be an expansion of the stern and all its parts. These parts are the counter timbers, wing transom. Lower transoms , filling pieces, fashion timber and its supporting wing transom. Its not that I got lazy with the drafting its because the bow and stern of ships were “dubbed in” which means the pieces were made from patterns and cut to fit as the hull is being built.
the final working plans for the model