Terpsichore 1818-1827 Greek armed schooner

Joined
Dec 28, 2018
Messages
37
Points
78

Hello everybody,
This is my first post for the above mentioned vessel for which I must give a small historical information as she was, the least I can say,
a very peculiar schooner:
She was laid down in 1816 on the island of Hydra at the time of the Turkish occupation (1463-1821) and launched in 1818
as a merchant vessel as the Turcs did allow Greeks to build and sail small units (not larger than brigs).
The shipowners were the brothers Emmanuel and Jacob Tombazis from Hydra. Beside being a successful merchant Jacob Tombazis
studied naval engineering and design in Portsmouth until 1816 where he bought (or copied) the lines of the freshly captured
American schooner Lynx, renamed by the British Navy Musquidobit.
When the Greeks convinced England, France and Russia to help them for freeing the country in 1820, one of the main concerns was
to create a fleet able to counter the almighty Turkish one. Naturally, all Greek shipowners joined forces to arm their vessels.
The Tombazis sailed to Italy, France and Malta aiming to arm their Terpsichore with innovative armament and we assume that
Jacob purchased 6 12 pounder guns and one huge 48 pounder gun. We do know about the 12 pounders that were acquired from
France but a mystery remains about the latter as, although duly reported in the archives of the historical Museum of Hydra with
a drawing of a French gun built in 1680, no document can confirm such a purchase.
We do have several documents confirming some of her deeds during the independance war but unfortunately, except for the
general measurements, (27,45 m hull lenght and 256 burden tons) no drawings or sail plan exist, which made for me and my fellow
modeler Georges Bouzounis (unfortunately he does not speak any other language but Greek) the task to redesign the vessel
extremely arduous.
Nevertheless we have decided to build 2 models of the same vessel. One is the shipyard model with a partially open hull and rigging without
sails and the other is a fully rigged and colored model appearing as she sailed during the war.
I already posted the only existing painting of Terpsichore in my presentation when I joined SOS but I post it here below to have
the entire subject under the same thread.
You will also see the first completed drawing of the hull belonging to the "Monographie" to be printed with the presentation of the 2 models
somewhere in 2021.
Below, also I show the first photos of the building of both models.
George and I will be glad to read your commentsA. Roux Gravure.jpgP4278273.JPGIMG_3246.jpg
 
Last edited:
Many thanks Denis and George for starting the build log! I will definitely watch as your build progresses. :) Are you building both models at scale 1:50?
 
Hello Jim,
Positive we are both building the models at 1:50 scale.
By the way, is there anyone around our forums who can give us precise information on the maneuvering
of the anchors of a vessel of this category and size?
We do have the the french version of the messenger or voyal cable but are there other
means of maneuvering the anchors on these vessels around 1820?
 
Two great models we will see here - and knowing your modeling quality it will be very interesting building logs - Great that you started this log Thumbsup Thumbsup

 
Hello everybody,
This message is specifically addressed to The administrator and the moderator of the forum.
I recently surfed on the net searching details on the schooner Lynx. I was surprised to find the drawing
I posted for our "Terpsichore" among the various other drawings proposed on the page "Lynx original plans"
Georges and I do not want to have any of our drawings published on the net until completion of our
two models since they are to be presented at a specific historical event.
We don't know who published the PL 1 of our plans but this should not occur without our consent.
Therefore we have decided to send only very few pictures of our ongoing work without plans
in order to avoid inappropriate publishing.
We also would like to ask all members of these forums to respect our wish.
We thank you in advance
Georges and Denis
 
Hello everybody,
This message is specifically addressed to The administrator and the moderator of the forum.
I recently surfed on the net searching details on the schooner Lynx. I was surprised to find the drawing
I posted for our "Terpsichore" among the various other drawings proposed on the page "Lynx original plans"
Georges and I do not want to have any of our drawings published on the net until completion of our
two models since they are to be presented at a specific historical event.
We don't know who published the PL 1 of our plans but this should not occur without our consent.
Therefore we have decided to send only very few pictures of our ongoing work without plans
in order to avoid inappropriate publishing.
We also would like to ask all members of these forums to respect our wish.
We thank you in advance
Georges and Denis
Understood - but what I do not understand is your sentence
We don't know who published the PL 1 of our plans but this should not occur without our consent.
because it was yourself who uploaded this plan in your first post - nobody else.
Is it the plan in your first post of this topic? If yes, you can edit your own post and delete your drawing if you wish.
If you are not able to do so, I will be happy to delete it.......Please advise
 
Hello Uwe,
Thanks for the information. I did not know that by uploading the plan in the forum, it would automatically
go to the net. I managed to delete the plan. Be sure that you will be the first to have the full plans once
the models are complete!!!
Best regards
Denis
 
Hello everybody,
Here we are again with our questions about this peculiar schooner...
We found in Thomas Gordon's "History of the Greek Revolution" the following text on page 487:
"Their junction with the piratical force con
stituted a body of 4000 men , who were put under the
orders of Yani Khalis, assisted by eight influential cap
tains, and destined to kindle an insurrection in the
eastern districts , whence it was sure to spread to the
western provinces. One day 's voyage wafted them to
the roads of St Nicholas, in the canton of Mirabella ,
where they landed (December the 2d ), and , pushing
detachments towards Girapetra and Spinalunga , slaughtered all the Mussulmans they met with .
The commandant of Mirabel retreating into a tower with 160
Turks, they invested and battered it with a 48 lb . carronade ,
brought ashore from Tombazi's schooner , theTerpsichore."
Our question is the following:
After numerous hours of research in our documents, we found no carronade of 48lb!!!!!
We found either 42 or 68.
As we said in our introduction, other documents state a 48lb gun, not a carronade...
Since we know that guns of that caliber were dismissed from naval use due to their weight
(over 5 tons) in early 1700, it is obvious that the use of a carronade (68 lb =3 tons) would have been far more
suitable for such a small vessel.
We also definitely know that the 12lb guns were bought from France and we further know
that Emmanuel Tombazis hired a french artillery officer for advice on arming both his ships
(Terpsichore and Leonidas the latter being a brig).
So far we have no confirmation either way. Was the British historian misinformed?
Is there any trace of 48lb carronades? British, French or American???
Supposing the use of a 68lb carronade, how was it brought ashore?
Enough with our questions... We have sent messages in every direction and we will wait
until we decide what to do.
In the meantime, we have finished the construction of the 12 pounders and I attach a couple of photos.
The pear carriage (dark) is for the painted model and the boxwood carriage is for the shipyard one.IMG_20200810_174801.jpgCanons de XII d.jpg
Any comment will be appreciated.
 
Denis and George
I must point out that you are doing an amazing job both in the construction and preservation of the historical story of this important ship in the history of Greece and its independence. I will continue to follow with great interest

Although I do not have the knowledge to answer your questions, I am sure the other members will try and also be able to help.
 
Hallo @Denis Gaille ,
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
How is the work on your Terpsichore? It would be very interesting to see an update of your amazing model
 
She is looking very good - and very realistic sails.
Please show us more of the model - and maybe you can also explain, how you made the sails !!
 
For the sail making, I will ask George (he is the master of it!!) to give me the whole process...
Beware!!! It is not simple... nor easy and time consuming. One thing I know is that the material is of utmost importance.
Sewing and forming (to give the impression under wind) is another story!!!!
I will come back to you on the subject.
Ich bin nur einmal in Vien gewesen... Eine sehr schöne Stadt.
Bis bald
 
For the sail making, I will ask George (he is the master of it!!) to give me the whole process...
...
I will come back to you on the subject.
This would be very good to know and get explained, how George made them - good made sails are (in my opinion) very important for a good overall appearance of a model - I am looking forward ......

Ich bin nur einmal in Vien gewesen... Eine sehr schöne Stadt.
Oh YES - Vienna is a beautiful and interesting city
And now it would be the Best time (somehow) to visit - the city center with the historic sites are empty - not overcrowded
And since some days the museum are re-opened - so if you (and others) have the chance .......
 
Hello everybody,
This is my first post for the above mentioned vessel for which I must give a small historical information as she was, the least I can say,
a very peculiar schooner:
She was laid down in 1816 on the island of Hydra at the time of the Turkish occupation (1463-1821) and launched in 1818
as a merchant vessel as the Turcs did allow Greeks to build and sail small units (not larger than brigs).
The shipowners were the brothers Emmanuel and Jacob Tombazis from Hydra. Beside being a successful merchant Jacob Tombazis
studied naval engineering and design in Portsmouth until 1816 where he bought (or copied) the lines of the freshly captured
American schooner Lynx, renamed by the British Navy Musquidobit.
When the Greeks convinced England, France and Russia to help them for freeing the country in 1820, one of the main concerns was
to create a fleet able to counter the almighty Turkish one. Naturally, all Greek shipowners joined forces to arm their vessels.
The Tombazis sailed to Italy, France and Malta aiming to arm their Terpsichore with innovative armament and we assume that
Jacob purchased 6 12 pounder guns and one huge 48 pounder gun. We do know about the 12 pounders that were acquired from
France but a mystery remains about the latter as, although duly reported in the archives of the historical Museum of Hydra with
a drawing of a French gun built in 1680, no document can confirm such a purchase.
We do have several documents confirming some of her deeds during the independance war but unfortunately, except for the
general measurements, (27,45 m hull lenght and 256 burden tons) no drawings or sail plan exist, which made for me and my fellow
modeler Georges Bouzounis (unfortunately he does not speak any other language but Greek) the task to redesign the vessel
extremely arduous.
Nevertheless we have decided to build 2 models of the same vessel. One is the shipyard model with a partially open hull and rigging without
sails and the other is a fully rigged and colored model appearing as she sailed during the war.
I already posted the only existing painting of Terpsichore in my presentation when I joined SOS but I post it here below to have
the entire subject under the same thread.
You will also see the first completed drawing of the hull belonging to the "Monographie" to be printed with the presentation of the 2 models
somewhere in 2021.
Below, also I show the first photos of the building of both models.
George and I will be glad to read your comments
Hallo @Denis Gaille
we wish you all the BEST and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
 
After more than a year of silence (dedicated to historical study) I am pleased to present the conclusion of my research:
I always had a doubt about the so called 48 pounder gun arming Terpsicore and unfortunately I could not agree with Georges on this issue.
Therefore I continued my study alone and let him finish his model with the gun I designed and built.
Although his model bears the finally irrelevant piece of artillery, it remains to my opinion a beautiful model and I attach a photo here.
The word irrelevant is due to historical documents that I studied thanks to the help I was granted by the trustee of the Historical Archives Museum of Hydra, Mrs. Dina Adamopoulou and the historical section of the ministry of the greek military marine.
Two historical documents show definitely that the "famous" 48 pounder piece of artillery was not a gun! (I have the excerpts of these documents at your disposal)
So here we go... General Thomas Gordon in his "History of the Greek Revolution" records that Captain Emmanuel Tombazis unloaded a "48 pounder caronade" from his schooner Terpsicore to assist land troops at the siege of Maribel (today Marbella Island of Crete).
Captain Frank Abney Hastings in his "Memoirs" recalls on a conversation with Captain Tombazis over the "enormous recoil" of his caronade arming his schooner.
Both documents are dated 1831 and 1834.
So, here we are... A 48 pounder caronade... But who did produce such a caronade? The French? the British?
I had to find out!! After a long search, I discovered that the only 48 pounder caronade was produced in Russia!
How?
Sir Charles Gascoigne, the inventor of the caronade, left Scotland in 1801 and was granted by the Tsar Nicolas II the refurbishing of the armament of the russian war fleet at the Alexandrovsky foundry in Olonetsk where he developped a caronade based on the british one but with several differences.
The interesting fact is that this type of caronade was designed as 36 pounder and rebored for 48 caliber!
The document that permitted me to confirm this fact is the book "Russian warships in the age of sail 1696-1860" (excerpts are at disposal)
Well it took me more than a year to collect this information. The most extraordinary thing is that there is such a caronade here in Greece, in Chalkis, city located on the edge of the continent and the island of Eubea. I went there, I took 3 pictures and measured it precisely (see attached photos with the drawing)
The final issue resided in the carriage and I had to dig further to find what kind of carriage this caronade could support!
Due to its "enormous recoil", the carriage must have been substantial! By studying all types of carriages, the only one that would suit the 48 pounder caronade is the swedisch one! How? Captain Tombazis kept in his correspondance letters with numerous people, Americans, Swedes, Russians, and naturally all Europeans... Thanks to the extraordinary work of Fredrik Henrik af Chapman in his "Architectura Navalis Mercatoria" I was able to conclude that his swivel carriage for 36 pounder pieces of artillery was the only one suitable for this caronade. (It took me a hell of a time to understand how it worked as it has a double swivel!)
So this is it!!!!
By doing this research, I took the opportunity to study both french and british caronades and make precise drawings. You will find attached the comparison between them in the attached drawing (as image, but original drawing is available to any modeler who would be interested)
Well, let's go to the build!!!
As a first step I drew the caronade and its carriage at 1:10 scale but my model is at 1:50 so I increased the scale, transformed it in a 3D program and created a wax model for silver foundry (lost wax system). Furthermore I wanted to have a comparison with the british 68 pounder caronade that armed the H.M.S. Victory, so I did the same for the latter. The attached photo is just after the foundry. There is naturally a lot of work to achieve the caronade on its carriage.
I will post the corresponding message as my work progresses.
I hope that the above information will be useful to all fellow modelers and will be glad to receive your comments
Cordially
Denis GailleIMG_3727.jpgCaronade Russe de 48 final1.jpgCaronades RU AN FR 1 10.jpgIMG_3702.jpg
 
Back
Top