Tree Nails on Ships and Ship Models

[Mash]

Gilles I do think you hit the nail on the head here.
In a none globelized world then it seems the development of ship building was really country specific or even local. Here in Holland the southern ship builders build their vessels totally different then the builders in the north of holland, shell first vs frame first, and that in a region of only 100 km.

I have recently seen a timeline documentary about the salvage of the spanish ship of the line Triunfante.
For the Spanish navy this was an extraordinary ship build in 1755 build via a fully new design using knowledge stolen from the English.
It was revolutionary for the Spanish to use treenails where they previously used iron nails for the planking of their ships.
So for the Spanish shipbuilders it was normal to use iron nails.
Whereas the English and Dutch seemed to use mainly treenails for planking.

You can find the documentary here.

Thanks for the link. An interesting report.
In the end, however, he conceals the main reason for returning to the nail. Spain was a colonial power, which must not be forgotten. The ships had to bridge several climate zones, depending on where they were built. That was not only the case in Spain! As a negative result of the temperature fluctuations, tree nails often jumped out of the planking and caused water ingress. This was not possible with the long nails that were folded inside. To see this as the reason for the superiority of the English ships is very far-fetched, if not to say nonsensical. This is the result of my research with Spanish archaeologists and shipbuilders. I wanted to know if a jabeque was actually completely nailed. She is.
One brief point: In this context, it is always incomprehensible to me why the existence of galvanized nails is ignored. Portuguese naos were the first ships to be built with it, as far as I know. They were produced by the Fuggers in Rostock, Lithuania, etc. The export is well documented. Wreck finds such as "Bom Jesus" confirm this. The Spanish shouldn't have known that? OK, boring economic history, but with an impact on model making, I think.