Water barrels

Don Case

Don Case

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I'm making water barrel for one of Discovery's boats and I want to know if the bung was in the side or end of the barrel(would the barrel be vertical or horizontal in the boat?). If the men were rowing ashore to get water from a creek would they just use a bucket and a funnel to fill the barrel and them hoist the full barrel aboard ship. A full barrel would weigh in the order of 350 pound so it's conceivable that four men could man handle a full one, maybe. I know this kind of info is a bit of a stretch but maybe someone knows.:)
 
Having "worked" in the wine industry for a couple of years, a standard size barrel holds 59 gallons of wine. Many barrels had two ports: both called bung holes. One was in the center stave of the barrel where the wine is filled. This opening is also used to clean the inside of the barrel for re-use. The other hole in the top was used typically for a tap. Beer barrels may be of a different size, and water barrels sized differently yet again.
My guess that the barrel would be placed horizontally as vertical placement would cause more instability with the small boat in transport. Also, if it is place horizontally, it would be easier to man-handle or rig to haul on board the ship. Simply a guess as I may be all wet.
I'm enjoying your build log. You ask some great and interesting questions.
...henry
 
Much information on this subject is available in old seamanship books. Watering was usually performed using the ship’s boats, particularly the longboat or launch. Most of the thwarts were removed for this evolution to make way for the barrels lying on their sides. There were portable pumps that could be taken ashore for filling the barrels.

Or, the boats themselves could be filled by removing the drain plug, the water to be pumped aboard ship with the filled boat along side. In either case the boats carrying the water would be towed out to the ship by other boats.

The filled barrels were stowed horizontally in the hold until needed with some sort of dunnage or even gravel to cushion them. All of this suggests a plug in the side.

Roger
 
Thanks guys, I really wasn't expecting an answer and I got three, well, two and a half. :D I wasn't expecting them to have small pumps, that changes everything.
 
For storage of barrels in the ships hold, please take a look at the several contemporary drawings which are existing

Maybe some drawings are helping

Method of stowage - ballast and ground tier in the hold etc.

This topic can be used to show details and share information of Methods of stowage - ballast and ground tier in the hold etc. HMS Revenge was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 April 1805. Sir John Henslow designed her as one of the large class 74s; she was...
shipsofscale.com
 
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