Chapter 9 - Precious Model Ships

The principal object of this chapter is to reveal and provide leads and contacts to sources of information for those modelers who are interested in research work. The models exhibited were all dug up out of the dust of time. No plans or pictures of them existed and no one knew what they looked like. They are all national treasures of great historical importance, or precious symbols that appeal to descendants of bygone shipmasters, builders or operators. Scores of others await the research worker's patience and the craftsman's skill. Some of these old ships have colored the pages of local history with great significance and gallant enterprise that laid the foundation of many communities and the fortunes of hundreds of descendants still living.

Research work alone, without craftsmanship, cannot bring the knowledge recovered into fruition. Pictures, writing and lectures fail to produce the detailed images of these old ships. Only the skilled modeler can fashion them into treasured models of great accuracy. There is also the subsidiary field of writing and lecturing which brings with it a feeling of importance. Research and modeling combined is by far the most absorbing of all hobbies because it is remunerative enough to make a retired man feel useful and important in his later days. It is an unending quest from which there is no escape nor any desire to do so. Age never catches up with him and boredom is unknown.

The Flagship Traveller

The Traveller was the flagship of a fleet of twenty-six ships that traded among the Islands of the Caribbean from 1750, until 1829. This enterprise is a salt water saga of vigil, hardships and little ease. The stouthearted family that owned and operated these vessels pitted their resources and courage against the cruel sea for eighty years; sometimes winning great stakes when their luck was in; at other times losing everything through the vagaries of the sea. All that is known of these missing ships is the melancholy entry in the Register of Shipping "Not cancelled out" meaning that they are still missing after a century and a half.

Long before the Registry of Shipping opened in 1787, these little home built sloops and schooners were operating out of St. Kitts, St. Vincent and Bermuda. All that is known of them is their departure dates in the Register. They sailed away upon their lawful occasions manned by local crews; some reached their destination and returned; others were never heard of again; some were lost in deep water and some in the sight of shore, but the family took their losses for granted and built others. Four times in four score years the fleet was reduced to one vessel, or to nil. Each time disaster struck, the family staked all their assets on a new fleet, only to have them fall victims to enemy action, hazards of the sea or act of God.

The flagship appears on the scene in 1820 with her sister ships, Dart, Paget and Mariner. Undaunted by earlier losses, the family staked all their possessions on these great brigs that could range as far north as Newfoundland for salt codfish; to Halifax for lumber and flour, and southward to Trinidad for sugar, molasses and pitch.

For the next nine years fortune smiled; their lands and possessions were redeemed; the ships were paid for and the family prospered. Then out of the blue disaster came again. Early in 1829 the Dart foundered in a hurricane off Barbadoes with the loss of all hands; in April of the same year, the flagship Traveller, the gem of the fleet, was a total loss on the Bahamas; three months later, on July 3rd, the Mariner piled up on the rocks of Cape Cause, N.S. a total loss. It was the end; the Paget was sold; the house flag, the cross patee, was hauled down for the last time.

The Flagship Traveller

There was not much research work attached to the pattern of the Traveller, although there were no insurance underwriters to provide details of her. Information in the Registry of Shipping, although scant and cryptic, provided her dimensions and rig. Typical brigs, built after the war of 1812, supplied many other details needed. The model of the Traveller is owned by Kenneth Trimmingham, Esq.

Cedrene the Splendid

The barke Cedrene was the largest of the four great ships built by J. J. Outerbridge; all were distinctive in different ways. Sir Geo. Seymour was a rakish, low waisted vessel that looked like a swashbuckling privateer. Her record run to Queenstown, Ireland, in twelve days established a record in the mid-fifties. Kohinor was elegant from keel to truck, with her cruiser stern and standing bowsprit. Her gilded figurehead the great mogul with the "kohinor" diamond around his neck, gave her an outstanding look alongside the other barkes of that age. Lady Milne was a dainty little thoroughbred that seemed to be prancing on her moorings eager to get out to sea.
Cedrene, however, was J. J.'s masterpiece and valedictory. Old records claim that he built her from memory, straight out of his heart, and made the plans afterwards. The news of her loss by human incompetency was a blow from which he never recovered.

Cedrene was the first and perhaps the loveliest of the great sea beauties that came to an untimely end in the nineteenth century. Old seamen claim that the jealous sea put a jinx on these great racing thoroughbreds out of spite; but in every case their loss may be traced to human error.

Fragments of information were scattered and skimp, but perusal of old letters and documents; details of Capt. Dill's log of that fateful voyage; entries in the Registry of Shipping, and the plans of her uncovered from the insurance underwriters, revealed a clear picture of her within a few months.

What surprised me most was the difference between her lines and innovations and the usual lowly barkes of that age. Trading barks of the mid-nineteenth century were the simple workhorses of the sea, lacking glamour of any kind. The grace and beauty of Cedrene was not a matter of local opinion only she possessed the lines, advanced design, and every innovation that the nautical rennaissance of the century had developed and which were applicable to full rigged ships only. Barkes, as a rule in the 1860s, averaged about four beams that is, they were four times their beams in length. Cedrene, when she appeared in 1862, was five and a half beams. Her hull was, therefore, longer and narrower, giving the ship a graceful, yacht-like appearance. Barkes of those days carried masts about two-thirds of their length on deck. Cedrene $ mainmast was 93', the same length as the ship between perpendiculars. With taller spars she was able to accommodate the double topsail, probably the first time in maritime history that a barke was fitted with the split topsail. Certainly, she was the first colonial barke to sport them.

F. Hamilton
Cedrene, The Splendid

There were many other innovations woven into Cedrene that lack of space prevents me from detailing. Her crowning glory, however, were her topgallant railings, her clear cut entrance and her great shearwater bows. I have searched through the records of the nineteenth century to find a counterpart of this splendid barke, but she had no equal until the beautiful Ladas was built in 1894. Had she survived, she would have been acclaimed the most graceful barke in the Western Ocean.

She sailed from Hamilton, Bermuda, on March 16th, 1862, with 170 convicts and a strong naval guard, for Portsmouth, England. That fatal voyage has been considered a mystery by some on account of the course taken by Capt. Dill, and the erratic way in which the log book was written up; but I find nothing irregular or unusual under the circumstances.

Strong westerly gales prevailed for the first ten days and Capt. Dill steered due east in order to ease the ship off before the wind under lower canvas, because he did not dare to put the strain on her before she tightened up. The fact that she was several points off course has no relation to the disaster that followed. It was a precaution that a good skipper would take with a heavy human cargo aboard.

She picked up the Bishop's Light at 10 p.m. on April 1st. The night was fair with a moderate southwest wind and all was well. Capt. Dill left the ship in charge of the mate and went below with instructions to be called if needed. At 1 a.m. the mate became confused by a dark mass ahead which he mistook for a cloud. He called the skipper who ordered the ship about, but it was then too late. Cedrene had hit the sandbank on the Isle of Wight. At daylight when the tide was out, the convicts waded ashore. There were no casualties, but the ship was a total loss.

The wreck was stripped of her beams, planks and decking and built into the little church of Mottistone, where the fragrance of cedar wood lingers after a hundred years.

This model was built for the late I. S. Outerbridge whose grandfather built the ship in 1862.

Quarter View Of Sea Venture
Bermuda News Bureau 

Sea Venture

The remarkable accuracy and success of the search for details of the ship Sea Venture is probably the highlight of nautical investigation during this century, mainly because it was a solo search by a modeler without benefit of state or public funds. All the details unearthed during the three years' search had been available for over two centuries, but the former searchers were not interested in the nautical details available, or else lacked the modeler's knowledge to appraise them.

Thousands of pages have been written about the historical significance of the great Sea Venture expedition of 1609; its importance and far reaching effect on early American history are outstanding and profound. Shakespeare's "Tempest" is based on the wreck of her; all England contributed to the enterprise, and the bishop of London likened her mission to Abraham's "journey into a far country" but these things were useless to a modeler seeking mechanical details in order to build a model.

Over the centuries, artists, historians, writers and others have cast up mind pictures of the ship, ranging all the way from the Great Harry to the Flying Dutchman. In all history there was not a single reference to the ship herself, except the inscription on the cross left behind by Sir Thos. Gates in 1609 that she was "an English Shippe of 300 Tonnes called Sea Venture."

That lone fragment meant nothing until we knew when the ship was built. Tonnage ratings varied according to the period in which the ship was constructed. If she was an old Tudor vessel reconditioned for the purpose, like the others, her tonnage would have been measured by the total bulk of the hull in cubic or wines tons. In Stuart days tonnage was subject to one-quarter deduction for fallaway the result was tons burden. The difference in tonnage would change the classification of the ship. There could be no progress toward model building until her actual tonnage was a known quantity.

No advancement occurred during the first six months of the search. Nautical museums, libraries and historical institutions possess neither the funds nor inclination to correspond with a lone individual who might be motivated by personal curiosity only. Without the timely assistance received later from the acting Governor of Bermuda the search might have ended in failure.

The patterns and proportions of a ship's hull during the period between 1560 and 1640 changed very little. Baker's FRAGMENTS OF ANCIENT SHIPWRIGHTY, and Deanne's DOCTRINE OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE provide the exact scales of lengths, beams, depths, rakes and overhangs; all were based on the keel's length. But no one thought it worth while to preserve, or record details of a ship's keel in those days. However, if her correct tonnage is known, her bulk is known and you can work downward towards the keel with these proportions and the result will be the keel's length.

The first bit of useful information received came from the London Science Museum of South Kensington; it was only a shred. They advised that Sea Venture was an early 17th century ship but they had no details. Later the National Maritime Museum referred me to Marsden's SHIPPES OF THE REIGN OF JAMES I. Well, there it was substantiated proof that she was built sometime between 1603, when James came to the throne, and 1609 when she was wrecked. Touché the backbone of the search was broken. Properly interpreted, this bit of information led to the complete resurrection of the ship because her cubic bulk was a known quantity. Sir Thos. Gates' inscription that she was "300 tonnes" meant tons burden and not cubic wine tonnes of olden days. It meant also that she was not just another lowly barke of the merchant fleet, like the others, but a 6th rater, a galleon and a full rigger, with topgallants on her fore and main and a topsail on her mizzen. The rest was simple mathematics.

To fashion a hull large enough to produce 300 tons burden, the total bulk must be 400 cubic tons of 100 cubic feet per ton; then deduct one-quarter for fallaway and the result is 300 tons burden. The scale of proportions nearest to 300 tons provided in "Petts Scale," DEANNE'S DOCTRINE OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, and Millward's authentic drawings of a ship circa 1610, were as follows:

                                    Length on the keel        75 ft.
                                    Beam                           26½ ft.
                                    Depth                           15 ft.
                                    Length on deck             100 t.
                                    Bulk or wine tones        397
                                    Fallaway                       99 tons
                                    Tons burden                 298
                                    Sir Thos Gates
                                    Rating, 1610                 300

There were no major problems once the hull structure was built; Millward's drawings show her elaborate stern walk and transoms; the little Ashmolean ship in the Ashmolean Library at Oxford University, gives details of her royal Stuart colorings; The Tower and London and the Naval Ordinance Stores provided the correct armaments for a ship of her size and age; the College of Heralds keep records of figureheads, which in this case was the mythical Sea Dog, worn by the Phoenicians 2700 years ago, and by the Vikings in the tenth century, and her proper flags are specified by the Naval Signals Dept.

I doubt if there is any other moment in a modeler's career more rewarding and satisfying than when he sees the image and beauty of an old ship unfold, that no other human eyes had seen in three and a half centuries. Whatever renown, or remuneration may follow in its wake that moment will always be the most precious.

In 1958 the model was completed and exhibited by the Bermuda Historical Society. Thousands of American visitors have seen it and wondered why this great galleon had not been honored in their own land. Now that the details of her had been proved by substantiated evidence. The reef hunters, skin divers, surveyors, marine archeologists and fishermen, who had been scouring the reefs for the wreck of her for years, renewed their efforts. Then within three months they found it in the very spot where history says she was wrecked on July 28, 1609.

There is always a climax to an event of this nature. The wreck lies down in 30 ft. of turbulent, shark infested water, under 8 ft. of sand where teredos can not live. There the international divers found evidence that the physical structure of the wreck varied only three-quarters of one percent of the model itself; something that is unique in maritime history.

The model was presented to the Bermuda Government by the city merchants.
 
F. Hamilton
Deliverance, The Goodwill Ship

Deliverance the Goodwill Ship

Deliverance was built from the wreckage of Sea Venture in 1610 built by the mariners and settlers without benefit of skilled help or shipbuilding tools. She possessed no vestige of glamour like the parent ship, because those who built her had neither the means nor inclination to build a pretty ship; nevertheless, students of history consider this little lowly barke the most important survival vessel in maritime history.

The wreckage of Sea Venture on July 28, 1609, was a major disaster, both to the settlers in Jamestown and to the Virginia Co. The polyglot lot of neer-do-wells brought to Virginia by Capt. Newport in 1607, were totally unfit to cope with pioneer conditions in a new land. They were solely dependent on supplies from England, despite the abundance available in Virginia. They were too reluctant or incapable to forage for themselves or trade with the Indians. Consequently many died from malnutrition on a diet of snakes and wild roots; the rest were eager to abandon the Colony at the first opportunity.

Capt. Newport, one time master of Susan Constant, built Deliverance; undoubtedly he copied the pattern of Susan. This is borne out by details of her in the Mariners' Museum at Newport News, and is confirmed by the famous John Smith of Colonial History, who visited Deliverance when she arrived back in England with the body of Sir Geo. Somers in 1610. Sketches supplied by the National Maritime Museum of London show both ships similar to each other in dimensions, rig and design.

Deliverance, with her little pinnace Patience, arrived in Jamestown on May 23, 1610, with a great quantity of foodstuffs and new settlers saved from Sea Venture. The pattern of colonization was changed entirely this time. The settlers were selected immigrants; yeomen, farmers, builders and mechanics, whose descendants laid the foundation of a great civilization. The Christian faith, the English tongue, the spirit of fair play and the pattern of freedom, came for the first time.

Maritime history records many instances where ship-wrecked mariners have built some kind of vessel out of the wreckage of the parent ship; always with one purpose in mind; always with one end in view: to get back home to safety. It is seldom we read of survivors continuing the broken journey to succor their fellow men. The building of Deliverance out of the bones of Sea Venture, the storing up of great quantities of foodstuffs for the destitute settlers, and the journey to Jamestown, are all part and parcel of the great Sea Venture mission that began in 1609 and has never ended.

No other survival ship in the early history of North America possesses the significance and continuity in the lives of her descendants as this little home made bark. For downright stout heartedness on the part of the leaders, mariners and settlers, maritime history has no parallel.

The model was built for the Jamestown Tercentennial in 1957 and was exhibited in the major cities of the U.S. as part of the festival attraction. It is now on exhibition at Jamestown the property of the State of Virginia.

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