Post by King Adam Aberdeen I on Jun 28, 2008 9:22:02 GMT -6
Adam had scholars and sea masters from Europe and China, all, doing research on a more efficient and effective ship for battle… to be the pride of the new Skye fleet. The prototype of the new fleet was Bess’ own ship, the Highland Duchess…
One aspect that Adam found was that the current positioning of the Duchess’ cannon took its toll on her structure and ballast which in turn furthered the difficulty in steering the ship.
Adam had found it had proved difficult to mount cannons on board her, although some were placed in the fore- and aftcastles to relieve the stress. Small hand-held anti-personnel cannons were also used, but large cannons mounted on deck further compromised her stability and her cannons had a slow rate of fire and were inaccurate.
One suggestion the Duke found interesting and after some convincing, ordered the addition of a top deck, with the insertion of an opening in the side of the ship, with a hinged cover, allowing the creation of a gundeck below the new main deck. The weight of cannon distributed to lower decks of the ship increased its stability immensely, effectively providing ballast, and a row of cannon on a lower deck produced a new concept called the broadside, where the weight of shot overcame the inherent inaccuracy of firing cannons from a ship at sea.
Another suggestion he immediately approved was a more efficient steering mechanism for the fleet. Previously, oars mounted on the side of ships evolved into quarter rudders, were simple steering oars fastened to the sternpost. As the size of ships and the height of the freeboards increased, quarter-rudders became unwieldy and were replaced by the more sturdy stern-mounted rudders with pintle and gudgeon attachment. Adam found that the sternpost-mounted rudders differed technically from both its European and Chinese counterparts. On their ships, the rudder was controlled by two lines, each attached to a crosspiece mounted on the rudder head perpendicular to the plane of the rudder blade. Men stationed on either side of the stern-mounted rudder post would pull the rope corresponding to the command of the helmsman.
Helmsmen on older European ships would steer using a tiller, a long stick, fixed directly to the rudder, or a whipstaff, a vertical stick acting on the tiller.
One suggestion to the Duke was to have a round ship’s wheel mounted on the deck that would operate, corresponding to the motion of the tiller, with a clockwise motion (corresponding to a right tiller motion) turning the rudder and thus the ship to the left. Adam added that would be too cumbersome in the height of battle and ordered the control direction of the wheel to be reversed to make it more consistent with the action of the ship… to turn left is to turn the ship left… and to have a center line rudder with wheel and steering tackles taken to drum for easier steering in a storm.
One thing that always amazed Adam was the fact that in large ships, the helmsman was stationed under the quarterdeck. Because of the forecastle, the helsman could not see at all in front of the ship, and could barely see the sails, either - perhaps only the lower half of the foresail. So the ship was mastered by a quartermaster from the top of the poop deck, with perhaps a sailor relaying the commands to the helmsman, who couldn't see the poop deck either. With the addition of a new main deck, to accommodate the gundeck and because of this disadvantage, Adam ordered the sea masters to develop a quarterdeck with a ship’s wheel for steering above the main deck.
After many months of experiments’ trial and failure, selection and refit, sea trials under austere conditions, the Duchess sailed back into Turas Lan Harbour with new steering mechanism, the decks reinforced to hold a great number of cannon, now totaling 16 per deck per side, her knotwork rechiseled, and the flecking paint now replaced with a new sea coat of paint. Now she was the flagship of a mighty fleet, instead of a weary merchant's sea-worn dream. The colors of the Griffin were flying proudly at her stern and below the new crow’s nest…new trimmed sails, banners and insignias were also invested.
Soon, Adam would order a new fleet to replace the aging Skye fleet... the money would hard to come by, but that was yet another challenge he would have to defend.
One aspect that Adam found was that the current positioning of the Duchess’ cannon took its toll on her structure and ballast which in turn furthered the difficulty in steering the ship.
Adam had found it had proved difficult to mount cannons on board her, although some were placed in the fore- and aftcastles to relieve the stress. Small hand-held anti-personnel cannons were also used, but large cannons mounted on deck further compromised her stability and her cannons had a slow rate of fire and were inaccurate.
One suggestion the Duke found interesting and after some convincing, ordered the addition of a top deck, with the insertion of an opening in the side of the ship, with a hinged cover, allowing the creation of a gundeck below the new main deck. The weight of cannon distributed to lower decks of the ship increased its stability immensely, effectively providing ballast, and a row of cannon on a lower deck produced a new concept called the broadside, where the weight of shot overcame the inherent inaccuracy of firing cannons from a ship at sea.
Another suggestion he immediately approved was a more efficient steering mechanism for the fleet. Previously, oars mounted on the side of ships evolved into quarter rudders, were simple steering oars fastened to the sternpost. As the size of ships and the height of the freeboards increased, quarter-rudders became unwieldy and were replaced by the more sturdy stern-mounted rudders with pintle and gudgeon attachment. Adam found that the sternpost-mounted rudders differed technically from both its European and Chinese counterparts. On their ships, the rudder was controlled by two lines, each attached to a crosspiece mounted on the rudder head perpendicular to the plane of the rudder blade. Men stationed on either side of the stern-mounted rudder post would pull the rope corresponding to the command of the helmsman.
Helmsmen on older European ships would steer using a tiller, a long stick, fixed directly to the rudder, or a whipstaff, a vertical stick acting on the tiller.
One suggestion to the Duke was to have a round ship’s wheel mounted on the deck that would operate, corresponding to the motion of the tiller, with a clockwise motion (corresponding to a right tiller motion) turning the rudder and thus the ship to the left. Adam added that would be too cumbersome in the height of battle and ordered the control direction of the wheel to be reversed to make it more consistent with the action of the ship… to turn left is to turn the ship left… and to have a center line rudder with wheel and steering tackles taken to drum for easier steering in a storm.
One thing that always amazed Adam was the fact that in large ships, the helmsman was stationed under the quarterdeck. Because of the forecastle, the helsman could not see at all in front of the ship, and could barely see the sails, either - perhaps only the lower half of the foresail. So the ship was mastered by a quartermaster from the top of the poop deck, with perhaps a sailor relaying the commands to the helmsman, who couldn't see the poop deck either. With the addition of a new main deck, to accommodate the gundeck and because of this disadvantage, Adam ordered the sea masters to develop a quarterdeck with a ship’s wheel for steering above the main deck.
After many months of experiments’ trial and failure, selection and refit, sea trials under austere conditions, the Duchess sailed back into Turas Lan Harbour with new steering mechanism, the decks reinforced to hold a great number of cannon, now totaling 16 per deck per side, her knotwork rechiseled, and the flecking paint now replaced with a new sea coat of paint. Now she was the flagship of a mighty fleet, instead of a weary merchant's sea-worn dream. The colors of the Griffin were flying proudly at her stern and below the new crow’s nest…new trimmed sails, banners and insignias were also invested.
Soon, Adam would order a new fleet to replace the aging Skye fleet... the money would hard to come by, but that was yet another challenge he would have to defend.
