Page 122 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Chapter Two
Figure 2.122. of the porthole.
(bottom) Plate XXXVII. Chock in the porthole, sill
two fth parts of the length of the ship tak en from the bow, or straight above the second gunport, below the upper deck (90 I 37 ). It is clear that someone me a- suring the distances between the gunports, beginning in the stern, c ould not possibly be aw are that the sec ond gunport, seen from the bow , would be u nderneath the chesstree, which is at two fifths of the ship’s length from the bow; Witsen or the person who g ave him the dat a must have had a close look at the ship. More of such ex- amples will follow.
61. And the Filling Strakes in the hold.
(54 II 15) The planks which are set in the ship’ s side
The height between the dec ks was then divided into three equal parts, the middle part being the height of the gunport.
The width was generally slightly more than the height— by 2 inc hes according to Witsen, by one quar ter of the height according to Van Yk. A formula relating the s izes of the gu nports and the di stances between them to the calibers of the g uns can be found in a mid-seventeenth- century manuscript written for one of the admir alties, titled Evenredige Toerusting van Schepen ten Oorlog Bij- der See (Proportional Equipage of Men-of-War). Accord- ing to thi s source, for he avy ordnance the height of the port was six times the diameter of the c annonball, the width five times, and the di stance between the c enter of the ports twenty times the diameter of the cannonball. In the eighteenth century the same sort of formula was used by, for instance, the Rotterdam admiralty shipbuilder Van Zwijndregt.12
There was a minimum and maximum distance between gunports (six and twelve feet), also ba sed on the nec es- sary space to handle the gun and the ship’s construction, but Witsen is fairly careless in his calculations. The gun- port distances of the pinas thus vary from 9 to 12 1⁄2 feet, and the calibers of the guns do not seem to have been a factor whatsoever. Van Yk does not give another rule for the position of the gu nports other th an what would be practical, or wh at “Knees, Top timbers, Gal ley, Buttery, Dead-eye links, &c will allow” (Van Yk, p. 117).
For the pi nas Witsen supplies sever al measurements for distances between his gunports. What is confusing is that his enumeration of the distances of the gunports on the main deck and in the forec astle both end w ith “and so forth,” while later he clearly states that there were no more gunports than the ones he mentions here.
Witsen’s text relating to the placement of the chesstree (section 114, Make the Chesstree ) provides additional evidence that his gunport measurements werealmost certainly taken from an ex isting ship and not merely the product of his fancy. The chesstree was to be placed at
are called Filling Strakes; gun coming between the guns.
. ..
(80 I 42) They are called
they ll the place between the wales: they are made as broad as the ship allows. The lower lling strake must be broad enough for the scupper holes to be comfortably made in it; an d the scuppers come out well underneath the second wale. The Gun lling is made wide according to the gunports. The lling strakes above the Gunports should be made according to the upper deck broad enough for the scuppers of the upper deck can comfortabl y drain through them. The uppermost lling strake, in an Armed ship, is also made broad after the heigh t of the gunports. I t is important to mind , that the lling strakes, going upward, should become thinner and thinner, and that from the Gun lling onward.
61. And the Filling Strakes in the Hold
Witsen’s formulation again leads to confusion. There are no filling strakes in the hold. Filling strakes are the planks between the wales. Between the gunports they are called gun fillings. The scuppers would be led through the filling strakes, through whic h the w ater on the dec ks drained. They were half as thick as the wales and gradually became thinner than the ones below.
62. Hereafter it is done up outside, with Wales, Filling Strakes and Sheer rails, Washstrake, Vertuining and Railing.
lling is the
at wood,
lling strakes, because
104
Sheer rail is the uppermost thick timber , which can be obser ved on ships, w hich covers the sides, and at the main frame, is the highest wood. This is shown in the sixth plate [fig. 2.124].
(55 I 5)