Page 125 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age
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Above this the sheer rail or c apping rail was made. Originally this was the rail onto whic h the main yard was lowered, but in Witsen’s time ships were built higher. No ordinary wale, the sheer rail was distinguished by a deco- rative molded profile.
The washstrake was different amidships, forward and aft. Amidships the sheer rail was still the uppermost fixed part, on which a loose plank, the washboard, was set up- right. The inboard s ide of the washboar d was sup ported by small stanchions, the lower protruding ends of which sat in holes in the c apping rail. The washboard could usually be removed, but sometimes it was fi xed in place, supported by the tops of the top timbers. It often had a hinged section that served as a door for entering the ship.
Forward and aft of this midship section, the w ash- strake was alw ays permanently fixed and ser ved as the base of the upper work s (the clink er-built upper par t of the ship’s side, called vertuining). The washstrake was often painted in color different from that of the sheer rail underneath it and the upper works above it.
The planks of the upper works (vertuining) were made of good wainscot oak and shaped slightly curved, broad- ening toward the stern, whic h was thought elegant. To keep the struct ure as light as possible, the pl anks were nailed in clinker fashion to the ship’s side. Those of the pinas were only one inc h thick (compared to the four inches of the bottom planks).
The top of the upper works was closed off with the so- called railings (regelingen) or c apping rails that covered the upper ends of the top timbers. The uppermost plank was often left out, leaving the rail to look like banisters.
The transitions between the railings, which rose toward the stern in step s (and for ward in the s ame way, though not as much), was made with carved hance pieces. Every hance marked the beginning of another strake of top-side planks.
63. Then the upper Waterways are made.
(77 I 19) The waterways are laid on the beams, close to the side, and made thick according to the size of the ship; often of the thickness of the main deck plank- ing. In here the scuppers are made, as many as needed, which scuppers are made in pieces of square wood which are inserted in the water way. These waterways are well fastened onto the beams, with bolts, and also from outside the ship with bolts, that go through the waterways.
Figure 2.129.
bilges; C, the watershed; D, upper deck height; 1, lower wale; 2, filling strakes; 3, second wale; 4, filling strakes between
the gunports; 5, top wales; 6, top filling strake; 7, sheer rail; 8, washboard, removable in the waist, fore and aft, where it forms the basis of the top side planking, the washstrake. (Drawing by A. J. Hoving)
How Ships Are Built in Holland Today
 Parts of the ship’s side. A, bottom; B, top of the
   (77 I 3) 27. About the Waterway, on the Upper Deck.
1. The Waterway, on the upper deck, is broad 16, or
19 inches, thick 4 inches.
The Waterway of the lower deck, broad 19 inches,
thick 5 inches, in the forecastl e broad 18 inches, on the cabin thick 3 inches, broad 16 inches, on the upper deck broad 17 inches, thick 31⁄2 inches, on the forecastle broad 10 inches, thick 31⁄2.
(77 I 31) The waterway lies about 2 inches above the height of breadth strake, and the beams are cut as much as the waterway is let in, about 21⁄2 inches.
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