Page 128 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Chapter Two
This section should be pl aced with the rest of the beakhead in section 80 , The Beakhead, but Witsen al- ready has the lower spur made her e as the b asis of the beakhead. It would h ave been more logic al to tre at the rest of the be akhead subsequently, but Witsen doesn’t. Only at section 80 does he ret urn to it. We can assume that he was attempting to indicate that work on the ship was carried out at several places simultaneously.
The lower spur of the be akhead is a long, slightly curved timber, tapering toward the forward end and end- ing in a carved scroll. Its tail end was let into the stem and supported by the beakhead knee.
The angle of this part was very important for the line of the ship. Hanging too low , the be akhead would “droop” and disfigure the ship; coming up too high, it would place the beakhead in conflict with the bowsprit.
From the beginning of the sev enteenth century until Van Yk’s time, the leng th of the spur of the be akhead gradually decreased from one fi fth to one eighth of the ship’s length. At the stem it was as thick as the inside of the stem. As the front face of the stem was only three fifths of the inside, the lower spur of the beakhead would protrude a little on e ach side (21⁄2 inches). This was no coincidence: when the c heek knees or c heeks were in- stalledlateron,bracingthespurof thebeakheadlater- ally, these openings served as scuppers or drains for the water leaking in through the corners between hull, stem, and cheeks.
69. The coamings of the Gratings, on the upper deck.
(54 I 46) In some hatches, but mostl y on Merchant ships, are covered holes, through w hich the cable goes.
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(70 II 32) 27. About the Hatches.
1.Thecoamingsofthehatches,have 1⁄3 thethick- ness of the stem.
2. The inner frame, thick and broad 2⁄5. 3. The groove 1⁄8 wide.
4. The ledges 1⁄4.
5. The hatch beam 1⁄3; the others less.
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(55 II 18) Hatch beams: on the plate No. 10 [fig. 2.139], are pieces of wood, lying across the hatches, on which the hatch covers rest in the middle.
(86 I 26) The hatch beam is hollowed out a little in the middle, to each hatch is a ring, the hatch beams are athwartships: the main hatch, and the hatch be- hind the knight, have no hatch beam on one side.
Figure 2.136.
they determine the width of everything between them, such as mast partners, hatches, partners, bitts, and so on (Drawing by A. J. Hoving)
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Bird’s-eye view of the upper deck in its unplanked state. The function of the binding strakes is immediately apparent: