Page 145 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

mounted; these were the “r anges” with belaying pins for the rigging. The heads for the crew were also located here. On men-of-war, lawbreakers were loc ked underneath the beakhead grating, where they sat out an u ncomfort- able detention. On the model of the Dut ch two-decker man-of-war known a s the Hohenz ollern model, a par t of the beakhead floor could be removed, apparently for this
purpose.13
The eye of the shipwright determined the w ay the
beakhead joined the rest of the ship.
The order of construction described b y Witsen is less
compelling from th is point on than it was in the begin- ning. As pointed out earlier, Witsen sometimes uses the sequence to solve the liter ary problem of describing s i- multaneous processes. For instance, although placement of the lower spur of the beakhead is described in section
68 (The lower Spur of the beakhead ), the rest of the beakhead construction is not dealt with until this section. Figure 2.166 shows th at the craf tsman has also taken some liberties with the sequence. Bulwarks, decks, and channels are alre ady in pl ace, but the stern dec orations are still missing.
81. The Stern Gallery.
(56 I 10) No. 13 [fig. 2.167] shows a Stern, or ship seen from astern, cut in half, because both sides are the same, but the coat of arms, which is the ship’s dis- tinguishing mark, was shown completely because half would have been unrecognizable.
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How Ships Are Built in Holland Today
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