Page 223 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Contracts as Historical Sources
top broad 8 inches, below b road 3 feet 5 inches: the Wing Transom long 6 feet, thick 5 inches, broad 6 inches: has a 7 inch cur ve. The transom deep3feet51⁄2 inches:theFashionPiecesbroad 71⁄2 inches, thick 5 inches: the Sternpost high 6 1⁄2 feet on the inside, rakes 101⁄2 feet, at the top broad 2 feet, below 1 foot 2 inches, thick inside 6 in., forward 4 inches, it has a 1 5-inch curve: the keel long 30 feet, broad 6 in ches, deep 5 inches aft, 41⁄2 inches forward: the planking thick 2 inches: the Wale thick 4 inches, broad 5 inches: Planking above the Wale broad 12 inches, thick 1 1⁄2 inches, theFloortimbersthick41⁄2 inches:onthewale thick 31⁄2 inches.
The Wale high 5 feet for ward on the inside of the stem:
5 Feet from forward, high 4 feet 3 inches, and wide 3 feet 6 inches, inside the planking.
9 high 3 feet 10 inches, wide 41⁄2 ft.
14 high 3 feet 91⁄2 inches, - - - 4 ft. 71⁄2 in. 18 high 3 feet 91⁄2 inches, - - 4 ft. 71⁄2 in. 23 high3feet10inches,---4ft.63⁄4 in. 28 high 4 feet 3 inches, - - 41⁄2 ft.
33 high 4 feet 81⁄2 inches, - - - 41⁄2 ft.
38 high5feet6inches,--3ft.71⁄2in.
The mainmasttabernacleintheBinding Strake wide 9 inches, high 7 inches, but forward 1⁄2 foot: the poop long 16 feet. The Main Y ard long 46 feet; the foreyard 34 feet: the leeboards 16 feet from forward, the ceiling broad 16 inches: the Wale broad 4 inches: the lower planking broad 12inches,above1foot:theCabinwide2 1⁄4 feet: the camber of the bench without cover 6 feet: the Beer cabinet in the cabin long 4 1⁄2 feet, the door wide 2 feet 2 inches: the hack ebord is 19 inches above the planking, and wide 35 inches.
play, shipbuilding was essentially a profession exercised within strict technical parameters.
Thus, when c ontracts are relied on a s information sources, they should be interpreted in c onjunction with the formulas, building method s, tools, and m aterials used at the time. All these elements together are essential guiding the model builder to an enlightening end product, as they will undoubtedly still do if applied with some cau- tion. The rest is a question of experience, common sense, and insight.2
Model Building as a Research Method
Shipbuilding is an expensive business. Even in early times a shipbuilder would be little inclined to experiment with his costly materials. Testing our present understanding of contracts at full scale would be horribly expensive.
However, model building presents a good alternative. This greatly underestimated method can lead, easily and cheaply, to a s ignificant increase in knowledg e and u n- derstanding. Of course, solutions that would be quite ac - ceptable in model building do not necessarily translate to good practice at full scale, but documenting exactly what has been done on a small scale can solve this problem.
What follows is a description of two experiments in ap- plying the shell-first method to spec ifications contained in two of Witsen’s sample contracts. Accompanying pho- tographs from the projects show the building proc ess at various stages. The experiments revealed that convincing results can be obt ained from c ontracts and c an help us achieve a fairly good picture of the vessel described in the historical source.3
The Pleasure Yacht
The first experiment involved the construction of a model of a 42- foot pleasure yacht from the spec ifications in a contract provided by Witsen. This contract was chosen be- cause it contains a number of coordinates for the m aster ribband, which is of paramount importance in defi ning the shape of the hull.4
As noted, this contract had the advantage of specifying the measurements of the master ribband over the entire length of the hull. Furthermore, Witsen provides a draw- ing of the vessel (fig. 3.1). Laying down the bottom of the model proceeded without difficulty. As can be seen in the photographs, small brass plankin g tongs were used for this purpose.
Problems arose w ith the pl anking of the t urn of the bilge. The shape in the midship section was no problem,
(175 I 29) Contract of a Pleasure yacht.
Long over stem and stern 42 feet, is as follows: Wide inside the planking 9 feet 4 inches, deep on the Wale 3 feet 81⁄4 inches: the bottom wide 6 feet, rising 4 inches: the sternpost high in the perpen- dicular 6 feet 5 1⁄2 in. I t rakes 1 foot 5 1⁄2 inches, inside thick 6 inches, aft thick 4 inches, at the
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