Page 225 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Figure 3.3. The first stage of the building process: keel, stem, and sternpost are joined to form the backbone of the ship. The first planks, the garboard strakes, have been fitted. (Courtesy A. J. Hoving)
Figure 3.4. The bottom planking
is continued with the aid of planking tongs. Wooden chocks keep the planks in place after they have been pressed edge to edge with the hook and chain (see “Tools” in chapter 1). Small wooden poles (shores) support the construction. (Courtesy A. J. Hoving)
Figure 3.5. A floor timber and two bilge futtocks are raised at the location of the main frame. Because I was reluctant to believe Witsen at this stage, I even placed two floor timbers, although one would have sufficed. (Courtesy A. J. Hoving)
Figure 3.6. The bilges are now planked, guided by the bilge futtocks. At this stage, where the planks do not lie in one line next to each other, as in the previous stage, the planking tongs can only be used together with wedge- shaped filling chocks, filling the open space between planks and tongs. It is quite difficult to build a symmetrical hull shape with this technique. (Courtesy A. J. Hoving)
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