Page 242 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Chapter Three
wing transom]. The futtocks deep 9 and 1⁄2 inches, at the outside of the bottom 81⁄2 inches, at the top of the bilges 7 inches, at the master ribband 6 inches, above 4 inches. The top timbers w hich are turned outward stand from the stem 9 feet [these top timbers defined the forward end of the forecastle]. The hackebord stands o the sternpost 24 inches. The lower hack ebord is wide at the inside 1 foot. The beams have 13 inches of camber at 22 feet: The ship has a sheer of 1 1⁄2 inch on a length of 23 feet. W hen it was launched from the slipway it was deep aft 7 feet and forward 5 feet.
Contracts for Masts, Spars, and Ropework
Shipyards gave work to many industries and trades—block and top m akers, sailmakers, pump m akers, ropewalks, smiths, and m ast makers, all acting as subcontractors who executed portions of a shipbuilding contract.
In addition, woodcarvers and painters were often hired by the ship yards, as well as plumbers (for the pipe sy s- tem that carried off the w ater from the bil ge pumps and for the privies), braziers and blacksmiths (for covering the cheese and bread room and the rudder), and bric klayers (for laying the g alley). In m any cases the f amilies of yard workers earned some extra money in their scarce free mo- ments by cutting the wooden treen ails that were used in shipbuilding. And there were the timber merchants, weav- ers, slaughterhouses, bakeries, fishmongers, brewers and brandy makers, grocers, chemists, and the other suppli- ers of such essentials as navigation instruments and al l
the other equipment and provisions that were nec essary aboard a ship (for Witsen’s inventory list, see chapter 2, section 137, “Loose Implements”).7
So the ship yard contracted with other industries and trades to pro vide a number of things, whic h entailed separate contracts or certers. Witsen includes some con- tracts of this type, and a few of them are presented below as examples. As with his other contracts, it is not always clear whether they were purely legal documents or rather memoranda written by the craftsmen themselves for their own use.
Lengths of masts and spars were expres sed in feet, their circumference, or thickness (dick), in palms (1 palm = 10 centimeters). Perhaps palm should be tr anslated by “hand” (4 inc hes), but this English measurement was used in different circumstances, so Witsen’s term has been retained. To obtain the diameter, the circumference must be divided by 3.14.
An “octagonal” refers to the upper par t of a m ast above the masthead. Close under the top the m ast had a diameter that was three fourths of the size of the mast at deck level (see section 94, Step the Masts). An ell was 69 centimeters. We will return to the width of sailcloth in the section “Contracts for Sails” later in this chapter.
(115 I 1) As heretofore made clear the wa y in this country how Ships, to be made by shipwrigh ts, were put out to tender, together with the laws and measure- ments they are held to, we will now show some Certers or regulations of masts and spars and blocks for the
Figure 3.38. Stern and side views of the Graef Enno (1642), 1261⁄2 × 28 × 121⁄4 feet. The vaguely formulated statement about the steering stand and the capstan bars means that the steering stand was so long that the bars of the capstan had sufficient room between the bulwark of the captain’s cabin and the halyard knight. A similar arrangement was used in Witsen’s pinas. Another interesting point is the measured depth fore and aft after launch. Apparently the ship was deeper in the stern because of its construction and shape, not because it was ballasted that way (Drawing by A. J. Hoving)
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