Page 50 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Chapter 1
well greased, the cradle being a little hollow, the slip- way a little stooping, so that it touches even better . The topside of the Cradle needs to be zoor [Old Dutch: lit., dry, withered] and not smooth.
66 [in fig. 1. 26] Shows the lateral cradle; this appli- ance serves to hoist the Ship on to or against the land sideways; for this beams are shoved sidewa ys under- neath the ship, xed into the ground , along w hich chains and ropes are led over sheaves: the lateral cra- dle, well greased, is then laid against the k eel on the crossbeams, with w hich the Ship is con trolled. One
must carefully watch, w hen a ship is wound up the yard sideways, that the chain does not snap, nor the water level sink too low, and the Ship tumbles over, to which round ships are the most prone.
The shipwright’s manual tools (38 to 61) are ordinary tools that can still be found in every carpenter’s workshop. Some are special tools (39 to 43) for caulking, the filling of the seams between the pl anks with unlaid rope and t ar; others are planes of various sizes and profiles (51 to 57).
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