Page 55 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

quarter of the length. For uyts a ratio of one the length for the beam.
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fth of
(267 I 26) Too narrow ships take little cargo, and are unsuited to bad weather . Too long ships are weak at the loins and are easily hurt when they fall dry. Short ships are slow sailors and lurch without measure.
(263 I 50) Besides completely round or square, and so short that the sails cannot be arranged, or so long that it is weak in the loins, one sees ships in every shape today; which is allowed, as long as everything is car- ried out according to the rules, the in nitely diverse use giving in nitely diverse shapes for the ships: wide ships get the broadest and heaviest timber: ships which are too wide are weak in the sides, w hich is caused by their wide spread: long an d narrow ships, although of one frame shape, oat better than wide and short ships; which is why they are better to build for sea: the reason for which being, that long ships have the more
at timber on the water . A wide bow above, well cut below is held to be more graceful and suited for the sea. This increases the ship’ s support; too sharp a cut makes ships not go about easil y: it is also elegan t for ships to be round above the turn of the bilge.
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(263 I 14) Ships which are too wide, lie laborsome on the water and lurch without measure; which is because wide ships, which are sti , resist the waves which want to lift them and circum vent them, which is why they make these ships shak e and sh udder. Whereas slim ships lie demurely on the water an d follow the waves up and down softly, without shuddering and shaking too much. One will see man y a mast come down on wide ships, w hich would k eep standing on slimmer ships.
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(65 II 48)
About the depth derived from the length.
How Ships Are Built in Holland Today
3 To get the depth from the length, tak e one foot of depth for each 10 feet of length. F or instance, 100 feet length comes to 10 feet depth at the main frame,
but for this depth one can feet shorter, yet seldom.
nd ships 4 feet longer, or 2
(53 II 24) Let us take a pinas ship, one h undred and thirty-four Amsterdamfeetlong,foranexample. Which (built in our though ts only) will be discussed in all its parts.
(74 I 38) 9. About the depth, and width, at the height of the watershed . [Literal translation; what is actually meant is the height of the “master ribband,” indicat- ing the underside of the lower deck where the scup- per’s upper ends are.]
1. At the height of the watershed the depth is 13 feet. 2. Wide 29 feet.
Figure 2.1.
beam over C–D, and depth over E–F. (Drawing by A. J. Hoving)
The first phase in the decision-making process of building of a ship was determining its dimensions.
According to Witsen, an Am sterdam foot of eleven inches is measured and calculated as being 0.283133 me- terand39⁄40 oftheunitusedinEnkhuizenandtheRiver Zaan area. The inch is 2.574 centimeters. Other important measures used at the time were the Hoorn and E dam foot of only ten inc hes (0.275804 meter) and the Rijn- landse (Rhineland) or Maas (Meuse) foot of twelve inches (0.313947 meter).
The main dimensions of the pinas ship are 134 × 29 × 13 Amsterdam feet (37.92 × 8.21 × 3.68 meters).
The Length
The length of a ship was measured ov er stem and stern (i.e., from the front of the stem to the bac k of the stern- post. Other methods existed—like taking the length of the lower gun deck, the length of the waterline, or the length overall—yet we are left with the impres sion that these
Measuring points. Length is measured over A–B,
Ship Dimensions
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