Page 78 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Chapter Two
(265 II 53)
(267 I 38)
Figure 2.43. Siewert van der Meulen’s late seventeenth-century engraving of the bottom of a ship on the stocks. The planking tongs are clearly visible.
It is certain that ships, of which the bottom rises the least for ward and aft, are the best carriers, and those of which the oor rises most, go the fastest and sharpest through the water, where in general also the best sailors are the ships which have the most bal- last in the middle [. . .].
It is the eye of a good shipwrigh t which gives the ship a proper shape. The bottom of the ship proposed above [i.e, the 134-foot pinas] rises less in fast- sailing frigates, and more than plump carriers: it is true though, that a more rising and rounder bottom is more pleasing to the eye, but the use prevails before beauty here, and an average rise was chosen, not the highest nor the lowest, because this ship is mean t for two purposes, as stated above.
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(67 I 50) The bottoms of merchan tmen are made wider than for frigates.
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(265 II 39) The bottom [of the pinas] rises over half a foot, which I think is enough for ships w hich are not built for speed, as long as the en try and stern are of a decent shape, going in and out as wanted, which shape can in m y view not be predetermined to perfection, nor expressed in words.
Ships which are too sharp in the bow , will sink too deep afore. T oo snub a bow does not cut through the water, and slows the progress.
(74 I 26) 7. About the Bottom.
1. The bottom wide 21 feet.
2. Rising 6 inches.
(67 II 6) In this proposed ship the bottom is wide
21 feet, at the place of the main frame, w here the rst oor timber is laid: 12 feet for ward it will be one inch
narrower, or 1 1⁄2 inches: at the main frame it rises 5 inches, and for ward somewhat more: 11 feet for ward it rises 4 inches, w here it is 2 inches narrower . 12 feet and 5 inches aft of the p lace of the main frame it is two inches narrower, yet rises more: another 11 feet and 8 inches farther aft, 2 to 21⁄2 inches narrower: again 11 feet 10 inches farther aft it narrows with 3 to 4 inches, yet rises more, after w hich it narrows 8 to 10 inches again and rises, and thus ever narrower and deeper.
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18. Make the Bottom, and Make It Level
The shipbuilder c ontinued with the bottom. Pl ank af- ter plank was fi tted against the prec eding one and then squeezed tightly against one another w ith the hook and chain (no. 14 in fi g. 1.20) and n ailed together temporarily