Page 92 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Chapter Two
(68 I 10) The load beams are often 31⁄2 feet lower than the other beams, on a depth of 131⁄2 feet: in many ships an Orlop Deck is made here. W here the cable tier is behind the mast, there the Soldiers sleep. And the Or- lop Deck is highest.
extra row of beams was often laid about one meter under- neath the m ain deck beams, on whic h a so- called orlop deck was made. On eighteenth- century models we c an see that the pl anks of the orlop dec k were l aid down in grooves between the be ams and were not fastened with nails, as was done on the main dec k, which is discussed here. The orlop dec k was where cargo was stowed that had to be kept dry. Soldiers traveling to the Indies to serve the East India Company also were quartered there.
The pinas was not built with an orlop deck.
The dimensions of the be ams were derived from the length of the ship: 1 1⁄8 inches for ever y 10 feet of length. The main deck beams of the pinas should be, according to this formula, 15 inches thick; yet they are only 13 inches. The camber of the beams, making the deck higher in the middle than in the s ides (for drainage toward the scup- pers), was calculated at 1 inch for every 10 feet of leng th. For the pinas, then, this should be 131⁄2 inches; yet Witsen allows only 8 inches.
Before continuing with the fitting of the beams, Witsen inserts a couple of paragraphs on other jobs, probably to emphasize that several aspects of the building proc ess were carried out simultaneously. He does this at other points in the text as well, disturbing its coherence.
Figure 2.66. (below) The shell with floors and bilge futtocks in place. (Drawing by G. A. Weerdt)
Figure 2.67. (left) Plate XXI. Beam.
(75 I 19) 13. About the Beams.
1. The beams broad 13 inch es, thick 12 inches, more
or less.
2. Have a curve of 8 inches.
3. Lie 3 feet 3 inches apart, also more or less.
4. The main hatch wide 7 feet.
The forward beam lies behind the main frame one
and 1⁄2 feet, with its back; the other lies 7 feet farther aft. The ends of the beams lie approximatel y 51⁄2 inches
above the deck clamps, dovetailed.
28. The Beams Ready
The beams of the main deck contributed substantially to the strength of the hull. They joined the sides of the ship, which was so es sential that, in la rge and deep ship s, an
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