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British Isles


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The British Isles was typical of the big steel sailing ships which were produced in great numbers in the 1880s and 90s. In the final years of sail, the designers were building bigger and bigger ships all the time in a desperate effort to compete with steam. The British Isles was a very heavy vessel and not a particularly good sailer. Completed in 1884 by Reid, of Glasgow, she was a stee-hulled full-rigged ship. Her building costs amounted to £48,000 and despite her size, she was considered to be a very fine ship indeed. With a tonnage of 2,394, she had a length of 308 feet 11 inches.The main yard was a massive steel spar 105 feet long and a diameter of 20 inches at the slings (centre). When she first came out under the ownership of British Shipowners, she had a large crew and put up some very good performances. In 1898 she made the run from London to Sydney in 80 days, beating the famous clippers Miltiades, Aristides and Pericles out to Australia. Whilst running the easting down from the Cape of Good Hope to Australia, on the voyage in question, she had averaged 245 miles per day for eighteen consecutive days. The greatest day’s run being 326 miles. In 1899 the ship was purchased by Thomas Shute and in that year made a voyage from San Francisco to Cardiff in 116 days.

By 1905, the days of commercial sailing ships was coming to an end. The four-masted barque Archibal Russell, which was launched in that year was the last British built and owned cargo-carrying square rigger. The British Isles was by then sailing with a vastly reduced crew in order to cut costs. This big ship had to manage with twenty seamen, one carpenter, one sailmaker, and one cook. The afterguard comprised of captain, two mates, the steward and four apprentices. The food was “poor bordering on dreadful.”

An idea of the harsh life in sail at the beginning of the twentieth century may be gained from the following incident. In 1908, Mr. Perkins, the second mate of the British Isles, was working aloft standing on the centre of an upper topsail yard as they were bending on a new sail. The wooden belaying pin around which the gantline was being paid out, snapped. The rolled up sail landed on top of him pinning him to the yard. He was brought down in an unconscious condition. When he came round he was in terrible pain, but was able to take a little brandy. The captain thought his back might be broken, but the Ship Captains' Medical Guide was of no great help in treatment. The unfortunate officer was put to bed and the ship carried on without any deviation towards the nearest port for medical help. The senior apprentice was promoted acting second mate.

After a few days, Mr. Perkins appeared on deck again, still in pain, but able to move about with difficulty. Ten days or so later he was able to take his watch again. The ship arrived in Iquique after a passage of 86 days. Shortly after discharge was commenced, Mr. Perkins became too ill to work and was taken to hospital. He was diagnosed as having a ruptured liver which required an operation. He was discharged from the ship and whether he ever recovered is not known.

Probably the worst voyage that the British Isles ever made had been in 1905 when she loaded 3,600 tons of coal at Port Talbot, Wales and set sail for Pisagua on the West Coast of South America. The voyage was to be one of the most arduous ever completed by a British sailing ship in the twentieth century. By the time they reached Pisagua they were forty days overdue. They had fought a fire at sea in the coal cargo as well as being severely damaged off Cape Horn. Three seamen were lost overboard and two more permanently disabled, whilst three more died from their injuries. The owners were on the brink of having the ship condemned, as repairs by shore engineers would be very costly. Captain James P. Barker advised them that most of the repairs could be carried out by the ship’s crew. Using the 105-foot-long fore and main yards as sheer legs, they lifted the fore mast out of the ship as she lay at anchor. This was a difficult and dangerous operation as the lower mast and topmast were in one piece. It was a steel tube 130 feet long, three feet diameter at the heel and tapering off to twelve inches at the head. The lower twenty-five feet was below the maindeck. Once the mast had been pulled, it was repaired on deck by shore engineers. The officers and crew then replaced the mast and yards and re-rigged it. This was a magnificent feat of seamanship and the British Isles finally sailed home without incident. She was still eking out a living under foreign registry in 1936. By that time she was operating permanently on the West Coast of South America, with nitrate cargoes. Her ultimate fate is lost in the mists of time.

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Model - Scratchbuilt - 32 feet to 1 inch.

Bob

Edited by ShipbuilderMN
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It really depends on the size of the ship. I do prefer 32 feet to 1 inch, because it is neither too big, nor too small. But for smaller ships I will often use 16, 20 or 25 feet to one inch, and for very large ones, 50 feet to 1one inch.

Bob

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Your model of the British Isles is stunning Bob. I really like the potted history of the ship certainly adds to her appeal as a model.

Great research and craftsmanship combined to produce a great result.

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Yet another stunningly beautiful ship model. Always a sheer joy to see your work. The quality and detail are all the more impressive given the diminutive size (About 9.6 inches long, if I can still use my calculator correctly :winkgrin: )

Do you also make your own bases and display cases? - cos they're also worthy of praise.

Kev

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Yes, I make everything. The British Isles was my old style case. After that, I put wedge sapele moulding round the edges inside rather than the flat wood shown above. Also changed the case veneer from white chestnut to the light brown steamed beech, and they looked a lot better.

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Yes, I make everything. The British Isles was my old style case. After that, I put wedge sapele moulding round the edges inside rather than the flat wood shown above. Also changed the case veneer from white chestnut to the light brown steamed beech, and they looked a lot better.

Thanks for that answer, Bob. It was the beaded edging around the seascape that caught my eye on this one. Personally, I like the pale wood of this case, but I can see how a slightly darker shade may look more refined, or elegant.

Cheers - and please bring us more :-)

Kev

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I made them with light wood cases for years, but kept getting aksed to use mahogany, as the general feeling that what I used was too light. I tried mahogany, and felt they looked absolutely dreadful. In the end, I compromised, and started using steamed beech for the case edging, and quadrant moulding round the outside of the botom of the case. Steamed beech is a pleasing light brown colour, and I added a bit of contrast to them by adding the sapele wedge moulding around the inside. That is a similar wood to mahogany, but, in my opinion, looks better (as well as being cheaper).

I do not deviate from this type now, (see below) as I do not feel it can be improved.

Bob

 

Edited by ShipbuilderMN
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This is HMS Carcass, in a mahogany case, that I think looked dreadful (the case, that is). I built it on the request of a London auction house that was holding a specialist sale with a Nelson theme. They wanted a mahogany case, so this was my first one. Anyway, when they got it, they said it was unsuitable for a Nelson sale as buyers were only interested in Victory, Agamemnon, Vanguard etc. (despite the fact that it was Nelson's second ship, during an Arctic expedition, hence being jammed in the ice), so they just stuck it in a normal sale. Much to my surprise, it sold for £780, despite only having taken 33 hours to build, and that included making the display case and carrying case. It didn't take long, because the deck detail was largely buried in ice and snow!

Bob

 

Edited by ShipbuilderMN
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