Work in Progress May 18, 2016

Reporter: Dave Yotter It is unfortunate that the May SMA meeting started off with the cancellation of the planned PowerPoint presentation of Gold Leafing, but the event had to be postponed until next month due to the 15

minute lateness in gaining access to the meeting place. Instead, Bill Schultheis presented us with a reading from the book The Age of Revolution which gave a

firsthand account of the death of Lord Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar, 1 October 1805, written by Dr. William Beatty, head surgeon aboard HMS Victory. The Works of Jack Moffett – Bill Russell Bill brought in an original Jack Moffett painting and two books that Bill produced for us, one in 1998 and another two years later. The books are a compilation of the many drawings Jack did, mostly for our SMA Newsletter. Jack was the chief forensic artist for the LA County Sheriff’s Department and retired in 1992. Jack was club president in 1994. Bill was president in 1995 and was newsletter editor for ten years incorporating Jack’s drawings. Bill and his wife Ruth and Jack and his wife Louise became good friends. Discovering a mutual love for classical music resulted in

Newsletter

Volume 43, Number 6, June 2016

Contacts

President: Don Dressel (909) 949-6931

E-Mail: roebuckdres4@gmail.com Vice President: Bill Schultheis

(714) 366-7602 E-Mail: bsmath@yahoo.com

Secretary: Paul Payne (310) 544-1461

Treasurer: Larry Van Es (714) 936-0389

E-Mail: Larry@uswheel.com Editor, Don Dressel

(909) 949-6931 908 W. 22nd Street

Upland, CA 91784-1229 E-mail: roebuckdres4@gmail.com

Web Manager: Doug Tolbert: (949) 644-5416

Web Site www.shipmodelersassociation.org

Meeting – Wed. June 15, 7 PM,

Red Cross Building, 1207 N. Lemon, Fullerton, CA. 92832

Officers meeting –Wed., June 1, 2016, 7 PM, Bob Beech’s house, 130 Clove Pl. Brea, CA. 92821 –

(714) 529-1481.

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a weeklong trip to Seattle to attend a presentation of the epic Wagnerian Opera Der Ring des Nibelungen or simply – The Ring – a four night opera marathon. A presentation of drawings that took place at one of our Queen Mary exhibits prompted Bill to put the book together. Volume 1 was for the first ten years and a Volume 2 included an additional two years of drawings. (Your reporter is still trying to figure out how he missed getting a copy of Volume 2.) Jack was a keen observer of the craft of ship modeling and of the characters of those who

practice the art. Handy Hints and How To drawings included many contraptions derived by club members to do some of the more difficult tasks for accurate ship model building. Things like waterline markers, half model take off jigs, making stanchions, building jigs, planking clamps and Kleenex flags are among the many inventions. Nautical Descriptions included drawings of carefully labeled parts of ship construction such as spar and sail nomenclature, studding sail rigging, shrouds, deadeye rigging, capstan construction and the like. Jack’s cartoons were great caricature- although your reporter thinks ship modeling and the SMA was an easy mark for his sense of humor. Another major portion of Jack’s work was the bios of many of the SMA members and a couple of select nonmembers. It was a great honor to be included in this group. Jack was a ship modeler too and his selection of model prototypes is a fitting testimonial to his character.- the Burlington Horse Ferry and his confusion of ship parts from all eras of ship building history dubbed the Glumph. The name came from the sound it made while sinking. Those who knew Jack all miss him terribly. He was a great chronicler for the SMA and ship modeling in general. Many thanks must also go to Bill for compiling Jack’s work and producing the book. Jutland Anniversary Display – David T. Okamura David brought in his signage and models for the Jutland Centennial Event to be held aboard USS Iowa (BB-61) on June 4th and 5th, 2016. The introduction to his poster session includes the following: “One hundred years ago, the largest naval battle of World War I thundered across the North Sea west of Denmark. The Battle of Jutland was the culmination of a decade-long arms race between two empires, pitting their mightiest warships into deadly combat. It was also the

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last great surface fleet gun battle – never again would battleships engage in action on such a massive scale. At the dawn of the Twentieth Century, the British Empire possessed the world’s largest navy. An island nation dependent on trade, Great Britain relied on her warships to protect itself and its many colonies from attack, and to keep sea lanes clear for merchant shipping. No other country could compare with the vast numerical superiority of the Royal Navy, ensuring decades of security. But technology and new tactics undermined this military advantage. The Battle of Tsushima (1905) showed that future battles would be fought with heavy guns at longer ranges, contrary to earlier naval doctrine that supported a mix of gun calibers on major warships. Advances in armor, weapons and especially steam turbines lead to the first ‘all big-gun’ battleship HMS Dreadnought. Faster and more powerful than any warship yet built, she instantly made every nation’s navy obsolete – including the Royal Navy itself.” David’s presentation goes on to examine the Royal Navy ships involved as well as those of the Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet, the battle itself and the lessons learned from this combat. David is nearly done with his model of HMS Warspite. It will be completed without rigging or additional photoetch. A little more work is to be done including the water and it will be complete. The after stack was painted red on the Royal Navy ships for fleet recognition during the Battle of Jutland. The stacks were painted after the ships left port. SMS Lützow is moving along nicely and appears nearly finished. The model scale is 1:700 and it is being built from a Flyhawk kit. He reports that Flyhawk is a company that previously did mostly detail parts and photoetch but has now branched out into excellent full model kits. Fair American 1776 – Hank Tober

Fair American is a 14-gun privateer. A model of this ship built more that 200 years ago is now on exhibit at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum at Annapolis, MD. The model was made by the British Admiralty after the vessel’s capture to study her fine hull form and enormous rig. The Fair American, described as a Bermuda-built brig (a two masted ship with square sails on both masts), having a crew of about eighty men, commanded by Captain Charles Morgan, a native of Bermuda. Morgan was granted a

privateer commission by the Governor of South Carolina in November, 1776. In June 1777 she and her consort conducted a raid on the western end of the Island of Bermuda. The two brigs just missed capturing HM Frigate Galatea’s tender and the “Decoy-Boat,” The British prepared to burn the boat to prevent its capture. Unfortunately, the two American brigs could not get a pilot and the two British vessels escaped in the night. The two brigs then entered Western MA landing party captured the fort, spiked the guns, demolished the embrasures, and took eight

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privately owned cannon away. Meanwhile, sloop Chester carrying merchandises sailed from the Bay of Honduras bound to Rotterdam and stopped by Bermuda for water and provisions on 13 June 1777, and sailed again on 14 June. She was immediately stopped by Fair American. Morgan studied Chester’s papers. It appeared she was Dutch owned, but one of the owners was a merchant residing in London. Chester was ordered to Charlestown and arrived on June 22. In July, Fair American stumbled across a British Jamaica convoy of eighty sail, bound for England, escorted by HM Frigate Boreas and HM Sloop Hornet. Boreas chased Fair American but Morgan eluded her. Fair American remained in port until December 1777 to get prepared for the Randolph expedition. Her owners proposed that she be taken into the South Carolina Navy for this expedition. She was accepted by the President and Privy Council on 17 December 1777. Fair American remained in South Carolina service until about May 1778, when she resumed her privateer career, making voyages to the West Indies. In late November 1778, Morgan sailed with a few other vessels, bound for Charlestown. On December 21, Morgan encountered a schooner, a “long low Virginia built vessel”.” When he fired a broadside at her she broke off. Morgan said it took nearly fifty shots to drive her off. “He thinks, if she is not intercepted or driven off the coast, she may do much mischief, as she must have a daring crew to attempt a vessel of the force and appearance of his brig.” By the following April, in 1779, Morgan was commanding the schooner Foy. On October 4th, 1782, the Fair American was captured by the British. (History adapted from Wikipedia). Hanks bid for his model of Fair American at an SMA auction and got it for next to nothing compared to the price of the kit new. The kit is a Steingraeber kit of the model in 1:60 scale. His is just getting started on the model and has a building jig constructed with the keel and bulkheads in place and is starting on the planking. The main and quarterdecks are in place and the masts are temporarily in place. Mayflower – Burt Goldstein The Mayflower was the ship that transported the first English Separatists, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth to the New World in 1620. There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about 30, but the exact number is unknown. This voyage has become an iconic story in some of the earliest annals of American History, with its story of death and of survival in the harsh New England winter environment. The culmination of the voyage in the signing of the Mayflower compact was an event established a rudimentary form of democracy, with each member contributing to the welfare of the community. The Mayflower was a typical English merchant ship of the early 17th century – square-rigged and beak-bowed, with high, castle-like structures fore and aft that

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served to protect the ship’s crew and the main deck from the elements. But having on her stern such structures as the 30-foot high, square aft-castle made the Mayflower extremely difficult to sail against the wind and unable to sail well against the North Atlantic’s prevailing westerlies, especially in the Fall and Winter of 1620, which was the direct cause of the ship’s voyage from England to America taking 66 days. The Mayflower’s return trip to London in April-May 1621 took less than half that time, with the same strong winds following. By 1620, the Mayflower was an aging ship, nearing the end of the usual working life of an English merchant ship in that era, some 15 years. No dimensions of her hull can be stated exactly, since this was many years before such measurements were standardized. Probably Mayflower measured about 106 feet in length from the forward end at the beak of her prow to the tip of her stern superstructure aft. She was about 25 feet at her widest point, with about 13 feet of keel below the waterline. (Adapted from Wikipedia). Burt has a good start on his 1:42 scale cardstock model of Mayflower. The plans/kit are from a Dover publication of A.G. Smith plans and the model is being made from copies of the plans in the book as the book plans are of thicker stock and their glossiness makes them hard to shape and glue. The book was received from Bill Russell whose wife Ruth is a descendent of one of the Pilgrims. The hull and main deck appear to be complete. Burt said that the hull was somewhat more difficult to model as it was composed of five for-and-aft strakes. It is more normal to have hull stakes formed of vertical panels for a round bottom sailing ship hull. Although for-and-aft strakes are more prototypical it is more difficult to make these follow the shape of the frames. The Flyer – Jean-Philippe Dal Gobbo

Jean-Philippe is building a model of a generic brig ca. the 1812 was in 1:100 scale from a Constructo kit. The proposed scenario of a pilot boat converted to a privateer for coastal defense, results in a sharp hull form and a lofty rig. The kit starts with a solid hull. The hull exterior was painted using Tamia paints. Instead of using the drawn-on deck planking as supplied by the kit he laid the deck with individual planks. The kit supplied ships guns were not to scale and other details were lacking. The rigging is a new experience and is still under

way. Presenting the rig with sails furled is a good way to add some realism without the difficulty of having to shape them when fully deployed. He started out with a smaller amount of cloth than would be needed in each case for the full sail. Each sail was then shaped using water and then Fray Check to maintain the desired shape. He was not real happy with the way the

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ratlines turned out and felt that part of the problem was that too much glue had been used. Some of the rigging lines are yet to be secured and the main gaff and boom need to be added. USS Constitution – Paul Payne

A frigate was sighted on 19 August and subsequently determined to be HMS Guerriere, with the words “Not The Little Belt” painted on her foretopsail. Guerriere opened fire upon entering range of Constitution, doing little damage. After a few exchanges of cannon fire between the ships Captain Hull maneuvered into an advantageous position and brought Constitution to within 25 yards of Guerriere. He then ordered a full double-loaded broadside of grape and round shot fired, which took out Guerriere’s mizzenmast.

With her mizzenmast dragging in the water, Guerriere’s maneuverability decreased and she collided with Constitution; her bowsprit becoming entangled in Constitution’s mizzen rigging. This left only Guerriere’s bow guns capable of effective fire. Hull’s cabin caught fire from the shots, but the fire was quickly extinguished. With the ships locked together, both captains ordered boarding parties into action, but due to heavy seas, neither party was able to board the opposing ship. At one point the two ships rotated together counter-clockwise, with Constitution continuing to fire broadsides. When the two ships pulled apart, the force of the bowsprit’s extraction sent shock waves through Guerriere’s rigging. Her foremast soon collapsed, and that brought the mainmast down shortly afterward. Guerriere was now a dismasted, unmanageable hulk, with close to a third of her crew wounded or killed, while Constitution remained largely intact. The British struck. Using his heavier broadsides and his ship’s sailing ability, Hull had managed to surprise the British. Adding to their astonishment, many of their shots rebounded harmlessly off Constitution’s hull. An American sailor reportedly exclaimed “Huzzah! her sides are made of iron!” and Constitution acquired the nickname “Old Ironsides.” The battle left Guerriere so badly damaged that she was not worth towing to port. The next morning, after transferring the British prisoners onto Constitution, Hull ordered Guerriere burned. Arriving back in Boston on 30 August, Hull and his crew found that news of their victory had spread fast, and they were hailed as heroes. (History adapted from Wikipedia.) Paul is progressing on his 1:96 scale scratch built model of USS Constitution He reports that the head rails have been his main concern and are around 80% complete. There is not much information available on the head area. The Naiad frigate (HMS Naiad 38) had false rails in her head structure and the presentation in the book by Edward Tosti has helped with forming the general configuration of these structures. The gun deck armament of 30 X 24-pounder long guns is installed and complete. The channels are on and awaiting the installation of the

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chains and deadeyes. Ships boats are under construction. Paul is thinking about how he wants to rig the model. The most likely scenario is that he will fully rig the lower masts in place and have the topmasts ready to sway up. HMS Pegasus – Don Leyman

The Swan class sloops were built as a 14-gun class of ship-sloops for the Royal Navy, although two extra guns were added soon after completion. Surveyor of the Navy, John Williams, designed the class and two vessels to this design (Swan and Kingfisher) were ordered in January 1766. Twenty-three more were ordered to the same design between 1773 and 1779; they formed the ‘standard’ ship sloop design of the British Navy during the American Revolutionary War, during which eleven of them were lost.

Surviving vessels went on to serve during the French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic War. The design provided for 16 gun ports (8 per side, excluding the bridle-ports) but one pair was initially left unoccupied, and the ships were always rated at 14 guns. However an eighth pair of guns was added from 1780 onwards to utilize the vacant ports, without any change in the nominal rating. The Swan-class sloops were unusually attractive for the type of vessel. Not only did they have sleek hull lines but they also carried an unusual amount of decoration for their size. They were built just before the Admiralty issued orders that all vessels (especially lesser rates and unrated vessels) should have minimal decoration and carvings to save on costs, due to the seemingly ever-continuing war with France and other nations. Don is building his scratch built Pegasus in 1:48 scale using the Antscherl-Herbert books on the Swan-Class Sloops and plans from the National Maritime Museum on Pegasus herself. Several plan versions were available and he chose to use the one with the most available decoration detail. He is using wood purchased from Hobby Mill and has used boxwood for the frames, alder planking and holly for the deck planking. The rails and gratings are walnut. The Hobby Mill package of wood for the Swan Class Sloops includes a lot of boxwood thick stuff that seems to be left over. The main deck is complete as it stands now, leaving it half un-planked to allow viewing of below deck details and the main deck framing. Recently complete are the foredeck, quarterdeck and gangways. The guns are completed and installed. Currently he is working on completing the channels and molding. Catalan Ship Ca. 1450 – Bill Schultheis A carrack was a three- or four- masted sailing ship in the 15th century by the Genoese for use in commerce. By the Late Middle Ages the cog, and cog-like square-rigged vessels

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equipped with a rudder at the stern, were widely used along the coasts of Europe, in the Baltic, and also in the Mediterranean. Given the conditions of the Mediterranean, galley type vessels were extensively used there, as were various two masted vessels, including the caravels with their lateen sails. These and similar shiop types were familiar to Portuguese navigators and shipwrights. As the Portuguese gradually extended their explorations and trade ever further south along Africa’s Atlantic coast during the 15th century they needed a larger and more advanced ship for their long oceanic adventures. Gradually, they developed their own models of oceanic carracks from a fusion and modification of aspects of the ship types they knew operating in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean, generalizing their use in the end of the century for inter-travel with a new, more advanced form of sail rigging that allowed much improved sailing characteristics in the heavy winds and waves of the Atlantic ocean. In addition to the average tonnage naus, some large naus (carracks) were also built in the reign of John II of Portugal, but were only widespread after the turn of the century. The Portuguese carracks were usually very large ships for their time (often over 1000 tons), and having the future large naus of the India run and of the China and Japan trade, also other new types of design. Various names appear: caracca or nao in the Genoese dialect and in Castilian Spanish; nau in Portuguese. (Adapted from Wikipedia) Bill has continued on his build of a Woody Joe kit in 1:30 scale called the Catalonia. Woody Joe calls it a model of a Catalan trading ship. Bill says it is probably a nao of between 1350 and 1500 and a type of ship that came between the cog and before the caravel. These ships were primarily used for trade, hence the incredible balminess. He also noted that there were typically no guns aboard ship in this era as ships were fought or defended by boarding. The wood and drawings supplied with the kit are excellent but he finds the Japanese instructions to be challenging. As the figures are very clear however, the kit can largely be put together with out translation. The plywood for the backbone and frames are die-cut for the plank on bulkhead style of construction and a few planking strakes have been added since last time. He has built a building jig to hold the model and the main deck is planked. USS Seawolf (SSN-21) – Don Dressel USS Seawolf (SSN-21), the lead ship of her class, is the fourth submarine of the United States Navy named for the Seawolf, a solitary fish with strong, prominent teeth and projecting tusks that give it a savage look. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics and Newport News Shipbuilding on 9 January 1989 and her keel was laid donw on 25 October 1989. She was launched on 24 June 1995, sponsored by Mrs.

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Margaret Dalton, and commissioned on 19 July 1997 with Commander David M. McCall in command. Her motto is Cave Lupum (“Beware the Wolf”) and she is still on active service. USS Seawolf was a product of the Cold War, designed as a replacement for the Los Angeles class submarines and as a response to the Soviet Akula class. According to the Navy’s “Undersea Warfare” magazine, Seawolf is quieter at high speed than a Los Angeles submarine is pierside. Originally 29 were planned for production, but with the end of the Cold War, the cost was judged to be prohibitively high and only three were built (Seawolf, Connecticut, and Jimmy Carter) in favor of the smaller Virginia-class submarines, which were expected to be about 10% cheaper. Between 25-27 March 2006, a series of anti-submarine warfare exercises were held in Hawaiian waters that included Seawolf, Carrier Strike Group Nine; the nuclear-powered attach submarines Cheyenne, Greeneville, Tucson, and Pasadena, as well as land-based P-3 Orion aircraft from patrol squadron VP-4, VP-9, and VP-47. On 22 July 2007, the submarine transferred from her previous homeport of Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, to permanently reside at SubBase Bangor in Silverdale, Washington. She is currently still in commission. Her general characteristics are: Length: 353 feet; Beam: 40 feet; Draft: 36 feet; propulsion: one S6W reactor; speed: 25+ knots submerged, 18+ knots surfaced; Test depth: greater than 800 feet; Complement: 15 officers and 101 men; Armament: eight 26-inch

torpedo tubes, 40 torpedoes and missiles, or 100 mines. Don constructed the model based on a Viking Models kit purchased from a used kit warehouse, as parts of the kit were missing. It is a resin kit, and as usual with most resin kits, a lot of cleanup was required prior to installing the various parts to the hull, the hull itself requiring cleanup. Some pats had to be made from scratch. The model was an interesting project and a departure from the usual wooden ship models. The scale of the model is 1:350.

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         David T. Okamura’s HMS Warspite                                               David T. Okamura’s SMS Lützow           Hank Tober’s Fair American                                                             Burt Goldstein’s Mayflower 

 

         Jean‐Philippe Dal Gobbo’s The Flyer                                              Don Dressel’s USS Seawolf ‐ SSN21  

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     Bill Schultheis’s Catalan Ship ca. 1450         

    Paul Payne’s USS Constitution         

     Don Leyman’s HMS Pegasus    

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By Don Dressel 

Old Salts in Port:  John Bakker, Don Dressel, Steve Jones, Guy Bell 

Ships  in Port: Niña, Washington Galley plans and building board, a fire engine and the tug Maasbank.   

   Don Dressel  again  started off the “official” presentations again with a  discussion  of  the  progress  on  his little  Spanish  ship  Nina, which  sailed to the “new world” with Columbus  in 1492.    As  discussed  at  the  last Mayflower  Group  meeting,  it  was decided  to  use  the  planking material that  came  with  the  kit.    It  was interesting to discover that there was no  scale  on  the  plans  or  instructions 

supplied  in the Amati kit of the Nina.   The only thing Don could discover was that the sister Amati kits Santa Maria, Pinta  and Nina were all listed at 1:65 scale in the Model Expo catalog, so the assumption is that 1:65 is the scale of the model. 

  Don is in the process of planking the model and showed his method of “pinning” the plank to the hull while wet, letting it dry completely, then using Titebond to glue the plank to the bulkheads.  It is always advisable to make sure a “wet” plank is completely dry before gluing it to the hull, as the plank expands and contracts accordingly. 

  The “pins” used to hold the plank  in place while drying (which  forms the plank shape to the hull) and subsequently gluing the plank were purchased from Model Expo years ago and seem to work better than “Push pins” as the shaft of the pin is smaller. 

  Don also showed his beginning efforts on turning the spars for the Halifax, which he  is also working on.   Don uses a Sherline extra  long bed  lathe to turn his spars from lemonwood  (Degame), which hold  their  shape  very well  and do not warp.   Don  also explained what happens when you make the mistake of not making sure the  four  jaw 

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chuck is not securely fastened – the spar breaks!  The main mast had to be turned twice, since Don was afraid to try and turn the spar that broke, even though he glued  it back together.   

  Don  also  explained  that  the  two  “bulkheads”  at  the  bow  of  the  vessel were scratch made due to the fact that the bulkheads  in the kit were fragile due to age and broke.  Once the planking of the upper deck area is completed, the “bulkheads” will be removed. 

  John Bakker was next up to discuss his  work  on  his  Billings  kit  of  the  tug Maasbank.    There  were  a  number  of questions  John  asked  the  group  about concerning some of the lines, so the model is not yet  complete.    It  is a  sea going  tug and much  of  its  history was  discussed  at the last Mayflower Group meeting (see the May  issue  of  the  SMA  Newsletter).    It  is still  amazing  that  in  2  months  John  has 

pretty much completed this very nice ship model – the case is next? 

  John  also  brought  out  another  project  that  he  is working  on  –  a  fire  engine, which was originally part of a “matchstick” kit, made with toothpicks.  John did not use the toothpicks, but  instead made the “parts”  from scrap birch plywood that he had  in his  garage.    The  plans  supplied  were  simply  pictures  of  the  model  –  no  written instructions were  included.   Maybe by the next meeting John will have completed his fire engine.  Some of the information John obtains  and  uses  he  gets  from  the magazine  Creative  woodworks  &  Crafts, since he also belongs to a scroll saw group.  

  Once  again,  lots  of  other  things were  brought  up  and  discussed  by  the group and a very enjoyable  time was had by all. 

 

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Maritime Museum of San Diego – Part III 

By Don Dressel 

  There are still several items to be mentioned on the Star of India, as there are so many things to see  aboard  that  ship.    The model  of  the  SS Great  Britain  has  already  been mentioned,  but  a more descriptive  narrative  follows:  “By  the mid‐19th  century,  the  numerous  European  forests were  nearly 

depleted  (it  took 400 acres of old growth  forest to produce a  ship  like  the Victory).    In addition, the  advent  of  railroads  and  telegraph  began  to link  the  world  in  a  web  of  mechanized transportation and communication.    Increasingly incompatible  with  wind‐powered  ships  that could never arrive on schedule; this set the stage for the appearance of the iron‐hulled steam ship.  However, certain problems still remained: steam engines  were  terribly  inefficient,  ships  of conventional size could not carry enough coal to steam  long  distances  without  refueling 

frequently paddle wheels functioned poorly at sea when the ship rolled.  Launched in Bristol, England, in 1843,  the  SS Great Britain was  the masterpiece of  Isanbard Kingdom Brunel,  the most daring of  the great  Victorian  engineers.    Brunel  combined  a wrought  iron  hull with  a  screw  propeller  linked  to  a massive 1000‐horsepower steam engine assisted by auxiliary sails on six masts.  The SS Great Britain was immediately successful.  Designed initially for the Trans‐Atlantic luxury passenger trade, she was by far the  largest ship  in  the world, one of  the  first  large passenger vessels  to boast watertight subdivisions and could easily carry enough coal to steam across the Atlantic.  In her second career, the Great Britain sailed as a pure sailing ship, continuing  in service until 1886, and traveling thirty‐two times around the world and nearly one million miles at sea.  Rescued n the Falkland Islands in 1970 and brought back to Bristol for restoration, she can be seen today in the dry‐dock where she was built.   

  There is also the hold which you can go down into  to  see  the  details  of  the  ship  below  the main deck.  You will also find a lot of sailing items, barrels, rope, etc. as well as the construction of the interior of the hull itself.  There is a work area down below also, which  is  off  limits  to  the  general  public  in  some respects, since the ship is still as sailing ship and does go out to sea at  least once a year.   Since the Star of India has no engines, she must be  towed out  to sea first  before  she  can  raise  her  sails  and  go  sailing alone.    I do not know  if she could put  to sea on her own, but  I assume  that  it would  require  the correct 

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wind in order to be able to do so.  In any case, I don’t think the U.S. Coast Guard would allow her to go to sea on her own.   

  Down  below  there  is  also  another  fine example of the Star of India in model form.  There is  a  plaque  next  to  the  model  which  indicates Copley Productions and  the Star of  India.    In  the early 1960’s, James S. Copley, publisher of the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune, commissioned this model.    It  was  built  by  Ed  Sims  of  Laguna Beach.   Members of  the Copley  family were well known  in  San  Diego  for  their  philanthropy,  and Mr.  Copley  was  an  avid  supporter  of  the restoration  of  the  Star  of  India.    The  Copley Newspapers  Department  of  Education  arranged 

for  the model  to  tour  the  San Diego  City  and  County  school  systems  as  a way  of  educating  school children about the importance of the Star of India. Later the model was placed on display in The James S. Copley Library, La Jolla.  In 2010 through the generosity of the late Mr. David Copley, the model was donated to the Maritime Museum of San Diego where it now forms part of the permanent collection. 

  A little history of the Star of India is included.  She did not get her final name until 1906, as she was originally  christened  the Euterpe.   When  launched  from  the  Irish Sea on November 14, 1863, at Ramsey on the Isle of Man, she was christened Euterpe after the Greek muse of music and lyric poetry.  The Star of India today is the world’ oldest active sailing ship and a National Historic Landmark.  She has made 21 circum‐navigations during her career, some of them lasting up to a year.  On her first trip she suffered a collision and a mutiny.  On her second trip, a cyclone caught the Euterpe in the Bay of Bengal, and with her  topmasts  cut away,  she barely made port.    Shortly afterward, her  first  captain died on board and was buried at sea.  After such a hard luck beginning, the Euterpe made four more voyages to India as a cargo ship.  Most likely painted black under her first two owners, the full‐rigged ship took on a green color when purchased  in 1871 by  the Shaw Savill Line of London.   She spent a quarter century hauling emigrants to New Zealand, sometimes also touching Australia, California and Chile.  In 1898, she was  sold  to  American  owners  and,  in  1902,  purchased  by  the  Alaska  Packers  Association.    She was renamed  The  Star  of  India  and  sailed  from  Oakland  to  the  Bering  Sea  each  spring  with  a  load  of fishermen, cannery hands, box shook and tin plate.   She returned each fall  laden with canned salmon.  This went  on  until  1923 when  she was  laid  up  in  port  by  the  APA.    In  1926,  she was  saved  by  a determined  band  of  San  Diagans  and  towed  here  from  San  Francisco  in  hopes  of  restoring  and preserving her as a museum ship.  She is now maintained by dedicated volunteers and staff and sails at least once a year.  The model depicted was built by dr. William F. Brown. 

  It should be mentioned that many of the models depicted in the hold of the Star of India have a connection with  the Maritime Museum of San Diego since a number of  the members of  the museum along with Dr. Ashley went on a European adventure  in 2007 and visited many of  the  these  ships  in various museums in Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, and Great Britain.   

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  Also to be mentioned is the really fine Trafalgar diorama that is aboard the Star of India, which I was  reminded  of  by  a  stout member  of  the  San Diego Guild.    It  is well worth  spending  some  time studying and observing from a number of angles.  Most of the models depicted were made by members of  the  San  Diego  Ship  Model  Guild  which  jointly  put  together  the  diorama  (see  photo).  

 

  The diorama  shows  the brilliant  tactics  employed by Admiral Horatio Nelson  in  the Battle of Trafalgar, dividing his fleet into two prongs which attached the combined fleet of both France and Spain in a then unorthodox attack.  It led to a decisive victory for the Royal Navy but also led to the death of the  gallant  Admiral  Nelson.    A  very  complete  and well written  documentation  is  included with  the diorama which fully explains the battle and the ultimate consequences.   

  All  in all, a very well  spent  time on  the  ship  to both  see  the wonderful models,  the diorama above, and the ship herself.  Again, she is still a fully functional square rigged sailing ship which does, at least once a year, go to sea and sail under her own canvas. 

  There are many other  ships  to visit, as  the Maritime Museum of San Diego also  includes  two submarines, an early yacht (the Media) – there is a miniature model of the Media on display built by Gus Agustin – the clipper ship California, the early Spanish Cabrillo ship San Salvador, a pilot boat, a Vietnam veteran and other  ships  in 1:1  scale.   Then  there  is  the USS Midway only a  few  steps away  from  the museum.  LOTS TO SEE AND DO!   

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SMA Badges available in June There are a few SMA badges ready for pickup at the May meeting: Brooke Robbins, Trabuco Canyon Bob Fallon, La Puente Jim Zalaco, Lakewood Anyone else, who would like to obtain an SMA badge, please let Paul Payne know at the June meeting. These three individuals were NOT at the May meeting. SMA Participation in the upcoming NRG Conference in San Diego The SMA will participate in the upcoming NRG Conference in San Diego in October by participating in the Ship Model Exhibition along with other Southern California clubs. All SMA members are encouraged to enter one or more models in the exhibition. There will be no contest. PowerPoint Presentation at June SMA meeting There will be a PowerPoint presentation “Gold Leaf Techniques” by Don Dressel at the June meeting, based on his efforts to gold leaf the Sovereign of the Seas – the ship which lead to the relief of the head of the King of England. The May presentation was cancelled due to time constraints presented when the “door opener” was late opening the door to the building. Treasurer’s Report Larry Van Es reports that there is $4,613.10 in the SMA account for the end of March. Mike has become the advisor and helper for the new SMA Treasurer, Larry Van Es. Web Manager’s Report The Webmaster, Doug Tolbert, informed us that the SMA web site is back up and running fine. There will be additional details added to the web site as time goes by and members may wish to visit the web site occasionally to see what is new. The Planking demonstration given at the SMA meeting in January has been added to the web site. Model Completion There was a message received from Carl Bohmholdt (949-837-9107) requesting a member of the SMA to complete a Bluenose kit model for him. Any SMA member interested can contact him at the number indicated. He started the kit but never finished it. San Diego Ship Modelers Guild For those SMA members who may be interested, the San Diego Ship Modelers Guild now has their meetings on the BERKLEY on the second TUSEDAY of each month, instead of the second Wednesday. Your editor and reporter routinely attend the meeting which is usually very informative and enlightening.

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HMS Pegasus – Don Leyman

Donald C. Dressel 908 W. 22nd Street, Upland, CA. 91784-1229

Next meeting Wednesday, June 15, 7:30 PM, Hillcrest Park Red Cross Building

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