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Background

Readers of this Journal hardly need atutorial describing the importance of whal-ing in the seventeenth, eighteenth andnineteenth centuries. And, I should quick-ly add that the history of unabashed whal-ing started around 3000 B.C.E. and lastedat least through the factory ships in themiddle of the twentieth century. It isenough to know that artificial light by waxcandle was clearly surpassed by whale oil—

arguably the most important commodity ofthe time.

Whaling ships like Charles W.Morgan are interesting on many levels:their history is long, the ships are abun-dant with detail, their operation was excit-ing, and they have been the subject of alitany of work, both printed and on the “bigscreen.” When modeling a whaleship, onehas the opportunity to craft three or fourwhaleboats—each a model within a model.

But the actual capture of whales wasnot the work of Morgan or any other

Charles W. Morgan Whaleboat. . . . .

by Stuart J. Malkin, Ph.D.

Figure 1.

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whaleship; it was the job of the whaleboat.And that is the principal reason for myselection of one of these boats as a model-ing target. As well, Mystic Seaport housesnot only Morgan, but also significantcopies of its whaleboats. I was, in time, tobecome quite familiar with those historicand important monuments. In summary,this project is of a Morgan whaleboat—aspecific whaleboat visited and studied byme as a part of my research.

This article is a bit of “retro,” in thatI crafted this model and its display startingin 1977, some thirty-five years ago. Thefigures, photographs, sketches and notes inthis article are all original, researchedand/or created at the time. They have notbeen altered, and represent what I did as aneophyte, the point being that even then Ihad the vision that many of us have now:attention to detail, passion for excellencein craftsmanship, devotion to historicalaccuracy and appreciation of the beautythat model ships represent.

I did not believe then, nor do Ibelieve now, that I met those goals in allthat they represent. But, because I believedin the process, the project did result in aboat that many have admired over time.

In summary, quoting from my book,Handcrafted Wooden Ship Models (a pic-ture book): “If I bring a smile or a wonder-ment to those who view my ships, then Ihave done my job as a craftsman and anartist.” (See Addendum for the completeblurb.)

Kit Bashing 101 and OtherThoughts

It is safe to assume that most con-temporary wooden ship modelers begantheir modeling career with some sort of kit.Exceptions would be the boyhood carvingof solid hulls and the very old craftsmenwho did the same. And, with tongue in

cheek, I doubt that the Rogers Collection(at the Naval Academy) began with kits!But for many of us, we did indeed, at onepoint, open the box, ponder the contentsand, with some seriousness of purpose,begin to “assemble” the model. Later inyears, we may well have resumed the ideathat we could build a beautiful miniatureof a famous ship—probably from a kit.Then, many of us discovered that the kitwas inadequate. Wood may have lackedboth quality and quantity. Instructionswere unclear (especially from foreign kitmanufacturers). Findings were poorly man-ufactured or (as we were to later discover)out of scale, not historically accurate, orboth!

Enter the craftsman and artist. Whyeven buy a kit? For some, buying and seri-ously altering a kit became a steppingstone to the pure artistry of scratch build-ing. “Bashing” a kit has its own rewards. Atthe least, much of the wood is usable, var-ied, and some actually cut to scale. Manytimes the wood in a kit is exotic and dupli-cates some of the wood actually used in thefull size ship, (especially kits from yearspast). The kit provides yet another set ofplans to supplement any that you mightotherwise obtain as a part of your research.Findings provide a good framework forthose that you will manufacture (and thereis the occasional finding that is historicallycorrect!). Rigging plans are mostly accu-rate. And, if the subject kit containsinstructions from a proficient modeler, wehave the authenticity of a voice to add toour own. In summary: If you are going tobuild a model, why not use every resourceavailable?

I have done my share of scratchbuilding, but I still do kit bashing when theopportunity looks promising. The subjectof this article, a whaleboat from Charles W.Morgan, was kit bashed and the bulwarkfrom which it is displayed was scratch builtin its purest sense—a project that wemight today call a hybrid!

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Setting The Parameters

I visited Mystic Seaport specificallyto gain substantive and accurate data aboutthe Morgan whaleboat, learning that therewere three full size whaleboats—a bonanzaof source vessels. As well, I obtained theCuratorial Department’s three-sheet set ofplans for the original boat. I also took anabundance of pictures of the whaleboat andboth full size copies constructed by themuseum.

Adding to that research material, Ipurchased the Artesania Latina kit, withthe intention of kit bashing and, as I wassoon to learn, heavy bashing at that.

Artesania Latina did a good job with thekit—not great, but good. Generally,instructions were detailed enough for theneophyte (me, at the time) and the draw-ings good enough for a start. As well, thekit was a prime candidate for kit bashing.Woods supplied were strips of ramin, wal-nut and bokapi doweling. (The primary usefor bokapi was full size ship building!) Diecut sheets were plywood, much as is seentoday in kits, sometimes replaced now bylaser routing.

The Artesania Latina kit is plank onframe construction, double planked. As thepurpose of this article is to describe kitbashing with emphasis on the whalecraftfeatures, I am not devoting any significant

Figure 2.

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space to the hull. It is quite straightforwardand not much needed to be modified.Suffice it to say, that in those cases wherethe kit varied from the Mystic Seaport

plans, I made the necessary adjustments(not nearly the bashing required for thewhalecraft components).

Using all that information, I came

Figure 3.

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to a number of conclusions concerning mygoal for bashing the kit, adding realism,and creating a unique model. The kitmodel is closer to 1:30 scale than the stat-ed scale of 1:25. That made it easy! Onefoot on the plans becomes one centimeteron the model. Many fittings were discardedand substitutes scratch built, as illustratedby the accompanying figures.

The Nautical Research Guild’s two

volumes of Shop Notes are a tribute to thecontributors. At the time my whaleboatwas constructed, Volume I was my “bible.”But I have some parameters that I use inmodeling, and those guides were in usewhen this project was crafted:Spray paint-ing produces a superb finish.

Most Journal readers, I suspect, usea spray. But I brush paint everything. Why?Because I try my best to create models that

Figure 4.

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represent the techniques and materialsused at the time by the builders of the fullsize ship that I am duplicating in minia-

ture. They used brushes, I use brushes.I work in the metric system. I con-

vert plans to metric units, if necessary.

Figures 5.

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English measurements are (arguably) cum-bersome and it is simple enough to place asteel metric ruler on a set of plans to derivethe metric measurement. Generally I use0.50-millimeter as my tolerance and, overthe years, that has worked well.

I use only wood, metals and naturalfibers, again, as did the original builders.Styrene, resins, synthetic rope, and so onare not in my materials library. As well,whenever possible I try to use some woodin each model the type of which was usedfor the full size ship. In some cases (HMSVictory, Cutty Sark) I have been luckyenough to have some wood from the origi-nal vessel, in those cases where restorationhas permitted distribution of materialremoved from the ship. Then, I use someof that original wood to construct a findingfor the model.

In summary, whenever possible I tryto duplicate the materials and techniquesused by the full size builders. I do use mod-ern shop equipment (drills, saws, and sim-ilar tools) because such use does not affectthe authentic appearance of the model. If itdoes, I revert to handcrafting, principallycarving and creating small parts for deckfurniture and the like.

Whaleboat

I was fortunate enough to have aphotograph of the full size whaleboat atMystic Seaport, circa 1977. (Figure 2) Inlooking at pictures in this article of thesubject model, the reader may wish tomake a comparison with the “real thing.”

I could not understand the kit ver-sion of the rudder. It is the proper size but

Figure 6.

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Figure 7.

Figure 8.

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not the proper shape, nor were the uppersupport strips correct. Considering that itwas supplied from a routed sheet, it seemsto me that Artesania Latina easily couldhave shaped it correctly. That, I think, is avote for those who claim that kit manufac-turers are not as careful with their researchas might be desired. A new rudder wasmade in the proper shape, adding two out-side support plates, following the MysticSeaport plan. (Figure 3) The drawing on theleft is from the Artesania Latina kit, thaton the right is from the Mystic Seaportplans, both circa 1977.

Gudgeons and pintles are from theMystic Seaport plans. (Figure 3) They weremanufactured from flat brass strip stock.

The mast hinge was a challenge, butI did manage to fabricate one. It was madefrom sheet brass stock. A proper masthinge and support bracket was made to fitbetween thwarts 1 and 2. Here is another

rather significant kit deviation: the kitmast hinge was a traditional door hinge!The drawing on the left, the door hinge, isfrom the Artesania Latina kit, that on theright is from the Mystic Seaport plans, bothcirca 1977. (Figure 3)

Lifting eyebolts were made longenough to reach to the keel. The hatchetrequired a drilled hole and tie line. The log-gerhead on the real boat is not a simpledowel piece, as supplied, but is a curvedshaped piece. The cast harpoon crotch wasout of scale; I made a proper one from birchstrips. A water bucket was made, replacingthe out-of-scale and misshapen item sup-plied. (Figure 4)

The mast required a sheave and afour-headed top lashing. It was tapered tomatch the specification in the MysticSeaport plans. (Figure 5)

The castings supplied for the har-poon heads were incorrect. The kit version

Figure 9.

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Figure 10.

Figure 11.

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was white metal with no authentic detail.The Mystic Seaport plans showed the cor-rect shape and structure. (Figure 5) I madetwo heads from brass sheet and rod. Toggleheads were cut from sheet stock, drilled,and riveted to a hammered brass rod. Ashoulder was cut from sheet stock andplaced at the junction of the head andshaft. The harpoons were rigged accordingto my original whaleboat pictures taken atMystic Seaport. In a similar fashion, alance was made. This required only a ham-mered head filed to a proper “spear” shape,then finishing like the harpoons. (Figure 6)

None of the six oars from the kitmatched the proper specifications. Thesteering oar length required correction anda side brace handle added. The remainingrowing oars all differ in blade and shaftlength. They were left unfinished. or (as I

did) lightly oiled, originally. Figure 7 showsthe author’s original table of scale require-ments for whalecraft details. It includes:hatchet, waif, harpoon, line tub, keg, buck-et, crotch, paddle, and five different oars.All were added to the model, along withbuckets, centerboard lifting handle, twoknives in sheaths, and a compass. A rollerwas added to the prow for the harpoon line.(Figure 8)

Morgan Section

I was not happy with the kit-sup-plied display stand. Instead, I replicated athirty-four-foot section of Morgan’s bul-wark from scratch, with davits and fittingsfrom which to hang the whaleboat.Working only from pictures taken atMystic Seaport, I completed plans for the

Figures 12.

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section. Using these 1:30 scale plans, Imade the section from laminated strips ofmahogany, boxwood and walnut. Inboard, Iadded a belaying pin rail, grinding stone,harpoons and a bucket, all following myMystic pictures. (Figures 9 and 10)

The boxwood deck was plankedusing 1-millimeter black line as “oakum.”(Figure 11) Outboard, I added the lowerdeadeyes and strops. The davits were madefrom laminated boxwood, much as on theship itself, with triple sheaves for properrigging. (Figure 12) Lashing and keel sup-ports were made following the picturestaken at Mystic.

Painting

The whaleboat and the Morgan sectionwere painted to the colors I photographedat Mystic.

Sources

Artesania Latina, Plans, MorganWhaleboat, 1 sheet. Undated, circa 1970,

Malkin, Stuart, Original sketches ofMorgan whaleboat, davits, boat supports,compass, other whalecraft components(several sheets), original written scale com-putations, original photographs, at MysticSeaport, of Morgan whaleboat and detailsof the museum’s reconstructed boats.Circa 1977.

—, Handcrafted Wooden Ship Model: APicture Book, Fifth Edition, 2011.

Mystic Seaport, Marine HistoricalAssociation, Charles W. Morgan 28 FootWhaleboat Plans, Sheets 1-3. Circa 1977.

Nautical Research Guild, Ship Modeler’sShop Notes, 1979. (Chapters 2 and 5 wereespecially useful).

Roberts, Jim, “Whale Craft,” Parts 2-12,Ships in Scale, Nov.-Dec., 1983 to Sep.-Oct., 1985.

Addendum

From Handcrafted Wooden Ship Models -Fifth Edition, 2011 by the author.

Ships, Sailors and the Sea

Depending on who you believe, man hasbeen around for tens of thousands of years.In that time, around 4000 BCE, rafts andother flotation devices appeared inAustralia and around the Nile. That wouldbe over 6000 years of using water and“ships” for exploration and transportation.

Obviously, water transportation has beencentral to the development of mankind,both as an enjoyment and as a necessity.Nor is it strange that ships became animportant part of warfare. Events such asthe Battle of Trafalgar indeed had conse-quences of monumental impact... in thiscase the downfall of Napoleon.

Young men and women, ancient and mod-ern, have been drawn to the sea for thou-sands of years, to farm for seafood, explorethe oceans, hunt for treasures or to servetheir countries.

The crafting of these ships in miniature is apassion. As purveyors of history, objects ofbeauty and wonder, and works of art, suchships are pleasant to view and enjoyable tocraft. Patience is rewarded after hours ofconcentration on the smallest fitting ormonths of effort to produce a unique vesselof which there is but one. If I bring a smileor a wonderment to those who view myships, then I have done my job as a crafts-man and an artist.