Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Repairs
PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:26 pm 
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I grew up on a houseboat in Amsterdam. When a careless yacht owner collided with us, it made a rupture in the hull of our boat and it started to leak. My father put a large piece of fat bacon on it, to stop the water from coming in.

In one of the Hornblower episodes, I noticed Hornblower is diving in the water and putting some piece of sail on to damaged part of the hull in his ship. Were there more ways to stop water coming in?

I remember seeing a film about a German warship with damage, running into an Argentine harbour. It was only allowed so many days into the harbour, and had to leave when that time was up. The commander blew his own ship up. I cannot remember the name of the film, but Anthony Quale played an English commander in it.

Did every harbour had to allow damaged ships in for repairs. Even if it is at war with the country the ship originates from. I remember Nelson writing letters about his ships going into harbour for repairs.

Sylvia


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:56 pm 
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"...In one of the Hornblower episodes, I noticed Hornblower is diving in the water and putting some piece of sail on to damaged part of the hull in his ship. Were there more ways to stop water coming in?"

Falconer, in his Marine Dictionary says " to stop a leak...fill it with a plug wrapt in oakum and well tarred; or putting in a tarpawling cloth to keep the water out, or nailing a piece of sheet lead upon the place"

The method you mention, positioning an old sail over the leak was a common method and quickly achieved. If time permitted they could 'thrum' some canvas - teasing out the threads and then covering with tar; oakum (strands from old rope) could be scattered onto it. This would last longer.

To clear water that had entered, pumps were used. These required hard physical work by the men. Typically there would be two pumps on a small vessel, up to four on a larger vessel. They consisted of a cylinder (wood originally, later metal) which went to the bilges (the floor of the ship, either side of the keel).


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:19 pm 
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Sylvia,

Further to what Philonauticus has said, the thrummed sail would have worked through pressure, ie that of the water trying to enter the ship, and thus pressing the sail more firmly into the aperture. One way to lessen this pressure if necessary and if possible, would have been to sail the ship on whichever tack brought the hole nearer to the surface. And of course, probably the smaller the whole the better!

A little out of our period, but the film you mention is the Battle of the River Plate, in which the damaged commerce raider 'Graf Spee' enters Montivideo, where the British manage to keep her under various ruses. Langsdorf took the only way out that he could see, by scuttling the ship and shooting himself. Peter Finch played Captain Langsdorf ( who incidentally also played a rather corpulant Nelson in 'Bequest to the Nation'. I would love to see this again, but no sign of it on DVD yet!). The River Plate film I thought was very well done and it is supposed to be fairly accurate.

Kester


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:55 pm 
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Just a small, tangential point. You realise how vital were the skills of ships' carpenters, not least their ability to effect emergency repairs, when you see that the carpenter had a cabin to himself on 'Victory'.

Nelson himself valued the work of carpenters. After the near-loss of Vanguard, he praised in a letter to the Admiralty, not only the captains who got Vanguard ready for sea again in three days, but also mentioned by name, Mr Morrison, carpenter of the 'Alexander' which had towed the damaged 'Vanguard', 'an old and faithful servant of the Crown, and who has been near thirty years a warranted carpenter.'

Were all carpenters warranted, or just the one in charge?

And yes, Devenish, when ARE we going to see 'Bequest'? A kind friend lent me the typescript of the play. Perhaps we could lobby the BBC in this anniversary year?


Last edited by tycho on Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:00 am 
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Greetings all!
Yes, there's the great scene in 'Hornblower.' also Jack Aubrey does the same in 'Desolation Island' when the HMS Leopard hits an iceberg. I believe in Aubrey's case the sheet was keel-hauled, and slowly worked into place.


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