Frigging the Rigging

Since the previous post I have been tying ratlines to the shrouds. The ratlines were the horizontal ropes which were tied to the shrouds, forming rope ladders.

In the full size Constitution, the ratlines were spaced 13-14″ apart. Each ratline was tied to 7 or 8 shrouds with a clove hitch knot to each shroud. In the 1:93 scale model, I placed the ratlines 5mm apart. Theoretically, in the model, the ratlines should have been spaced 3.8mm apart, but I cheated slightly, placing the ratlines at what would have equated to 18″ in the full size ship. If I had followed the Mamoli plans, the ratlines would have been even further apart.

Even with that cheat, it took me 3 full days to place the ratlines on the lowermost section of the foremast, working at my limits of eyesight, patience and dexterity. And using some of my microsurgical instruments, which I had retained after retirement for just such a use.

It was not an easy task.

I could not do this after sundown. I did try, but the results were so horrible that I restricted this job to daylight hours. And I used magnification, a headlight, and superglue to secure each knot.

It is more than 10 years since I performed my final surgical operation. And it was quite a shock to realise that I had forgotten how to tie surgical knots. It did not take long to reaquire the skill, performing hand ties, instrument ties, left handed, right handed, two handed and single handed ties. Keeping tensions applied during the tying. Routine stuff for an active surgeon. And it felt good to be doing them again, even though the patient was a non complaining model ship.

When I was a surgeon I was proud of my surgical skills, particularly my suturing. I taught many medical students and junior doctors how to suture and how to tie knots. It was not a part of the medical curriculum to learn suturing. Med students are just expected to make the effort to learn how to suture and tie knots from books. With the result that many doctors never learned these skills properly. And even some experienced surgeons never understood the difference between a “granny knot” and a properly performed surgical knot. They got by using multiple throws, rather than properly performed knots with just 3 throws.

Anyway, I reminisce and digress.

Each row of the ratlines involved 7 or 8 knots, and took about 10 minutes. There were 25 ratlines per side, say about 200 knots per side for just the lowermost section of the foremast, per side. Plus the futtock shrouds and their ratlines… another 25 knots per side. Say around 450 knots altogether, for the lowermost section of the foremast. And each knot has to be formed without distorting the shroud, remaining horizontal with the waterline, (not with the keel. Most sailing ships of the period were “stern draggers” where the keel was deeper at the stern than the bow).

And I secured each knot with a drop of CA glue. Just to be sure to be sure.

I was not totally happy with the end result. It was just OK. But it will have to do.

The first 13 rows of ratlines for one side of the foremast, lowermost section. The tracing paper with ruled lines 5mm apart helps to keep the ratlines parallel, and level, reasonably.
The small shrouds between the fighting top and the foremast shrouds are called futtock shrouds. They hold the deadeyes above the fighting top. And they have their own ratlines. The loop above the fighting top is about to snare another deadeye,
Another ruled piece of tracing paper indicates the position of the futtock shroud ratlines. Far side completed. About to commence the near side. The shrouds are 0.8mm diameter, the futtock shrouds are 0.4mm diameter, and the ratlines are 0.2mm diameter. I just assumed that you would want to know. Later ratlines were positioned using graph paper glued to cardboard, instead of my fairly inaccurate ruled lines.

p.s. about 3 weeks later. I did not post this for some reason. But here it is, a bit late.

Actually, the truth is that the photos reveal a major mistake in the rigging which I probably should not reveal. Experienced ship modelers will see it no doubt. But the recipient of this model will almost certainly not, and is not a reader of johnsmachines.com.

Anyway, the rigging has made further progress since then….

The shrouds and ratlines are finished on the 3 masts. About 2000 knots. All ropes made at home. No more major mistakes but quite a few small ones. Notice the snaking in the fore stays? After I attached the snaking on the foremast forestay I discovered that it is too heavy. The snaking on the mainmast forestay is correct. That is fixable without too much bother, just a couple of hours extra.

Mizzen mast ratlines. Progress shot. I learned that it is best to let the CA glue set totally before trimming the ends.
The forestays are the biggest cables in the rigging. This one is for the foremast. It is 1.1mm diameter. The “mouse” was originally a complicated rope structure, but I chose to 3D print it and glue it to the forestay, and paint it black. No one will ever know. Except you and me.
The part of the forestays which wrap around the mast were served, so I used my homemade seizing-serving machine to serve about 100mm of each forestay. The photo shows the bare cable (top) and the served cable (bottom). The cable is 1.1mm diameter. The original was almost 100mm diameter! You can tell that it is a cable by the left hand twist.
Then the loop which is restrained by the mouse, is SEIZED. It is a VERY strong. I could not budge it using all of my strength. Seizing was also made on my machine.

Just to remind you what my seizing-serving machine looks like…..

CNC controlled machine, designed and made by yours truly.

And the frigging of the rigging continues….