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June 2014 Vol 4, Issue 6

SShhiippSShhaappeeNews,Tips and Happenings

Dear Shipmate:

Finally it is June, and we open our doors on Saturdays from 9to 5 starting next week. After this long winter, the warmerweather is appreciated.

NEW RIGGING THREAD AVAILABLE

We have found thinner all cotton thread only .005 inches indiameter. This scales out to 1/2 inch line at 1:96 scale, whichis exactly ratline size for our new Kearsarge and Alabamakits. We are making this line available now in 25 yard spools:

Black # R1667 $2.10White # R1668 $2.10Natural #R1669 $2.10

In This IssueNautical Terms

Model of the month

Something Fun

Tip of the Month

final message

Quick Links Visit BlueJacket's website

Download our Catalog

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"Like" us onFacebook toget the latestinformationon kits,

products, and news! Wekeep you informed onthe weekly happeningsat Bluejacket andencourage our fans toshare photos, stories,and tips of theirexperiences. Please joinus!

All 3 items are in stock. In addition to ratlines, this thread isperfect for tying off blocks, whipping line ends, lashing andserving.

NEW CLASS - PLANKING BULKHEAD HULLS

The dates are not set yet, but will be either late September orearly October, which is a beautiful time of year in Maine. Itwill be a Monday to Friday event, as was the rigging classthis past spring.

Watch for a separate announcement in a week or two.

Nautical terms and origins

Agonic Line - A line of points on a chart at which there is no magnetic compass variation. The word comes from the Greek agonos, meaning no angle.

Buy Ballot's Law - A rule-of-thumb for determining variants of atmospheric pressure of astorm condition and of the location or direction of a storm center. It is named for a Dutchscientist.

Jury - A temporary or makeshift arrangement of an of a vessel's gear due to damage,such as a jury rudder. There are several possibilities for a derivation: one an Old Frenchword, jornal, or jurnal, for the day, implying temporary; another, also Old French, ajuirer, tohelp, and this one goes back to Latin, adiutare, aid.

Skeg - Any of a variety of structures on a hull's bottom at or near the stern. Earlier skegg,the word appears to come intact from Old Norse.

Information is from the book "Origins of Sea Terms" by John G. Rogerscopyright 1985 Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc. and available from BlueJacket.

Model of the Month - Yacht America - kit # K1050

The Yacht America was launched in 1851 from New York, and crossed the Atlantic Oceanto compete against the entire Royal Yacht squadron of England in what was called the"One Hundred Guinea Cup". The race occurred on August 22 of that year (my birthdate!)

The race started at 10.00 AM with 7 schooners and 8 cutters. The course was 53 mileslong around the Isle of Wright, and the America had a late start due to a fouled anchor.However, within a half hour, she was in 5th place and gaining. Later in the race, her jibboom broke, but was replaced in 15 minutes. The race ended at 6.00 PM with America 18minutes ahead of her closest competitor. Queen Victoria supposedly was watching therace and asked "Who was second?" and was answered by the now famous reply "There isno second, your Majesty." The race was re-named the "America's Cup" in honor of hervictory.

Our model is a true plank-on-frame construction so the modeler can show internal details,and uses basswood, mahogany, spruce, and Britannia metal fittings.

Modeler Bill H. of Connecticut sent us some photos and description of his construction ofthe Yacht America. In his own words;

"I started building wood ship models almost 40 years ago and have built about a dozenmodels over that time, most of which I have sold or gifted. I am mostly a kit-basher buthave attempted a couple of scratch builds. Retirement has finally given me the time towork on improving my craft. America is pretty much a straight out of the box build. I tree-nailed the decking,supplemented the kit's wood with a little extra mahogany from my scrap box, and added afew minor details. I like to leave my work unpainted, and the fine quality of the wood inthis kit made this possible. I added sails because, to me, the model looked naked withoutthem. I am very pleased with this kit, and hope to tackle more of your inventory in the future. Regards,Bill

Loading a Coastal SchoonerI received this interesting photo and information from my sister's brother-in-law, Joe V. inVirginia..... Nic I was scanning some old photos the other day to save them before they fade even moreand came across this one that might be of interest to you. My grandfather took it probablyon Long Island Sound near Wading River NY.

How do you load a costal schooner... right off the coast of course... Joe

Even more interesting is Joe was able to enhance the photo and get the name of theschooner "Olive Leaf" and found a newspaper story of the demise of the schooner. Look atthe 4th paragraph up from the end of the article:

So I looked up the weather near that date, and found this on www.history.com: "Nov 26 1898 A powerful early winter storm batters the New England coast on this day in 1898, killing atleast 450 people in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.It was Thanksgiving Day when strong winds, in excess of 40 miles per hour, beganblowing from the Atlantic Ocean across the New England coast. This was followed, inshort order, by gales from the other direction. Equally strong winds roared across upstateNew York from the west.Blizzard conditions disrupted the entire area. Transportation became impossible; sometrains were halted by 20-foot snow drifts. Communication was interrupted as the wind andsnow brought down telephone and telegraph lines. In some towns and villages, residentswere forced to dig tunnels through the snow from their front doors to the streets. In NewYork City, 2,000 workers attempted to clear the key streets and avenues.Boston was perhaps worst hit by the storm. Approximately 100 ships were blown ashorefrom the city's harbor and another 40 were sunk. About 100 people died when aPortland-based steamer sank near Cape Cod. Bodies and debris filled the harbors andnearby beaches.The storm is thought to have killed at least 450 people, though due to the wide extent ofthe storm and the poor record-keeping of the time, it is impossible to determine exactlyhow many people died." As a footnote to this tragic event: on that same evening in the icy waters of the Atlantic offthe Massachusetts coast, the 280-foot-long steamship Portland - also known as "TheTitanic of New England" - was also lost with all passengers and crew. Portland was one ofthe most luxurious coastal steamships of its day, and, today we memorialize her withan exquisitely detailed BlueJacket kit.

Something funTrivia fact: The first 5 days after the weekend are the hardest.

Tip of the Month - rigging deadeyes

I need to thank Dan Pariser of the Shipcraft Guild of New York for being a contributingeditor by providing this excellent article.

Deadeyes, which tension the shrouds that support the masts, are an important structuraland visual element in the rigging of a model ship. When they are neat and shipshape theygive proof that the modeler has top notch skills and knowledge. Good quality line has to beused for the shrouds and accurately sized and shaped deadeyes have to be made orbought, but the techniques of properly setting them up are just as important. In the first drawing you can see how the deadeyes are set in two parallel lines with theirfaces all turned out. To get this effect there are two techniques to learn. First, there is thelacing of the lanyard through the paired holes as shown in the second drawing. This ispretty straightforward. The trick is to get the two lines of deadeyes to set up parallel.

Here is a simple tool that can help. The Deadeye Claw is made from stiff wire, such as apaper clip. Two pieces are twisted together in such a way as to leave two 'claws' on eachend. Fit the lower claws into the holes of a lower deadeye, then fit the upper deadeye tothe remaining claws. Now wrap the shroud around the upper deadeye and back up. Attachit to itself with several seizings and you can remove the Claw. Lace the lanyard and you

are done. Using the Claw on all the deadeye pairs will give you a consistent distancebetween them and the neat and shipshape look that everyone will appreciate.

Thanks for your support

My final message in this newsletter will always be the same because it is whatBlueJacket has done for 109 years, and we're not about to stop. We appreciate our customers, we exist for our customers, and we listen to ourcustomers. What we do is fun, just as I will try to make this newsletter. If you haveany suggestions or comments, still, as always, please just give us a shout! There's nothing I'd rather do than work on, or talk about model boats. Have fun! Sincerely,

Nic DamuckBlueJacket Shipcrafters, Inc.

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