From Airfix To Scratch-Building

Some nice historic facts about UK passenger ships along the way as the authors introduces us to his 40 years of scratch builting and plastic kit model making.

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< -Previously

Model Ships from Paper

Model Ships from Paper

Here is a maker with a passion for building miniature ships. Although his fleet is already extensive, this maker continues to build his ships.

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• Another miniature ship build
• Model making with paper, tips and tricks
• Building paper ship models
• Experiments-in-cardpaper-modeling

The Enemy Below

I have watched the The Enemy Below (1957) staring Robert Mitchum twice and will probably view it again. Great acting and plotline.

Chinese Junk

Chinese Junk: The Man with the Golden Gun, James Bond 007

Lead-pouring disaster (Rebuilding Tally Ho EP101)

I have been following this vlog for sometime and it has been quite an adventure where I have learned alot. Along the way I have witnessed the good, the bad and ugly.

Ponce de Leon

A sailor is brought up with a catch of fish and he posseses the journal of Ponce de León. This mysterious phenomena and the possession of the journal made the king of Spain order three ships to investigate the report of Ponce de Leon having found the fountain or youth.

In serach for the sivler chalices, Jack Sparrow finds Ponce de Leon's ship teetering upon rocky fissure.

Santa María de la Consolación

THe Fountain of Youth where Blackbeard hopes to prolong his life.

All screenshots are from Pirates of Caribbean, on Stranger Tides

Smallest Diorama

Check is out. Guy creates a diorama in a thimble.

The Swoon of Sleep

I thought of eating the lotus of surcease and nepenthe in some enchanted nook of this bowering summer, where from my hut-door I could see through the pearl-hues of opium the sea-lagoon slaver lazily upon the old coral atoll, and the coconut-tree would droop like slumber, and the bread-fruit tree would moan in sweet and weary dream, and I should watch the Speranza lie anchored in the pale atoll-lake, year after year, and wonder what she was, and whence, and why she dozed so deep for ever, and after an age of melancholy peace and burdened bliss, I should note that sun and moon had ceased revolving, and hung inert, opening anon a heavy lid to doze and drowse again, and God would sigh 'Enough,' and nod, and Being would swoon to sleep."

The Purple Cloud, M. P. Shiel

Wandering Ships with Tombs of the Dead

This image is in the public domain

"Extremely slow was my advance, for at first I would not leave any ship, however remotely small, without approaching sufficiently to investigate her, at least with the spy-glass: and a strange multitudinous mixture of species they were, trawlers in hosts, war-ships of every nation, used, it seemed, as passenger-boats, smacks, feluccas, liners, steam-barges, great four-masters with sails, Channel boats, luggers, a Venetian burchiello, colliers, yachts, remorqueurs, training ships, dredgers, two dahabeeahs with curving gaffs, Marseilles fishers, a Maltese speronare, American off-shore sail, Mississippi steam-boats, Sorrento lug-schooners, Rhine punts, yawls, old frigates and three-deckers, called to novel use, Stromboli caiques, Yarmouth tubs, xebecs, Rotterdam flat-bottoms, floats, mere gunwaled rafts—anything from anywhere that could bear a human freight on water had come, and was here: and all, I knew, had been making westward, or northward, or both; and all, I knew, were crowded; and all were tombs, listlessly wandering, my God, on the wandering sea with their dead."

The Purple Cloud, M. P. Shiel

Magic Preformed by J. Strange and Mr. Norrel

“Among the feats of magic that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel performed in 1810 are: causing an area of the Bay of Biscay to silt up and having a vast wood of monstrous trees spring up and destroy twenty French war ships; causing unusual tides and winds to baffle French ships and destroy French crops and livestock; the fashioning of rain into fleets of ships, walled cities, gigantic figures, flights of angels, etc., etc., in order to frighten, confuse, or charm French soldiers and sailors.”

De Generibus Artuim Magicarum Anglrum, Francis Sutton-Grove

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, Susana Clarke

The Ships of Black Beard the Pirate

A little over of a week ago I made a post on my review of Tim Power’s On Stranger Tides. I mentioned that On Stranger Tides was the inspiration for Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Disney’s On Stranger Tides makes use of the Powers use of magic, and although there are a few other similarities the Disney film diverges its own course.

The pirate, Black Beard figures prominently in both stories. In Power’s On Stranger Tides Black Beard is in command of Adventurer, toward the end of the story and his life. Having taken over the body of another human being he in effect is reincarnated.

Black Beards Queen Anne's Revenge

In Disney’s On Stranger Tides Black Beard is in command of the Queen Anne’s Revenge. The ship in which Jack Sparrow finds himself after being shanghaied.

Screenshots from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Mandaroon- Journey into the Unknown

“We knew that soon we should come to Mandaroon¹. We made a meal, and Mandaroon appeared. Then the captain commanded, and the sailors loosed again the greater sails, and the ship turned and left the stream of Yann and came into a harbour beneath the ruddy walls of Mandaroon. Then while the sailors went and gathered fruits I came alone to the gate of Mandaroon. A few huts were outside it, in which lived the guard. A sentinel with a long white beard was standing in the gate, armed with a rusty pike. He wore large spectacles, which were covered with dust. Through the gate I saw the city. A deathly stillness was over all of it. The ways seemed untrodden, and moss was thick on doorsteps; in the market-place huddled figures lay asleep. A scent of incense and burned poppies, and there was a hum of the echoes of distant bells.

I said to the sentinel in the tongue of the region of Yann, "Why are they all asleep in this still city?" He answered: "None may ask questions in this gate for fear they wake the people of the city. For when the people of this city wake the gods will die. And when the gods die men may dream no more." And I began to ask him what gods that city worshipped, but he lifted his pike because none might ask questions there. So I left him and went back to the Bird of the River².”

Tales of Three Hemispheres, Lord Dunsany

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¹Mandaroon was beautiful city with her white pinnacles peering over her ruddy walls and the green of her copper roofs.

²A trading bark that plied the Yann River.

Aubrey–Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian

I have started to read the third volume in Patrick O'Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin series; HMS Surprise. The Aubrey–Maturin series includes 20 historical novels. The series are set during the Napoleonic Wars and are centering around the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and the ship's surgeon, Stephen Maturin. Maturin is a trained physician, a natural philosopher, and an intelligence agent.

Having read the previous two titles in this series and having seen the Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, I knew I that I would be entertained.

Novels in order of first publication:

Master and Commander (1969)
Post Captain (1972)
HMS Surprise (1973)
The Mauritius Command (1977)
Desolation Island (1978)
The Fortune of War (1979)
The Surgeon's Mate (1980)
The Ionian Mission (1981)
Treason's Harbour (1983)
The Far Side of the World (1984)
The Reverse of the Medal (1986)
The Letter of Marque (1988)
The Thirteen Gun Salute (1989)
The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991)
Clarissa Oakes (1992)
The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
The Commodore (1995)
The Yellow Admiral (1996)
The Hundred Days (1998)
Blue at the Mizzen (1999)
The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004)

Tressa Norne Sings Another Song

"Little Isle of Cispangou, Isle of iris, isle of cherry, Tell your tiny maidens merry Clouds are looming over you! La-e-la! La-e-la! All your ocean's but a ferry; Ships are bringing death to you! La-e-lou! La-e-lou!

"Little Isle of Cispangou, Half a thousand ships are sailing; Captain Death commands each crew; Lo! the ruddy moon is paling! La-e-la! La-e-la! Clouds the dying moon are veiling, Every cloud a shroud for you! La-e-lou! La-e-lou!"

Chapter VII The Bridal, Slayer of Souls, Robert W. Chambers

The Sun Hung Low Above Staten Island

"The sun hung low above the Staten Island woods, and the bay was dyed with golden hues reflected from the sun-warmed sails of the shipping in the harbour.

Brigs, schooners, yachts, clumsy ferry-boats, their decks swarming with people, railroad transports carrying lines of brown, blue and white freight cars, stately sound steamers, déclassé tramp steamers, coasters, dredgers, scows, and everywhere pervading the entire bay impudent little tugs puffing and whistling officiously;—these were the craft which churned the sunlight waters as far as the eye could reach. In calm contrast to the hurry of sailing vessel and steamer a silent fleet of white warships lay motionless in midstream."

The Repairer of Reputations, Robert W. Chambers

A Sea Chantey Sung by the Winching Crew

As the crew of the Island Princess winched the ships anchor of the up on the bottom of the harbor they sang this sea chantey:

“Pull on and all!
Hoy! Hoy! Cheery Men.
On the catfall!
Hoy! Hoy! Cheery Men.
Answer the call!
Hoy! Hoy! Cheery Men.
Hoy!!!Haulee!
Hoy! Hoy!!!
Oh, cherry men!”

The Mutineers, Charles Hawes

Arrival In China

"First, we went ten days’ journey to Nankin, a city well worth seeing; they say it has a million of people in it: it is regularly built, and the streets are all straight, and cross one another in direct lines. But when I come to compare the miserable people of these countries with ours, their fabrics, their manner of living, their government, their religion, their wealth, and their glory, as some call it, I must confess that I scarcely think it worth my while to mention them here. We wonder at the grandeur, the riches, the pomp, the ceremonies, the government, the manufactures, the commerce, and conduct of these people; not that there is really any matter for wonder, but because, having a true notion of the barbarity of those countries, the rudeness and the ignorance that prevail there, we do not expect to find any such thing so far off. Otherwise, what are their buildings to the palaces and royal buildings of Europe? What their trade to the universal commerce of England, Holland, France, and Spain? What are their cities to ours, for wealth, strength, gaiety of apparel, rich furniture, and infinite variety? What are their ports, supplied with a few junks and barks, to our navigation, our merchant fleets, our large and powerful navies? Our city of London has more trade than half their mighty empire: one English, Dutch, or French man-of-war of eighty guns would be able to fight almost all the shipping belonging to China: but the greatness of their wealth, their trade, the power of their government, and the strength of their armies, may be a little surprising to us, because, as I have said, considering them as a barbarous nation of pagans, little better than savages, we did not expect such things among them. But all the forces of their empire, though they were to bring two millions of men into the field together, would be able to do nothing but ruin the country and starve themselves; a million of their foot could not stand before one embattled body of our infantry, posted so as not to be surrounded, though they were not to be one to twenty in number; nay, I do not boast if I say that thirty thousand German or English foot, and ten thousand horse, well managed, could defeat all the forces of China. Nor is there a fortified town in China that could hold out one month against the batteries and attacks of an European army. They have firearms, it is true, but they are awkward and uncertain in their going off; and their powder has but little strength. Their armies are badly disciplined, and want skill to attack, or temper to retreat; and therefore, I must confess, it seemed strange to me, when I came home, and heard our people say such fine things of the power, glory, magnificence, and trade of the Chinese; because, as far as I saw, they appeared to be a contemptible herd or crowd of ignorant, sordid slaves, subjected to a government qualified only to rule such a people; and were not its distance inconceivably, great from Muscovy, and that empire in a manner as rude, impotent, and ill governed as they, the Czar of Muscovy might with ease drive them all out of their country, and conquer them in one campaign; and had the Czar (who is now a growing prince) fallen this way, instead of attacking the warlike Swedes, and equally improved himself in the art of war, as they say he has done; and if none of the powers of Europe had envied or interrupted him, he might by this time have been Emperor of China, instead of being beaten by the King of Sweden at Narva, when the latter was not one to six in number.

As their strength and their grandeur, so their navigation, commerce, and husbandry are very imperfect, compared to the same things in Europe; also, in their knowledge, their learning, and in their skill in the sciences, they are either very awkward or defective, though they have globes or spheres, and a smattering of the mathematics, and think they know more than all the world besides. But they know little of the motions of the heavenly bodies; and so grossly and absurdly ignorant are their common people, that when the sun is eclipsed, they think a great dragon has assaulted it, and is going to run away with it; and they fall a clattering with all the drums and kettles in the country, to fright the monster away, just as we do to hive a swarm of bees!"

Chapter XIII, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe

Scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

Bursting out from the sea, the Flying Dutchman would catch those opposed to the realm by surprise.

The Dutchman’s guns would be wheeled out and ready to fire with minutes after the ship broke the surface.

Although I didn’t catch a snapshot of the scene, the Flying Dutchman included a three barrel cannon that rotated after each shot.

The Final Sighting of the Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman rising from the depths. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World End.

'“There—there!” shouted the sailors, pointing to the beam of the vessel. Every eye looked over the gunnel to witness what had occasioned such exclamations. Philip, Schriften, and the captain, were side by side. On the beam of the ship, not more than two cables’ length distant, they beheld slowly rising out of the water the tapering masthead and spars of another vessel. She rose, and rose, gradually; her topmasts and topsail yards, with the sails set, next made their appearance; higher and higher she rose up from the element. Her lower masts and rigging, and, lastly, her hull showed itself above the surface. Still she rose up, till her ports, with her guns, and at last the whole of her floatage was above water and there she remained close to them, with her main yard squared, and hove-to.

“Holy Virgin!” exclaimed the captain, breathless; “I have known ships to go down, but never to come up before. Now will I give one thousand candles, of ten ounces each, to the shrine of the Virgin, to save us in this trouble. One thousand wax candles! Hear me, blessed lady, ten ounces each! Gentlemen,” cried the captain to the passengers, who stood aghast; “why don’t you promise?—promise, I say; promise, at all events.”

“The Phantom Ship—the Flying Dutchman,” shrieked Schriften; “I told you so, Philip Vanderdecken; there is your father—he, he!” '

The Phantom Ship, by Frederick Marrya

A Ghost Ship Passes Through the Utrecht

The crew of the Utrecht has a harrowing experience with the Flying Dutchman.

'“Ship on the weather beam close aboard of us,” cried one of the men.

Krantz and Philip sprang upon the gunwale, and beheld the large ship bearing right down upon them, not three cables’ length distant.

“Helm up! she does not see us, and she will be aboard of us!” cried Philip. “Helm up, I say, hard up, quick!”

The helm was put up, as the men, perceiving their imminent danger, climbed upon the guns to look if the vessel altered her course; but no—down she came, and the head-sails of the Utrecht having been carried away, to their horror they perceived that she would not answer her helm, and pay off as they required.

“Ship ahoy!” roared Philip through his trumpet—but the gale drove the sound back.

“Ship ahoy!” cried Krantz on the gunwale, waving his hat. It was useless—down she came, with the waters foaming under her bows, and was now within pistol-shot of the Utrecht.

“Ship ahoy!” roared all the sailors, with a shout that must have been heard: it was not attended to: down came the vessel upon them, and now her cutwater was within ten yards of the Utrecht. The men of the Utrecht, who expected that their vessel would be severed in half by the concussion, climbed upon the weather gunwale, all ready to catch at the ropes of the other vessel, and climb on board of her. Amine, who had been surprised at the noise on deck, had come out, and had taken Philip by the arm.

“Trust to me—the shock—,” said Philip. He said no more; the cutwater of the stranger touched their sides; one general cry was raised by the sailors of the Utrecht,—they sprang to catch at the rigging of the other vessel’s bowsprit, which was now pointed between their masts—they caught at nothing—nothing—there was no shock—no concussion of the two vessels—the stranger appeared to cleave through them—her hull passed along in silence—no cracking of timbers—no falling of masts—the foreyard passed through their mainsail, yet the canvas was unrent—the whole vessel appeared to cut through the Utrecht, yet left no trace of injury—not fast, but slowly, as if she were really sawing through her by the heaving and tossing of the sea with her sharp prow. The stranger’s forechains had passed their gunwale before Philip could recover himself. “Amine,” cried he at last, “the Phantom Ship!—my father!” '

The Phantom Ship, by Frederick Marryat