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Modeling the Revenge by CN Millward Soft Cover
Modeling the Revenge by CN Millward
Soft Cover Back cover plastic covering is starting to separate from the cover
85 page
Copyright 1954
CONTENTS
PREFATORY NOTE3
INTRODUCTION7
PART ONE. THE HULL
Chapter 1 First Stages 15
2 Fittings and Painting19
PART TWO. THE RIGGING
Chapter 1 Mast and Spars35
2 Standing Rigging41
3 Running Rigging of the Fore and Main Masts 51
4 Running Rigging of the Fore and Main- Top-Masts and Topgallant-Masts 59
5 Running Rigging of the Mizen and Bonaventure Mizen Masts68
6 Running Rigging of the Bowsprit73
7 Sails 75
8 Finishing Touches 81
INTRODUCTION
WHILE practically everyone has heard of the "Revenge" and of her famous engagement against great odds, probably few have any great idea either of the ship herself or of the conditions under which she won her fame. In the following pages it has been my endeavour to reconstruct both the ship and the action, as far as possible with the limited knowledge at our disposal.
She is believed to have been laid down at Chatham in 1577, by the order of Sir John Hawkins. She was a very definite improvement in many ways on the older, clumsier type of ship; her length was greater in proportion to her beam, her rigging nearer by several steps to perfection, and the absence of heavy `castles' at bow and stern must have eased the ship tremendously. Her actual dimensions are supposed to have been about 32 feet on her gun deck with a beam of 32 feet, and her burthen Soo tons. She was therefore not a large ship, even for those days, but was rather of the type which the English Navy has always preferred-light, swift, handy and well armed.
Her complement was one hundred and ninety men and she carried forty-six guns at the time of the Armada. Many of these guns were very large, though not very efficient except at practically point blank ranges; but this heavy armament was another typically English feature that was to have a great effect when the time of her trial came. The Spanish policy at the time was to build larger and stronger ships, but they were also clumsier to handle, and they were used more as fighting platforms than as ships; the seamen were always considered of comparatively small importance and the strength of the ships lay almost entirely in their heavy complements of soldiers who were to take their enemies' vessels by boarding.
The guns were usually, therefore, of light calibre, though numerous, and the Armada engagements demonstrated that our lower, handier craft could easily outsail the galleons, while the latters' shot, owing to the lofty sides and the heel of the ships, passed harmlessly over.
In the Armada operations the "Revenge" bore the flag of Sir Francis Drake, and we learn that he considered her the ideal ship of war.
It was in 1591 that the final scene was enacted. Early in the year the ship, while refitting in the Medway with her canvas stowed and only bare poles showing, was caught by a gale of wind and capsized. She was later righted and overhauled, found seaworthy, and refitted throughout.
In August of the same year, she formed one of a squadron under Lord Thomas Howard, sent to the Azores to intercept a Spanish plate fleet bound home from the Indies. Her Commander was Sir Richard Grenville.
The ships lay at anchor off Flores recuperating after their long passage out. In most cases they had half their crew down with scurvy; indeed we are told that in one ship there were not enough men left to handle her mainsail! The sick were landed to recover their health under the influence of fresh food and sunshine, while others of the crew fetched rock ballast and clean sand for the ships, and others refilled the water casks. On board, the many `Sailors' jobs' called for attention, chafed rigging required replacement, lashings renewing, and the ships to be put in order throughout.
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