Post by fredhocker on Sept 12, 2014 11:42:35 GMT
I can add some comparative data about Vasa that may or may not be useful.
The general configuration of the cabins in the stern is more or less the same. The great cabin and steerage on the upper gundeck are surmounted by a group of three cabins underneath the quarterdeck, with a small coach at the top. There are some detail differences, partly becuase of alterations made in the length of the sterncastle during construction - the forward bulkheads for all of the cabins were moved forward about 1.5 meters, either to enlarge the cabins or to relocate the mizzen. In Vasa, the mizzen is stepped on the deck in the great cabin, just abaft the whipstaff rather than before and the steerage is double height, so that the whipstaff does not pass through a hole in the upper deck. The great cabin has a separate stern gallery, defined by a bulkhead with a glass window and an offset door.
Some of the detail features that may be relevant relate to doors, stairs, benches and furniture. The doors into the great cabin are rectangular, very much like the door shown in Jules' post with the bed photo, but the doors into the quarter galleries have rounded tops. The door into the captain's cabin has a false rounded top: the door frame is round, but the door itself is rectangular. This door also had a curtain tacked to the frame on the inside.
There is a staircase hidden in the port locker in the stern gallery, so there was direct communication between the great cabin and the cabin above. Unlike all of the ladders in the ship, this is a staircase built in the same way as the stairs one would find in a house. It came into the upper cabins at the bulkhead between what Jules shows as cabin 2 and cabin 3 on his HZ drawing. There is a pair of ladders from what Jules shows as cabin 1 up to the deck above the steerage, which is about 60 cm lower than the quarterdeck proper. Not sure if this qualifies as direct access to the quarterdeck, but it is partly a result of the reconfiguration of the cabins. Cabin 1, in this case, is so short fore to aft and so full of mizzenmast that it is unlikely to have been very useful. The associated construction suggests that it was not originally present as a separate cabin.
The great cabin has a fixed bench which runs all the way around the interior, interrupted only by the doors and the closet concealing the mizzenmast. These contained fold-down double beds, two on each side, as well as lockers. Similar benches and foldout beds (at least two beds) were built into the sides of cabin 2 on the level above. One of the transverse timbers framing the upper transom in the stern gallery is a good height and width to act as a settee or bench, although it has four mounting holes for swivel guns in it as well. In the upper cabin (cabin 3 on the drawing below) there was an upholstered settee and backrest across the inside of the transom, just below the windows. It is a very neat and elegant construction, with cutaway corners on the ends to ease passage through the doors into the upper quarter galleries.
There is no sign of fixed furniture or berths in most of the cabins, other than the fold-down beds, but there were two pilot berths with sliding doors in the steerage, one on each side. There were a number of pieces of movable furniture. We are just beginning the study of this material, but I can already identify a binnacle in the steerage (I would like to see if there is one in the Gent model!), a table and several chairs (at least two) in the great cabin, and a number of movable cupboards, including a big, very fancy chest-on-stand with ebonized decoration, such as one might see in a palace.
The standing knee in the gunroom, at the head of the sternpost, is probably not there because of the basic height or scantling of the post, but because the height of the transom was extended during construction by the addition of a short extension to the head of the post and an upper wing transom, which are reinforced by the knee.
Note that the flagstaff is stepped in a transverse timber, a small beam, over the after end of the poop, although the stanchion that supports it reaches down into the coach.
The general configuration of the cabins in the stern is more or less the same. The great cabin and steerage on the upper gundeck are surmounted by a group of three cabins underneath the quarterdeck, with a small coach at the top. There are some detail differences, partly becuase of alterations made in the length of the sterncastle during construction - the forward bulkheads for all of the cabins were moved forward about 1.5 meters, either to enlarge the cabins or to relocate the mizzen. In Vasa, the mizzen is stepped on the deck in the great cabin, just abaft the whipstaff rather than before and the steerage is double height, so that the whipstaff does not pass through a hole in the upper deck. The great cabin has a separate stern gallery, defined by a bulkhead with a glass window and an offset door.
Some of the detail features that may be relevant relate to doors, stairs, benches and furniture. The doors into the great cabin are rectangular, very much like the door shown in Jules' post with the bed photo, but the doors into the quarter galleries have rounded tops. The door into the captain's cabin has a false rounded top: the door frame is round, but the door itself is rectangular. This door also had a curtain tacked to the frame on the inside.
There is a staircase hidden in the port locker in the stern gallery, so there was direct communication between the great cabin and the cabin above. Unlike all of the ladders in the ship, this is a staircase built in the same way as the stairs one would find in a house. It came into the upper cabins at the bulkhead between what Jules shows as cabin 2 and cabin 3 on his HZ drawing. There is a pair of ladders from what Jules shows as cabin 1 up to the deck above the steerage, which is about 60 cm lower than the quarterdeck proper. Not sure if this qualifies as direct access to the quarterdeck, but it is partly a result of the reconfiguration of the cabins. Cabin 1, in this case, is so short fore to aft and so full of mizzenmast that it is unlikely to have been very useful. The associated construction suggests that it was not originally present as a separate cabin.
The great cabin has a fixed bench which runs all the way around the interior, interrupted only by the doors and the closet concealing the mizzenmast. These contained fold-down double beds, two on each side, as well as lockers. Similar benches and foldout beds (at least two beds) were built into the sides of cabin 2 on the level above. One of the transverse timbers framing the upper transom in the stern gallery is a good height and width to act as a settee or bench, although it has four mounting holes for swivel guns in it as well. In the upper cabin (cabin 3 on the drawing below) there was an upholstered settee and backrest across the inside of the transom, just below the windows. It is a very neat and elegant construction, with cutaway corners on the ends to ease passage through the doors into the upper quarter galleries.
There is no sign of fixed furniture or berths in most of the cabins, other than the fold-down beds, but there were two pilot berths with sliding doors in the steerage, one on each side. There were a number of pieces of movable furniture. We are just beginning the study of this material, but I can already identify a binnacle in the steerage (I would like to see if there is one in the Gent model!), a table and several chairs (at least two) in the great cabin, and a number of movable cupboards, including a big, very fancy chest-on-stand with ebonized decoration, such as one might see in a palace.
The standing knee in the gunroom, at the head of the sternpost, is probably not there because of the basic height or scantling of the post, but because the height of the transom was extended during construction by the addition of a short extension to the head of the post and an upper wing transom, which are reinforced by the knee.
Note that the flagstaff is stepped in a transverse timber, a small beam, over the after end of the poop, although the stanchion that supports it reaches down into the coach.