Post by Clayton on Mar 25, 2014 11:49:08 GMT
Hello,
Jules wanted to know a bit more about my Essex project that I am just starting.
A little background. Essex was authorized by President Lincoln shortly before he was assassinated and was built by Donald McKay as one of the last wooden warships of the U.S. Navy. It was burned for its fasteners in the 1930's in Duluth, Minnesota and the remains of it are still on the Minnesota Point beach. It is the only known fragment of a McKay built ship anywhere. To me this makes it historically significant and my model building could inspire some extra interest in preserving it.
By studying the pictures of the wreck, and sizing the drawing of the existing framing to other line drawings, I found very strong evidence for the wreck being oriented stern first to the beach, not bow first as it was burned, and more or less convinced my archaeologist friends who had previously thought the opposite that this is right. So here are some pictures of my project, along with a draw of the framing:
The oldest known picture of Essex (1876):
Picture of the remains:
A drawing of what is left of the framing (notice how solid it is and how the different floors and futtocks vary in size):
And the start of my model. I will replicate what is left of the framing in the cut out part of the hull:
Clayton
Jules wanted to know a bit more about my Essex project that I am just starting.
A little background. Essex was authorized by President Lincoln shortly before he was assassinated and was built by Donald McKay as one of the last wooden warships of the U.S. Navy. It was burned for its fasteners in the 1930's in Duluth, Minnesota and the remains of it are still on the Minnesota Point beach. It is the only known fragment of a McKay built ship anywhere. To me this makes it historically significant and my model building could inspire some extra interest in preserving it.
By studying the pictures of the wreck, and sizing the drawing of the existing framing to other line drawings, I found very strong evidence for the wreck being oriented stern first to the beach, not bow first as it was burned, and more or less convinced my archaeologist friends who had previously thought the opposite that this is right. So here are some pictures of my project, along with a draw of the framing:
The oldest known picture of Essex (1876):
Picture of the remains:
A drawing of what is left of the framing (notice how solid it is and how the different floors and futtocks vary in size):
And the start of my model. I will replicate what is left of the framing in the cut out part of the hull:
Clayton
