Some Real Ship Photos

My family and I went on a cruise from Saturday March 31 to Saturday April 7, and I took some very nice photos.  BEFORE YOU HIT THE BACK ARROW, HEAR ME OUT!  

Please be reassured that the photos below are not of me, or the family, or of any other "typical cruise" stuff.  Instead, they are pictures of sailing ships.  When we arrived back in Galveston, TX on April 7, the city was hosting the Tall Ships Challenge 2018 Race.  This meant that there were 4 tall ships moored in the harbor.  I got up early, and made sure that I got some pictures to post here on the blog (and also for myself, to be sure).  So, without any further ado, let's look at some pictures of real sailing ships for a change.

A bit nicer view than what we normally have coming into Galveston

In the interest of full disclosure, none of the pictures I took as we came into the port came out, so this picture of all the ships together were taken after we passed by.  The ship in the far left of this photo is the Oliver Hazard Perry.  She's actually a modern ship built to be a sail training vessel, and is 200 feet long and 13 1/2 stories tall.  There's 14,000 square feet of sail, a crew of 17 along with 32 overnight student berths and her home port is in Rhode Island.  A better photo of her is below.

Modern, but still pretty.  My wife's comment was, "She looks like one of your models."

Next up is the Picton Castle.  She was originally built as  a motorized fishing trawler in 1928, and served in WWII as a minesweeper.  In 1996 she was taken to Canada and converted into a three-masted barque.  She's 179 feet long, about 10 stories tall and has 12,500 square feet of sail.  She is also a sail training vessel, based out of Nova Scotia but registered in the Cook Islands.

Look close, and you can see traces of her past.

Next up is the Elissa.  Built in 1877, she is an iron-hulled barque.  Unlike the previous two ships, she is a survivor from the Age of Sail.  In 1975, she was sitting in a Greek scrapyard when she was rescued by the Galveston Historical Foundation.  They wanted a sailing ship to memorialize Galveston's days as the major port on the Texas coast.  She was brought to Galveston in 1979, and her restoration was finished by 1982.  Since then she has served as a museum ship that sails regularly.  According to her website, that makes her one of only three ships of her type in the world.  She's 205 feet long, 99 feet 9 inches tall, and carries 12,000 square feet of sail.  I can't find an online photo of her as she looked pre-restoration, so there's more than one photo here.  As she's my favorite, I make no apologies for giving her a bit more space.

This beauty is ported an hour or less from my front door.

Amazing how the nautical equivalent of a cardboard box
 can be such a thing of beauty.

Last up on the list is the Dutch schooner Oosterschelde.  Built in 1918 as a freight carrier, her rigging was cut back after diesel engines were installed in 1930.  She survived the Second World War, and was converted to a modern coastal trading vessel in 1950.  In 1988 she was returned to the Netherlands and from 1988-1992 restored to her sailing appearance.  She is 160 feet long, and carries 9,950 square feet of sail.

No way to take a photo of her without a little of Elissa in the picture.

According to the Galveston Historical Foundation website, there were two other ships there, but they weren't in the harbor at the time.  They were the Lynx: http://tallshiplynx.com/  a replica built in 2001 of an American privateer from the War of 1812, and the When and If.  Built in 1939, the When and If  https://sailwhenandif.com/ was commissioned by George S. Patton so that he could sail around the world with his wife after the war was over.

Anyway, there you have it.  A nice little break from my usual contents, but still well within the theme of the blog, I think.  The ships pictured above also have websites.  They are:

Oliver Hazard Perry:  https://www.ohpri.org/ship/

Picton Castle: http://www.picton-castle.com/

Elissa:  http://www.galvestonhistory.org/attractions/maritime-heritage/1877-tall-ship-elissa-3

Oosterschelde: https://www.oosterschelde.nl/?lang=en

US, Russian and Dutch fleet photos

Here we have the smaller fleets in my collection: the Americans, the Russians, and the Dutch.  Since two of those three navies used white stripes for decoration, we have the above title.  Most people think that the white stripe along the gunports was a uniquely American paint scheme, but this isn't true.  In fact, the Russian Navy adopted the scheme first, during the period 1796-1801.

First up is the United States Navy.  The first pictures below are the Constitution.  Although I purchased this one, it is modified and somewhat repainted.  I added the gunports but as my latest book shows, even in 1812 she used the split gunports.  So, I need to change these at some point in the future.  Might be time to do a little bit of re-rigging as well.

Next up is the sister ship of the Constitution, the United States.  Also known as "The Old Waggon" due to her lackluster sailing qualities, I built this ship from another Constitution model.  I added the roundhouse on the upper deck and the additional galleries needed.  I based the stern on the old Revell model of the ship.

OK, so not all the US ships are painted with white stripes

Kinda proud of the stern, since I did it a good while back.
Now, I would probably add more detail.

 Next up is what Langton refers to as the USS Congress.  One of the original six frigates, Congress never had a very distinguished career.  She can however be used as her sister ship Constellation and I would even use her as Chesapeake, although she might not be completely correct.

Last up for the Americans is the USS Essex.  This mini was one I purchased.

The next act in our White Stripes get-together are the originators of the scheme, the Russian Navy.  Of course, not all of them are painted that way either, as you will see below.  First up is a 32 gun frigate:

This next ship is the oddball of the bunch.  Langton calls it a 46 gun heavy frigate, but the gunport arrangement doesn't match anything in Tredrea and Sozaev book, Russian Warships in the Age of Sail.  So, I'm considering it to be one of the 46 gun Pyotr Apostol class of frigates.  Since most, but not all of these, were out of service by 1800, I decided not to go with the black/white scheme.

The next unfinished ship is a 50 gun heavy frigate.  I haven't gone through the book trying to figure out which class this one is, but decided to give it the black/white treatment since there were large frigates around during the 1806 Russian-Ottoman war (which is my interest).

Next up is a 66 gun ship, which was the standard small SOL of the Russian navy.  These serve throughout the Age of Sail.

Like all other navies, the Russians built large numbers of 74 gun ships, and they see extensive service in both the Baltic and Black Sea theaters, along with the other areas the Russian navy ventured into.  For example, in 1798-1800 they actually cooperated with their long-time Ottoman enemies against the French!

A very no-nonsense looking ship.

The last ship for the Czar is the 100 gun three-deck SOL.  Even in confined waters like the Black Sea the Russians kept several of these.  This particular miniature probably represents a ship of the Ches'ma class, which may or may not be based on the design of HMS Victory.

Last in this post are my Dutch ships.  "Fleet" is a bit much, since I only have two ships.  There is not much information available in English on the painting and decoration of Dutch ships during this time, unlike the earlier 17th Century.  Before I build any more of this navy, I want to find more information.  These are painted based on information from the Langton website.

A 54/56 gun SOL. This one is riding a bit low in the water; might need to
redo this base.

A 64/68 gun SOL.  Dutch ships tended to be smaller than those of other nations.