Piscataqua river gundalow
Piscataqua river gundalow
Some time ago I was preparing an article for modelers who used to sail with RC sailboat models .This article was to make known the types of sailboats practically unknown in our country.
On this occasion, I have practically discovered that, for example, Thames sailing barges still exist - even if they are few and increasingly costly to maintain.
While collecting the materials, a friend lent me a book about Thames sailing barges. On the Internet I searched the site > modelbarge info < operated by Richard Chesney(sorely not functional now) . I managed to get more materials, and this eventually led me to build two models TSB¨(TSB Capricorn and TSB Gusty Cat - (Tomcat))
In my archive, after many years, I pulled out a book that I received from a friend in New York >American ship models< by V.R.Grimwood > where there are many other interesting types of sailboats, but this time in the US.
I started writing an article about really another rarity - Piscataqua River Gundalow. In this book there are other rarities, for example < Chesapeake Bay skipjack,Chesapeake Bay Bugeye, Scow schooner and more next vessels> but gundalow looked the most bizarre .. outside the shape that resembles a large surfboard (about 18 to 20 m long), so it has a Latin sail.
More information about gundalow can be found on the web, in the above-mentioned book by V.R. Grimwood and also in the magazine> Ships in scale (11-12 1998).
http://www.gundalow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Wooden_Boat_Article.pdf
GUNDALOW - THE WORK HORSE OF THE RIVERS
June 2008 (a short excerpt from the next article as info)
The conditions in the shallow tidal basin area around Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Maine were a special case.Piscatqua River, and on its network of tributaries and the shallow Great Bay, which is seven miles upstream. The upstream towns were engaged in agriculture and manufacturing. Domestic and foreign imports arrived at Portsmouth on ships too large to navigate the Piscataqua River.. Portsmouth was their access to markets. The condition of roads at the time made them a last resort choice for transporting cargo, and not a choice at all in mud and snow seasons. Manufacturers and seasonal crop farmers needed more reliable transportation.
The solution was a simple shallow draft vessel that could reach these growing river ports. A barge in its earliest configuration, the gundalow was poled over the shallows, rode the tide in and out of the Piscataqua, was rowed with long oars called sweeps, and later carried a large sail.The gundalows were simply built, many were little more than rafts. Some were 70 feet long and built to protect the cargo.They were not sea vessels. The sails where rigged on a short stout mast, about 12 feet above deck. The lateen sail was rigged much like the Dhows of the Red Sea and Middle East. The long boom, in some cases 70’, could easily be lowered for passing under bridges. The boom was hung on a chain from the top of the mast, about a quarter of its length from the boom’s forward end. Balanced there, the forward end was secured to the deck with block and tackle near the bow. The aft end of the boom, pivoted on the top of the mast was raised above deck at about 45 degrees.
The Fanny M., launched from Adam’s Point in Durham, NH in 1886 by Captain Edward H. Adams, was the last gundalow to operate commercially in the area
No gundalow has been preserved, but two replicas were built (1982 "Captain Edward H. Adams" and in 20011 - "Piscataqua")
When I finished both models, I wondered what to do next ... so I started to build gundalow model.
The model is approximately 1:24 scale, 90 cm long, 24 cm wide.
.........................................................
https://www.fishermensvoice.com/archives/0608gundalow.html
.........................................................
Building a Piscataqua River gundalow
Some time ago I was preparing an article for modelers who used to sail with RC sailboat models .This article was to make known the types of sailboats practically unknown in our country.
On this occasion, I have practically discovered that, for example, Thames sailing barges still exist - even if they are few and increasingly costly to maintain.
While collecting the materials, a friend lent me a book about Thames sailing barges. On the Internet I searched the site > modelbarge info < operated by Richard Chesney(sorely not functional now) . I managed to get more materials, and this eventually led me to build two models TSB¨(TSB Capricorn and TSB Gusty Cat - (Tomcat))
In my archive, after many years, I pulled out a book that I received from a friend in New York >American ship models< by V.R.Grimwood > where there are many other interesting types of sailboats, but this time in the US.
I started writing an article about really another rarity - Piscataqua River Gundalow. In this book there are other rarities, for example < Chesapeake Bay skipjack,Chesapeake Bay Bugeye, Scow schooner and more next vessels> but gundalow looked the most bizarre .. outside the shape that resembles a large surfboard (about 18 to 20 m long), so it has a Latin sail.
More information about gundalow can be found on the web, in the above-mentioned book by V.R. Grimwood and also in the magazine> Ships in scale (11-12 1998).
http://www.gundalow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Wooden_Boat_Article.pdf
GUNDALOW - THE WORK HORSE OF THE RIVERS
June 2008 (a short excerpt from the next article as info)
The conditions in the shallow tidal basin area around Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Maine were a special case.Piscatqua River, and on its network of tributaries and the shallow Great Bay, which is seven miles upstream. The upstream towns were engaged in agriculture and manufacturing. Domestic and foreign imports arrived at Portsmouth on ships too large to navigate the Piscataqua River.. Portsmouth was their access to markets. The condition of roads at the time made them a last resort choice for transporting cargo, and not a choice at all in mud and snow seasons. Manufacturers and seasonal crop farmers needed more reliable transportation.
The solution was a simple shallow draft vessel that could reach these growing river ports. A barge in its earliest configuration, the gundalow was poled over the shallows, rode the tide in and out of the Piscataqua, was rowed with long oars called sweeps, and later carried a large sail.The gundalows were simply built, many were little more than rafts. Some were 70 feet long and built to protect the cargo.They were not sea vessels. The sails where rigged on a short stout mast, about 12 feet above deck. The lateen sail was rigged much like the Dhows of the Red Sea and Middle East. The long boom, in some cases 70’, could easily be lowered for passing under bridges. The boom was hung on a chain from the top of the mast, about a quarter of its length from the boom’s forward end. Balanced there, the forward end was secured to the deck with block and tackle near the bow. The aft end of the boom, pivoted on the top of the mast was raised above deck at about 45 degrees.
The Fanny M., launched from Adam’s Point in Durham, NH in 1886 by Captain Edward H. Adams, was the last gundalow to operate commercially in the area
No gundalow has been preserved, but two replicas were built (1982 "Captain Edward H. Adams" and in 20011 - "Piscataqua")
When I finished both models, I wondered what to do next ... so I started to build gundalow model.
The model is approximately 1:24 scale, 90 cm long, 24 cm wide.
.........................................................
https://www.fishermensvoice.com/archives/0608gundalow.html
.........................................................
Building a Piscataqua River gundalow
Ships in scale /vol XI/Nr 6 1998 (november - december)
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I have even lost a European Larch to the dreaded beetles. Trouble is we can't use chemicals to eradicate them.
Cheers Colin.
It is also due to drought and high temperatures, the trees have little sap and cannot defend themselves.
Now I'm just waiting for better weather so I can go with the models to the water.
It is said that it is a normal summer, but we are somehow not used for such summer, that it also rains in the summer here...
I managed to write an article in our RC Revue about the construction of my model Piscataqua river gundalow.
At least something's going on
Tom