The Brig Pilgrim – Maritime Library Talk Report

Posted on November 29, 2015 by catopower

Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights member Mark Rosenbush attended the talk presented at the J. Porter Shaw Library located on the 3rd floor of Building ‘E’ in lower Fort Mason, and reports here:

On Friday, October 23, Randy Biddle gave a lunchtime lecture at the Maritime Museum library concerning the brig Pilgrim. This is the ship upon which Richard Henry Dana, Jr., voyaged from the East Coast to Alta, California in 1834, as described in his memoir, “Two Years Before the Mast”. Biddle’s talk was interesting, nicely organized, and supported by a PowerPoint presentation including many photographs and document images. The theme of the lecture was an overview of Randy’s historical research regarding the vessel, and his findings.

Modern day representation of the Brig Pilgrim.

Modern day version of the Brig Pilgrim that sails out of Dana Point Harbor

He explained the central role of locating and studying the ship’s register in this type of research. The register has only a minimal description of the ship itself, but it contains a complete chronological record of the owners and masters of the vessel throughout her life. This record was critical to distinguishing the brig Pilgrim on which Dana sailed from the 6 or 8 other brigs, also named Pilgrim, which plied the seas during the same years.

Information from the register permitted Biddle to verify the only known painting of Dana’s Pilgrim. Some interesting detective work resulted in Biddle locating an original watercolor painting, owned by a family in Connecticut, allegedly of the “right” Pilgrim. He visited the family, and was permitted to inspect and photograph the painting, which was made in Palermo, Italy, some years after Dana’s voyage. As was sometimes the case in those days, the painting had a caption at the bottom, identifying the ship as the Pilgrim, along with a date, and the name of the Captain. The Captain was the same person identified in the Pilgrim’s register as the master at the date of the painting. The painting actually showed the brig from two separate views. At first blush one’s attention was drawn to a beautiful profile view of the ship, apparently sailing across the field of view into a harbor. A second brig is seen in the background, sailing away from the viewer. It is also an image of the Pilgrim, permitting a view from the stern quarter of the vessel.

Biddle’s talk included photographs of several beautiful models of the Pilgrim. One such model is in the San Francisco Maritime Museum’s own storage. There are a number of plans of the Pilgrim which have been reconstructed by several individuals. Randy was able to correct one error in all of these plans, regarding the vessel’s draft. It was actually several feet deeper than depicted. He was able to determine this by studying the vessel’s cargo records. He determined that the given the known dimensions of the length and beam of the vessel, it could not have carried the listed cargoes without more draft than was previously assumed. Altogether, a very enjoyable lunchtime talk. Ω

Higaki Kaisen – Edo Period Transport Model by Clare Hess

Posted on November 28, 2015 by catopower

Back in August, we published a post about the classic yacht model the Good News, built by Paul Reck. The post included a link to a nice slideshow Paul put together. Well, Clare Hess decided to do something similar for his Higaki Kaisen model.

The model itself is built from a kit by the Japanese wooden model manufacturer Woody Joe. It measures about 16-1/2″ long and high and is made from a wood called Hinoki, which is an aromatic Japanese Cypress. The kit features a large number of laser-cut parts and includes some interior details in the cabin area. Some of the wooden panels have been omitted, so as to allow a view of the interior areas.

Building the model took a matter of just a few months due to the manufacturer’s heavy use of laser-cut parts and detailed instructions, plus the fact that these ships had very simple square sail rigs. Click here (link disabled as slideshow is not currently available) to view the slideshow showing the model going through the various stages of construction. Ω

HSPMS Meeting this Saturday, November 21 on the Eureka

Posted on November 18, 2015 by catopower

It’s time again for the next meeting of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights. This should be a good meeting as it’s the first meeting following this year’s NRG conference and last week’s club outing aboard the USS Potomac.

The meeting also follows a workday that took place a couple weeks ago where a number of club members met to clean up our workshop and set up a new bookshelf.

As always, guests are welcome. We meet at 9:30am on the third Saturday of every month outside our workshop aboard the ferryboat Eureka at Hyde Street Pier. Going aboard the ships at the pier usually requires that you purchase a pass. However, if you are coming just for the meeting, just head right on aboard the Eureka. If anyone asks, just let them know you’re heading for the ship model meeting.

Hope to see you there!

Hyde Street Pier Ship Modelers on the Bay

Posted on November 17, 2015 by catopower

Veteran’s Day, 2015 was a gathering time for members of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights as they took a cruise aboard the U.S.S. Potomac, which is based out of Jack London Square in Oakland. The ship, originally built in 1934 as the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Electra. She was late transferred to the U.S. Navy and renamed the Potomac, and was used as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential yacht.

Club member Jerry Bellows serves as engineer aboard the ship and arranged our club outing, which consisted of 18 members and guests.

The two hour cruise took us under the new span of the Bay Bridge, over to Fishermans’ Wharf close to Hyde Street Pier (actually just got as far as the Liberty Ship Jeremiah O’Brien and submarine Pampanito), then back along the San Francisco waterfront and back under the Bay Bridge and back to Jack London Square.

Along the way, one of the unexpected sights was the C.A. Thayer in Alameda where she is being worked on.

It was interesting to see her there out of the water, but we did find ourselves wonder when she’s going to be getting her masts.

Being that it was Veteran’s Day, there were many veterans aboard and the narrator gave special honors to each and every one. Including many of our own club members.

All in all, as you can see, it was a really nice day to be out on the water. Special thanks to Jerry and Fran Bellows for organizing the trip and for giving us a special tour of the engine room and for helping to keep us out of trouble. Ω

Japanese Wasen Model Display in San Francisco

Posted on November 6, 2015 by catopower

The latest Japanese boat model display by ship modeler Clare Hess is now on display at San Francisco’s Japan Center.

The display is located in the window of the community room of Union Bank, which is in the East Mall building of the Japan Center Mall in San Francisco.

Three models are featured this time around, making for a much more complete display than the last two, which consisted of only two models. The models are shown below.

Higaki Kaisen – A Japanese coastal transport from the Edo Period. This sailing ship operated in vast numbers between Osaka and Edo (now Tokyo), maintaining the flow of consumer goods which supported the growing cities economy.

Hacchoro – An 8-oared fishing boat used by the fishermen of the Daizu region south of Mt. Fuji. This model features the family crest of the Tokugawa Shogunate because many of these boats were said to have been commissioned as guard boats for the retired Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Special permission was said to have been granted for these boats to be equipped with 8 oars so that they could keep up with the Shogun’s boat. This is how these boats got their name, as Hacchoro literally translates as “8 oars.”

Yakatabune – These houseboats were initially owned by nobility for leisure use, but were very popular during the peace and growing prosperity of the merchant class. During the Edo period, it became common to rent a yakatabune to entertain guests or for viewing the fireworks at festival time or cherry blossoms in the Spring. These boats became a cultural symbol of growing prosperity.

The display runs now through the end of December, 2015. Ω

Ship Modeler

This week, I installed my latest display of models of traditional style Japanese boats at the Japan Center in San Francisco. If you haven’t seen it before and are in the area, this is a good display to check out. This time around, I added a third model to the collection, my Yakatabune model. So now, there is the Higaki Kaisen (1/72-scale), Hacchoro and Yakatabune models (both 1/24-scale). All three models were built from kits by Woody Joe of Japan.

The display will run from now through all of November and December in the window of the Union Bank community room, which is in the East Mall building.

One thing I discovered while setting up the new display is that this is a much better time of year to display the models. Because of the lower angle of the sun, the there is far less glare from the skylight above, making…

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NRG’s 2015 Photographic Ship Model Contest

Posted on November 5, 2015 by catopower

The Nautical Research Guild held their annual conference in Mystic, CT, at the end of October. While only one of our Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights members was able to attend to representing our group. At the NRG banquet, our group members took a larger share of the honors.

The winners of the 2015 Photographic Ship Model Contest were announced at the dinner event. All models entered into the contest received a ribbon based on total points earned in the scoring. The top models in the categories of Journeyman and Master received medals. Three medals, either Bronze, Silver or Gold, were awarded in each category, for a total of six medals, with Hyde Street Pier members taking home with 2 of the 6 medals.

Clare Hess, receive a Bronze medal in the Journeyman category for his model of the Private Armed Schooner Lively, 1813, while Paul Reck was awarded a Silver medal in the Journeyman category for his model of the Grand Banks 32, Willie II.

Clare’s Lively model is a 1:48-scale scratchbuilt model of a small, single gun privateer, typical of the early pilot boat model privateers of the War of 1812. The model was based on kit plans by the late Jim Roberts.

Paul Reck’s Willie II is a Grand Banks 32 that was built around 1978 and used by the St. Francis Yacht Club as a race committee boat. His model was built from scratch in 1:16-scale and is on display at the Yacht Club.

Watch the upcoming NRG Journal and the NRG website for a full report on the contest.

Note: This story originally referenced the wrong yacht club for the Willie II. The correct yacht club is the St. Francis Yacht Club, not the Corinthian Yacht Club. Thanks to David Wingate for catching the slip-up!