Deckhouse

This week has seen the removal of the after deckhouse (officially known as the skylight) into the boat shed ready to be refurbished, well scraped, sanded, painted and varnished. Meanwhile the large hole left in Shamrock's deck, by its removal, has been temporary covered while a more permanent cover frame is being manufactured. This needs to stand proud of the deckhouse coaming to allow Shamrock to breath over the winter months.

Visitors

It's nice to see that the boat shed is still getting a steady stream of visitors so late in the year. A lot of them are walkers and most are surprised that we are open.

Nautical Phrases

Shamrock's crew member Barry has put together this list of nautical phrases and their rumoured nautical origins.

THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND:

In nautical terms, a ‘sheet’ is not a sail but a rope or chain by which sails were attached to the mast. If three sheets were untied the boat would be difficult to control and its progress erratic. Like that of a ‘drunken’ sailor.

FREEZE THE BALLS OFF A BRASS MONKEY:

Cannonballs would traditionally be stowed between the guns on a metal lipped tray, made of brass, called a ‘monkey’. In cold weather the brass ‘monkey’ would contract faster than the iron cannonballs causing the balls to spill out and roll around the deck.

COPPER-BOTTOMED:

In the mid 1700’s naval vessels often had the lower part of their hulls covered with copper plating to stop wood boring insects and barnacles eroding the wood. These vessels therefore became much more reliable and less likely to spring a leak.

SCUTTLEBUTT:

To scuttle something means to cut a hole in it, (Hence the round ‘Scuttles’ on a ship) and a butt was another word for a barrel. The ‘Scuttlebutt’ was a barrel of water where the crew would congregate to get a drink of water and exchange gossip and tales.

CUT OF YOUR/THEIR JIB:

A jib is a triangular sail at the bow between the boom or the forepeak, and the head of the foremost mast. Different countries would have different styles of jib sail. An experienced Captain could identify the nationality of a vessel from distance by the style of jib and if it were an enemy or suspicious vessel he would exclaim ‘I don’t like the cut of their jib'

RUMMAGE SALE:

The French for a ship's cargo is ’Arrimage’. If a cargo was damaged during a voyage it would be sold off cheaply at ‘A Rummage’ sale.

SHIVER ME TIMBERS:

An early, and nowadays rarely used, meaning of ‘shiver’ is to ‘break into pieces’. Shiver me timbers was often part of an oath inferring that if anything happened to them, a person's boat should be broken apart.

PIPE DOWN:

On a ship, orders were often given by means of a whistle (pipe) since the sound would travel further than shouted orders and could be heard across the ship. Pipe down was the last call of the day from the Bosun’s Pipe, meaning lights out and silence. The Bosun (or Boatswain) was responsible for the crew whilst on board.

SPLICE THE MAINBRACE:

The ‘mainbrace’ is the thickest part of the rigging holding the ‘Yardarms’ in place. During a battle an enemy would endeavour to disable the mainbrace as the ship is difficult to manoeuvre if it is damaged and therefore unable to easily escape from the enemy. Under the stress of battle, skilled crew members would be expected to repair this difficult part of the ships rigging. As a reward they got an extra tot of ‘Grog’ (Rum). Nowadays the reward is given to all the crew and is used to celebrate special occasions such as the Queen’s Birthday or birth of an heir to the throne. 

GROGGY:

After the conquest of Jamaica in 1687, rum was introduced into the Royal Navy in place of brandy.  In 1740, Admiral Vernon issued an order that the daily ration of one pint of neat rum to men and half a pint for boys should be diluted with a quart of water in an attempt to reduce drunkenness in his fleet – hence sailors feeling ‘groggy’.  It was called ‘grog’ because Old Vernon always wore a cloak made of material called grogram.

The practice was totally discontinued in 1970. 

LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG:

In the old days the punishment for a serious crime on board a ship, a crewman might be ‘flogged’ or whipped. It would be the job of the Bosun’s mate to administer the punishment using a ‘cat o’ nine tails’. This was a whip fashioned from a piece of rope with thin strips of leather fastened to it. The leather strips were often knotted or had sharp objects tied into them to inflict more pain. The cat o’ nine tails was kept in a bag, so it was bad news if the cat was left out of the bag.

POSH:

This is an acronym for ‘Port Out, Starboard Home’ and refers to wealthy passengers travelling to overseas destinations who could afford to switch cabins during the voyage to ensure they were always on the side opposite the sun, the cool side.

BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA :

Wooden ships had to be sealed with hot tar between the planks to stop the ship from leaking. The ‘Devil’ seam was the longest on the ship at the top of the hull and was next to the ‘scuppers’ (or gutters) which allow water to run off the decks. If a large wave knocked a crew member overboard he was said to have been ‘scuppered’ between the devil and the deep blue sea. Also, sealing the deck and devil board with tar was often used as a punishment hence ‘having the devil to pay’.

LIMY:

Towards the end of the 1700’s it became law that lime juice had to be part of the crew’s provisions to prevent scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C. This shortfall in vitamin C resulted in spongy or bleeding gums leading to the loss of teeth. British ships are still required to carry lime juice.

LOGGERHEADS:

An iron ball attached to a long handle was a loggerhead. When heated it was used to seal pitch in deck seams. It was sometimes a handy weapon for quarrelling crewmen.

SHONKY:

A sailor who will drink lots of beer or rum with his fellow shipmates, but will refuse to buy a round for them.

SHAKE A LEG:

In some ports, like Portsmouth and Plymouth, women were allowed to come on board the ships to boost the morale of the crew. The men were often forbidden shore leave for fear that those who had been forced into service (Press Ganged) would run away. Every morning the duty Petty Officer would order the occupants of the hammocks to ‘shake a leg’, or show a leg. If the leg was smooth and shapely the woman was allowed to sleep in, if the leg was hairy the occupant was ordered up on deck to assist with the swabbing of the deck.

AS THE CROW FLIES:

British vessels often carried a cage of crows. If the weather was foggy, and the crew unsure where the coast was, they would release a crow, crows detest open stretches of water and will head in a straight line for the nearest shore. The cage of crows was kept in the lookout perch at the top of the mast, which came to be known as the ‘crows-nest’.

SHIPSHAPE AND BRISTOL FASHION:

From the late eighteenth century, Bristol was the main British West coast port where all the shipping activities were carried out in a business-like and efficient manner.

SON OF A GUN:

Because space on board a ship was very limited, particularly if carrying a large cargo, the only available space for a woman to give birth on board was between the cannons.

LOG BOOK:

Until advanced measuring equipment was invented, tracking a ships progress was very difficult. It was managed by means of casting a wooden board, or log, attached to a rope with knots tied in it at equal distances, over the stern of the ship. The log would remain stationary and the speed of the ship calculated by how long it the rope between the knots to be pulled out. Hence the ships speed is measured in knots. These calculations were recorded in a log book. This book is now used to record all events on board a ship as they happen.

Unless of course you know different.

Geoff's left!

Geoff started working on Shamrock in March 2007 and was one of the first volunteer crew. He and his wife Pamela, who has been a volunteer at the house (Cotehele) for 7 years, have decided to move to the wilds of Scotland.

Geoff will be missed as the crew member who, if you wanted any intricate woodworking or carving, was the one to do it. He was always ready to crew Shamrock on most of our river trips as well as being the obligatory "good with the paint brush".

Geoff enjoying the sun on Shamrock

Some of Geoff's Shamrock legacies.

Rudder post cap.

Main boom crutch.

Carving close up.

Collection box.

Winter Preparations

This week has seen the removal of the furniture and fittings from the fo'c'sle cabin; its hatch cover has also been removed to the boat shed for cleaning and painting. During the process it was discovered that the cabin table can be folded flat making it a lot easier to stow.

On deck the staysail boom, staysail sheet, mainsheet and mizzen sheet have all found their way to the boat shed. After unreeving the ropes they were then coiled and spread over Shamrock's workboat to dry ready for storing. The blocks have been placed to one side ready for servicing and varnishing as required.

Shamrock looking sparse.

Striking Gold

The first item of the week is a bit of self-congratulations as Cotehele has won the Gold award in the Historic & Heritage Property & Country House category at the 2013 Cornwall Tourism Awards.  Shamrock's Crew likes to think that we played our part in winning this award.

On Wednesday the crew mustered in The Edgcumbe for a volunteer meeting chaired by Joe. Items discussed included, winter working, plans for next year and the most important one was how to fund Shamrock's upkeep after 2015. This is when the National Trust becomes the sole owner and the annual grant from the National Maritime Museum ceases. Currently the Shamrock is jointly owned by the National Trust (34/64) and the National Maritime Museum (30/64). More on all this in later blogs.

Shamrock is gradually being de rigged ready for the winter with the removal of the mizzen sail, lifebelts, light-boxes, drag-chain and any other items that are easily or not so easily removed. The spiders had a bit of a shock when the light-boxes were removed.

The boat shed is getting a lot more organised in the tool department with the completion of a new tool board. The instigator of this is Barry Marshall who used to be a helicopter engineer, no one could have guessed.

Back to Normal

Life in the boat shed has been quiet this week when compared with last week's "Spooky Fun" hoards, and the only decoration has been the mainsail drying. A reminder of the last week could still be seen outside the shed door with a couple of Friday's monsters that their creators had forgotten to collect.

Orphaned Monsters!! 

Wednesday saw the dock-washing fire pump being recovered from under the work bench, and put to use washing the mud from Shamrock's dock slipway, after its usual last minute repair. Extra depth was also added to a section of the quay's wall with the clearing of its accumulated mud. Luckily in a way, the weather was wet with fewer visitors liable to get wet due to the washing process.

Spooky Fun

Due to last weekend's high winds, the plan to erect a marquee on Cotehele Quay for this week's "Half term spooky fun on Cotehele Quay" had to be cancelled. As a result, half of the boat shed has been commandeered and decked out for the week's pumpkin carving, broom making, mask making and monster making activities. Judging be the amount of visitors, noise and exhausted members of the countryside team / volunteers coming from that end of the boat shed a good time was had by all. The only disappointment was that no one managed to fly away on their broom!

Boat shed decorations.

More decorations.

Pumpkin wagon.

Broom production line.

One result of all this activity was that Shamrock had a regular stream of visitors.