| COLONIAL SHIPWRIGHTS This report is about shipbuilding in colonial times. It is about the ways shipbuilding has changed and stayed the same over the years. You will see how shipbuilders did their trade and why they were important in colonial times. I know for a fact that you will learn that it was a great job. SHIPBUILDERS ARE IMPORTANT Shipbuilders were very important; they provided lots of services for people in colonial times. The shipbuilders ships were very important to the military because they would bring gunpowder and other war supplies from other countries to the military. Ships were also important to the miller, because they would bring flour from farms far away to the miller. Shipbuilders ships were also important to other countries because other countries didn’t have foods and spices in those countries. Other traders that ships were important to were the papermaker and the cabinetmaker. They needed wood shipped to them from other places. Ships were also important for people to get to other places. COLONIAL SHIPBUILDERS TOOLS A colonial shipwright used many tools to make ships. The shipbuilders tools were made of steel and wood. Shipwrights made their own tools because they couldn’t buy them at a store. One tool a shipwright used was an adz. It was made out of steel and wood. It was used for shaping the structure of the boat. Another tool was the maul. It was made out of wood and metal. It was used for hammering in nails, screws, bolts, and other items. Another tool was the chisel. It was made out of wood and metal. It looked like a knife but not as sharp. It was used for chipping wood off the frame of the ship and to make wood smooth. Another tool a shipwright used was a caliper. It was made out of wood and metal and used for measuring the wood and to cut it. Another tool was the square. It was made out of wood and metal also. It was used for making edges and measuring the wood. COLONIAL SHIPBUILDERS RAW MATERIALS A colonial shipbuilder used many raw materials to build their ships. One raw material shipbuilders used was wood. Wood was used for making tools and for making pieces of the boat. A second raw material was metal. It was used for making tools and pieces of the boat and came from mines. Another raw material was cotton. It was used for making the sail on the ship and found in cotton fields. Another raw material was pitch. It is a dark, sticky substance and smeared on the bottom of the ship so it won’t leak and so the wood won’t rot. It was found in forests. THE PROCESS OF SHIPBUILDING Shipbuilding was a very complicated job and has many steps to building a ship and it took at least a year. Step 1 The work of building a wooden sailing ship in colonial America either began with a draft or drawing; or with a scale model; or in a mold loft; or in a pattern shed; or sometimes ships were built “by eye” with no plan at all and took a week. Step 2 The mold loft was a building with a large inside space. Here essential parts of a ship, usually its curved parts, were stored. This process took a day. Step 3 They then would draw the pieces they needed and the size they needed and that took two days. Step 4 They then sent saw gangs, men with saws, into the forest to get the wood. Then when the men found the wood the trees were felled and hauled to the building site and that took a day. Step 5 The shipbuilders in the loft measured the special dimensions and shapes needed, made simple wood patterns of them, and handed the patterns over to the sawyer, the man who sawed up the wood. The sawyer then would cut and fashion parts of the raw tree into the particular shapes given him and this step took a day. Step 6 Then the keel was fastened together and put into place and that took a month. Step 7 Once the keel was put together, it was lifted and placed on wooden blocks and this procedure took a whole day. Step 8 Next, the sawyer cut a number of solid, angular pieces from a tree. Usually he tried to find the joint between a branch and the trunk. These angular pieces, or floors , were squared off and bolted at intervals to the top of the keel and this step took a week to complete. Step 9 Larger pieces of wood were scarfed into curves and were then fitted onto one end of the keel and became the stem and this procedure took a month. Step 10 A large, solid, straight piece of wood was then fitted to the other end of the keel to form the sternpost and this step took a month. Step 11 Then the keelson was fastened to the stem and sternpost and was bolted to the keel through the floors and this procedure took a month to complete. Step12 Next the side curves of the ribs were made by scarfing straight and curved timbers and this took a week to complete. Step 13 Then the ribs were fastened to the floor on both sides of the keel, and this took a week to accomplish. Step 14 Then they bolted and screwed boards onto the inside of the ship for a ceiling and this procedure took a month to complete. Step 15 Next they got long pieces of wood and put them in steam boxes that made them flexible and this took a week to complete. Step 16 Then the long pieces of wood were fastened to the frame of the ship with wooden pegs called trunnels or tree nails. The trunnels were forced to holes already bored through the frame and the ceiling and this process took a month. Step 17 Then most important, were the shelves. They were fastened to the frame; the shelves held dark deck beams. These beams crossed the ship and the deck was fastened to them and this step took three months. Step 18 While the builders worked on the inside of the ship, caulkers stuffed these seams between the planks with oakum. Oakum is a rubbery fiber that has soaked in a tar solution. Oakum was pounded into every seam in the boat and this step took three months. Step 19 After that, boiling pitch was put over the smooth and hardened oakum. Step 20 The sails were woven out of heavy flax, cut to the proper shapes and hand-sewn with many different tools such as the punch, knife, and awl. This step took a month. Step 21 The rope maker made tons of different kinds of rope for the sail and other things. This step took a month. Step 22 The shipwrights did all of the other little parts such as the steering wheel, the rudder, and all those other things. This took a month. Step 23 Finally, they waited until winter when it snowed so they could slide the boat into the water. This process took a month. SHIPBUILDERS TODAY Colonial shipbuilding and modern day shipbuilding has changed a lot, but it has also stayed the same in many ways. One of the ways the job has changed is people that built ships were called shipwrights in colonial times but today they call them shipbuilders. Another way ships have changed is today they use metal to make the frames of the ships but in colonial times they used wood to make the frames of the ships. Another way modern ships are different is that they use engines and propellers to move the ship but colonial ships used sails. Another difference was that modern day ships use electricity for lights and other electronic items, but colonial ships only had lanterns and candles. Another difference was that modern day ships that carry passengers have marble and carpet floors instead of wood. There are also many similarities between colonial ships and modern day ships. One similarity between colonial ships and modern day ships is they both have Captains. Another similarity is that both colonial ships and ships today have anchors. Another similarity is colonial ships and modern ships both have steering wheels. Another similarity is that there are cargo ships in colonial times and in modern times. Another similarity of colonial and modern ships is they both have crews. |
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