Wooden Ship Building

First published in 1919, this reprint helps you relive the glory days of sailing.

This comprehensive volume details the complex art of wooden shipbuilding in ancient and early modern times. The text includes discussion of ancient, medieval, and post-medieval shipwrecks, which represent a cross section of technology as seen through a select group of archaeological finds.

David C. "Bud" McIntosh was a designer, builder, and sailor of large and small wooden cruising boats for more than 50 years, and wrote about it for over 10 of those years. He made his home on New Hampshire's Piscataqua River, where he was teacher and friend to both amateur and professional boatbuilders.

This book serves as a workshop handbook; giving detailed instructions on how to go about each part of a job building a boat and its proper sequence, as well as what must be looked forward to, while performing a given operation. The advantages and disadvantages of each type of construction suitable for amateurs will be described.

A fascinating account of the building of an historic ship, as well as a vivid and often surprising account of life and labour in the eighteenth century. In an age before industrialisation, the warship was the most complex object built by man and employed the most advanced technology of its time. Naval vessels of the period were, not surprisingly, so expensive to construct that meticulous records were kept, from the purchasing of timbers to the last details of their furnishings and armament, including even the individual names of some of the shipwrights and craftsmen. By carefully studying these records, the authors of Building the Wooden Fighting Ship have reconstructed, in extraordinary detail, the building of HMS Thunderer—a two-decked, 74-gun ship-of-the-line. In words and specially drawn illustrations, contemporary prints and paintings, the authors show every stage of the building of this ship, from the purchase and cutting of timbers right through to the launch in 1760. There are descriptions of Woolwich dockyard where she was built and details of all the skills and trades involved in her construction. First published in 1984, this book is a beautiful and highly informative work on a significant aspect of the Royal Navy and will appeal to enthusiasts, modellers, historians, and anyone with an interest in traditional crafts. Praise for Building the Wooden Fighting Ship “This book will appeal to model builders who focus on the Age of Sail and anyone interested in how these incredible pieces of art and engineering were constructed.” —Nautical Research Journal “Dodds is both a shipwright and an artist, whose black and white drawings provide readers with a clear understanding of each facet along the way. Moore sails yachts and writes books about ships. Their expertise shines through, turning what might be a ho-hum dry treatise on shipbuilding into a fascinating and easy-to-understand narrative. Originally published in 1984, this new edition is beautifully rendered and well worth the price. There are so many details presented that even those familiar with ship construction will discover new tidbits of information, while those with little understanding of the industry will come away with a deeper appreciation of what it took to build one wooden fighting ship out of more than 3,400 oak trees.” —Pirates and Privateers

As a child, John Brooks loved to build models and sail with his grandfather. When most teenagers were at the prom, John was changing jibs in the Indian Ocean, halfway through a 35,000-mile, two-year cruise. He began building boats in commercial yards at 19, while studying boat design and building his own boats. John worked for many years honing his craftsmanship on fine yachts, small boats, custom furniture, and a harpsichord. He has been a instructor at the WoodenBoat School in Maine since the mid-1990s, teaching glued-lapstrake boatbuilding, fine interior joinery, and carving. Ruth Ann Hill grew up on the coast of Maine. A writer, boatbuilding assistant, naturalist, and graphic artist, Ruth is the author of Discovering Old Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park: An Unconventional Guide and a contributing editor for Maine Boats & Harbors magazine. John and Ruth started their business, Brooks Boats, in 1991. They design and build glued-lapstrake boats in West Brooklin, Maine-and get out to enjoy their handiwork in its proper element whenever they can.

This work touches on the specialized world of wooden-ship building, looking at the endless variations of techniques from country to country, region to region, and over the course of history.

This is the story of the author's apprenticeships with Japanese masters to build five unique and endangered traditional boats. It is part ethnography, part instruction, and part the personal story of a wooden boatbuilder fueled by a passion to preserve a craft tradition on the brink of extinction. Over the course of 17 trips to Japan, Douglas Brooks traveled over 30,000 miles to seek out and interview Japan's elderly master boatbuilders; he built boats with five of them, all in their seventies and eighties, between 1996 and 2010. For most of them, Brooks was their sole and last apprentice. Part I introduces significant aspects of traditional Japanese boatbuilding: design, workshop and tools, wood and materials, joinery and fastenings, propulsion, ceremonies, and the apprenticeship system. Part II details each of his five apprenticeships, concluding with a poignant chapter on Japan's sole remaining traditional shipwright. This fascinating book fills a large and long-standing gap in the literature on Japanese crafts, and will be of interest to boatbuilders, woodworkers, and all those impressed with the marvels of Japanese design and workmanship.