Old Shipwreck found on beach Orkney

[Phil Pascoe]

Diagonal planking persisted well into the 20th cent. One lair at about 90degrees to the other. Made a very strong construction. Expensive yachts, ww2 patrol boats and RNLI lifeboats spring to mind.
John

My father had a converted lifeboat (North Deal, iirc) from about 1890. 45' long, built as a rowing boat, it had two layer diagonal planking.

 

[stuckinthemud]

Trunnels were still in use in the early18th century. Cheap, effective and don’t rust, also they don’t react with tannic acid so good for fastening oak planks. Easily replaced in service. Lots to like for a shipwright

 

[Jameshow]

My father had a converted lifeboat (North Deal, iirc) from about 1890. 45' long, built as a rowing boat, it had two layer diagonal planking.

Interesting! Any pics?

 

[MarkAW]

Ooh, just think of the projects you could make with that salvaged wood

 

[Deadeye]

The BBC again, they won’t let you see the pics if you’re not in the uk, first one shows for a couple of seconds but then zilch, but it’s the sort of thing I like, seems very well preserved.

https://12ft.io

Try that. Sometimes gets you behind paywalls too!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Interesting! Any pics?

No, long gone. It was endless work when I was 13 - 18. Did a force ten off the Lizard in it. Look starboard ...... water. Look port ........ water. Look through the roof hatch ...... water. Major brown trouser job. The smell of new gloss paint and diesel combined makes me urge to this day.

 

[Jameshow]

No, long gone. It was endless work when I was 13 - 18. Did a force ten off the Lizard in it. Look starboard ...... water. Look port ........ water. Look through the roof hatch ...... water. Major brown trouser job. The smell of new gloss paint and diesel combined makes me urge to this day.

Nothing like the smell of sea water and diesel!!

 

[Richard_C]

Heres something perhaps similar to the Orkney wreck, website well out of date but informative. Trunnels get a mention.

https://www.devon.gov.uk/historicenvironment/explore-devons-heritage/vanishing-wreck-westward-ho/

This tells you more

http://www.westwardhohistory.co.uk/beach-wrecks/

and didn't some of the Spanish armada get wrecked on the way round, escaping from Drake??

I got really interested in all that a few years back, maybe because I come from N Devon originally and there was a lot of local context.

The Spanish passed between Orkney and Shetland, I think one or two ships were lost around FairIsle. The English fleet, mostly privateers which were sort of licenced pirates led by Howard with Drake as vice admiral had given up the pursuit long before and left the exceptionally bad weather to do the rest.

Once the Armada got ' round the corner' and headed south they lost more ships and lives running into the Scottish and Irish coasline in storms that they did in the main battles in the channel. No reliable way of telling the time at sea so it was hard to know where you were. Plus to quickly escape the fireships at Calais a lot of them had cut their anchors away - no brakes.

 

[squib]

Treenails, trunnels, were or are still used much later in Scandinavia.
Really excellent fasteners as they can be used in blind holes too if you place the wedge lightly and hammer into a blind hole the wedge is forced in tight.

 

[dannyr]

Interesting! Any pics?

My great great gfather was coxswain on the N Deal lifeboat about that time and a bit before - there's an old book about the crews -"Heroes of the Goodwin Sands"

ps this should actually be reply to Phil

 

[Keith 66]

That hull section is standard carvel construction, probably lower half of the hull or bottom due to the close spacing of the frames. Fastening with trunnels has been done since viking times right up to the 18th & 19th centuries. Best way to really date is is a core through one of the frames & dendochronology.
Only way to preserve it is to get it underwater again or in a big tank of peg solution for the next 20 years.
Now its exposed to the air it will dry out & deteriorate fast.
Some years ago my wife, son & i found a similar section of ships frame on the beach at Dungeness, about 9" square & 6ft long it was so clean you could still see the adz marks. We left it where it was as it was way too heavy for the roof rack on our car!

 

[NickDReed]

Only way to preserve it is to get it underwater again or in a big tank of peg solution for the next 20 years.

Nonsense!!

That's got epoxy table written all over it. Robert's your mother's brother! Preserved shipwreck and practical banquet table.

 

[RupertV]

I don't know what I'm talking about but if you changed your computer time setting to London and place would it trick the system or am I bonkers

Wow! Is this a first? Someone on this forum who readily volunteers that they don't know what they are talking about. Hats off to you sir.

 

[RupertV]

Treenails, trunnels, were or are still used much later in Scandinavia.
Really excellent fasteners as they can be used in blind holes too if you place the wedge lightly and hammer into a blind hole the wedge is forced in tight.

Foxtail?

 

[Cabinetman]

Wow! Is this a first? Someone on this forum who readily volunteers that they don't know what they are talking about. Hats off to you sir.

Try post Nr 11, I don’t know what I’m talking about either lol.
Ian

 

[okeydokey]

Without wanting to start the thread going around in circles

I don't know what I don't know - unless someone told me something I didn't know before and then I would know one thing I didn't know I didn't know

 

[jackcole22uk]

I'm told you can use a VPN to hide your true location, and I assume, say you are in the UK.
Some VPNs are free.

Just a warning, I use surfshark VPN and it messes with the BBC website something rotten, and that's in the UK. I fairness to it, it's fine with everything else, but I have to turn it off to look a the BBC website. Even if it set to a UK server it detects a VPN and plays up. I'm really saying don't spend a lot of money on a VPN subscription if you just want to look at BBC. You can get on their website out of the UK, but there's ads everywhere, and I'm not sure if the content's the same.

 

[Chubber]

The BBC again, they won’t let you see the pics if you’re not in the uk, first one shows for a couple of seconds but then zilch, but it’s the sort of thing I like, seems very well preserved.

I had just this problem when for 15 years I lived in SW France until I took a £5 monthly subscription to 'Tunnel Bear', a very simple VPN (virtual private network) so by telling it I was in UK we could get all the BBC output. I still use it now to search obscure subjects happy in the knowledge I shan't get spammed by purveyors of Baffin Island midwives headresses etc..

 

[TRITON]

Well thanks for that, but it’s like no ship construction I’ve ever seen, not that that says much lol.
The ribs are next to each other, so I had a look at the Mary Rose, and again it looks a most unusual construction to me, different layers running in opposite directions.
Just shows what I don’t know!
View attachment 176391

That pic reminds me of a viking longship reproduction they've been building, though the vid i saw was a good few years back so its probably been finished by now.

Quick YT search has the vid, and it sailing.
I'd love to have worked on something like this. a great big f*** off build.

 

[Cabinetman]

That pic reminds me of a viking longship reproduction they've been building, though the vid i saw was a good few years back so its probably been finished by now.

Quick YT search has the vid, and it sailing.
I'd love to have worked on something like this. a great big f*** off build.

Thanks TRITON that’s an incredible build. All those scarf joints and tar etc, quite wonderful. And it REALLY shifted when at sea!