joshlegs

Howdy all. I ran across the site accidentally but thought somebody here would be able to help me. I'm researching some information about 17th and 18th century sailing ships (galleons particularly) and wanted to know how they might repair a breached hull while mid voyage. Would they be able to beach the ship to repair the hull if they knew of land nearby? anyways, if somebody can help me id appreciate it thanks a heap.


also, i may get into model ship building it looks very cool !

LtDoc

joshlegs,
Beaching and patching holes was certainly one method. Find a suitable beach, wait for high tide, run aground, then careen the ship (unload and tilt the thing over onto the good side giving access to the bad side). A lot depended on finding that 'suitable' place and the ship. Can't exactly just drag the thing above the high tide mark by hand.
A temporary kind of 'patch' was sometimes called 'fothering'. A sail was passed over side, placed over the hole' and the whole mess tightened up. Didn't 'cure' the leak completely, but made it sort of manageable. That was used on sort of larger holes. Smaller breaches could be fixed in a number of ways by the carpenter. Patching from the inside, or the outside, depending on where the hole was. Most ships usually carried 'extra' wood in one shape/form or another. It was the carpenter's job to 'make-do' with what was on hand or could be gotten from other ships or from ashore. Or, from other parts of the ship.
This isn't a complete list of possible remedies by any means, and I'm certainly not a carpenter. It is as factual as near enough though, and certainly not all that accurate.
- 'Doc


(Or, they just called their friendly 17-18th century 'AAA' club and rented another ship till theirs was fixed.)