Great
Republic
Description
of the Largest Ship in the World, The New Clipper Great Republic of Boston,
Designed, Built and Owned by Donald McKay
This
book was published in 1853. Written by "A Sailor." Known to be Duncan McLean - a reporter
for the Boston Daily Atlas who published many detailed descriptions of newly
launched clipper ships - with 6 plates
I
obtained a copy of the original book and scanned it and its plates.
The
book includes 6 plans of the Great Republic. The following are the descriptions of the plans from the
book.
Plate
No. 1. Outboard Profile, rigging, sails
Plate
No. 2. Is a fore and aft vertical view of the ship amidships, showing
side-views of the keel, mouldings of the floor
timbers, depths of the midship keelsons, stanchions
and their knees, beams, ledges and carlines, outlines of the decks and rail,
stem, sternpost and rudder, and positions of the masts and tanks.
Plate
No. 3. Is a view of the inside of the ship, representing the cross diagonal
iron braces, the pointers, forward and aft, outlines of the decks and hanging
knees, and the diagonals between the upper deck knees ;
also, the positions of the ports, the whole embraced in a general outline of
her hull.
Plate
No. 4. Represents the horizontal outline of the third deck, with its beams
and lodging knees, carlines, ledges and their knees, positions of the bitts,
forward capstan; hatchways, masts and rudder case.
Plate
No.5. Represents 10 outlines of her beamed hooks forward and aft, all
numbered, with the style of their knees.
Plate
No. 6. Contains a plan of the mainmast, its hounds, trestle-trees, top, and
two plans of its cap ; also the topmast trestle-trees
and crosstrees ; also, side and bed views of the forward capstan, showing the
mode of heaving in the chain; also a representation of the midship
section of the ship, which embraces the keel, outside planking, timbers,
ceiling, keelsons, stanchions, the beams and their hanging knees, with the
style of their bolting.
Scott Bradner
- May 2021