Hope you can give me some advice on this John, in the photo above I have marked two booms that would appear to be used to moor the ships boats to when at anchor. What are these booms called (correct name), how are they used and rigged up, and lastly (but for the model most importantly) how were they stowed when the ship was underway ? Did the crew leave all the tackles on or was everything removed to clear the lower yard on the foremast.
Thanks in advance,
Julian
They’re called (for obvious reasons) boat booms. The gear attached to them varied somewhat, but you can see most of it in that excellent photo. There’s a line running up from the tip of the boat boom to the end of the lower yard, a simple, two-part tackle leading to the bowsprit, and another line (barely visible on the starboard side) leading somewhere aft. Those three keep the boom from swinging violently in any direction. There’s also a rope ladder hanging down from the end, and a footrope beneath the boom. To board a boat tied up at the boom, a man would make his way out along the boom by way of the footrope and climb down the ladder to the boat.
The inboard end of the boom generally would be secured to the hull permanently by means of a gooseneck-like pivot mechanism. When the ship got under way, the boom would be swung aft, and the outer end of it would be lashed to a simple crutch fitting. Most of the gear would be removed (though I think I’ve seen some photos from this period showing the ladder rolled up next to the boom).
In ships fitted with studdingsails, the boat boom frequently did double duty as the fore lower studdingsail boom, spreading the foot of the lower studdingsail. It’s pretty clear, though, that the Kearsarge didn’t have studdingsails.
The gear in the photo is, in fact almost identical to the boat boom gear used in warships as recently as World War II. I’m not sure how many, if any, warships still handle their boats that way.
Hope that helps a little. Good luck.
And, for a bit of old naval triva, by tradition, the after starboard boom is for officer’s boats, adn the port, for’rd for all other ranks.
If one has only one side rigged, then officers’ is aft.
I’ve no idea if that goes back to stuns’l booms or not; I’m guessing that the fore-n-aft arrangement follows the ‘quarterdeck’/sally port tradition.
Thank you for the answer and input John and Capnmac82. The Kearsarge includes a very nice little gangway arrangement on the starboard side. Might look good to rig the boat boom on starboard as if in use (Adds to the real estate needed to store the Kearsarge though).
cheers,
Julian