Colonial Shipwright

By: Corey Lucey

Building a ship

• The ships were always made on the dock because docks always had a sawmill to construct the ship and they liked to keep the ship near the water.

http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=20135

Tools and resources for shipbuilding

• Hammers

• Needles

• Axes

• Saws

• Metal

• Wood

• Strips of bark

Education/training

• They needed to be good at actually getting resources themselves and they had to be good at building all parts of a ship not just 1 or 2 and they probably didn’t work alone they might have a experienced shipwright with them.

Resources wood and metal

Furniture for sailors

The forgers were the ones who made the furniture and the furniture was put in the sailors quarters.

http://www.colonialfurniture.co.uk/

Problems sailors had

• Seams in the ship would let water in so they used oakum strips to cover up the seams and then they put pitch on them but it still leaked so they had to pump the bilge everyday.

Artisans they needed

• Blacksmiths

• Painters

• Carpenters

• Net makers

• Rope makers

• sail makers

Launching ceremony

• A clergyman always blessed the ship before it left.

Example: John Wise was a clergyman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wise_(clergyman)

How ships were helpful

• Even rich people back then didn’t have any other means of transport so it was either by water or land. Most people would take a ship for a long trip but if it was a couple miles away they would go by land.

Weapons/arms for ship and crew

• Cannons were installed in the ship for protection against other ships and the crew had weapons such as swords,axes,pikes,grenades/fireballs,muskets,pistols and other kinds of weapons.