The Ship Model Forum

Thank you to both of you guys. I have not seen those publications before and I'm very excited to look at them as soon as possible. As for the forum suggestion I will immediately join and post into that. thank you so much for your helpful advice.

As a matter of fact, there are dozen of books both, modern and from the time, that cover this subject. While the overall principles only slowly evolved over the centuries, details rapidly changed over the decades and also varied from nation to nation. You will need to invest quite a bit of time to understand what is relevant for the particular ship you are trying to build.

If you could tell a bit more about the ship you are working on, one could give some more specific advice.

While the literature cited in DrP's post is good, only the work by James Lees would be relevant for your ship, that is, if it is indeed British, as the desription '6th Rate' seems to indicate. The other works are relevant for later periods, though Lever's book still reflects some later 18th century practices. I would take zu Mondfeld's books with a pinch of salt, as he was by now means an expert on all periods

When it comes to actually handling the rig and understanding what does what, probably the best modern book that covers also the evolution of practices over the centuries is

HARLAND, J. (1985): Seamanship in the Age of Sail.- 320 p., London (Conway Maritime Press).

I would fully agree that the MSW-Forum is a much better place to find advice on ships from the 18th than this forum that focuses mainly on the iron and steel navies from the later 19th century on.

You don't say what nationality your frigate was, and that may make some small differences.

The best reference for English/American ships is "The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1625-1860," James Lees, Naval Institute Press, 1984. It describes each sail and line in detail, with illustrations and photos of period models.

"The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor," Darcy Lever (1808), Allgrove Publishing, 2000, tells how to rig a ship. It was the young naval officers textbook.

"The Art of Rigging," George Biddlecombe (1848), Echo Point Books & Media, 2016, describes elements of rigging and tells how to rig a ship. This is another text book for young officers and seamen.

"Historic Ship Models", Wolfram zu Mondfeld, Sterling Publishing Co., 1989, is a good reference. It is not as detailed as the first three books, but he describes many of the variations from different nationalities and periods.

The Model Ship World forum is a much better place to find people who are familiar with sailing ships.

https://modelshipworld.com/

Phil

Hello. I was hoping someone could help. Im building a from scratch 1770 era 6th rate frigate and I have some books on rigging and drawings but they do not outline in detail what each rig was for. I want to find something that outlines individual sail, jib, and stay systems one by one. I do not just want to piece together rigging that looks good, I want to be accurate and learn pretty much how to work each of the sails on them as well as the yards. It dose not have to that particular series of ship but historically one that worked the same.