The Shipwright

The Freemaster Shipwright:

This individual is the owner/operator of the shipyard. In a smaller yard he may take an active part in a ship's construction; however, in a larger yard he is more of a manager and deals with the business operations of the yard rather than the construction operations themselves.

One of his paramount tasks is the requisitioning of building materials from local merchants, especially timber and iron. Although the Pilot's Almanac states its a key factor to have a shipyard located where it has access to materials, especially good and plentiful timber; most large yards will exhaust their local timber supplies within years and have to start importing from afar. Since a medium sized vessel can use up to 3.5 tons of iron just for nails and fittings and another ton if you add in the anchor and chains; iron too will have to be imported to meet the yard's needs. In addition to iron and timber, he has to acquire cloth, rope, paint, tar, pitch and numerous other items involved with ship building and repair.

Another task is to organize the work crews within and outside of the yard. His first task is to hire bonded-masters who act as foremen for each on going project/crew. In most cases he will allow a bonded-master to hire his own journeymen and unskilled laborers as set out in their contract. In addition to the regular work crews the freemaster also oversees the specialized workers, such as: carpenters, metalworkers, tentmakers, and any others that may assist in making furnishings and fittings for the vessels being worked on.

His final and most important task is to solicited contracts from local ship owners, merchants and nobles. It is quite common for him to send out a couple of apprentices to cry out his yard's services throughout the port, rewarding successful individuals with a penny for each prospective client. In addition, he will attempt to meet any incoming vessels and see if he can coax them into using his repair services. Even though repairs are the meat of most shipyards income, the building of a new vessel is a great opportunity to spread his reputation and generate a steady pool of cash over a period of time. It is not a common practice to pay for a construction job in one lump sum but to spread it out over a period of time and when the builder requests additional supplies. The bottom line is to ensure that enough cash is always available to maintain the materials needed for the job and to keep the required employees paid.

Bonded-Masters:

Most shipyards will have one or more bonded-masters on their payroll. These men take an active part in the yard's on going day to day construction and repair operations. Acting as designers, foremen and consultants to the yard's owner and vessel owner(s); they are the ones who direct the work crews assigned to them. Although journeymen do most of the labor, its is the master's responsibility to ensure all work meets the desired specifications.

A master shipwright will take an active part in key parts of the operation, such as: shaping and laying a vessel's keel, forming and attaching the stern and stem posts, designing the shape of strakes and positioning them on the vessel after they have been shaped, and choosing the appropriate timbers to be used for ribbing, beams and planks. In addition to these hands on tasks, they also oversee clinching and caulking operations, requisition supplies as needed, hire and dismiss journeymen and laborers as needed, and consult with the yard's master daily on the status of their particular site's progress.

Journeymen:

The journeyman is a day laborer who performs most of the skilled manual labor on a job. These are skilled workers who are hired for a specific job until its completion or their dismissal. However, many of these men are well known for their skills and dependability and are usually employed on a full time basis, moving from one job to another within the yard as need and time permits.

Many senior journeymen are as skilled as the masters they work for but do not have the funds, connections or inclination to take on the master's mantle. A skilled shipwright will have the following skills connected to their trade:

Shipwright

The ability to construct a ship, boat, or its fittings. A shipwright is trained to construct vessels of either clinker or caravel (skeletal) construction. The two types are so dissimilar and require different skills for designing and constructing that for a shipwright to acquire the ability to be proficient in both would be a lifetime endeavor. Therefore, a shipwright must choose one type to specialize in. The 2 months listed in HM3 for for training the skill to OML is too short to learn it all. At most a character would learn how to clench nails and scarf timbers, nothing more.

Woodcraft

The ability to construct, shape and carve wooden objects such as strakes, railings, yards, and various other wooden fittings of a vessel. While the shipwright skill is a necessity for designing a vessel and the knowledge of how to assemble it. In a clinker vessel the strakes have to be individually shaped to the fit the design and interior supports carved to fit the hull's shape. In a caravel vessel the ribs are individually shaped to fit the design and then the strakes added to form the hull.

Timbercraft

The ability to select timber from a forest, fell trees, and rough-cutting into lumber. This is a key skill for a shipwright, even though he may not be in the woods selecting and felling trees he will be selecting from timber delivered to his work site. Since strakes needed to be made from straight and knot free timbers and ribs, floors, futtocks, and other support timber needed to come from pieces that followed their curve the shipwright needed to be able to identify suitable pieces for his project.

Metalcraft

The ability to construct metallic items and fittings for the vessel out of iron. Most shipwrights do not use this skill to make metal objects but to modify and/or repair iron items as needed. Items such as nails, chains, anchors, washers for clenching, and various other iron items are generally ordered from local freemaster metalsmiths who will construct the ordered items from iron provided by the shipyard.

Mathematics

The ability to make calculations with numbers, keep books of account, and so on. This skill is used more in book keeping and accounting for inventory than in the designing of vessels.

The jobs on a worksite are arranged based on experience and ability, representing a journeyman's progression through his trade. Some of these key assignments and possible progression are:

Clinker Specialty:

Holder: Holds clench nails in place while the clencher does his job.
Clencher: Responsible for hammering over the ends of the clench nails.
Augerer: Drills the holes through which the clench nails are driven.
Caulker: Applies caulking to the vessel's seams and joints
Berder: Responsible for shaping and trimming the vessels various timbers.
Carpenter: Constructs scarfs, inner supports, and other joinery as needed on the vessel.


 

Caravel (Skeletal) Specialty:

Sawyer: cuts timber into planks and beams.
Straker: Responsible for installing the strakes onto the vessels frame.
Caulker: Applies caulking to the vessel's seams and joints
Berder: Responsible for shaping and trimming the vessels various skeletal timbers.
Carpenter: Constructs scarfs, inner supports, and other joinery as needed on the vessel.


Other odd jobs:

Rope/Cordage making
Sail making/repair
Pitching a vessel and re-caulking

Although Pilot's Almanac gives the impression that a shipwright can build both clinker-straked and caravel-straked vessels, using our own medieval history as a measuring stick this is not possible. The two styles are completely different and require completely different skills for designing and construction. For a further analysis of this topic click on the ship to review an article I have written on the subject.

Apprentices:

The apprentice is a young man just starting out as a shipwright and learns his craft by assisting and working along side the a master shipwright or a senior journeyman. At first they are nothing more than fetch and carry boys. As time goes on and they are assigned to assist journeymen in some of the more basic skills such as caulking, holding clench nails in place, etc. In the later part of their training they are allowed to start working on their own on simpler tasks and along side an experienced journeyman on the more complicated tasks.

Return to Top