Research Note

Dutch Bottom-first Construction

Kroum Nikolaev Batchvarov

This is a very extensive subject to cover in a List posting. But let me try to briefly explain how it was done. For more extensive coverage - assuming that you 17th c Dutch is not your strong point:)) - read the works of Ab Hoving - Tasman's Ships gives and excellent overview, with photos of his models built the way a real ship was built in those days. On some details, Hoving has modified his views from those expressed in his earlier publications, but the essence is the same. Here I shall only speak of the Dutch. If you are interested in the tradition as such, in all its forms and developments - Fred Hocker is the man to ask! He is a mind-boggling mine of information on all things nautical, especially construction.

So: the keel, stem and sternposts are fastened together and raised on the keel blocks. The stern post usually has the transom and fashion pieces already attached. Then the garboard is added and planks are added until the maximum width of the bottom is reached (this is specified in the contract and is a proportion of the max beam). Planks are attached to *each other* with small temporary cleats. (Oh, here I am describing the Northern Method, as practised in Amsterdam and the North) Chains and levers are used to bring the planks to each other and hold them in position. Fire was used for bending the oak. After the bottom was ready a floor is added. This would be the midship floor. Then a pair of first futtocks were added adjacent to the floor. Then the planking of the sides begins - up to about 1/3 the depth of hold. At this stage the rest of the floors are being added. None of them are lofted. The timbers are moved around to find the proper position for them that will require the least work to fit them. Only requirement is to have the same moulded dimensions. Sided - could differ. This is clearly visible on wrecks of Dutch origin. And on the Vasa, too. Between the floors are added the rest of the first futtocks. Then a timber, roughly coinciding with the main wale was placed supported by scaffolding. Then a few second futtocks are added and the planking of the side proceeds. I should have mentioned earlier that internal and external planking went almost simultaneously for planking is what keeps the frames in place. Again - futtocks had to be uniform in moulded, but not necessarily in sided dimensions. Again this is visible on Vasa. Again the futtocks were placed with the least dressing, wherever their shape allowed them to go. You can see even bark on some of these timbers. All in all it was fast and cheap method of building. This method of course explains the wide flat bottoms of Dutch ships, which was great for the shallow waters of the Netherlands.

The Southern tradition differed a bit. There after the garboard was installed, they added the midship frame (actually a pair of frames, forming the deadflat. Then the planking and framing continued more or less simultaneously.

This explanation is overly simplistic and brief, but I hope it gives some notion of how this was done. Essentially with small temporary cleats, which held the planks until the installation of the floors.
{Kroum Nikolaev Batchvarov}

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