I have recently obtained a Lindburg kit (a pirate sailing ship called the Jolly Roger). It shows that many portions of the ship (the picture on the box and in the instructions) are painted in what I figure is a really dark brown color?
The kit says to paint the hull (below the waterline) white?

I am sure it varied with era, country, etc. I do know that around 16th and 17th centuries wood was "oiled" with various oils for preservation. One of the popular oils was fish oil! The oils may have been pretty transparent looking as a liquid, but really darkened the wood, and it aged darker yet.
{Don Stauffer}
'White stuff' (yes, they actually called it that :) - a hideous mixture of white lead and a lot of other unpleasant things.

Usually 'black stuff' (a mixture of tar and something else) was applied to the ships instead of the white stuff, as it was cheaper. Models usually show 'white stuff', simply because it looks better.
{Staale Sannerud}

The other day I found myself in the vicinity of the cow and horsey store so I dropped in in search of pine tar. $5.86 the pint. I mixed up a batch in approximately the following recipe: Nice smelling glop, readily flows and oily. I painted some on a new piece of oak and indeed a rich honey color resulted. On the other half of the same piece I used Watco golden oak Danish oil. Pretty much the same color except the pine tar glop seemed to give a deeper appearing color. Took days for the glop to dry and after drying the color and appearance of the two were indistinguishable.

For my money the Watco wins and is far less hassle. I'll use the rest of the glop on my redwood deck as a further experiment.
{Bob Crane}

The Jolly Roger by Lindberg represents somewhat, a design of the late 17th to early 18th century. It is not meant to be any type of accurate representation.

Be that as it may, the color scheme for vessels of that period are generally stated herewith.

The external color scheme would be a darkish brown for the upper works and black wales or rubbing strakes. Vessels of this period used varnishes and oils for protective coatings; the varnishes being made from resins and rum distillates. The blackish coating for the wales was made by adding lamp black to the varnish.

Below the waterline the color was a dirty yellowish white. This was a mixture of whitewash tallow and sulfur which was used to prevent fouling by marine growths and barnacles. Trim for the upperworks might have been red or blue or other bright color. The gold trim that is often seen of figureheads, quarter galleries, and stern decorations was usually just a coat of the gold colored rum distillate varnish payed over an undercoating of whitewash.
{Dana McCalip}

Regarding the question about the color of the vessel below the waterline - Before the late eighteenth century most ships used tallow bellow the waterline to defend against sea critters and such.

Tallow included in its ingredients animal fat, and was an off white color. I've see professional modellers use everything from very pale beige to pure white for this. The actual color probably varied over time, and the specific ingredients very likely depended on who was applying it, when, and where. In other words, pick an off white color that looks good with your model.

Something else to keep in mind - most ships dating to periods where tallow was used - and even later, actually - are known sketchily at best. In other words, take the painting instructions with a grain of salt. There are typical color schemes, however, and many libraries several vessels from the era represented by your vessel and look for trends. I suspect that most of the dark brown areas on your model represent stained wood, while the red areas represent red-painted wood (probably bright red). Over all, the ship should have a dull to semigloss sheen, eggshell preferred.
{P. Darrah}

Towards the end of the American Revolution a probable and most likely color for an American or British warship, privateers included, would be as follows:
Hull below waterline Tallow
Above waterline Yellow ochre
Wales Black
Hancing pieces and top two
or three strakes below cap rail 		Black, red or blue
Stern Yellow ochre, with central panels a contrasting color such as slate, red, blue or black
Bulwark interior Indian red (Floquil boxcar red)
Hatch coamings, three strakes
below cap rail 		Red or brown
Bitts, kevels, staghorns or any
wooden fixture for belaying 		Bright
Pump barrels Red, black bright
Gratings Bright
This color scheme is pretty generic and keeping in mind that there were no rules dictating particular color schemes during this period. Colors were chosen based on what was on hand as well as what was durable and economical.

What is "Bright"?
"Bright" means varnished wood; often 5-6 coats of varnish; often glossy.
{Dana McCalip}
Until about 1750, blue could only be made from Lapis Lazuli, a semi-precious stone; this would have made it too expensive for general ship-board use.
{John O. Kopf}
The two major (historic) pigments for "red" during the 'Age of Sail' were:
  1. mercuric sulfide -- a bright red, slightly orangish or slightly bluish (depending on the ore body);
  2. red iron oxide from hematite ore -- "terra cotta", a railroad boxcar red color (in the family of artists' oil paint colors such as venetian red, mars red, etc.).
"Red lead" was not used.

Terra cotta was used as a primer for both wood and metal and was considered to be a good preservative for both in the 1700s and 1800s. Many times, one or two coats of "white lead" was underpainted over the terra cotta primer and under the top color (colour) coat, which was often cut 50:50 with white lead (apparently because color pigments were much more expensive and because, in that ratio, the colors are much brighter in appearance from my own experimentation with 1812 oil-based paint formulae).

White lead was a combination pigment of lead carbonate and lead hydroxide. White lead is a thicker, gooier, and stickier paint (compared to all the other pigmented paints) and waterproofs quite well -- it was often used on the outer planking for a waterproofing treatment, same for waterways and small boat planking. White lead paint was also used as a marine glue -- especially on small boat caulking.

During the 1800s, there was quite a variability of color of paints, depending solely on the quality and composition of the ore body from which the pigments were taken as well as (sometimes) the processing of the pigment(s).

My information is from an 1812 published book on painting ships and houses, which includes the formulae for the paints' oil base, which is different for indoors versus outdoors paints. All of the paint formulae dry down within one day to dead flatness, regardless of pigmentation.
{Ray Morton}

See also More on Colors....
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