Building Sloops and other ships during the American Revolution

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Being a novice on building sailing ships has caused me to do a lot of research and read many books. One piece of information that I haven’t found is “what was the expected life” of the ships build on the Great Lakes. I think if I have surmised it right, the vast majority we build in a minimum amount of time with green lumber.
 
“what was the expected life” of the ships build on the Great Lakes
G'day mate
That's a very interesting point. Sorry I don't know the answer to that question, but the average life if a sailing ship in the 1700 for England was only about 7 to 10 years. That was due to the rot in the keel etc, so I would say it would be similar to the American's Fleet.
The biggest advance was to charred the keel before building and that made the life expectancy to decades. The Royal William was the first ship and I think by memory, it was dismantled about 30 odd years after it was constructed.
Happymodeling
Greg
 
I think on Great Lakes could be longer life due to that lakes are not salty water
 
I think on Great Lakes could be longer life due to that lakes are not salty water
That could be the so, but rot still could happen in fresh water as well, I'm not talking about worm etc just wood rot.
It would be very interesting to see if there's a difference.
Greg
 
I do have archives on this very subject. to follow a single ship from the time it was launched to point of needing repairs was about 3 years.

I think on Great Lakes could be longer life due to that lakes are not salty water

actually it is the other way around ships rotter faster in fresh water. There was a technique employed in fresh water ships called salting the ship timbers.
What was done is a salt stop was placed between frames just below the turn of the bilge the space between the frames was packed with rock salt. Using salt was a natural preservative use to salt meat and fish. The critters responsible for wood rot lived in fresh water so salted timbers prevented them from eating the wood " in theory" and it did work salted hulls lasted for many years.

These ships also used wood that resisted decay Cedar was a big ship building timber, usually white Oak was used for the floor timbers and the frames were Cedar.

the war ship built were not salted because they were built for just the war and were not expected to last
 
Being a novice on building sailing ships has caused me to do a lot of research and read many books. One piece of information that I haven’t found is “what was the expected life” of the ships build on the Great Lakes. I think if I have surmised it right, the vast majority we build in a minimum amount of time with green lumber.

The great lakes pre1800 was quite a wild frontier native Americans in Ohio and Pennsylvania prevented settlers from moving in. There were a few French out posts for the fur trade but little maritime activity going on until the war of 1812. The Nancy was the first commercial operating vessel built in Detroit. Yes the war ship were built of green timber but after the war the maritime business exploded and shipyards began to spring up. These yards were using seasoned timbers and a ship lasted about 7 years.

in Canada the Irish, French and the Dutch were the major ship builders in North America the British ships for the war of 1812 were built by French shipwrights for the most part anyhow.


http://www.navyboardmodels.com/msbj_index_toc

this is a resource over looked by forum members it is a wealth of information

start with the Oct. 2009 issue and check out the series titled The Great Lakes it will give you a general over view of its maritime history
 
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Thank you for all the replies. I thought of the question after working my way through this website.

http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/Documents/HGL/default.asp

It’s quite lengthy but has a lot of information.

This site also has a lot of publications.

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/...oks/napoleonic/great-lakes-warships-1812-1815

Funny how one question leads to a lot of information. I remember when I had to go to a brick and mortar Library to satisfy my curiosity. Now I do it sitting in my recliner with a cup of tea and Bach playing in the background.
 
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