Lagoda

In the winter of 07-08, I got a chance to work on Laoda.  It is a  model of a whaling ship.

Lagoda

Lagoda

It is a half scale model, the biggest scale model in the world.  It was built in 1915 by whaleboat builders  inside the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  It is the only boat that I have ever worked on that never moved.

In the first photo, you can see parts of a skeleton of a right whale.  It was hit and the Museum acquired the skeleton because of their proven expertise in restoring them.  Right whales are very endangered, probably less than 500 left, this area is a part of their habitat.  This one is even more unusual, she had a 10 month old fetus.  The skeleton has been fully restored and she and her fetus are now hanging in the main galley of the museum.

 Here is a night shot - after we completed Phase 1 of the project.

Lagoda at Night

Lagoda at Night

When we started, there was a set of new sails in storage, the original sails had been off for several years, so we had to get some bent  on.    Some of the standing rigging was not quite right, so we had to replace some as well as some running rigging.   Whaleboats had a sacrificial deck, a deck of 1 x 5 pine over the structural deck that was replaced after each long voyage.  Since it was half scale, the deck was 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ and some of it was worn down to less than 1/4 inch thick.   Some of the staff there assumed that would be the hard part of the job, but that went pretty fast.   We spent a lot of time refurbishing blocks.     Some of the rigging was down, wiith little documentation.

more later