CHANGING WEAVE OF TEXT AND GRAPHICS IN ANTEBELLUM SHIPWRIGHT MANUALS

摘要

Between the 1830s and 1850s, shipwrights Lauchlan McKay (McKay 1839/1970) and John W. Griffiths (Griffiths 1851) attempted to introduce and standardize the three-dimensional half hull lift model (Figure 1) as a shipbuilding tool. McKay published The Practical Ship-Builder in 1839 and Griffiths followed with Treatise on Marine and Naval Architecture or Theory and Practice Blended in Ship Building in 1851. A merchant requiring a vessel usually approached a shipwright with the desired length and gross tonnage (Apprenticeshop 7-8). From these, the shipwright immediately knew whether the merchant wanted, in ascending order of size and complexity, a sloop, schooner, brig, brigantine, bark, ship, and so on (Cutter [1979], 71-8). The trick for the shipwright, however, was communicating the vessel's exact dimensions and design to the largely illiterate shipyard workers.