Planking And Fastening

Well-known as the editor of the best-selling annual Mariner's Book of Days, Peter Spectre lives in Spruce Head, Maine.

First published in 1919, this reprint helps you relive the glory days of sailing.

The Lloyd’s Register Technical Association (LRTA) was established in 1920 with the primary objective of sharing technical expertise and knowledge within Lloyd’s Register. Publications have consistently been released on a yearly basis, with a brief interruption between 1938 and 1946. These publications serve as a key reference point for best practices and were initially reserved for internal use to maximise LR’s competitive advantage. Today, the LRTA takes a fresh approach, focusing on collaboration by combining professional expertise from across LRF & Group to ensure a frequent output of fresh perspectives and relevant content. The LRTA has evolved into a Group-wide initiative that identifies, captures, and shares knowledge spanning various business streams and functions. To support this modern approach, the LRTA has adopted a new structure featuring representatives and senior governance across the business streams and the LR Foundation. The Lloyd's Register Technical Association Papers should be seen as historical documents representing earlier viewpoints and are not reflective of current thinking and perspectives by the current LR Technical Association.

Without effective and durable hull fastenings, boats and ships—from the earliest days of seafaring through the twentieth century—could not have plied the seas. In Ships’ Fastenings, this central element of boat construction receives its first detailed study. Author Michael McCarthy offers a fascinating, thorough description of a range from sewn-plank boats of the ancient world and Micronesia to Viking ships, Mediterranean caravels, nineteenth-century ocean clippers, and even steamships. Along with the comprehensive account of ship fastenings, McCarthy provides a history of many of the discoveries and innovations that accompanied changes in the kinds of fastenings used and the ways they were secured. He discusses copper sheathing, metallurgy, the advent of Muntz metal, rivets of all types, welding in the ancient and modern sense, and the types of non-magnetic fastenings needed on World War II minesweepers. He even takes a glance at the development of underwriting and insurance, because the registries kept by Lloyd’s and others were not only guides to the suitability or a particular ship but also dictated the form and method of fastening. Ships’ Fastenings will prove of value to shipbuilders, historians, and archaeologists. It is also written for the enthusiast and amateur boat builder.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1873.