Fredrik Henrik af Chapman

Some insist that eighteenth century shipwrights would carve ship half models to help visualize the shape of a ship. Patterns would then be taken off the small model to be used for the full sized ship. The more modern use of lines plans and calculations would not arrive until the nineteenth century. Well maybe not.

One glance at Fredrik Henrik Af Chapman’s Architectura Navalis Mercatoria of 1768 immediately dispels the notion that eighteenth century shipbuilders were limited to carved half models, (which is not to say that half-models did not continue to be used well in to the nineteenth century by some shipyards).

Architectura Navalis is a wonderful book for anyone interested in 18th century ship design. It is available from Dover Press in a large format soft cover version which also includes Chapman’s A Treatise on Ship-building of 1820. Architectura Navalis also available online at the ChapmanNet of the Swedish Maritime Museum.… (mer)