DMS 14

[DrPR]

Tom,

I remember "faking" and "fake down" from the '60s and '70s. I also read a Bluejacket's Manual back in the '60s and got "faking" from it. "Flaking" just seems flaky to me. More of a lubber's term.

The same with "three/four sheets to the wind" and such. Sailing vessels had foresheets at the bow (flying jib, jib, fore staysail, etc) and when the ship was running into the wind (foresheets to the wind) and tacking it steered a zig-zag course - not a steady course. Drunken sailors returning to the ship after a hard night on the town also run an unsteady course - foresheets to the wind.

When I hear someone say "three sheets to the wind" or "four sheets to the wind" I know they are a lubber.

Phil

[Fliger747]

I always though three sheets to the wind meant the ship was off the wind , the sheets, on the downwind side no longer taught with the pull of the sail. Three sheets would refer to a schooner or other three masted sailing vessel? If a ship has the sheet on the upwind side it will be in irons, or having lost the fill of the sails, this can happen with a failed attempt to come about on a tack change. Also the ship can be headed into the wind to loose way rapidly. At any rate the sails are flapping uselessly, not providing propulsion and there is no steering control. Perhaps an apt description for someone who has lost directional and propulsive control.

I hadn't checked my edition of the BJM recently, mid 60's was published in 1957 and has illustrations of Lexington being abandoned etc. A much thinner volume than the 1943 edition, probably a result of a more specialized crew force with many individual manuals. Somewhere I had a WWII Radar operators manual from my dad's books. Somewhere I also had/have the Naval Officers Guide (Ageton) and Dutton (Navigation).

I'm wondering if a very light wash might be good to bring out the texture of the laid out lines?

Cheers: Tom

[NavyShooter]

Having flaked down a few lines over the 26 years I spent in the Navy, I'll observe that you don't need to have the lines perfect in colour - they are often stained. Sometimes rust, other times with paint (can't take them off when the ship's doing a paint routine alongside...you can only move them out of the way!) so while a hawser may start nice and clean and white, within a couple of months of use on a warship, they are no longer pristine, and after a year or two, they're looking well used.

Well done flaking them down in this scale though! Looks nicely done!

I do not recall ever Flemishing a line down though - must be a USN thing?

[Fliger747]

Flemishng is shown in the 1943 BJM and we learned how to do, though I don't ever remember doing so except for decorative purposes though we did do ready lines this way in sailboat racing due to the restricted deck space.