Glenn Grieco, a professional ship modeler and a student in the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University, has recently completed construction of a fully functional capstan. The model will be used for teaching purposes in a class about the outfitting and sailing of wooden sailing ships, to be taught during Spring 2002 by Dr. Kevin Crisman. The model is based on the main capstan of H.M.S. Victory, although with a greatly shortened deck. Construction of Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, began in 1759. She is the oldest warship of the Royal Navy still in existence. The main capstan was used to weigh the anchors. As ships grew larger, so did their anchor cables, until during the 17th century they became too large and heavy to wind around the capstan. Instead, a messenger cable was wound around the trundlehead and around rollers, forming a continuous loop. The anchor cable was temporarily secured to the messenger using small lines known as "nippers". The nippers were then handed to boys who walked aft along the deck, trying to keep the heavy, wet cable and messenger from dragging. The nippers were removed when they reached the main hatch to allow the cable to be fed down into the hold, where another large group of sailors stowed it neatly. Up to 14 capstan bars could be fitted into the sockets around the drumhead on the middle gun deck, and 12 bars could be used with the trundlehead on the lower gun deck. The model uses slightly fewer bars than the original ship. Ten men could be stationed at each bar, and 260 people were sometimes needed to haul in the anchor and cables. Up to 10 tons could be lifted using this arrangement; a cable of 120 fathoms weighs seven tons. The entire process could take between 30 minutes and six hours, depending on the length of cable used.
View of the capstan assembly.
Bow of the ship, showing the cathead, hawse holes and anchor.	Interior of bow showing messenger run around rollers and cable entering through hawse hole. Normally, there were four hawse holes
Trundlehead with pawls in pawl ring. The pawls served as ratchets to prevent the capstan from surging backwards under pressure.	Overhead view of the drumhead with capstan bars in place.
A strong piece of timber called a cathead projected from the bow. Ironbound cat blocks were used to catch the anchor ring and hold the anchor clear of the hull while being raised and lowered. Sheaves were fitted into the cathead for the lifting tackle.	View of the double headed capstan showing drumhead and trundlehead with messenger in place.
The riding bitts for securing the cables while the ship is at anchor. The bitts comprise the vertical pins, standards (robust knees) and the crosspiece.
Click on one of the graphics formats below to view the ongoing work on the model of the brig Jefferson:
320x240JPEG image | 640x480JPEG image | 320x240 MotionJPEG Video | JPEG 640x480 MotionJPEG Video
SHIP MODEL SHOP SHIP RECONSTRUCTION LABORATORY NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY PROGRAM
Citation Information: Glenn Grieco 2002, Modeling Shipboard Equipment: A Capstan, Ship Model Shop Report No. 2, World Wide Web, URL, http://nautarch.tamu.edu/model/report2/index.htm, Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University. This page is maintained by the staff of the Conservation Research Laboratory, Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University (crl@tamu.edu) and was last updated March 12, 2002. The contents of this site - text, images, and data - are intended for personal information only. Downloading of information or graphic images contained herein for private use is not discouraged; however, written permission from the Nautical Archaeology Program is required for the publication of any material. Any use of this information should credit the Nautical Archaeology Program. For additional details, contact Donny L. Hamilton (dlhamilton@tamu.edu).