After a bit of thought, I've decided to put up an abbreviated version of my old build log for our beautiful 'Duchess'. The log was lost in the second crash of MSW, but I have the images and the full text of my original post, so you'll see the original post followed by a batch of photographs of my progress until I get up to date again.

John

A (very) long introduction to my latest project – the repair and completion of a model of the barque ‘Herzogin Cecilie’ for the Australian National Maritime Museum. I will be working on the ‘Duchess’, as she was known, in my time at the museum, while the ‘Meteor’ model will come home, to be worked on when I can.

The 'Duchess' in Spencer Gulf, South Australia

The Story Of The Ship

The four masted barque ‘Herzogin Cecilie’ was built in 1902 at Bremerhaven by Rickmers Schiffbau AG as a cadet ship for the prestigious German shipping company  Norddeutscher Lloyd. She was built to the very highest standards as she was designed to not only be a cadet ship for Germany’s most prestigious shipping company, but also a floating ambassadress and showpiece for the German Second Empire. She was met with great excitement and media acclaim wherever she went.

Her name, Herzogin Cecilie, is from the German – Duchess Cecilie – as she was named for Herzogin (Duchess) Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who was later to become the fiancée and wife of Crown-Prince Wilhelm of Germany.

The ‘Duchess’ as she was affectionately known, engaged in the wheat and later nitrate trades to the Americas prior to World War I sometimes with salt, timber, or coke as the outward cargo. She found herself isolated in the port of Coquimbo, Chile, when war broke out. This put her in a difficult position as she would certainly have been taken as a prize of war if she had attempted to return to Europe from her neutral port.

She remained at Coquimbo until June 1920 when she loaded nitrate at Celata Colosa and sailed for home. As soon as the cargo was discharged at Ostend she was handed over to the French Government as part of war reparations. The French didn’t want the ship and decided to sell her. She was finally purchased by the well-known Åland Islands owner Gustaf Erikson on the advice of his most experienced captain – Reuben de Cloux.

Thus began the final, and probably most well recorded, era of the ship’s career. Erickson sent her to Australia looking for wheat cargos – cargos that could be loaded slowly and cheaply in the small Gulf ports of South Australia – cargos that could survive the long, slow voyage back to Europe without damage and without losing value. His Master of choice for the ‘Duchess’ was the same Captain de Cloux who had inspected the ship at Ostend, a man who sailed the ship hard (and somewhat expensively as he was prone to carrying canvas too long and losing sails in strong winds). She made twelve voyages to Australia in all, mostly to the South Australian Gulf ports, but also to Melbourne – usually with outward bound cargos of timber. In between her Australian voyages she also made several nitrate voyages to South America.

Reuben de Cloux stayed in command of the ‘Duchess’ until the middle of 1929, when he went into retirement as a Ship Master and handed over command to his First Mate, Sven Eriksson, a distant relation of the owner, Gustaf Erikson. Gustaf was evidently not too happy about offering command of the world’s most famous and best loved sailing ship to the inexperienced Sven, however the very tight-knit network of Åland Islands family connections is thought to have forced his hand.

During the period when Sven was in command the ‘Duchess’ continued to regularly win the so called ‘grain races’, with the fastest voyages home from Australia, but this may say more about the speed of the other ships involved than the ‘Duchess’ as there are several extant letters from Gustaf Erikson to his Captain reminding him to always take in sail early and not on any account to risk losing sails in strong winds!

As the 1930’s advanced, luck began to run out for the ‘Duchess’. In June 1935 her donkey boiler exploded while she was discharging grain in Belfast, killing two of her crew and injuring several other people including the Second Mate. Considerable damage was also caused to the ship’s structure and rigging. Only essential repairs were carried out at Belfast, the remainder being completed in Erikson’s own shipyard in Uusakaupunki, Finland, and the ‘Duchess’ sailed on her final voyage around the world on 29^th September, 1935.

The bad luck continued as she sailed up the Kattegat on her way to the North Sea. She sailed straight into the stern of the German trawler ‘Rastede’, causing heavy damage to the trawler, which had to be towed into port. The ‘Duchess’ was held entirely responsible for this collision, and it later cost her owner dearly. After the collision, Sven simply continued his voyage to Australia.

She sailed from Port Lincoln, in South Australia on 28^th January, 1936, arriving at Falmouth, for orders, on 23^rd April and on the 24^th she sailed for her discharge port of Ipswich on what was to be her final, very brief, voyage. At 0350 on the 25^th April, in heavy fog, she struck the Ham Stone in Soar Mill Cove and, leaking badly forward, settled to the bottom with her poop still above water. Several attempts were made to get her off, but it was not until 19^th June that she was finally refloated and towed to Starehole Bay near Salcombe, where she was once more allowed to settle on the bottom. On 19^th July Sven Eriksson wrote to Gustaf Erikson that several seams had burst and a bulge in the plating was noted on both sides near the mainmast.

Her back was broken. The ‘Herzogin Cecilie’, the beautiful ship, was now a total loss! Her rusted remains can still be seen in the sand at Starhole Bay to this day.

The morning after the grounding in Soar Mill Cove

The Story Of The Model

The model of the ‘Duchess’ has a long and complex history.

Back in 2007, one of the museum’s model makers, Col Gibson, was asked by two friends if he would be interested in seeing a model of the ‘Duchess’ that was owned by their neighbour. Of course, Col said, “Yes”, and in February 2008, while he was having lunch with his friends, they introduced him to their neighbour, Vera Grainger, and her model of the ‘Duchess’.

Vera’s husband Malcolm, the builder of the model, had passed away and Vera expressed an interest in donating the model to our museum however the model couldn’t be accepted into the National Collection unless complete, and thus the “Duchess” model’s long association with the Australian National Maritime Museum and the museum model makers began.

 Work on the model had commenced in South Africa prior to the Grainger family migrating to Australia in 1978 and had continued here up to the time of Malcolm’s retirement, however after he retired the model languished with the hull and most of the deck fittings completed, and some of the spars completed but quietly resting in a box. Vera expressed an interest in the model going to the National Maritime Museum, and wrote a letter and report to the museum concerning her gift.

The model as received by the museum

 Nothing further happened for about two years, when Col had an unexpected visit to the model makers’ bench by then Senior Curator Dr. Stephen Gapps, who was enquiring about the fate of the model described in Vera’s letter and report. This visit finally resulted in the model being collected from Vera’s home and taken to the home workshop of another of the museum’s model makers, George Bambagiotti, as he had agreed to complete the model.

Malcolm Grainger had commenced the model using plans for the ship as she was originally built, but many major and minor alterations had been made to her structure over the years, even when still under the ownership of Norddeutscher Lloyd. It was finally decided that the model should be altered and completed to show her as she was when she was engaged in the grain trade to Australia, as that was the most relevant period of her life for Australian maritime history, and the way most of the world remembered her - specifically, she would be shown as she would have looked as she was about to leave port Lincoln on her final voyage.

George started cleaning and disassembling the model while Col started on the required research. Researching such a well-known ship sounds easy – there are literally hundreds of photos of her and many books; but the books usually don’t mention alterations to the ship, and almost all the photos are undated, so trying to find out exactly what the ship looked like in early 1936 was no joke.

George with the stripped-down model

Progress was much slower than anticipated due to many factors, sadly including George’s increasing bouts of ill health, but he was not easily put off. I remember sitting on his bed at a Rehabilitation Hospital together with Col as we tried to work out exactly how various parts of the ship actually looked at the time of her final departure from Port Lincoln.

As time started to drag on, Janos Nemeth and I were asked to contribute to the build. Janos, because of his well-known expertise with small carvings, was asked to make a new figurehead for the model, and I was asked to build a new suite of boats. I was also asked to consider rigging the model, with Janos asked to assist with this if needed.

The two final blows were the closure of the museum due to Covid in March of 2020 and, far worse for his colleagues and friends, the death of our dear friend George on 27^th February, 2020. George’s death was a shock to all his friends at the museum, but most especially to the team working on the ‘Duchess’! While we coped with our grief at the loss of our friend, we also had to consider the future of the model, as the ever-worsening Covid pandemic with its threats of lockdowns made future actions uncertain. We also had to consider relieving Lyn Bambagiotti of the worry of having the model stored in her garage.

Fortunately, the museum was able to arrange to have the model moved to the museum prior to everything locking down, but we then lost track of our lovely ‘Duchess’. She had been sitting dreaming on one of the museum store shelves while Col and I wondered what had happened to her until a recent visit to the modelmakers’ desk by one of the museum curators. Not only was the safe ‘Duchess’ in the model store, but the museum wanted the model’s status to be resolved!

Things then started moving quicky. Several of the museum’s senior staff became involved, and the project was suddenly moving again. Our beautiful ‘Duchess’ is now on the upper gallery of the museum in her own secure display case and work table, and I will be starting to sort out the mess on the model and the mass of possibly relevant bits and pieces that were collected from George’s home starting next Monday.

 

Sorry for it being such a long introduction, but it's been a pretty complex story!!

 

John

Great to see this restoration project here on DDM John. As with many other logs, it will be a pleasure to see your efforts redone here.

cheers

Pat

Thanks, Pat.

John

You’ve got a long and interesting task ahead of you. I’m rooting for you.

A lot of the long and interesting task in now behind me, Michel. I'll start posting images of progress shortly.

John

The beginning of the precis of the old build log - and a preliminary warning; most of the images are of poor quality as the place where the model is kept and where I work is on the landing of the second level of the museum, which is overlooked by floor to ceiling height windows, so reflections are inevitable and impossible to avoid. It's also pretty difficult to choose a background!

The preliminaries:

As the model was too large to be worked on at the model makers desk, the museum workshop built a custom work table and cabinet to the design of one of the volunteers. The setup works very well, except that it has to be narrow enough to fit through doorways, which means that the model is far too close to visitors (especially children) for my peace of mind, but so far there have been few problems and no damage done.

The model in the cabinet.

How the end of the cabinet opens to allow the model to be rolled out to be worked on. The carpenter didn't have anything he could use as a handle for the work table, so he used the handle from his tool box!

The forecastle and well deck. You can see broken sections of the capping rail- the bulwarks on both sides of the model are also cracked and out of alignment due to something having fallen across the model when it was lying unprotected in the museum store. This all had to be repaired prior to work commencing. The well deck has been cleaned as can be seen by comparison with the state of the forward end of the poop. The forecastle also has solid railings in way of the anchor handling and stowage area, and the railings can be seen passing outboard of the sidelight towers - some of the many problems that had to be corrected.

The long poop deck roughly cleaned and almost ready for work to commence. There are quite a few missing fittings and errors along this deck, all of which had to be corrected as work went on.

next instalment soon!

John

Hello John,

The Herzogin Cecilie was a very beautiful barque. I am all the more pleased, therefore, to see your interesting project here—the restoration of a wonderful model.

Thanks for your interest, Johann.

John

The incorrect solid sections of railing on the forecastle removed. As they were held by CA the removal of the stanchions simply required a little twist with a pair of pliers and out they came. You can also see a small open section in the railing at the after end of the forecastle. This was built in by one of the previous model makers as the well deck gangways fits there, however careful study of the available images show that in fact there was never a gap in the railings at each end of the gangway and the crew had to climb over the railings to access it (no, I have no idea why, either).

.

The chain rail sections installed. As the port anchor is still down the railing on that side was left as a heap on deck so the anchor could be recovered.

Repositioning of the railings in way of the light towers under way. This was a bit tricky as the length required was different, but it turned out OK in the end. You may also see that the forward section of railing on the poop has been removed. I'll come to that in a little while.

The repositioned railing completed on the starboard side. The port side railing is yet to be moved. The anchor crane has also been rigged over the side in readiness to recover the anchor,

The well deck boats griped down on the skids and being trial fitted (yet again). They couldn't be finally fitted until after the foremast rigging was completed and I was paranoid about everything going together properly. I had made the suite of boats for the model while George was still working on it in the expectation that that would be my total involvement with the 'Duchess. In this images you can also see the open No. 2 hatch and some of the bagged grain cargo. The model is being shown with Nos. 2 and 5 hatches open as the master has been shifting small amounts of cargo to improve the ship's trim for better sailing.

John

The following images are a bit out of chronological sequence, but they complete the major deck alterations.

As can be seen in previous images, the poop railing on the model was of three bar steel tube construction while the actual ship always had a teak capping rail around the poop, so the top steel rail had to be removed to be replaced by the wooden rail. I cat a cardboard template to get the curved shape around the counter.

At some time in the life of the ship the steam cargo winch at No.4 hatch was replaced by a motor winch - powered by a semi-diesel or 'hot bulb' engine. I didn't realise there was a problem until I was reading part of a letter sent to the captain from the owner after the ship was wrecked, which told him to make sure he got the motor winch off the ship as, "it's worth a lot of money". Motor winch? What motor winch? Careful study of the available images showing the ship working cargo brought all to light and I was able to obtain images of a similar motor winch that is currently on the 'Pommern' at the Aland Maritime Museum at Mariehamn.

The real surprise in the deck detail was the railing at the fore end of the poop. The model showed standard steel pipe railing, which is reasonable on a ship built in 1902, but a contact in Belgium who had got in touch with me through MSW sent me a photograph taken on the ship in 1936 by Pamela Erikson, the captain's wife. She was photographing the crew having fun at a 'crossing the line' ceremony on No.2 hatch, but there in the background (and very clear in the image) was a 19th century style wooden railing. I can only assume that this railing was fitted as a 'cheap fix' after the donkey boiler explosion in Cork in 1935.

John

The long haul of rigging the model starts. Note that the masts have suddenly changed to dark brown. According to his wife, Captain Sven Errikson's favourite colours were grey and brown and the ship's colour scheme mirrored that preference. White was permitted around the deck, but anything else (apart from the figurehead) was either black, grey or brown.

The masts are fitted and at this stage, the standing rigging of the forward two masts is pretty much complete.

Building crosstrees on the fitted and rigged masts is a bit fiddly, but it's the only was I know to ensure that the royal backstays and the spreader arms line up exactly.

The first sail rigged (sort of)! The sails are made from silkspan painted with acrylic to dull them down to resemble old canvas. Each staysail was rigged onto the mast with hanks and then dampened and furled to the desired state of being ready to set.

All the fore staysails rigged and partly furled and the first square sails on the foremast. I made the square yards and sails at home and rigged the sails onto the yards before taking them in to be fitted to the model. One the yards were rigged onto the masts the sail were dampened and part furled ready for setting and all their running gear let down to the deck and belayed. Some of the leads of gear in this ship is a little different to what I'm used to, so constant reference was made to available photos to understand the leads. Thanks to Alan Villiers for his wonderful rigging photos in his book 'The Last Of The Wind Ships', which were taken when he served on the 'Duchess' in 1927, the job was much easier.

John

With the foremast running rigging complete, the boats on their skids could finally be fitted. Much to my relief they actually went into place without too much trouble. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to squeeze them in with all the rigging in place - plan was to cut the skids in way of the gangway and re-glue when fitted.

An overall view with the main staysails now rigged.

I thought it was time that the lovely 'Duchess' had a name. I'd been putting this off as obviously the best time to get the name on the model is when it can be laid on its side. Fortunately, all went well and the names and port of registry went on quite easily.

I finally got as far aft as the jigger mast and started rigging the spanker boom and gaffs - 'gaffs' plural as she has the traditional German double gaff rig.

The model looks more complete with rope coils on the pins. I put these on progressively while I can still get at the appropriate pins. Pardon the messy decks. It's amazing how many little bits and pieces of rubbish accumulate while you're working on a model.

John

There seems to have been another glitch in the matrix and some of my images have got wildly out of order, however I'll continue as though nothing has happened! 🤔

Two unusual features of the 'Duchess' in her later years were jacobs ladders up the royal masts and safety nets across the after ends of the tops. I assume that these were features of her cadet ship days, but they were maintained right through her life. The safety nets can be clearly seen in some of the images of the wreck.

Royal mast jacobs ladder.

Fore top safety net.

John

The saga continues.

Working on the mizzen square sails now. She looks more and more like a ship as the number of sails continues to grow.

And now with the mizzen upper topsail rigged.

Almost all the square sails rigged now. Only the mizzen royal to go.

While still working on the mizzen I stated rigging the spankers. here the lower spanker is almost rigged.

John

Sails continue to appear on the model

All the square sails are now rigged and the spankers are almost complete.

Rigging the upper spanker.

A really bad image showing the rigging of the spanker gaffs and boom.

The sails for the jigger complete. Twin spankers and a spanker topsail.

Our bird showing off all her wings. The rigging of the sails to the masts is now complete. Spanker sheets and square sail braces still to come!

John

She's really showing her true colours now John, wonderful job on the sails.

cheers

Pat

Thanks Pat. It won't be long before this reconstructed log is right up to date.

John

Rigging continues with the mainmast staysail sheets now rigged. If you check images of the ship under sail, you'll see that these sheets are made fast in all sorts of odd positions around the fore part of the ship, depending on the sailing conditions. For the model, all the staysail sheets will be made fast in neatly 'theoretical' positions.

Work has started on rigging falls on the well deck davits. Again, these are seen in actual photographs to be all over the place - sometimes with rigging, sometimes without. For the sake of the model, they're rigged in the stowed position.

First pair of davits rigged and looking 'shipshape and Bristol fashion' - even if this wasn't usually the case.

Both pairs of davits now rigged.

John

And here she is proudly flying the Finnish ensign at last!

The layout of rigging on the brace bumpkins has been a puzzle. the angle of view of all the images I've seen have been such that the bumpkin and its shadow have been confusing and difficult to comprehend. Then i found this image of her taken during her German days, and in this one the shadow shows clearly how the rigging on the bumpkin is set out!

John