LA NÉRÉIDE - 1724

This monograph is concerned with 44-gun ships-of-the-line classified in the fourth rate among the five rates of ships established according to their fire power. During the reign of Louis XIV, the French Royal Navy assigned them to numerous missions normally belonging to frigates. As opposed to light frigates, they had two decks. This second deck brought an appreciable advantage which added to the advantage provided by a second battery, as it had the important characteristic of providing shelter to the crew for sleeping and for protection in bad weather.

However, its presence increased the height of the upperworks and increased the overall weight, thus impairing its sailing performance. Thus, the ship was slower and its resistance to side-wind is lowered as compared to frigates of future years without a second deck. But architectural concepts of the era could not make this handicap unacceptable. These concepts would only undergo a revolution in the first half of the 18th century as a result of the metamorphosis of the light frigate. During the second half of the 17th century, no less than 79 vessels of the fourth rate, including 35 of 40 to 44 guns, were built. As opposed to vessels of the third, second and first rate, they retained their main characteristics, the evolution they underwent concerning only their stem and stern rakes and some attempts at improving the nautical characteristics of the hull lines.

About these vessels of the 17th century, we only have numeric data from the specifications of the proportions, without any draft. We must remember that construction was carried out without plans according to traditional methods. The use of drafts only appeared much later. The reign of Louis XIV concluded with a cessation of activities in the naval yards. It is necessary to wait until the regency of Philippe d’Orléans for it to pick up again timidly with the construction, from 1722 to 1724, of four vessels of 40 to 48 guns on a practically identical model to those of the 17th century. These four vessels were practically the last to have been built on the same proportions. They were considered to have sufficient nautical qualities.

Among the vessels built between 1722 and 1724, we find the Néréide built at Rochefort in 1724 by Joseph and Blaise Ollivier. In particular a slanted ceiling instead of footwaling, in order to better counter hogging, and the replacement of the cumbersome spritsail topmast by the jibboom.
Curiously, Néréide was the object of drafts of her cross and longitudinal sections by Blaise. Moreover, he left behind many treatises on ship-building. In one of those, he describes the method of drafting the underwater lines of vessels according to their rate, following his own concepts.
All of these documents make it possible to build a faithful replica of this type of vessel, thus justifying the present monograph.

MAKE UP OF THE DOCUMENT

Presented in a 24x31 cm cloth-covered slipcase containing a 132 page booklet comprising the sourees, the history and reduced-format plates with comments and a 12 page color booklet with 50 photos of a framed model, as well as 25 plates at the 1/48th scale necessary for the construction of
the frame.

Ch. 1 : Evolution of the 44-gun vessel. Study of 7 vessels of the second
half of the 17th century.

Ch. 2 : Sources and examination of drafts by Blaise Ollivier, including an history of his career.

Ch. 3 : Artillery and its rigging, anchors, blocks, masts and yards and sails.

Ch. 4 : The rigging and routing of running rigging as well as their diameter.

Ch. 5 : Comments on the 25 plates, body of the ship, timber structure, inside accommodations.

Ch. 6 : Annexes, running rigging and summary of the royal regulations.

Information: Supplementary plans can only be sold if you already have the complete monograph.

Author : Jean-Claude LEMINEUR