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The Sovereign of The Seas

Sovereign of the Seas was ordered in August 1634 on the personal initiative of Charles I of England, who desired a giant Great Ship to be built. The decision provoked much opposition from the Brethren of Trinity House, who pointed out that .... "There is no port in the Kingdome that can harbour this ship. The wild sea must be her port, her anchors and cables her safety; if either fail, the ship must perish, the King lose his jewel, four or five hundred man must die, and perhaps some great noble peer."

She carried 102 bronze cannon (King Charles explicitly ordered such a high number) and was thereby at the time the most powerfully armed ship in the world.

But King Charles overcame the objections and from May 1635 she was built and was launched at Woolwich Dockyard on 13 October 1637.  
She was the most extravagantly decorated warship in the Royal Navy, completely adorned from stern to bow with gilded carvings against a black background. The money spent making her, £65,586 (equal to £9,804,508 today), helped to create the financial crisis for Charles I that contributed to the English Civil War. Charles had imposed a special tax, the 'Ship Money', to make possible such large naval expenditure. The gilding alone cost £6,691 (equal to £1,000,243 today), which in those days was the price of an average warship.




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SOS Build Log - page 1

FINAL DETAILS

Here is the final photo of the Sovereign of The Seas, completed after two and a half years, on December 21, 2016.

These next three pics showing the ship's flags which are created from paper.

I copied these flags from the internet.... folded and glued the two duplicate halves together with white glue.

After allowing the glue to cure about 80%, they were folded and manipulated to give the appearance of flying in a light breeze.

The anchors, two on each side, were created from vinyl plastic and wood.

SOS Build Log - page 2

DECK FIXTURES

The ship's boat mounted in the cradle.

Often, this boat would have been towed behind the ship rather than being stowed on board.

The boat's cradle and oars. 

The tiller rudder and anchor.

Two water pumps.

The ship's windlass.... used like a winch mechanism to lift heavy loads, using block and tackle.  There are eight of those long poles which crewmen would push against, winding up the cable attached to the load.

Barrels and buckets.

These bits were used to attach (belay) the rigging lines on deck. 

Note, the scale of these belaying pins seen here are slightly over sized. 

SOS Build Log - Page 3

MASTS AND SPARS

All masts and tops and spars (yards) have now been installed.


The final "running rigging" is all that remains to finishing.

 "Crows feet" rigging from the mizzen mast to the shrouds of the main mast.

The bowsprit top and mast with the "crows feet" rigging.

All masts installed with the nine tops (crows nests). 

Standing rigging is complete.

A finished top mounted on the cross trees.

















Three tops under construction.

There are about eighty pieces to each one of the tops.

Adding the first of nine tops (crows nests)

The foremast with standing rigging.

Each of the masts are stabilized in all directions by the standing rigging cables seen here.

Also note the two outside lines (shrouds) that will become the "ratlines"....the rope ladders used by the crew to move up and down from the decks. 

SOS Build Log - page 4

THE STERN CARVINGS

The carvings decorating the stern area of the ship are the most interesting and perhaps the most difficult of all.

All carvings complete, the stern panel is ready to be installed onto the ship.

The octagonal lantern house tops the beautiful stern.

The beginning of the large panel that will become the ships highly ornate stern.

SOS Build Log - page5

HER BOW AND BEAK

The figurehead of the Sovereign shows King Charles mounted on horseback with raised sword, having slain this terrible creature laying below.

This was the most difficult of all the carvings because it is the only full three dimensional figure on the ship.

Note the location of the two "heads" just below the short bow deck.

Having now completed all of the     carvings on the bow bulkhead, this is the beginning of the beak structure.