WOODEN SHIP BUILDING

Oak has long been a favored wood for the building of ships.

One such ship was the GÖTHEBORG which, in its time, had been one of the largest ships in the Swedish East India Company fleet. It was 40.9 meters (134 feet 2 inches) long and 11 meters (36 feet 1 inch) across the beam end. It had only a short career between 1738 and 1745 when it sank when returning from its third voyage to China. Although the reason why it ran aground in Gothenburg harbor still remains a mystery, the speculation is that “dead water” caused the experienced captain to crash into a rock known as the Knipla-Boro (now Gotheborg’s rock). None of the 130 member crew were lost but the ship and most of its goods could not be saved.

The wreck was rediscovered in 1984 by the Marine Archeological Society of Gothenburg. Many pieces of porcelain were found which were transferred to the Gothenburg Maritime Museum.

The museum was given permission by the Swedish National Heritage Board to excavate the ship. And that work was carried out during the summers of 1986-1992. Over 5,750 finds were registered, most porcelain. This represented approximately 10% of the original cargo (the old manifest still exists).

It was during these excavations that interest in rebuilding the old cargo ship began to surface. And in 1995 the laying of the keel of the GÖTHEBORG III was celebrated.

And it was in building of the keel that oak played its most critical role.

One of the main problems in the reconstruction project quickly became apparent: people don’t build big ships out of wood anymore. And much of the knowledge in how to do so was no longer around. The new shipbuilders had to relearn how to use 18^th century methods. One of these methods involved the use of a  forty-foot steam box used to bend oak planks to the needed shape. (Use of a steam box was much better than the very old method of just heating a plank over an open fire).

First the “right” trees had to be selected from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. Then the planks were cut. A four-inch plank would take four hours in the box before it was ready to bend. And even then, the shipbuilders had only 15-20 minutes in which to work with it. And if there had been an invisible fault in the wood it could crack and a new plank would have to be made.

A team of eight could only bend one or two planks a day. Hundreds had to be made. So it is no surprise that it took over two years for the hull to be completed.

Forty million dollars  and eleven years later the new (and improved) Gotheborg launched on 6 June 2003.

Between 2005 and 2007 with a crew of 80 it made its first voyage to Shanghai. Since then it has also visited many European ports.

For further information see: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/18th-century-steam-boxes-gotheborg-ship and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6theborg_(ship)

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