THE GLOBAL SCHOONER – Origins, Development, Design and Construction – 1695-1845
 By Karl Heinz Marquardt
Conway Maritime Press, 2003, London
Naval Institute Press, USA
10”x12”, hardcover, 239 pages

Extensive photographs, illustrations, appendix, index For all ship modelers and lovers of fine ships, this book is a must have. The book was first seen and immediately purchased at the San Diego Maritime Museum store on the Berkeley. The material covered in the book pertains mainly to schooners as indicated in the title.

The first chapter deals with an explanation of the origin of the schooner. He
offers pretty conclusive evidence that the schooner was in existence long before the ship actually became known as a “schooner”. The main model and plans used to prove the existence of the schooner before the American claim, which was in 1713, is the model of the HMS Royal Transport, a model of which was given to the Tsar in 1695. The model is currently housed in the Central Naval Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. There are pictures of the model and plans drawn of the model. The schooner went on to be developed in both Europe and America.

The second chapter discusses yachts, Navy sloops and Privateers, many of which were schooners. Sloop Ferret is drawn based on a draught at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Other ships are also drawn, one of which is the Sultana. There are several plans by Chapman. There are French, Swedish, English, American and other countries represented by plans of schooners.

Chapter three goes on to discuss schooners that were primarily coastguard ships
and gunboats. The schooner Halifax is drawn as part of this category. Many of these plans that are drawn include the body plan as well as the rigging plan. Some of the
examples he uses also include actual models of the schooner that he built. Of particular interest to me at this time is the drawing of a traversing sledge carriage on pivotal skids which might be of interest for my current project of the schooner Jefferson Davis. He has a lot of diagrams and drawings of an American fore-and-aft schooner-rigged gunboat of 1805.

The next chapter deals with schooner Merchantmen and Slavers. Two ships of
particular interest are the schooner Chaleur and the “schooner for Port Jackson” There is, along with the drawings, a model of the latter which shows many details of this ship – it would be interesting to compare it with the scratch built model done by our SMA member in Australia.

Then we get into the real detail, as chapter five deals with the Construction and
Fitting of schooners. The author goes into great detail showing the methods of
construction of the keel, deadwood, stem, sternpost, wing-transom, counter-timbers, frames, futtocks, cant-frames, keelson, stemson, outside planking, sheathing, inner planking, spirketting, scuppers, riders, clamps, deck framework, deck planking, binding strakes, king planks, hatches, grating, bitts, Head, Rudder, and much more. The detail he goes into and the construction methods he brings to light (at least for me) was surprising.

Chapter six goes into a complete and through rendering of the Masting and
Riggins of the schooner type. If you are going to build a model of a schooner, you can not go far wrong to read this chapter to gain all you need to know to complete your masting, standing and running rigging. Also included in this chapter is details on the sails for these ships – everything you wanted to know.

The last chapter deals with everything else for the schooner, namely anchors, boats, and other furniture including cannon. Again, a detail shown of the turntable skid carriage for a cannon is of great interest to me and is the first place I have ever found anything on this particular item outside of a written description in Chapelle. There follows several appendices on timber dimensions between 1768 and 1858, mast and spar dimensions for various countries including the U.S. Navy, rigging dimensions, and “furniture” dimensions which include anchors, boats, and even oars. I think the price for the book was $49.95 from the U.S. Naval Institute and is also available at the San Diego Maritime Museum store (you get a 10% discount if you are a member of the museum.)

I strongly recommend this book to all ship modelers who may be in any way
interested in schooners. The construction information in the book is well documented and complete. I would rank it alongside such books as “The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600-1815” by Lavery, “Historic Ship Models” by Mondfeld, “The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1625-1860” by Lees, “The Baltimore Clipper” by Chapelle, and others.