Crane

[Eddy Matthews]

Hi all,

The Sir William Wallace paddle ferry I'm building had a crane that was used to launch/recover the lifeboat on the forward deck, but the drawings don't really give me much of an idea of how it looked, and I'd like to make a reasonable representation of it....

Does anyone have a photo that shows the crane, or can offer advice on the type of thing that was fitted to ships in the 1940's/50's?

Any help would be very welcome!

Regards
Eddy

[Stuart Badger]

hi Eddy

I spent an idle hour or two looking for photos. From what I can see the 'crane' was a simple davit, admittedly with a fairly large overhang.

have a look at these links (I expect you have them already though)

http://www.megoran.fsworld.co.uk/Forth%20Ferries.htm

http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-121-841-C

http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_a/0_around_edinburgh_-_firth_of_forth_-_ferry_boats_queensferry.htm

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks Stuart,

The other boats in the fleet all carried one lifeboat which did indeed use normal curved davits, but Sir William Wallace carried two lifeboats, one was fitted with curved davits, but the other had a crane to lift it.... Sadly there are very few photos of the SWW as it only ran for a relatively short period compared to the other boats

Regards
Eddy

[Stuart Badger]

Well - I found this - blurry but seems to suggest a lattice structure jib.

stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

You could be right there Stuart, I do hope not though - Not with my terrible soldering abilities!

Eddy

[Stuart Badger]

I suggest you visit your local model railway shop and ask to look at plastic railway signal kits. They are nearly ALL lattice work. I often use bits of them to make cranes and girdery 'bits'!

Stuart

[Stuart Badger]

I think I may have some good news Eddy! I found this picture - the crane looks like a simple hydraulic box arm crane. (Look on the middle left)

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks heavens for that Stuart!! 

Now all I need is a better picture to work from, can anyone help with that? Even if it's from a different boat, I assume they were fairly standard things?

Regards
Eddy

[Stuart Badger]

Try this.

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

That's superb Stuart, thankyou...

Regards
Eddy

[djcf]

Hi Eddy
From what I can see from these photos the crane (jib) looks quite similar in size and shape to "Wellin" type davits like the Waverley's original ones, & Maid of the Loch, amongst others had them also. Looks like the SWW crane may work the same method, with a hydraulic ram at the back instead of the hand operated screw mechanism of the clyde paddlers. I have a book "Steamers of the Forth" I can dig it out of storage to check for pics tomorrow

Clark

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks Clark,

If you can come up with anything conclusive I'd appreciate it....

Regards
Eddy

[djcf]

Hi Eddy
Sorry havn't had time to look out that book today, will get on it tomorrow....hopefully there will be some useful pics.
If you go to  www.flickr.com  and type in "Sir William Wallace ferry" in the search box, it gives you 1 picture of the vessel, shows how the lifeboat is rigged to the davit

Clark

[djcf]

Hi Eddy, I had a look in my "steamers of the Forth" book, unfortunately no pics of the davit/crane area.... have included this pic in case it helps you.
Maybe the davit is just a hand operated version rather than hydraulic... eg as on Waverley.

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks Clark,

The photo does show a couple of items that I'd missed on the plans.......

Regards
Eddy