Keel (shipbuilding)

“ A long keel is made up of several pieces of square timber, with their ends shaped into scarfs, an overlapping and interlocking arrangement of great strength. The foremost keel piece is scarfed into the stem, which is the fore-end of the vessel's bow. The aftermost keel piece joins the stern-post, on which the rudder hangs. Elm makes a good keel, especially with oak for stem and stern-post.
The frame, to pursue our simile, is to the ship what ribs are to our bodies. In the same way the planking is the skin. The frame, or ribs, determines the vessel's form. ”

“ Everything in naval architecture springs from and is related to the keel. 'Laying the keel' means beginning the ship in the only possible way, and 'two keels to one' is an expression which every one understands as meaning a naval preponderance in that proportion. The keel is to the ribs of a ship exactly what the backbone is to the ribs of a man, and any craft built up from a keel, no matter how small and simple it may be, belongs to the third and apparently final type of craft, which is as far ahead of the canoe type as that is ahead of the dug-out, raft, and log. ”

“ On trial, it was found that the little craft was too quick on her helm—a quality which, however useful in racing vessels, is undesirable in a single-handed boat, where the operation of getting aft the sheets when going about naturally requires somewhat more time than it does when the crew is composed of more than one hand. In order to remedy this defect a deep oak keel has been fixed outside the lead keel, and has to a considerable extent answered its purpose. It has also added immensely to the boat's stiffness; and it is blowing very hard indeed when a reef requires to be taken down. ”

“ The keel consists of two heavy American elm logs 14 inches square; but, as has been mentioned, so built in that only 3 inches protrude below the outer planking. The sides of the hull are rounded downward to the keel, so that a transverse section at the midship frame reminds one forcibly of half a cocoanut cut in two. The higher the ship is lifted out of the water, the heavier does she, of course, become, and the greater her pressure on the ice, but for the above reason the easier also does it become for the ice to lift. ”

“ I prefer to be original, but at the same time in the interests of my crew I do not hesitate to adopt well-established devices. To each of the three sections of this vessel is fixed a detachable iron keel. The bolts are secured on the keelson by a single yet effective looking device. One thrust of a lever and a section of this keel is dropped. Should a compartment be half full of water there is sufficient buoyancy gained by the release of this dead-weight to lift the vessel to the surface. ”

“ It comes—and fair at last, and, rushing forward with augmenting speed, the gallant vessel disparts the sparkling waters, and the keel cleaves the wave that keel never cleft before; and objects fade, and objects rise, while, "like a thing of life," the good ship hurries on. ”

“ The ship, now distant not more than half a mile, came surging on, with her broad expanse of canvas fully distended by the following gale, and straining at the stout spars and tough hemp rigging as though it would tear the very masts themselves out of the hull and come flying down to leeward like cobwebs before a summer breeze; or as though, when the ship rose upon the ridge of a sea, lifting her fore-foot and some forty feet of her keel clear out of the water, she would take flight, and, leaving the sea altogether, soar away upon her canvas pinions like a startled sea-fowl. ”

“ In the interest of lightness there is no ’tween-deck planking, no interior fittings; and the spars and rigging are made as light as possible.
The keel, false keel and keelsons are of oak, and form a rigid backbone to the ship six feet in height. The stem and rudder and propeller posts also are of massive oak timbers, the former having a depth on the ship’s axis of seven to ten feet, to take the blows when ramming ice. ”

“ It is the beam which runs along the bottom of a boat or ship from one end to the other. In large ships the keel consists of several pieces joined together. Its uses are, to cause the ship to preserve a direct course in its passage through the water; to check the leeway which every vessel has a tendency to make; and to moderate the rolling motion. The keel is also the ground-work, or foundation, on which the whole superstructure is reared, and is, therefore, immensely strong and solid. The best wood for keels is teak, as it is not liable to split. ”

“ The keel in the wooden construction is sided to a certain proportion to the beam of the vessel, the pieces composing it being generally connected by a plain scarf, the stem carrying the form up forward being hook-scarfed to the forward end of the keel and supported by the timbers of the deadwood and apron, forming a solid mass at the fore-foot. ”

“ Each keel carries about twenty tons of coal, the larger masses being piled up in the vessel, but smaller coal is carried in tubs, each keel having about eight tubs. The keels are antique-looking craft, such as were probably used in the earliest days of our history. They are propelled by large oars. The keel man, commencing at the bow, presses the oar before him, until he reaches the after part of the boat; he then hurries back to the bow, and again puts down his oar. The keel men are a fine hardy race. ”

“ Sliding keels must weaken a vessel in the most essential part – her keel; for it may be called the back-bone of a vessel; and unless animals had two instead of one, it is most likely that one keel is more compact, and stronger than two. Sliding keels take up part of the stowage of a ship or vessel ”

“ In order to avoid taking the keel out of the log, and to have all the depth possible, they put on a false keel of oak; as the edge was too thin to put on row-locks, they fastened cleats on the inside, and put flat thole-pins in between them and the side, which looked neat, and were strong enough for so light, easy-going a craft, that was intended for sailing rather than carrying ”

“ And so, too, when a ship is built, the keel does not lay itself, neither does the mast erect itself in the centre, nor do all the other timbers take up their positions casually and by their own motion. ”

“ Already the far-reaching chaos of scaffolding had run up eight yards, with stringers and frames to a like level. There were no keel-blocks, for there was no keel—or rather, the keel was a circular plate a yard in diameter, resting on a single block, the shape of the structure to be a perfect square, along the sides of which four battleships might lie like toy-boats: the bottom, from circular keel to upward bend, having the same shape as a battleship's seen in midship section, only with four faces instead of two. ”

“ The keel, or backbone, is made of one piece, 4x6 inches, where the mast rests on it, and tapers to 4 inches square at the forward end, and 4x5 inches at the rear or stern. The next piece is the runner plank. This runs at right angles to the keel and is fastened to it in center with an iron strap that goes up each side and over top of keel, and has the ends bent out so bolts can be put through the runner plank. This strap should be bolted to the keel also. The runner plank should be to inches wide and 2 1-2 inches thick in center, and taper down to 2 inches at the outer ends. ”

“ Thus, they are equipped with wheels, or buffers, on which they can roll along the bottom of the ocean or bay. In the bow is an air-tight compartment with an opening in the bottom through which a diver can emerge and work on wreckage, or laying and disconnecting mines. These boats have also a safety device in the form of a detachable keel weighing several tons. In case of accident, when it might otherwise be impossible to rise to the surface, this keel can be detached simply by pulling a lever, thus giving the boat sufficient buoyancy to rise to the surface. ”

“ She is sharp at both ends with high stem and stern posts; 77 feet long, as much as 10 feet 10 inches across her midships, she was clinker-built of eleven oak planks. The keel is an inch deep and eight inches thick, being broad at the middle but diminishing gradually toward the sternpost. The planks were fastened with large iron nails and caulked, as was the custom, with some woollen stuff and pitch. She had twenty-eight oars, was flat-bottomed, and her date has been estimated as about the middle of the third century of our era. ”

“ Provide the forward end of keel with a square strap and run side stays to forward sides or runner plank, to prevent keel from bending.
When boring holes through the runners see that they clear the runner plank about 3-4 of an inch, and so that they swing freely. Where rudder post passes through keel have an iron plate put on top of keel, also under body of boat for post to pass through. ”

“ Quick turning has always been a necessity with the yachts of the Broads, and this has been attained by the help of three peculiarities—a keel short for the length of the boat, a rudder so large as to be in reality a movable keel or leeboard, and an enormous jib, which is the only head-sail. ”

“ The short keel, not sufficiently supported in a head sea must have made the vessel pitch tremendously, and one object of the beakhead and great forward rake was to shatter the seas and prevent them breaking on board. Probably these ships were but little worse sailers than the ordinary merchantmen of the beginning of this century, at least before the wind. They could not sail on the wind within at least eight points; fore and aft sails were not yet known, and the top-hamper of lofty sides and built up poop and forecastle levered the vessel off to leeward. ”

“ In 1637 was laid the keel of the Royal Sovereign, of 128 feet, the first three-decked ship built for the Royal Navy. From the fore-end of the beak-head to the after-end of the stern she measured 232 feet, and she had a beam of 48 feet, while from the bottom of the keel to the top of the stern-lantern she measured 76 feet. ”

“ Many yachts have come to try their speed with the Norfolk boats, but generally having greater displacement have come off second-best, although possibly better craft in more open waters. The old type is a flat-bottomed boat with a deep keel spiked on to it; the angle between the keel and the hull is filled in with more or less graceful curves, but the principle is the same in the most successful of the modern racing yachts, as it was in the older craft: a beamy, flat hull and a comparatively deep keel. ”

“ She has no centreboard, but a 9-in. wooden false keel, deepest in the middle, and tapering to nothing at the ends, is screwed on to her keel. She carries a standing lug mainsail, and a foresail. The peak of her lugsail is cut very high, and her mast, yard, and boom are very light and workmanlike. Her side and ends are less high out of the water, (p. 208) and she is in every way a smaller boat than the 'Black Pearl's' cutter, and probably less of a boat in a sea-way: but she can sail round the latter in a light wind, and in a strong one is very nearly as fast, and stands up like a stake. ”

“ Keel boats are roomier than those with centerboards for there is no space occupied by the centerboard and its case; they are less liable to capsize, and if made with the same proportions as centerboard boats they are as dry, seaworthy and handy. As a rule, however, the keel craft are much narrower and deeper than those equipped with centerboards and many of them are almost like a plank set on edge. ”

“ The sixteen holes upon the deck and under the keel, through which the cables passed, had been hooped round by sawing. The planking had been sawed, the timber cut with the hatchet, the ironwork with a file, the sheathing with the chisel. The part of the keel immediately under the machinery was cut squarewise, and ready to descend with it while still supporting it. All this frightful swinging mass was held only by one chain, which was itself only kept in position by a filed notch. At this stage, in such a labour and so near its completion, haste is prudence. ”

“ RABBET, or Rebate. An angular incision cut longitudinally in a piece of timber, to receive the ends of a number of planks, to be securely fastened therein. Thus the ends of the lower planks of a ship's bottom terminate upon the stem afore, and on the stern-post abaft. The surface of the garboard streak, whose edge is let into the keel, is in the same manner level with the side of the keel at the extremities of the vessel. They are therefore termed stem, stern, or keel rabbets.
RACE. Strong currents producing overfalls, dangerous to small craft. ”

“ The sinking of a steamer with a multitude of partitions is effected by its gradually listing more and more on the side in which the water is penetrating, until it capsizes completely and founders with the keel uppermost. A ship can also roll over on its side as it plunges downwards with stem or stern erect. ”

“ The leverage of the outside ballast is so enormous that the yacht becomes practically uncapsizable. But an excessive weight of lead on the keel will strain a vessel in rough water, she will recover herself with a quick jerk after heeling over to a puff, and her every motion will be violent. ”

“ Some boats are built in a sort of combination keel and centerboard method, in which a moderate keel is provided and a centerboard is used as well, while within comparatively recent years the fin-keel type of boat has been evolved. In these the hull is proportioned like that of a centerboard boat but the keel is merely a large fin or sheet of metal carrying a mass of lead or iron at its lower edge. All things being equal, the best boat for ordinary use is the centerboard type and for small boats, or the amateur’s use, they are far superior to keel boats of any sort. ”