Cost to build a napoleonic era ship of the line?
Discussion
I'd suggest that the skills do still exist, but are significantly rarer, and thus more expensive, and the project will take much much longer.
Quick googling says that an 1814 first rate cost $0.5M then, which is roughly $20M canadian today. And that's when skills were available, and good timber was common (if not cheap).
Add to that the crew ratio, and it's probably not worth thinking about. Better to buy that one they built for Hornblower, no?
Quick googling says that an 1814 first rate cost $0.5M then, which is roughly $20M canadian today. And that's when skills were available, and good timber was common (if not cheap).
Add to that the crew ratio, and it's probably not worth thinking about. Better to buy that one they built for Hornblower, no?
Oddly enough I have built a third rate 74-gun ship of the line.
You can see it at www.sanjuannepomuceno.co.uk
You can see it at www.sanjuannepomuceno.co.uk
Simpo Two said:
Oddly enough I have built a third rate 74-gun ship of the line.
You can see it at www.sanjuannepomuceno.co.uk
IFLPH. Fourth post!You can see it at www.sanjuannepomuceno.co.uk
HMS Rose (now HMS Surprise after it's role in Master and Commander) and The Grand Turk (now Étoile du Roy in France) I think are both built I believe with a more modern thought on materials, as in not seasoned oak. HMS Victory for example was to be left for 12months for the frame to season, which actually turned into 6 years before it was finished. Grand Turk was built much quicker with Iroko (African teak) planking on mahogany frames. So cost of build will be less than original build.
One way of doing it is like the full size recreation of the Santísima Trinidad, the Spanish 1st rate ship of the line that had 130 guns, and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar. They did it on the cheap though by refitting a modern merchant ship
Website - http://www.eltrinidad.es/idiomas/ingles/index.php
It's like a stone clad council house.
But it's a cheap option
One way of doing it is like the full size recreation of the Santísima Trinidad, the Spanish 1st rate ship of the line that had 130 guns, and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar. They did it on the cheap though by refitting a modern merchant ship
Website - http://www.eltrinidad.es/idiomas/ingles/index.php
It's like a stone clad council house.
But it's a cheap option
A hell of a lot, oak would be ruinously expensive, but yes it could be done.
Heres a link to some boat building materials (and prices) if you fancy a stab in the dark using other wood.
http://www.robbins.co.uk/pdf/Marine_Pricelist.pdf
Heres a link to some boat building materials (and prices) if you fancy a stab in the dark using other wood.
http://www.robbins.co.uk/pdf/Marine_Pricelist.pdf
Ask these fellers how much their 55ft boat will cost - a 74 will be 3 times longer and 2 decks deeper, so pick a suitable multiplier and then add some!
http://www.cockwells.co.uk/sailing-yachts/merlin
http://www.cockwells.co.uk/sailing-yachts/merlin
plasticpig said:
Idle pondering. If I wanted to have say a 74 gun third rate ship of the line built today how much would it cost? Do the skills still exist in the UK to build one today?
You could always ask the Royal Navy how much it costs to build a 100 gun 1st rate as they've rebuilt HMS Trigger's Broom over the years 
Ps. Victory has also had oak replaced with African teak (Iroko).
Ask the French.
They recently built a replica of the Hermione, an 18th century frigate. I can't remember how many oak trees were needed for the project but it was thousands - whole forest-loads.
It cost 20 million Euro.
This was only a 26 gun frigate, a ship-of-the-line would have been a much bigger proposition.
http://www.hermione.com/en/the-hermione-project/th...
They recently built a replica of the Hermione, an 18th century frigate. I can't remember how many oak trees were needed for the project but it was thousands - whole forest-loads.
It cost 20 million Euro.
This was only a 26 gun frigate, a ship-of-the-line would have been a much bigger proposition.
http://www.hermione.com/en/the-hermione-project/th...
Edited by Ayahuasca on Wednesday 17th April 19:51
Edited by Ayahuasca on Wednesday 17th April 19:53
FourWheelDrift said:
HMS Rose (now HMS Surprise after it's role in Master and Commander) and The Grand Turk (now Étoile du Roy in France) I think are both built I believe with a more modern thought on materials, as in not seasoned oak. HMS Victory for example was to be left for 12months for the frame to season, which actually turned into 6 years before it was finished. Grand Turk was built much quicker with Iroko (African teak) planking on mahogany frames. So cost of build will be less than original build.
One way of doing it is like the full size recreation of the Santísima Trinidad, the Spanish 1st rate ship of the line that had 130 guns, and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar. They did it on the cheap though by refitting a modern merchant ship
Website - http://www.eltrinidad.es/idiomas/ingles/index.php
It's like a stone clad council house.
But it's a cheap option
That looks awful.One way of doing it is like the full size recreation of the Santísima Trinidad, the Spanish 1st rate ship of the line that had 130 guns, and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar. They did it on the cheap though by refitting a modern merchant ship
Website - http://www.eltrinidad.es/idiomas/ingles/index.php
It's like a stone clad council house.
But it's a cheap option
Sink the f
ker.GBP 14.3 Million for this one built in the UK between 1996 - 2000.
Nice wooden ship, unfortunately we blew the budget and had to bin the guns, but we're deadly accurate with water balloons.
A few PH'ers will recall this day a couple of years back.
(pic courtesy of Estoril, PH Smiley generously donated by Ali Kat)
Nice wooden ship, unfortunately we blew the budget and had to bin the guns, but we're deadly accurate with water balloons.
A few PH'ers will recall this day a couple of years back.
(pic courtesy of Estoril, PH Smiley generously donated by Ali Kat)
Ayahuasca said:
Ask the French.
They recently built a replica of the Hermione, an 18th century frigate. I can't remember how many oak trees were needed for the project but it was thousands - whole forest-loads.
It cost 20 million Euro.
Would have been a damn sight cheaper if they had purchased the ex-French 74 gun 3rd rate Duguay-Trouin which was at the Battle of Trafalgar but captured at the battle of Cape Ortegal and rentered Royal Navy service as the HMS Implacable. It survived, much like Victory well into the 20th century when it was saved as a boys training ship until WWII but then in 1949 it was deemed to expensive to maintain and was towed out to sea and scuttled, it was offered to the French but they didn't want it.They recently built a replica of the Hermione, an 18th century frigate. I can't remember how many oak trees were needed for the project but it was thousands - whole forest-loads.
It cost 20 million Euro.
http://hmsbd.free.fr/implacable/implacable.htm
We had our own 74 gun ship saved, HMS Wellesley, that is until 1940 when ze Germans bombed it, damaged it beyond economical repair and it was broken up. It was renamed Cornwall later in it's career.
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