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 Rank: Master       Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 1,400 Points: 4,690 Location: Beaminster, Dorset
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I am sure many people know this already, but I didn't. I thought the Red Gun Carriages were part of the SOTS bling, but I was reading Milton Roth's book on boat modelling, where he says that it was traditional for warships of this period to have Red Interior Bulwarks (which I had also noticed in the pictures of the SOTS) and that this spread to Gun Carriages because of the belief that they wouldn't show blood spilt during battle by the Gun crews. He also points out the absurdity of this, as decks were scrubbed (holystoned) to a near white colour.
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 Rank: Super-Elite   Groups: Registered
Joined: 04/04/2010 Posts: 3,955 Points: 11,809 Location: uk
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hi court,that is a myth I'm afraid,it was what the ab sailors said to the newly pressed men to wind them up,the painting was solely at the choice of the captain and what was available at the time,the bo'son(boatswain)was usually left in charge of the paint stores. Current builds: SotS, USS Consitution, San Felipe, D51 loco, HMS Surprise, RB7, Arab Dhow, Jotika HMS Victory Completed builds: HMS Pickel, Thermopylae, Mississipi river boat, Mary Rose, Cutty Sark, San Francisco II, HMS Victory x5, Titanic Lifeboat, Panart HMS Victory Launch, Hachette Titanic, Virginia Schooner, Endeavour Longboat. http://www.model-space.com/gb/
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Rank: Master Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 1,400 Points: 4,690 Location: Beaminster, Dorset
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Hi Karl, Surely the Ables couldn't wind up the Landmen unless the Carriages/Bulwarks were painted Red. Roth does make it clear that it wasn't a practical solution because of the decks, where most of the blood would have ended up. He does seem to know his stuff and is quite a stickler for the correct period detail on models, there's lots of interesting stuff on the ornamentation of barrels, the use of iron wheels etc. I like the story anyway and although, as you say, practicality ruled on a real working ship. However the SOTS was far from a practical ship at her launch and was much more of a statement and showpiece, therefore things would have been done to order rather than at the Captain or Bo'suns whim.
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 Rank: Amateur Level 1 Groups: Registered
Joined: 09/09/2012 Posts: 32 Points: 108 Location: London
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Thats some really interesting information. Since issue one the red carriages have always struck me as odd but I have been faithful to the build instructions. Its good to know there is some historical accuracy to this. However I would believe that the choice of the colour red was probably just some benign action and overtime a myth has developed around this. Its similar in a way to how the navy say the reason they slide their feet when they come to attention is a tradition from the age of wooden ships as they were worried that if they stomped their feet like the army they may damage the planking. When you think about this, this too also doesn't make sense because if the navy were building ships whose decks could be damaged merely by stomping feet I'd hate to imagine what someone dropping a cannonball might do to the ship.
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