Welcome to You Ask Andy

Duane Shelton, age 15, of Des Moines, Iowa for her question:

How do they get those little ships into bottles?

These impossible creations hold us spellbound. As a rule, the model ship is large enough to occupy most of the available space inside the bottle. True, it looks beautiful there, under its curved glass walls. However, before we have time to lose ourselves in admiration, we notice that the only opening to the bottle is a narrow neck. Obviously that handsome model ship did not get inside under full sail. Its lofty rigging is much too tall to squeeze through the bottleneck    or so it seems.

These bewildering objects are built by hobbyists who like to enchant the public  ¬and possibly baffle us a bit. They were made first by crewmen of old sailing ships. These sailors loved and trusted their handsome ships with deep devotion. On long voyages there was time to spare and their talented hands itched to be busy. It was natural to carve and whittle models of their beloved ships. However, the rigging was done in fine detail and tended to be rather fragile. When the ship was tossed by stormy gales, the delicate work of art most likely got smashed to fragments.

Perhaps this is why the sea going makers of ship models invented a way to protect their precious creations. In any case, they took to fitting their model ships in bottles and sealing the bottles with corks. A corked bottle might roll around during a storm, but only a fierce bash would shatter it.

To create such a masterpiece, a sailor carved the hull of his model, making sure that it was no wider than the mouth of the chosen bottle. He added the tall rigging, the masts and spars, the furled sails and used fine threads to copy the ropes.: The tallest mast was no longer than the width inside the bottle's bulge. The model was completed, painted and checked outside the bottle.

Now for the impossible part of the project. A cunning system of string was threaded through the tall rigging. Then the masts and spars and rigging were pressed fairly flat, down on the deck. Next, with very tender care, the compressed model was pushed through the opening and down the bottle neck. When the whole thing was inside, it was maneuvered into position. Then the cunning string was pulled. Gently the tall masts stood upright, with all their delicate rigging in place.

Those clever skills were handed down through the years. Nowadays, hobbyists  have better adhesives and other modern materials to make their work easier. But like the sailors of yore, they still require well practiced fingers and oceans of patience. And to get a model ship into a bottle, they still use the old technique to press down the rigging and squeeze the masterpiece through the narrow bottleneck.

No doubt the skills survived because the building of model vessels was, and still is, more than a mere hobby. In olden days, designers made small models and shipyards copied them to build full scale, ocean going sailing ships. We live in an age of computers, blueprints and drawing boards. But the builders usually study a small model of the design, both before and during construction. The creation of these model ships, spacecraft and other modern vessels is still far more than a hobby.

 

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