Delving deeply at the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre ... again!

Yesterday Sue and I returned to the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre on yet another of their 'Delve Deeper' tours ... this time to see how they display, store, and conserve their huge collection of clocks.

We were met by the wonderfully-titled 'Curator of Time’ (very Whovian!), Emily Akkermans, who began by explaining the difference between the solar and sidereal day and the importance of the development of the chronograph to astronomy and navigation. She then took us into one of the storage buildings, where a number of important examples of chronographs and associated devices were on show.

These included the special alarm clock used by John Pond’s assistant to take regular sightings of particular stars (John Pond was Astronomer Royal from 1811 to 1836) and chronometers that were carried on some of the most important scientific voyages undertaken during the nineteenth century.

The box on the left of this photograph is the remains of one of the boxed chronometers taken on the famous Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage. The Museum does not have a key to open the box and the Curator is unsure how complete the contents are ... but hopefully its secrets will be revealed one day.

Although described as 'useless' in the records, this chronometer was good enough to be used within the Royal Observatory to check other chronometers against each other. Its was originally housed in an octagonal box, the remains of which can still be seen. It is thought that it was used during John Pond's tenure as Astronomer Royal.

The final exhibit we were shown was part of the electro-magnetic clock that both released the Greenwich Time Ball and transmitted the correct and accurate time to the various railway companies with termini in London, thus leading to the use of Greenwich Mean Time by the railways on their timetables. This in turn led to the widespread use of GMT or ‘railway time’ across the United Kingdom.

The hourly signal relay from the electro-magnetic clock system.

The hourly signal relay contains some parts that are made of silk and gutta-percha. In order to preserve these, this object is not on public display.

A contemporary drawing of the time signal apparatus of which the hourly signal relay formed part. IT can be seen at the tope left-hand side of the drawing.

The next of these tours will look at the storage and preservation of paper artefacts, and Sue and I hope to go on it.

A busy day ... and there's more to come!

I had an interesting day yesterday. I was due to have an online consultation with a nurse from the Colorectal Unit at University Hospital, Lewisham, today at 1.30pm, but had a missed phone call on my mobile phone from them early yesterday morning. (For some reason they seem to think that I don't go anywhere without it. This may be true for some people, but I tend to leave mine on the hall table when I am at home and don't carry it around with me unless I am going out ... hence the fact that I didn't hear it ringing.)

I tried to return their call but after a long wait in a queue ('Your call is important to us; please hold ' ... whilst we play you appalling music) my call was put through to the Oncology Department at the wrong hospital (the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich). I got cut off when they tried to divert my call to the right department and I had to rejoin the queue … and when I did finally get through to the right department in the right hospital (University Hospital, Lewisham), it turned out that they wanted to move my appointment from today to yesterday because the nurse who had been overseeing my progress since the removal of part of my colon and the resultant colostomy had moved to a new job. I agreed and sent a somewhat nebulous time for the new appointment from the previous 11.30am to 'sometime this afternoon'.

I’d just put the phone down when I got another call from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital … but this time it was from the Sleep Unit. Apparently, my C-PAP machine isn’t feeding data back to them via 4G and I was asked if I could take it in today at 10.00am for them to check what’s wrong. No sooner had they hung up, but they called me back. They’d made a mistake, and could I bring it in at 1.30pm today … the time when I should have been having my online consultation with the colorectal nurse!

I did manage to speak to the colorectal nurse at 2.00pm, who was very happy with my progress … and it appears that she is arranging for me to have yet another blood test and CT scan next month or possibly the month afterwards. Bearing in mind that I had a blood test last week and have another due next week, my already bruised arm will soon look like that of a fulltime 'recreational' drug abuser!

In the midst of all of the above, I had to take Sue to the dentist to have a new cap put on a tooth at 1.30pm! Whoever said that when I retired, I'd be able to sit down and put my feet up all day was mightily wrong!

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The one positive thing that did happen yesterday and that was not health-related was that Gary Sheffield and I managed to fight the final battle of the Franco-Prussian War of 1810, and I shall be writing a battle report about what happened at some point over the next few days.

Soldiers of the Queen (SOTQ): Issue 185

The Winter 2022/23 issue of the Victorian Military Society's SOTQ (Soldiers of the Queen) arrived in the post a couple of days ago, and as usual, it contains a very interesting selection of articles on a wide variety of subjects.

The articles included in this issue are:

• The Courtier and the Queen: Sir John McNeil, V.C. and the Tofrek Controversy by Prof. Ian F W Beckett
• Three Butlers, a Book and Burma 1824-1926 by David Howell
• The Diehards at Detling by Tim Rose
• An African Adventure: The 2/Yorkshire Regiment in Somaliland& by John Sly
• The Candia Massacre, 1898; William Sidney Churchill and the search for a scapegoat by Mick McTiernan
• Book Reviews by Dr Roger T Stearn, Dr Linda Parker, and Dr Roger Atwood
• Officers of the Victorian Military Society

This issue contained the usual mix of interesting articles, and I wish that some of the wargamer magazines that I sometimes read could provide a similar diet of stimulating and original reading.

The cost of membership of the Victorian Military Society (UK: £25.00 and Overseas: £30.00) is well worth it.

VCOW2023

Over the past three days I have been taking part in VCOW2023. (VCOW is the Virtual Conference of Wargamers and it is held online in February each year. Attendance is restricted to members of Wargame Developments.)

The sessions I attended included:

• Friday
• 4.30pm to 5.30pm: Pearl Harbour – Virtual Battlefield Tour
• 7.00pm to 7.15pm: Welcome & Introduction
• 7.15pm to 8.15pm: Kingmaker II – The Resurrection
• Saturday
• 10.15am to 11.45am: Northamptonshire’s Country Houses in the Civil War
• 2.30pm to 4.00pm: Omdurman to Sarajevo – Wargaming the period 1898 to 1914
• Sunday
• 11.40am to 12.40pm: Strategic Wargames in the Imperial Russian Navy
• 12.40pm to 1.00pm: Conference Closes

Lots of interesting sessions, and I came away with all sorts of ideas and inspiration for new projects.

My model flatiron gunboats

In response to my ongoing series of blog posts about flatiron gunboats, Kev Robertson (who is one of my very regular blog readers) has built a wonderful model of one for one of his imagi-nation navies.

As a result, I decided to share a couple of photographs of flatiron gunboats that I have built and used over the years. The first was converted from the kit of a model tug that was originally intended to be used on a model railways layout ...

... and the second was made from scratch using FIMO modelling clay.

Both have done good service on my tabletop over the years and are on show in one of my display cabinets. The latter would certainly fit in well with my current (but temporarily stalled) Belle Époque project, although I may need to build some more at some time as I don't want any of my navies to have a flatiron gunboat gap!

My 10cm x 10cm terrain squares

Yesterday I acquired the final element of my new 10cm x 10cm terrain square system, a 50cm x 50cm picture frame! I bought this to use as a frame for my battle board when I am using my terrain squares. It makes the whole thing look a lot neater and stops the squares from moving about during a game.

As I am currently writing a section for the next PORTABLE WARGAME COMPENDIUM about how I made my terrain squares (Yes, I have begun work on it!), I decided to design a 5 x 5 battlefield to se what it will look like.

I designed it on my computer ...

... and then set it out on my wargame table.

I must admit that I am rather pleased with the end result and can see myself making further one-off terrain squares to add to this system in due course.

Marc Pavone's experiments with 3D printing: Food for thought?

Marc Pavone is one of the stalwart supporters and users of my PORTABLE WARGAME. He regularly contributes to the FaceBook page as well as to the Compendium.

He recently contacted me about his experiments with 3D printing, and I was so impressed that I asked him if I could feature some of his prints on my blog, along with some explanatory text by him.

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I use a ToyBox brand printer; it's geared towards children, so quality is sacrificed for speed and ease of use. Despite the limitations I've managed to do quite a bit. Everything is made up of very basic shapes and the results are a bit rough as the closeups show. They also illustrate the limitations of an inexpensive 3D printer.

I started by simply trying to create a hex of the correct size, in this case 37mm. That was quick and easy so the next step was making a raised hill that I could place a figure on without it falling over.

This was also easy to do, so the next thing I tried was making a hill that wasn't a perfect hex. I did that by overlapping 4 truncated cones which left me with a flat space to put a mini on while also giving it a little slope so it's obvious that it's a hill.

The mountains came next and they're just overlapping cones. I made a few different ‘mountain ranges’ so there's a little variety. These were designed with the intention of making it difficult if not impossible to stand a figure on without them falling over, as I use the mountains as impassable terrain.

The last terrain I designed were the forts and forests. They are simply cubic walls with cylinders for the towers. The trickiest part to design was the arch for the gate since that tool is opaque in its implementation. The different design options don't change what it seems like they should, but I got it working. The layers of the print work to my advantage here since it gives a stacked masonry look. The forest hexes are cleverly designed, even if I say so myself. Three of the trees are the same height while the other four are of lower, varied heights. This allows me to stand a unit on top without it tipping or sliding off. Then I added domes as boulders and shrubs to complete the look. The unpainted fort on the left was an experiment in how detailed I could make it. I like the result, but it takes longer to print.

I then tried creating some 3D soldiers. They are almost entirely cylinders and cones, with a couple cubes thrown in to make the backpacks. I was surprised that I was able to include a nose on the face as well as a brim and decoration on the soldier's shako, in addition to his feet. The musket is still a tube, but notice in the second picture, the soldier has hands that are posed appropriately. The soldiers in the first picture are the simplest and were more about learning the design app than realism. They are about 1" tall and are shown front and back and are printed at 100%, 75% and 50% scale. The nice thing is scaling them is a matter of a couple clicks and it's done. The soldiers in the second picture are also 1" tall but I included the bedroll, backpack, nose, brim, decoration on the hat, rounded the shoulders, added hands and feet and the crossbelts so the body has some detail. Overall, they have a very Nutcracker look to them.

My last project was to create 37mm hex bases that I designed for use with paper minis. There is a raised unit number (1-6) on the back side for the player's reference and a raised triangle pointing in the direction of the unit's facing. After printing I had to clean out the slot a bit and then I used a black permanent marker to ink in the number and the facing arrow. The slot will very snugly hold a paper mini printed on card. I like to use Patrick Crusiau's paper minis for my games. They're cartoony without being silly and just accurate enough without being unusable in any game besides a Waterloo game.

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I was very impressed by Marc's experiments in 3D printing. It is something that I have considered doing but felt that it was probably beyond my level of competence to do, but Marc has demonstrated that with a bit of trial and error and some patience, anyone can design things that can be 3D printed and that will fulfill one's own wargaming requirements.

It has certainly given me something to think about, and with my birthday not far off, who knows if I'll buy myself a simple 3D printer as a birthday present to myself!

Flatiron Gunboats: The Scandinavian vessels

Soon after their introduction into Royal Navy service, the Danish and Norwegian Navies realised that the flatiron gunboat might provide them with cheap coastal defence vessels capable of defending the approaches to their major cities and ports. As a result, both the Danes and the Norwegians built their own flatiron gunboats, some of which saw very long naval and commercial service.

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DENMARK

Oresund-class

Their characteristics were:

• Displacement: 240 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 85ft 8in
• Beam: 26ft 2in
• Draught: 7ft 3in
• Propulsion: -
• Speed: 7.5 knots
• Complement: 30
• Armament: 1 x 10-inch RML gun; 4 x 1-pounder QF guns

Little is known about their service in the Danish Navy.

• Oresund: She was discarded in 1919.
• Store Belt: She was discarded in 1912.
• Lille Belt: She was rebuilt and rearmed in 1894 with 3 x 3-pounder QF guns and 4 x machine guns. She was discarded in 1919.

Moen

Her characteristics were:

• Displacement: 410 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 109ft
• Beam: -
• Draught: 8-
• Propulsion: -
• Speed: 9 knots
• Complement: -
• Armament: 1 x 10-inch RML gun; 2 x 10-pounder QF guns; 2 x 1-pounder QF guns

She was significantly bigger than the first three flatiron gunboats in the Danish Navy. Little is known about her service in the Danish Navy. She was discarded in 1901.

Falster

Her characteristics were:

• Displacement: 383 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 112ft 6in
• Beam: 29ft
• Draught: 8ft 7in
• Propulsion: -
• Speed: 10.5 knots
• Complement: 50
• Armament: 1 x 10-inch RML gun; 2 x 10-pounder QF guns; 2 x 1-pounder QF guns

She was significantly bigger than the first three flatiron gunboats in the Danish Navy. She was rebuilt and rearmed with 2 x 3-pounder QF guns and 4 x machine guns in 1906 before becoming an engineering training vessel. She was sold in 1919 into commercial service, renamed Holger and converted into a sand-pump dredger.

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NORWAY

Uller-class

An Uller-class flatiron gunboat.

Their characteristics were:

• Displacement: 229 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 89ft 6in
• Beam: -
• Draught: -
• Propulsion: Reciprocating steam engines
• Speed: 8 knots
• Complement: 41
• Armament:
• When built: 1 x 10.6-inch RML gun; 3 x 1-pounder QF guns
• Uller (1913): 1 x 4.7-inch QF gun; 1 x 3-inch QF gun; 2 x 1pounder QF guns; 50 mines
• Vale: (1911/1912): 1 x 4.7-inch QF gun; 3 x 1-pounder QF gun; 50 mines

Built at the Karljohansverns Verft Naval Yard, Horten.

• Uller: She was rearmed and converted into minelayer in 1913. Between the wars she was laid up, but was recommissioned in 1939. She was captured by the Germans in 1940, and later badly damaged by air attack and scuttled.
• Vale: She was rearmed and converted into a minelayer in 1911/1912. She was captured by Germans in 1940 and used as a tug and to deliver distilled water. She was returned to Norway in 1945 and broken up.

Brage-class

Their characteristics were:

• Displacement: 264 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 94ft 9in
• Beam: -
• Draught: -
• Propulsion: Reciprocating steam engines
• Speed: 8.5 knots
• Complement: 41
• Armament:
• When built: 1 x 10.6-inch RML gun; 3 x 1-pounder QF guns
• Brage (1911/12): 1 x 4.7-inch QF gun; 3 x 1pounder QF guns; 50 mines
• Nor (1911/1912): 1 x 6-inch QF gun; 3 x 1-pounder QF gun; 50 mines

Built at the Karljohansverns Verft Naval Yard, Horten.

• Brage: She was rearmed and converted into minelayer in 1911/1912. She was captured by the Germans in 1940. She was returned to Norway in 1945 and broken up.
• Nor: She was rearmed and converted into a minelayer in 1911/1912. She was captured by Germans in 1940. She was returned to Norway in 1945 and sold into commercial service in 1949. She was renamed Flathom and converted into a salvage lighter. She was still extant in 1984.

Vidar

Her characteristics were:

• Displacement: 262 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 94ft 9in
• Beam: -
• Draught: -
• Propulsion: Reciprocating steam engines
• Speed: 9.5 knots
• Complement: 41
• Armament: 1 x 10.6-inch RML gun; 3 x 1-pounder QF guns

Built at the Karljohansverns Verft Naval Yard, Horten. She was a repeat of the Brage-class and sometimes listed as a member of that class. She was rearmed with 1 x 4.7-inch QF, 3 x 1-pounder QF guns, and 50 mines and converted into minelayer in 1911/1912. She was captured by the Germans in 1940. She was returned to Norway in 1945 and broken up in 1947.

Gor-class

A Gor-class flatiron gunboat.

Their characteristics were:

• Displacement: 273 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 104ft 4in
• Beam: 27ft 11in
• Draught: 7ft 3in
• Propulsion: Compound steam engines
• Speed: 10.5 knots
• Complement: 44
• Armament:
• When built: 1 x 10.2-inch RML gun; 3 x 1-pounder QF guns; 1 x 14-inch torpedo tube
• Gor (1914): 1 x 4.7-inch QF gun; 55 mines
• Tyr (1913): 1 x 4.7-inch QF gun; 1 s 3-inch QF gun; 2 x 1-pounder QF gun; 55 mines

Built at the Karljohansverns Verft Naval Yard, Horten.

• Gor: She was rearmed and converted into minelayer in 1914. She was captured by the Germans in 1940 and used as a supply boat.. She was returned to Norway in 1945 and sold into commercial service for conversion into an oil barge.
• Tyr: She was laid up from 1900 to 1905. From 1910 to 1913 she was used as a submarine tender, She was rearmed and converted into a minelayer in 1913, and from 1919 to 1939 she was laid up. She was captured by Germans in 1940 and returned to Norway in 1945. She was sold into commercial service in 1946 and converted into a heavy lifting vessel. She was sold again in 1949, renamed Bjorn West and converted into a car ferry. In 1986 she was sold again and rebuilt as a heavy transport vessel and subsequently used as a floating storage vessel by a salmon farm. In 2014 she was taken in hand for restoration.

Aegir

Her characteristics were:

• Displacement: 413 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 109ft
• Beam: -
• Draught: -
• Propulsion: Steam engines
• Speed: 9 knots
• Complement: 43
• Armament: 1 x 8.2-inch gun; 1 x 10-pounder QF gun; 2 x 4-pounder QF guns

Built at the Karljohansverns Verft Naval Yard, Horten. She was broken up in 1932.

Nugget 351

I collected the latest issue of THE NUGGET from the printer this morning and I will post it out to members either later today or tomorrow. In the meantime, members can read this issue online.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the sixth issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2022-2023 subscription year. If you have not yet re-subscribed, a reminder was sent to you some time ago. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

'If you can fill the unforgiving minute ...'

Our colds have gradually begun to abate ... but not quickly enough for our liking. At times, Sue and I have ended up sitting in our chairs in the living room trying to find things to do that aren't too mentally taxing. Sue has done some sewing and I have done a bit of reading, but I've found that my ability to concentrate still isn't as good as it was.

We have tried watching television, but with a few notable exceptions, most daytime TV seems to be dominated by quiz shows, lifestyle programmes, uninteresting chat shows, and rolling (and very repetitive) news. Luckily, we have a YouTube option on our Freeview TV, and over the past few days we have been able to 'fill the unforgiving minute' by watching some of the things it has to offer.

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Amongst the YouTube channels I have been watching are those produced by Emma Cruises, Jago Hazzard, and Big Lee.

Emma Cruises is run by Emma, ...

... a young woman in her twenties who not only produces some excellent reports on the cruises she has taken but also has a website. She began doing this in 2016 for her own enjoyment but her website ...

... and YouTube channel ...

... proved so popular that in 2021 she turned professional and now earns her living from giving advice on how to book a cruise that will meet your particular needs and running online courses on how to cruise for less. She sometimes talks rather too fast for my liking, but her enthusiasm is infectious and both Sue and I enjoy watching and listening to her.

In his own words, Jago Hazzard ...

... makes 'videos about London, about railways, about railways in London and whatever else takes my interest.' According to Wikitubia, his real name is T G Wright, and he works in the medical profession when he isn't making videos and modelling 00 and 009-scale model trains. His short and eclectic videos are just the right sort of thing one needs when one wants something stimulating and interesting to watch but which does not last too long.

Big Lee needs no introduction from me as his regular Miniature Adventures wargame postings on YouTube are already well-known, ...

... as is his excellent blog.

Before COVID struck, I used to meet him regularly at various wargame shows in Southeast England, and he is a great bloke who enjoys his wargaming and who always has something interesting to say.

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These then are my 'go to' YouTubers when I am in need of stimulation, entertainment, and information. That is not to say that I only visit them when I am feeling unwell, but when I'm feeling under the weather, they help me to feel better.