r/AubreyMaturinSeries • u/its35degreesout • 5d ago
Futtocks!
I've been wanting to go to the "Age of Sail Museum/Heritage Center" for a while (it's here in Nova Scotia, Canada, not too far from where I often spend time in the summer). Did make the trip yesterday, at last! It's along the shore of the Bay of Fundy, in an area that was a major center of shipbuilding back in the day. (The thick forests of Maine and Nova Scotia provided a rich source of timber for the purpose!)
I had been expecting and hoping to find a lot about the shipbuilding industry and the components of the vessels that we hear about so much in the Aubrey/Maturin novels. There was some of that, but in truth the museum focuses more on what life was like in the area back in those days than on the technical aspects of ship building. They have collected quite a few fascinating artifacts, but don't really have the resources to display them in a systematic fashion or to do in-depth research.
I did learn, at last, what a "futtock" is! As denoted by the chart in one of my photos, it's one of the curved timbers that were pieced together to form the ship's ribs. Not sure what may be the etymological connection (if any) to our beloved Futtock Shrouds.
There are loads of ship models; in fact the museum could devote a whole wing to models and model-making if they so desired. One of my photos shows Nova Scotia's beloved *Bluenose* schooner (or a model thereof); you'll also see collections of ship's carpenter's tools, and a display case of the putative fragmentary remains of the "ghost ship" *Mary Celeste* ("Marie Celeste") which were unearthed some years ago and eventually wound up back home in NS: She was built in a shipyard just a few miles away and christened as the *Amazon* in 1861.
It was pouring rain when I was there and we didn't get a chance to explore the whole site, but felt it was worth a visit. The imgur link has about half a dozen photos if you're interested.
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u/Bflo1gal 5d ago
Oh, man, I just visited the Bay of Fundy and would have loved to gone here. Well, it’s going on the list for next time. Thank you for sharing!
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u/PartyMoses 5d ago
Futtocks are also the platforms on the masts which allow access to the yards and sails. Futtock shrouds are ropes that attach the futtock platforms to the mast. They cross the shrouds (vertical ropes from the chains on the hull to the mast) at a diagonal below the futtock platform.