The quarter deck, i.e. the area from underneath the break or overhang of the poop deck (with the wheel, etc.), and presumably considered to extend forwards past the Companionway (but perhaps not far beyond that); and the upper deck.  All or most of the main features on the quarter deck / upper deck, moving forward from the wheel, would presumably feature in some form or other on the ‘gold’ model).

 

• Skylight to the Captain’s cabin (Marquardt, pp. 60, 74 [no. 54, apparently mislabelled ‘companion hatch’] and 83 [E2, nos. 3–5, captain’s cabin skylight]).  NOTE If possible, the skylight to the Captain’s cabin would slide or lift up or off, in order to reveal basic details in the Captain’s cabin below, at lower deck level.  (This may be asking for too much – unless in fact it presents no problems.) • Mess room (or gun room) skylight [E2, no. 2].  (This is the skylight shown in Earle’s drawing of ‘Crossing the Line’.  Cf. Thomson, p. 127 n.)  NOTE If possible, the roof of the skylight to the mess room would lift up, to reveal table and chairs in the room below. (This may be asking for too much – unless in fact it presents no problems.) • Main jeer bits and winch, immediately aft of the main mast (Marquardt, pp. 74 [no. 26] and 85 [E5]). (2) From the main mast to the foremast • Main hatchway (Marquardt, pp. 60–1 and 86 [E6]).  NOTE If possible, the hatch should be shown open, with ladder down into men’s mess room below; otherwise closed, with no detail below.  (King, in Marquardt, p. 30, shows the ladder leading down from the back.) • Fore hatchway (Marquardt, pp. 61 and 86 [E6]). NOTE If possible, the hatch should be shown open, with ladder down into men’s mess room below; otherwise closed, with no detail below.  (King shows the ladder leading down from the front.) • Spare booms and spars, and cannon.  King’s drawing (Marquardt, p. 25) shows that there would be spare booms and spars stowed on deck, either side of the yawl, and two 6-pdr cannon, either side of the fore hatch. 3. Forecastle deck • Galley chimney.  There is some dispute about the location, below deck, of the ship’s galley.  Stanbury (following King) placed it under the forecastle, but Darling (pp. 8–9) and Thomson (p. 126) placed it on the lower deck, aft of the foremast, and so with its chimney emerging above the upper deck at the same point.  Marquardt, on the other hand, places the galley on the lower deck, forward of the fore mast (p. 61), with its chimney emerging through the forecastle; and we should follow his reconstruction.  The chimney protruding on the forecastle is not shown on the built model.  It is, however, shown by Marquardt (p. 80 [D3/1, no. 4]), and its addition would presumably present no particular difficulty. 4. Hammock rail When not in use, the crew’s hammocks would be rolled and folded, and then stowed in the hammock rail which extended along the gunwale from the poop deck to the forecastle, with a break for the gangways (opposite the main mast).  This would give extra height to the sides of the ship, above the upper deck; and, in a fighting ship, this would afford extra protection from small-arms fire.  To judge from Marquardt, p. 61, the combination of bulwark plus hammock rail on the Beagle seems to have risen about 6 ft above the level of the upper deck; so with hammocks in place even a tall person would not have been able to see over the side, when the ship was level.  (Augustus Earle’s drawing of ‘Crossing the Line’, confirms this impression of an enclosed space on deck.) The hammock rail is shown, on the built model, with diamond designs painted externally on each segment.  Marquardt, p. 55, indicates that this ‘diamond’ design was not in fact part of the external view (upper drawing), but was only visible on the inside of each rail (lower drawing); see also the photographs of his own model, p. 44.  (Darling, p. 8, suggests that the inboard diamond pattern on the boarding may represent netting (perhaps for circulation of air).)  NOTE. If possible (depending on scale), the hammock rail should be modelled as an open trough, as in the drawings; and perhaps we could devise some way of representing the hammocks themselves, inserted in the trough, as in Marquardt’s model.  The inboard diamond patterning requires further consideration. Marquardt, pp. 30 [profile], 60 and 81 [D4] • The Captain’s cabin (Marquardt, p. 81 [D4, no. 3]) would have a table with chairs, and raised areas for sofa and bed to each side. • It would be nice to have the men’s mess room visible under the main and fore hatchways; but perhaps that would be impossible. 6. Bow and SternBow.  For the ‘Beagle’ figurehead at the bow, see Marquardt, pp. 32, 76, 104.  Curiously, no figurehead is shown in a contemporary drawing by Conrad Martens, showing the Beagle laid up ashore; but King’s sketch seems very deliberate.  But please follow Marquardt, p. 104, with forelegs and no hindlegs, rather than the creature seen on the images of the built model. 7. The ship’s boats and photographs of his own model, pp. 43–4.• Dinghy or jolly boat (about 15 ft) carried over the stern.  For the dimensions and design of this boat, see Marquardt, p. 126 [K6].  For its stowage on davits, see Marquardt, pp. 73, 127 [K11]; see also p. 43 (model).  (Lug-rigged: p. 127 [K12].) • Two 28-ft double-ended whale-boats, stowed upsidedown, with their sterns resting on the two stowage blocks on the poop deck and their bows resting on the skid-beam or boat-beam athwart ship (as indicated above).  For the dimensions and design of these whale-boats, see Marquardt, p. 127 [K7, lower drawing].  For their stowage over the quarter deck, see Marquardt, pp. 43 (top left) and 127 [K8]), and further references given above (skid-beam).  It would be best to leave one or both of the whale-boats off the main model, i.e. not in their stowed position above the quarter deck, so as not to obscure the details in the vicinity of the wheel; but I hope it would be possible simply to remove them, in order to see the detail, and then to put them back in their stowed position. • 26-ft yawl, stowed amidships between the foremast and the mainmast, with a 23-ft cutter stowed inside it.  For the dimensions and design of the yawl, see Marquardt, p. 125 [K1]).  For the dimensions and design of the cutter, see Marquardt, p. 125 [K2]).  For their stowage on the upper deck, see Marquardt, p. 126 [K4]; see also p. 44 (model).  (Rig: Marquardt, p. 125 [K3].)  Again, I hope it would be possible to remove the yawl and the cutter, in order to admire the ship with an uncluttered deck.  Marquardt, pp. 4–5, 25, 30, 31–2, 54–5, 62, 72–3, 90–1 The images of the built model (gold specification) show full lids, all raised with guns protruding.  The gun ports are described by Marquardt as having halfport lids (pp. 54–5, and drawing, p. 73 [C1/2, no. 6]), so that excess water could be allowed to drain out from the deck (p. 30). The drawings in Marquardt, pp. 4–5, 59, 72–3, 102, and 113, suggest how the halfport lids work.  The question arises whether it might be possible to provide the model with halfport lids: not operational of course, at this scale, but at least showing externally as such, as in Marquardt’s drawing (pp. 4–5). 9. Spars, rigging, and sails The model is to be rigged as a three-masted bark, after the 1831 refit, in accordance with Marquardt’s drawings.  His drawing, p. 4, shows the ship fully rigged; there is a much larger version of the same drawing printed inside the dust-wrapper.  I note that on the built model, the mizzen mast seems almost to lean forward, rather than to rake back slightly (as in Marquardt's drawings). Marquardt is certainly right in this respect. As I understand it, one can have the sails ‘rolled up’, as if the ship were at anchor, or unfurled, as if the ship were at sea.  The images of the built model show the sails unfurled.  I should like to discuss these options at a later stage, or whenever is necessary, perhaps when I have seen other models. Marquardt, dustwrapper, and pp. 4–5, 41, 47, 73 11. Figures