Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -
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Sale 2708 - Lot 144

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(NAVY.) General Directions for Building Frigates of the First Class, revised in manuscript to read General Directions for Re-Building the Franklin. 29 printed pages, 13¼ x 8¼ inches, formerly stitched, plus a final page in manuscript; moderate edge wear to exterior leaves; annotated heavily in manuscript, and dated and signed on the final page by William Shubrick as the chief of the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair. Washington, 23 June 1853 (manuscript notes)
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Additional Details

The printed document offers detailed specifications for the construction of United States Navy frigates: the number and sizes of bolts to be used for affixing scarfs to the keel, the exact size of the hawse holes, and hundreds of other details. This printed "General Directions" is important, scarce and possibly unique in its own right; we trace no other examples in OCLC or at auction.

The document is rendered yet more interesting because it was adapted for use in a proposed rebuilding of the USS Franklin, an 1815 frigate which has been used as a receiving ship in Boston since 1838. Dozens of the standard specifications are altered to fit the realities of this older vessel. The final page is a detailed breakdown of "Height of the razed Franklin."

The original Franklin was brought to Portsmouth Navy Yard in 1852, and was razed in 1853, but some parts were reserved for use in the construction of the next USS Franklin, a screw frigate laid down in 1854 and launched in 1864. This is apparently the project documented in this revised "General Directions." The reborn Franklin remained in use through 1915.

With--a portrait of Rear Admiral Shubrick. Salt print photograph, 7½ x 5 inches oval on original photographer's mount, 11½ x 9½ inches; clipped signature "WBranford Shubrick" laid down in lower mount below photograph. Washington: Whitehurst Gallery, circa 1850s.

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