No pics today..tomorrow, perhaps.
Most of the day has been spent cogitating. The new fittings are the "cruciform" bitts used to lower the lifeboats. Modern ones...if there are any still left afloat...are(were) only about 18" tall. "Havelock" being built in the mid 1890's probably had more robust units. Primarily because they had to use "all hands and the cook" to heave the things up again. Also, the positioning of the reels for the rope falls would have to be "odd", to avoid passengers being strangled by loopy ropes draped all over the place. This train of thought went on to wonder how lifeboat embarkation would be carried out. Ships plans for model makers never seem to consider this...but truth to be said, few "real" plans do either. So first of all the ship needs to have an opening "gate" at each lifeboat station to let personnel embark into the lifeboat. But then the boat is too heavy, so the passengers etc. have to climb down a version of a pilots ladder. Ever seen these marked on your plans? So ladders have to be made. On these older ships the lifeboat falls were invariably of the 3 sheave variety, which in turn means that the length of rope needed to lower a boat to the water must at the very minimum be 6 times the height of the drop height. So the rope reels must be pretty large, and placed so as to not inconvenience the passengers.
Not many plans (in my experience) show normal gangway areas. Or methods used to raise and lower the things. OK, I know you can use a "gangplank", but not when a ship is at anchor and so on, so all ships have a "proper" gangway whether they use it much or not. Funny things, gangways: but at least the older ships gangways had fixed treads and not the auto. levelling ones they have now. Take up less room for a start. But (horrors), at the top and bottom there would be a grating. I know HOW to make a grating at this scale...and have done it, but life is too short, so now I am looking at sieves and tea-strainers (! sad). The bottom of the gangway is attached to a bridle....and a block'n'tackle to lift and lower it. Space has to be found on a relatively flat part of the hull.
And there are 2 of them. Yeuch. But that is for a future post.
"Havelock" was also rigged as a schooner. No real problems there, but the wheelhouse to the funnel had a huge space between the 2 which was covered by the mainsail boom. In which case, how on earth did the Master blow the steam whistle?
Hence the navel gazing. But no little genie is going to do it for me so I'd better get on with it. Somehow. BY.