...and guess what he’s up to now...

Canadian modeller Robert Squarebriggs talks about his Artemis and Seaflower models, and his carving of Kydd aka ‘Tom Cutlass’

n 2001 I was introduced to the work of a new writer in nautical fiction, Julian Stockwin. His tale of Thomas Kydd, a young man pressed into the Royal Navy, got my attention and interest quickly. Kydd was a gripping tale, and well told! The following April a second book, Artemis, followed Kydd's new life's adventure into a crack RN frigate. I was hooked. The author, hosts a web site on the series and invites comments from readers. So, of course I had to write him and voice my opinion on his character and series, and my impressions. I was delighted when I received a reply from the author himself, thanking me for my comments. Over the course of several exchanged messages, I learned that the Stockwins were coming to North America that summer for a book signing tour of the Eastern United States and finishing up with a visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia for some research into a future book. As I live in Eastern Canada, Mr. Stockwin invited me to come to Halifax during their visit and have my own copies of Kydd and Artemis signed.

This presented me with an opportunity! Never before had I had a chance to thank an author personally for the inspiration that their words have given me. I have enjoyed ship modelling for over 30 years. It has become a life long passion inspired by the tales of the sea, mostly from authors long gone over the standing part of the fore-sheet! A date was set and I had about four months to come up with a suitable thank you gift.

 The choice of gift was obvious to me: I am a ship modeller, a scratch builder at that. While four months wasn't enough time for a full model, it was more than enough to create a half model. And what better subject than the star of his latest book, the Artemis frigate.

Like most authors of nautical fiction Julian Stockwin bases his books on historical fact, and I recognized that the Artemis was partly based on a RN frigate called the Nymphe. The Nymphe was originally a French frigate (La Nymphe) captured by the British and sailed under that flag. Since I was fortunate enough to have a number of books containing draughts of the Nymphe, and using the beautiful cover art work by Geoff Hunt as a finishing guide, I was all set.

The draughts were redrawn to scale, lifts cut out of clear pine, assembled, carved, sanded and painted. Bow, keel, and rudder of maple were made and installed. Bulkheads of basswood, deck and rails of cherry, channels of mahogany, quarter galleries of walnut, bow cheeks and rails also of basswood were all shaped, installed and painted. The stumps of the masts and bowsprit were shaped, painted and installed. Final painting and finishing touches were done, the whole works was mounted on a shaped piece of mahogany, and an engraved brass plate affixed below the hull... Artemis. She turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself! July rolled around, and, gift completed and suitably packaged for travel, I headed off to Halifax. There, I had the unique pleasure of meeting and becoming aquainted with the Stockwins. I presented Julian with his Artemis frigate in most suitable surroundings, the Nelson room of the Lord Nelson Hotel.

Since that visit more books have been released, and the Kydd adventure continues. Ah... more tales, to inspire more models!

After Artemis Robert decided to make a model of Seaflower, which later was the subject of a feature article in the September 2006 issue of "Ships in Scale" magazine :

Bob has also done a relief carving of Artemis:

his carving of Commander Thomas Kydd, aka ‘Tom Cutlass’ has been germinating as the seed of an idea since I first began reading the Kydd series. The books that Julian Stockwin writes have inspired many ship models, from the Artemis frigate half model, the Seaflower cutter full model, the Tenacious ship of the line half model, to the sloop of war Teazer model that John Thompson so beautifully built. The ships have long inspired to create a likeness.

I had never carved a figure before and it was something that I had always wanted to try. So over the course of reading the books, some seven years, I thought about the idea and considered it from all angles. Each book often gave me a specific mind’s-eye image of young Kydd in some specific pose, whether at the helm of the cutter in the middle of a hurricane, or in Artemis frigate at the helm, or boarding an enemy through the smoke in action. So many ideas!

In 2007 I decided to try my hand at carving my first human figure, and began a relief carving of my Great Grandfather, Captain John Squarebriggs, at the helm of one of the vessels he built and commanded. I selected a piece of thick Butternut and went to work. I relieved the background and kept going until the figure stood free, so it became a full carving in the round. I took my time and the figure emerged and I learned as I went. I finally finished the carving a year later and the result was most satisfying. But I could see that I needed some practice on faces.

During the carving process, I decided a new set of carving tools were in order, so I purchased a fine set from Henry Taylor, a British company, and ordered them without handles. I wanted to use the tools in a unique grip that the factory handle just wasn’t supporting, so I carved my own handles to suit. I then made blade protectors for each tool, just a simple square of Butternut drilled part way through the center, to slip over the blade to protect the keen edge from accidental damage. The be able to tell each tool from the other, I decided to carve a face or head in each, and use the mouth as a “key” to tell the profile of the blade hidden within. This would give me the practice I needed on carving faces, as there were a dozen blades.

Now I felt ready to give a carving of our hero, now Commander Thomas Kydd a go. I had an image in my mind’s eye, of the crew’s nickname for him, Tom Cutlass, so I thought I would begin with that. Again, I choose a piece of Butternut wood, about seven and a half inches high, as my basis for the carving. That size is midway between the first carving size, about 15 inches, and the blade guards, about 3" each, and just a nice size for a small statue. Butternut is a wonderful wood to carve. It is a hardwood, also called Light Walnut, it carves beautifully and finishes well with an oil finish, painted with acrylics or even varnished. As I intended to both paint the clothing and oil the flesh areas, I knew that this wood would be an excellent medium for me. I sketched several variations of the pose on paper and finally in the wood and began to carve.

The pose I settled on is a classic, static one, that would allow me to carve the entire piece from the single block of wood. I knew I must be careful and take great care while carving, as Butternut has some properties that a carver must be aware of. The grain is quite pronounced and splits easily, thus areas of cross grain are subsequently weak. So I had to choose a pose in which the arms, the legs and the weapon, were going “with” the grain, not across it. Perhaps in later figures I will laminate the wood for the arms or weapons, to take advantage of the grain strength, but this one was my first, so I went with adjusting the pose for strength. The arms are at rest with the left holding the cutlass in a casual guard position in front of the body and the right arm in an officer-like position at rest in the small of the back. I was able to find sufficient historical images in my reference library here at home, to outfit Kydd in the appropriate uniform of a Commander with a single epaulette on his left shoulder. The legs are set apart, as a sailor must on a deck.

Once the general shape was revealed, I began at the head, carving in the detail and worked my way down the body. Once the face and head are completed the rest seems easy, but the challenge is to get the face right. The uniform appeared and the cutlass became an extension of young Thomas’s arm. I detailed the shoes and buckles finally and then began sanding the piece, paying particular attention to the face again. I detailed the hair and then used a burning tool to define parts of the uniform and the hair. I used acrylics to paint the uniform and re-sanded once dry, as the paint raises the grain and small cut fibers spring up. Once smooth, I diluted the paint and repainted the entire uniform with several coats. The last area I painted was all of the gold braid, where I used a full strength metallic gold paint. I let the figure dry overnight and then sealed it. I use my own mixture of Boiled linseed Oil, Pure Turpentine and Gloss Spar Varnish, and dipped the entire figure in the mix, wipe off the excess and let dry overnight. Several coats of this mix and procedure, and the piece is finished. I cut a small piece of Walnut for a base, routered the edges, sanded well and applied several coats of a semi-gloss varnish.”

Bob took on a young apprentice in 2008. A proud Ryan and Bob with Ryan’s finished work, a half model of a vessel one of his ancestors built originally in the Miramichi region, back in 1852, the “Indian Queen”. Ryan attends the appropriately named Nelson Rural School in Miramichi, Canada.

Bob is happy to chat with other modellers - his email address is squbrigg@rogers.com