Traditional maritime skills on show on Endeavour

by Shirani Aththas on 4 Aug 2006 Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour.

Traditional maritime skills are on show on board the replica of Captain Cook’s Endeavour this month as the ship’s crew ‘pay the devil’.

Over the next 2–3 weeks crew members will be demonstrating how they ‘caulk’ (or, in old seafaring language, ‘pay’) the deck….. waterproofing the seams between the planks on this famous ship.

Caulking is a recurring maintenance task on any wooden ship…. time spent at sea and the natural expansion and contraction of the wood means the caulked seams deteriorate. Any weakening in the seams can lead to water leaks which will damage the ship’s contents and, eventually, sink the vessel.

Over the next 2-3 weeks the crew will be raking out some of the seams and re-caulking, using the same methods as those used by Cook and his crew more than 200 years ago.

First they will put down the oakum (natural fibres, similar to rope) into the seam. The oakum is then beedled (rammed) down using a caulking mallet and a caulking iron – this is known as ‘hardening the seam’.

Once the seams have been hardened, it’s time to ‘pay the seam’…. pouring hot marine pitch into the seam to stop the oakum from getting wet and rotting and making the planks watertight.

The crew will work ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’ when they caulk the outermost seam. This is the longest seam on the deck and the most difficult to caulk because it’s hard up against the ship’s side. For these reasons it was known as the ‘devil’. Caulking it, the crew were working in a tight area … between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Visitors to the museum can observe this traditional practice Monday to Friday until 11 August, weather permitting.

The National Maritime Museum, at Darling Harbour, is open daily from 9.30 am to 5 pm. Endeavour is open to the public from 10 am to 4.10 pm daily. Entry to the museum’s exhibitions is free, admission is charged to the museum’s vessels, including Endeavour. All inquiries, (02) 9298 3777.