RECORDING TRADITIONAL SHIPS
T.Kokkas, Dr. A. Georgopoulos, Prof. J. Badekas
Laboratory of Photogrammetry, NTUA
Dr. K.Damianidis
Architect
V.Kostoulas
Naval Architect & Marine Engineer
GREECE
Commission V
ABSTRACT
Although Greece
is a country with strong maritime tradition, old traditionally
built wooden ships are threatened with extinction. A major project is underway
in an effort
to record, document and salvage the remaining examples of tradi-
tional shipbuilding. Simple traditional methods have been employed so far for
this recording. In this
alternative, as
paper modern Photogrammetry is
it provides more accurate
considered as an
and faster results and may also be
used underwater. The results are shipbuilding plans of acceptable quality.
KEY WORDS: Analytical Photogrammetry, Terrestrial, Archiving, Low Cost
System, Underwater
1. INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of new materials
and technology stress our society to un-
dertake sufficient care for the survey
and the protection of old artifacts,
which are significant parts of the his-
tory of techniques. Although the main
effort has been given to conserve and
restore buildings or other architectural
elements, there are other objects, like
ships and boats, which are equally sig-
nificant structures. The necessity to
conserve this kind of historic artifacts
has also been mentioned and stressed in
the Charter of Venice (ICOMOS 1964).
During the last years many historic craft
are under conservation or restoration by
various maritime institutions. The rapid
abundance of many old traditional craft
lead the maritime historians to undertake
several projects for the conservation and
restoration of as many historical craft
as possible. These efforts are not always
successful, because often the restoration
of historical vessels appeared to be more
complicated than that of the historical
buildings.
During the first half ‘of the 20th cen-
tury, wooden shipbuilding was extensive
throughout Greece. The types of wooden
hull remained practically the same from
the middle of the 19th until the middle
of the 20th century, although the later
built vessels tended to be smaller in
Size. By contrast, after the Second World
War, wooden shipbuilding was drastically
reduced and the last examples of some
types of Greek traditional craft disap-
Peared one after the other.
into these types
limited until
craft are very
Unfortunately, research
been very
of these
Of crafts has
today and some
poorly documented, if at all. Drawings
and good photographs are not available
for some types and proper study of their
lines and construction is inevitable.
Lines” plang of old crafts, which are
based on tedious recording fieldwork are
not only useful for the historians. They
are often invaluable sources for new
designs by Naval Architects, since sev-
eral features of their geometry are still
common. In this case accurate lines’
plans are necessary for constructional
purposes and advanced recording tech-
nigues, like Photogrammetry, are helpful.
Apart from the geometry, the history of a
ship is of utmost importance for its do-
cumentation. Traditional shipbuilders
used to add their own special personal
touch to each ship, as all wooden ships
used to be built individually and manu-
ally by a team of workers.
Old traditional shipyards, although rare,
are still in existence in many parts of
Greece. Their common methods of con-
trolling the form of the crafts were
either by applying some prefixed moulds
or by the use of the lofting floor (Sala)
The methods were not particularly associ-
ated to the types of hull and often addi-
tional fairness of the form of the vessel
was applied after the completion of the
Skeleton. Thus the final shape of the
vessel was often irrelevant to the method
of controlling her form.
2. TRADITIONAL SHIP RECORDING METHODS
One of the critical parts of the documen-
tation of a craft is her complete survey
by an interdisciplinary group of experts,
including the production of a full set of
