Hi Jan,

Maybe this winch was the piece I found
on deck of a Revell model of the
clipper Thermopylae I made long time ago
(at times when PCs were still science fiction).
Maybe I should read some more literature about it ...

I cannot remember Thermopylae ever being fitted with brace winches
unless they were fitted at a later date when in the hands og the
Portuguese and used as a sail training ship, the jarvis winch was only
used on the big square riggers like Pommern, Preussen and others.

BTW: I heard some roumors
that there are plans to rebuild the Thermopylae
again in the UK.

I have heard nothing of this but we do get the odd strange rumour now
and then, there is a project under developement to recreate the Titanic
as a cruise ship, it will look much like the original on the outside but
totally different on the inside and bigger I believe, Cunard has two new
liners coming into service over the next two years, Queen Mary 2 and
Queen Victoria.
QM2 has just had a bad start with 15 people being killed when they fell
20 mtrs into the dry dock when a gangway gave way, she is due for her
maiden voyage in early next year and at around 150,000 tons is the
biggest liner ever built, QV is still fitting out ready for launch but
she is only half the size or thereabouts at 85,000 tons, still bigger
than the old QE and 30,000 tons heavier than the QE2.

And would it be realistic to hope for ?
It would be quite expensive to do ...

Thermopylae was well documented and good plans are available for her in
her tea trade days from a couple of sources, one was David MacGregor
Plans but David died a few weeks back so what will happen to his plans
business I dont know, if she was reconstructed it would probably be with
a steel hull and as a sail training ship.

Most might think it would be enough
to preserve the Cutty Sark ...

Problem with the Sark is that she cant be used for sail training, her
hull is quite weak now and has had strengthening carried out during her
major overhaul that has been going on for over 10 years now, her masts
do not sit on the keel anymore, they sit on steel pins that pass
straight through the keel into the concrete underneath to take the
weight off her hull.
The old lady really is becoming quite fragile these days so can never be
expected to take to the water again, she would have to be ballasted to
keep her up straight and her hull just wouldnt stand loading of 120 tons
of ballast,

regards, Terry