Pykrete

Sea Hunters discover pykrete

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I’m watching Sea Hunters, Clive Cussler’s marine archaeology TV series, and they’re looking for the Habbakuk prototype built in a Canadian lake from an ice/wood pulp mix called pykrete. I’ve been fascinated by this project for a while, stealing the concept for the eponymous carrier in Heavensent.

Sea Hunters has a blog with behind the scenes pieces about the Habbakuk episode.

Habbakuk links via Beamjockey.

More Habbakuk information, and Wikipedia on Habbakuk. Habbakuk of Ice, a radio play about the project.

Pykrete

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I’ve had a lot of hits in the last two days from searches for Pykrete. Someone must have a class project going on. So another quick recap on this wierd stuff is due.

Pykrete is made by mixing water and sawdust or wood pulp and then freezing it. A rather eccentric British inventor called Geoffrey Pyke dreamt it up as a material to build super huge ships from, based upon an idea of Churchill’s to create floating airbases. A 60 foot long test model was created in a Canadian lake, but the project never went any further than this, except in fiction.

The number of Pykrete resources on the web have increased since my first posts about the stuff in relation to Heavensent. Cabinet magazine fills out some biographical details of Pyke in their overview of the project, the story has been adapted for kids’ science TV, there’s been a radio play about it (I haven’t read the full text yet) and the Guardian has the obituary of Max Perutz, who also worked on the project.

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Heavensent is made of a material called Pykrete. The wood pulp binds the ice in such a way as to keep it from smashing. I first heard about it in this short story.

Seeds–

�We have a block of cells on this level. But mostly it is just for stores.�

�Cells?�

�Heavensent avoided the major trade routes, but still came across the occasional boat or castaway. They were questioned, then kept in their cells.�

�It would be more efficient to kill them.� Reed suggested.

�That would be against the mariners� code, apparently.� Serena shrugged, �And none of them were combatants. They will be released when the mission is over.�

�How far down are we?� Jay asked, �We must be under water by now.�

�Almost certainly. Most of Heavensent is below the waterline. Because of the way it was built, every block is different. It is hard to estimate how far down we have actually gone.� Serena�s tour had gone on for a long time. They were now beyond loosened up and into footsore. �Below here are the engine rooms and refrigeration plant. You would not be interested in those. I know I am not. Come, your quarters should be ready by now.�

�The refrigeration units keep the ice frozen?� Jay had found an exposed piece of wall and was scraping off frozen mush. �And that is all this ship is? Ice and wood pulp.�

�That is all. It is almost indestructible, unsinkable- obviously- and even without the refrigeration units it would take an age to melt.�

�You know an awful lot about the vessel.�

�I had a meal with the inventor. The other officers say he just came out of the forest one day with this plan and a manner that had everyone believing him.�

�A holy man?� Reed wished the awe in his voice hadn�t been so obvious.

�Yes. I did not believe in them either. I thought it was just a cult drawn around the occasional genius. But, no, holy men exist.�

�The Silver Tower?� asked Jay.

�He would not talk of it, but I believe the Silver Tower is real as well.�

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I’m clearing out the blog I started as a scrapbook for Seeds research, then hardly ever used. For your delectation- the sum total of links-
Some of the stuff I found on Monday-
Unfinished or aborted German warplane projects from WW2
A wartime chronology with key players and a secret weapons page.
Edwards Air Force Base- check out the flying wing bombers
The Vultee XP-54. I like this plane, and I’m already working on designs based upon it.
The reminiscences of an American test pilot circa WW2.
I once read a short story in Interzone magazine, called Habbakuk, about a giant carrier built from ice and wood pulp insulation, and wanted to introduce something similar to the Seeds story. I didn’t realise it was based upon genuine WW2 experiments.
Another site on the subject.
Someone actually mixed up and did experiments with Pykrete, the stuff Habbakuk was to be made of.
Interesting images and slightly garbled English from a 1930’s article on speculative flying boat designs.
The truth about flying saucers? Another wonderful, and very, very wierd, plane.
You can even make (unreliable link) models of it.

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Look what happens when I’ve got no photos to publish. Three days without an update.
I spent an interesting few hours down at Salfoprd Quays yesterday, probably trespassing, but definitely getting almost a hundred photos which should supply me with more than a few PODs. On the subject, the March gallery is up, finally. I promise to have the April one posted much more promptly.
I’ve closed down the Seeds Blog. The project is still on the go, in fact it’s rapidly taking shape. I just can’t keep a second weblog going, so all future Seeds stuff will be put up here. Below is a recap of stuff I’ve found so far. It might help to understand that the story is set on a planet which has just reached mid twentieth century technology levels and, indeed, is having its own World War. I’m not going to explain why or how just now.

Unfinished or aborted German warplane projects from WW2
A wartime chronology with key players and a secret weapons page.
Edwards Air Force Base- check out the flying wing bombers
The Vultee XP-54. I like this plane, and I’m already working on designs based upon it.
The reminiscences of an American test pilot circa WW2.

I once read a short story in Interzone magazine, called Habbakuk, about a giant carrier built from ice and wood pulp insulation, and wanted to introduce something similar to the Seeds story. I didn’t realise it was based upon genuine WW2 experiments.
Another site on the subject.
Someone actually mixed up and did experiments with Pykrete, the stuff Habbakuk was to be made of.

Interesting images and slightly garbled English from a 1930’2 article on speculative flying boat designs.

The truth about flying saucers? Another wonderful, and very, very wierd, plane.
You can even make models of it.