"Plumb" bows (also known as "straight" or "vertical" bows) rise essentially straight up from a ship's waterline. They were very common during the last half of the Nineteenth Century and the first decades of the Twentieth, especially on merchant steamships. During the earlier century they co-existed with, and gradually replaced, "clipper" bows. They were, in turn, largely superseded by raked and curved bows in the course of the 1920s and 1930s.
This page features a definition of the term "plumb" bow, with an appropriate illustration.
"PLUMB" BOW, as seen on USS K.I. Luckenbach (ID # 2291) in 1919. Cropped from Photo # NH 103051. |
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Page made 17 March 2007