Not a "put tab A into slot B" how to manual, this is the story of building a minature ship over several years by the author and his son. Goops and goos weren't available to shipyards in the eighteenth century and iron was in very limited supply. Treenails and fancy scarfs substittuted and the builders knew the wood's properties and used the grain and expansion properties to build a structure at home on the waves. Each frame is built up of individual futtocks and their varied characteristics between keel and rail are discussed.
The author describes placing finished models out on the roof for many months to acquire realistic weathering and includes a copy of the contract from the Royal Navy to the Colonial shipyard for the ship. (It took me a long time to decode "spirketting sided 4".) The process is the goal, not something that looks sort of nautical and is best viewed from twenty yards away.
A fine escape into the mind of a modest expert that a true model maker might dream of emulating.