Object data
wood, brass and rope
model: height 143.5 cm × width 149.5 cm × depth 78.5 cm
packaging capsule: height 35.5 cm × width 175 cm × depth 80 cm
's Lands Werf Hellevoetsluis (possibly)
? Hellevoetsluis, ? Hellevoetsluis, c. 1797 - c. 1807
wood, brass and rope
model: height 143.5 cm × width 149.5 cm × depth 78.5 cm
packaging capsule: height 35.5 cm × width 175 cm × depth 80 cm
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-35
Copyright: Public domain
Wooden model of a masting sheer, mounted on a base representing a waterfront.
The two legs, topped with a cross-beam and a small pointed roof, lean forward and are held back by two trusses and six stays. The legs are set on a wall. The stays are fastened with deadeyes to hooks in the ground set in an arch behind a working platform. The trusses stand in tracks fitted on the platform, which can be set in different positions. The platform, which has an open shelter underneath, can be removed, revealing the pile foundations. There is a wooden roller at the front edge of the platform and a knighthead behind it, probably for guiding the spars. The two masting jeers are powered by treadmills, one on either side. Each tackle goes from the axle of its treadmill through a treble block attached to the top and a double block, then from the treble block back down to a knighthead near the heel of the legs and from there to a capstan and bitts at the other end of the base. The right-hand capstan is designed by Jochem Pietersz Asmus (see model NG-MC-190). The blocks have three slip knots each. There are two light tackles, one on either side, running through a sheave at the top of each leg, and two ropes in the middle running to the cross-beam. Several parts and fittings seem to be missing.
This model represents the design by Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837) which was intended to replace the old sheer in the dockyard of Hellevoetsluis.1 It was a copy of a crane he had seen during his visit to Lorient in 1797.2 It was probably never carried out in the Netherlands. A copy of a drawing from 1803 kept in the National Archives in The Hague claims Asmus proposed this masting sheer in 1793,3 which is doubtful.
J.P. Asmus, Rapport van een reize naar de Fransche zeehavens aan den Oceaan in den jaar 1797, op ordre van het Bataafsche Gouvernement-Verzameling van differente stukken gedurende de reize naar de Fransche zeehavens in den Oceaan in den jaare 1797, 2 vols., s.l. 1797-1801, manuscript in HNA 2.01.29.01 Dept. Marine, inv. no. 451-18; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 35; J.P. Sigmond, Nederlandse zeehavens tussen 1500 en 1800, Amsterdam 1989, p. 180; M. Marzari, Progetti per l’imperatore. Andrea Salvini ingegnere a l’arsenal 1802-1817, Trieste 1990, pp. 82-83, pl. XLV; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, pp. 93, 98
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'possibly 's Lands Werf Hellevoetsluis, Model of a Masting Sheer, Hellevoetsluis, c. 1797 - c. 1807', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.242760
(accessed 10 November 2024 00:40:28).