Model of a 70-Gun Ship of the Line

Entry

Rigged wooden frame model of a three-masted ship with furled sails, mounted on two stands.

Sixty-eight gun ports are situated on three decks; all guns, save one, are missing. The model has five levels: orlop, lower deck, main deck and beakhead platform, forecastle and quarterdeck with gangways in between, a poop with oval deckhouse. All decks are detailed with panelling and fittings. The forecastle and quarterdeck have hances that end in volutes. The figurehead is of a crowned rampant lion, the beakhead is decorated with carvings of tritons and dolphins, the beakhead bulkhead has two roundhouses. The stern has a round tuck, a hollow counter pierced by two gun ports, a two-storey taffrail with sternwalk and decorated with carvings of foliage, allegorical figures and a blank coat of arms. The two-storey quarter galleries have carvings of tritons, foliage and a fishtail. The top of the starboard quarter gallery is missing. Below the stern a straight, square-headed rudder with afterpieces is indicated, a sweep is fitted on the lower deck and a steering wheel on the quarterdeck. The model has three anchors, two double capstans, double riding bitts and a pump cistern on the lower deck, and a galley in the forecastle. One section of the planking can be removed. The sheer rises towards both ends. The model has a broad wale, a double wale and a double sheer rail, the former two are painted black. The hull is S-bottomed. The model is rigged on three masts, the mizzen mast has a lateen yard.

The identification of this model is by process of elimination. It differs in some ways from the description by Obreen, which also does not fit another model in the collection. Several features of this model are out of the ordinary: the double wale, the roundhouses on the low beakhead platform and the rudder with only one tiller.

The involvement of Rear Admiral Frederik Sigismund Graaf van Bylandt Halt (1749-1828) in the execution of the model, as suggested by Obreen,² could date this model to 1816, which is when he proposed changes to be made to the model. The archival material that documents these changes has since been lost, however. The model was presented to the Navy Model Room by Vice Admiral Jonkheer Jan van den Velden (1768-1854) in 1852 and collected in Utrecht by model maker Petrus van der Loo (1806-1864).³

Scale unknown.