Object data
wood, brass, rope and textile
model: height 77.5 cm × length 101.5 cm × width 21.4 cm
packaging capsule: height 85 cm × width 105.5 cm × depth 26 cm
anonymous
Model of a War Galley
? Netherlands, Karlberg Palace, c. 1795 - c. 1813
Conservation
- Restauratieatelier Scheepsmodellen, 2000: restored
- Ab Hoving, September 2002: minor repairs; retouched
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-669
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Rigged wooden frame model of a war galley with thirty oars, mounted on a stand.
The model has one deck with a long raised section in the middle. On each side the thwarts are supported by this raised section and the gunwale. In the bow is a slide for one gun, which leads below deck. A similar construction to aft. The stern has a square tuck with a gun port with half-lids. At the stern is a broad rudder with rudder quadrant and steering tackle. Below deck to each side of the gun slide cabins are built. The sheer rises slightly towards both ends, one wale is indicated. The hull is round. The planking on the starboard side is removed. The model has a three-masted schooner rig without sails. Both the bowsprit and the foremast are slightly off-centre to starboard. The mainmast has a topmast and gaffs for two lug sails. The mizzen has a gaff for a lug sail and an outrigger. The model has Swedish naval flags.
A drawing by Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837) in the collection of the National Archives in The Hague gives a length of 65 feet for this vessel.1 He mentions the model in a list of objects relating to his journey to France in 1797.2 This type of war galley was first developed in Sweden and later introduced in the Batavian Navy. It is probably the design by the Swedish shipwright Fredrik Hendrik af Chapman (1721-1808) that the Belgian officer Muskein brought to France: the rigging on this model is French.
Scale (derived) approx. 1:22.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 669; E. Pâris, Souvenirs de Marine, facsimile, 3 vols., Grenoble 1975-76, vol. 1, pl. 39 ff.; Harris 1989, pp. 43-45; M. Bradley, ‘Bonaparte’s Plans to Invade England in 1801: The Fortunes of Pierre Forfait’, Annals of Science 51 (1994), no. 5, pp. 453-75, pp. 461, 464-65; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, pp. 91, 95; V. László and R. Woodman, The Story of Sail, Annapolis, MD 1999, pp. 120-23; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 112-17
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a War Galley, Netherlands, c. 1795 - c. 1813', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244484
(accessed 13 November 2024 06:34:55).