Object data
wood and rope
(1): height 9.5 cm × width 23.5 cm × depth 12 cm
(2): height 9.5 cm × width 16.7 cm × depth 14.5 cm
(3): height 8 cm × width 15 cm × depth 13 cm
Rijkswerf Vlissingen
Three Models of a Gunlock (Percussion)
Flushing, 1835
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-711
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Three wooden models of percussion locks for guns, designs for NG-MC-711-1 (lock plate), NG-MC-711-2 and NG-MC-711-3.
Their basic design is identical, the difference being the shape of the lock plate, which differs according to the gun for which the lock is intended. The lock plate is designed to be mounted at the right-hand side of the vent patch and fastened to the breech with a pair of screws, and bolts that go through the vent patch. The hammer turns at right angles to the gun. The head has a groove to enable the flame coming out of the vent when the gun is fired. The shaft is pierced for the lanyard; in the base is a sheave through which the lanyard is led aft.
These models were made in Flushing1 and their designs were inspired by the locks brought back from Russia by Julius Constantijn Rijk (1787-1854) in 1834 (see the entry of model NG-MC-706). They were for a 36-pounder gun, a short 30-pounder gun and a 30-pounder carronade. They were not accepted into the Dutch Navy. According to Obreen in his catalogue of 1858, entry 711 consisted of four French percussion gunlocks from the year 1841; which these are not.2
Literature
J.N. Calten, Leiddraad bij het onderrigt in de zee-artillerie. Met platen, Medemblik 1842 (2nd ed.), p. 431; W.H.A. Wesselink, ‘De percussietoestellen aan boord van de oorlogsschepen. Met eene plaat’, Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen (1844), no. 4, pp. 673-82, esp. p. 674; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 711
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Rijkswerf Vlissingen, Three Models of a Gunlock (Percussion), Flushing, 1835', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.643921
(accessed 4 April 2025 23:39:27).