Object data
wood, brass and rope
(1): height 39 cm × width 53 cm × depth 49.5 cm
(2): height 39.3 cm × width 53 cm × depth 49.5 cm
Rijkswerf Rotterdam (possibly), after Sidney Smith
Two Models of a Life-Saving Cart for Shipwrecks
? Rotterdam, United Kingdom, 1832
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-847
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Two identical modelsof carts for rescue operations of shipwrecks on the beach, incomplete.
Each cart consists of two double-wheeled watercarts, turned ninety degrees in the vertical on their axle with the poles pointing upwards, and joined together with four beams. Around the joined pair of carts, a lower compartment is built, filled with empty casks, and with benches on top. A number of the casks are missing. The wheels have adjustable paddles between the spokes. The parts are joined in such a way that the entire cart can be disassembled quickly.
Although Obreen only mentions one model,1 two were found (NG-MC-847-1 and NG-MC-847-2). He is incorrect about the date he gives for the trial in Scheveningen. These apparati – made from watercarts belonging to the Scheveningen bathhouse – were meant for rescue operations on the beach. An anchor with a cable was brought out beyond the surf and the apparatus, launched by men and horses, and was then hauled out by means of a capstan on the beach. One was tested on the beach of Scheveningen on 12 August 1829 in the presence of Sidney Smith and Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837). The weather being very good at the time, the results of the experiment were judged as unreliable.2
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 847; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 174-75
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'possibly Rijkswerf Rotterdam, Two Models of a Life-Saving Cart for Shipwrecks, Rotterdam, 1832', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200682403
(accessed 11 December 2025 08:42:36).