Object data
wood, metal, rope, textile, straw and paint
height 28 cm (rigged) × length 27.7 cm × width 10.4 cm
A. Scheerboom
Model of a Lifeboat
Netherlands, Netherlands, c. 1821 - c. 1827
Conservation
- Ab Hoving, May 1995: partially rerigged
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-850
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Polychromed and rigged wooden frame model of a lifeboat with a sail, mounted on a stand.
Clinker-built single banked gig with bilge keels and slightly S-bottomed, the sheer coming up slightly towards the stern, the square end painted with a golden heart. The model features seven thwarts and an open cockpit. At the stern, a basic rudder with a metal tiller is indicated, a golden heart painted on either side. The rigging consists of a dipping lugsail as a main. The mizzen mast is missing. Eighteen textile buoyancy bags filled with straw are tied beneath the thwarts and against the sides. Additional accessories include two boat hooks and six oars.
A. Scheerboom patented the invention of the buoyancy bags in the Netherlands in 1820, an improved version in 1826, and in the United Kingdom in 1833, where they were called ‘floating powers’. A lifeboat and other inventions by Scheerboom1 were tested with success at Scheveningen on 10, 11 and 13 June 1826,2 and a demonstration was held on the River Thames between Blackfriars Bridge and London Bridge on Thursday 4 August 1833.
Scale unknown.
Literature
A. Scheerboom, A Brief Account of the Royal Patent Ship & Life Preservers Invented by A. Scheerboom and Co., London 1833, pp. 2-12, 24-28; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 850; G. Doorman, Het Nederlandsch octrooiwezen en de techniek der 19de eeuw, The Hague 1947, pp. 119, 144, no. 52, 218
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'A. Scheerboom, Model of a Lifeboat, Netherlands, c. 1821 - c. 1827', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244664
(accessed 20 September 2024 20:33:12).