Object data
wood
model: height 16.8 cm × width 146.2 cm × depth 46.4 cm
packaging capsule: height 26 cm × width 154 cm × depth 52 cm
anonymous, after Antoine Groignard
Model of a Dry Dock
? France, France, c. 1778
Conservation
- Ab Hoving, November 2002: woodworm treatment; revarnished
Provenance
...; transferred from the Hollandse Kamer van het Zeecomptoir (Chamber of Maritime Commerce of Holland), Amsterdam, to 's Lands Werf (Navy dockyard) Amsterdam, 18 April 1798;1 Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague; transferred to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-4
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Wooden block model of a dry dock.
The model has a rectangular basin for drainage on the landward side. The use of the basin increased the dock’s flooding speed: the water was returned to the dock through tunnels underneath the dock’s floor. The dock’s entrance is sealed off with a double-keeled caisson, for which there are seven rabbets (although the caisson only fits in five positions). In the dock, keel-blocks are in place.
In 1798, the model was transferred from the Hollandse Kamer van het Zeecomptoir (Chamber of Maritime Commerce of Holland) in Amsterdam to the Navy dockyard where it was received by Dockyard Superintendent Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837).2 This dry dock was built after the design by the French engineer Antoine Groignard (1727-1799) in Toulon in 1778.3 Its distinctive feature is the basin used for drainage, which could contain up to 1,000 cubic metres of water. Forty chain pumps were used to empty the dock.
Another model of the Toulon dry dock is in the collection of the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.4
Scale unknown.
Literature
C.F. Wiebeking and C. Kröncke, Allgemeine auf Geschichte und Erfahrung gegründete theoretisch-practische Wasserbaukunst, 2 vols., Darmstadt 1798; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 4; R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, no. 24; M. Marzari, Progetti per l’imperatore. Andrea Salvini ingegnere a l’arsenal 1802-1817, Trieste 1990, pp. 80-81, pl. XXXVIII; F. Chapelay (ed.), Trésors du Musée national de la Marine, Paris 2006, p. 70
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Dry Dock, France, c. 1778', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.242729
(accessed 28 December 2024 07:18:05).