Object data
wood, brass, mica, rope, silk and textile
model: height 83 cm × length 70 cm × width 32 cm
packaging capsule: height 88 cm × width 74 cm × depth 39 cm
Rijkswerf Rotterdam
Model of a Gaff-Rigged Gunboat
Rotterdam, c. 1835
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-672
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Rigged, hollowed-out wooden block model of a single-masted, flat-bottomed gunboat mounted on a stand.
The model has a rounded bow and stern, one gun port in the bow, two in the stern, and four in the sides. The deck is detailed with a windlass, a chimney for the galley, hatches, a deck light, a binnacle, two pumps, ten round shot and two anchors. It has a waist cloth on the gunwale, four forked posts and eight rail planks to support a waist cloth. There are no details below deck. It is fitted with a broad rudder with a decorated head and a wooden tiller on deck. The sheer is flat. The model has one wale and leeboards. The model is rigged with a single-masted gaff rig with furled sails. The mast has a topmast, square foresail and topsail, staysail and jib, mainsail with gaff and boom, tricolour pennant.
This model conforms to the specifications for small gaff gunboats of 1835, measuring 14.7 metres in length. They had an 18-pounder gun in the bow and two 8-pounders in the stern.
Scale (according to Obreen)1 1:30.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 672; R.F. Cairo, ‘Notes on Dutch Gaff Gunboats: A Provisional Report’, Nautical Research Journal 16 (1968), no. 1, pp. 3-16; A.J. Hoving, ‘Van Speyk’s Gaff Gunboat No 2’, Model Shipwright 81 (1992), pp. 56-59
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Rijkswerf Rotterdam, Model of a Gaff-Rigged Gunboat, Rotterdam, c. 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.244487
(accessed 23 November 2024 22:00:33).