Object data
wood, brass, textile and rope
model: height 58.9 cm × width 16.4 cm × depth 15.3 cm
packaging capsule: height 63.5 cm × width 31 cm × depth 25 cm
anonymous
Model of a Batavian Coastal Telegraph
Netherlands, c. 1798 - c. 1800
Provenance
...; collection Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1765-1837), Amsterdam, 1807;1 Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1837;2 transferred to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-816
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Model of an optical telegraph, mounted on a four-legged foot.
The model consists of a shored mast with a yard and a flagpole. One of the four shores is fitted with rungs for climbing the mast. Two wings, covered with textile, attached halfway up the mast, are operated with tackles through blocks that hang from the yard; two balls can be raised or lowered at the ends of the yard.
This model is first mentioned as part of the private collection of Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837) in 1807.3 Sixty-three of these ‘Batavian’ telegraphs made up the coastal signal stations along the North Sea coast between 1798 and 1801. Both wings and balls, when fittingly sized, can be seen from great distances.
It should be noted that balls are visible from all azimuths, but wings only when seen from the side. The wings were first used by Claude Chappe (1763-1805) in 1793, whereas balls used as signalling devices can be observed on sixteenth-century Spanish maps and were probably even used even much earlier. Early Dutch coast signals used fish baskets instead of balls.
Scale unknown.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 816; M. Parlange, Les signaux de la défense des côtes en Belgique, aux Pays-Bas et en Allemagne sous l’occupation française (1794-1814), The Hague/Brussels 1968; C.P.P. van Romburgh, De Hollandse kustbeseining. De Franse invloed op de technische en organisatorische ontwikkeling van de kusttelegrafen 1794-1813, Leiden 1989 (diss. Rijksuniversiteit Leiden); F. van Anrooij et al., Herman Willem Daendels 1762-1818. Geldersman, patriot, jacobijn, generaal, hereboer, maarschalk, gouverneur. Van Hattem naar St George del Mina, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1991, no. 132; E. Ludwig, Beschrijvingen van de telegraafmodellen in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, s.l. 1992, manuscript in RMA, folder NG-MC-810/825 (telegrafen); G. de Saint Denis, ‘Télégraphes et sémaphores en Europe du nord-ouest fin XVIIIe-début XIXème siècle’, in Bicentenaire du télégraphe Chappe. Colloque international des 13-14-15 Octobre 1993 (Fédération Nationale des Associations de personnel des Postes et Télécommunications pour la Recherche Historique) 1993, pp. 181-91; C.P.P. van Romburgh, ‘Les télégraphes bataves 199-1801’, in Fédération Nationale des Associations de personnel des Postes et Télécommunications pour la Recherche Historique (ed.), Bicentenaire du télégraphe Chappe. Colloque international des 13-14-15 Octobre, s.l. 1993, pp. 35-40; C.C.P. van Romburgh, ‘De revolutionaire verreschrijver’, in H. Stevens (ed.), The Art of Technology: The Navy Model Collection in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam/Wormer 1995, pp. 30-33; R. Korving and B. van der Herten, Een tijding met de snelheid des bliksems. De optische telegraaf in de Nederlanden (1800-1850), Alphen aan den Rijn 1997, pp. 59-68; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 128-31
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Batavian Coastal Telegraph, Netherlands, c. 1798 - c. 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244630
(accessed 6 January 2025 08:42:25).