Scale: 1:32. A contemporary waterline builder’s model of a shallow draught river gunboat, thought to be the ‘Sandpiper’ class (1897-98) designed for operation on Chinese rivers. The model is mounted on its original glass sea base with a moulded wooden surround, and is rigged with a single mast, an armed look-out tower and flying a white ensign over the stern. It is complete with a variety of fittings including anchors and associated handling gear, a lifeboat rigged on davits, a large searchlight, and three rudders mounted on a square vertical transom. The armament consists of two 6-pounder breech-loading guns and number of machine guns on the upper or bridge deck. The central citadel is built with both portholes and small horizontal slits for use with small arms fire such as rifles.

Built by Yarrows at Poplar on the River Thames, these vessels measured 108 feet in length by 20 feet in the beam and had a displacement tonnage of 85. They were powered by a steam triple-expansion engine turning twin screws and produced a top speed of about 9 knots. Because their draught was only two feet, this rendered them unsuitable for a sea passage. Once they had been launched and completed, they were then taken to pieces, shipped to Hong Kong and re-assembled. The four ships in this class were ‘Sandpiper’, ‘Snipe’, ‘Robin’ and ‘Nightingale’, all of which served up until the end of the First World War, after which they were sold off locally.