Scale: 1:48. A contemporary half block model of the 'Elderslie' (1884), a specialized cargo vessel for the transporting of frozen meat. The model is constructed in ‘bread and butter’ fashion in the builder’s style and is decked, partially equipped and mounted on its original backboard with glazed display case. Plaque inscribed ‘Palmer No558 Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd 1884 Jarrow-On-Tyne’. Front of case inscribed ‘Model of the first steamer specially constructed for the carriage of frozen meat’.

Measuring 300 feet in length by 40 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 2761 gross, it is a typical steamship of the late 19th century trading from New Zealand to Europe. Limited accommodation was provided for first and second-class passengers, with emigrant passengers carried on the southbound voyage in the cargo tweendecks. Whilst on passage from Shanghai to Yokohama in May 1905, the ‘Elderslie’ went ashore at Tokoro Kitami and was declared a total constructive loss.