Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of a 36 to40-gun two-decker frigate (circa 1660) built plank on frame in the Navy Board style. The model is decked and mounted on its original veneered wooden baseboard. At this scale, the model represents a ship measuring 116 feet along the gun deck by 26 feet in the beam. The hull frames have been strapped internally with two lengths of brass wire, a later restoration. The name ‘The Shearnes 1660’ is carved into a panel on the lower stern counter. However, no ship of this name, either spelt ‘Shearnes’ or ‘Sheerness’, or of this date is known to have existed.

The type of ship depicted by this model was very much like the ‘frigates’ of 32-34 guns, built from 1646-50, or the fifth rates of 1666-71, with longer and narrower hulls. The very great rake or angle of the stem, the absence of a belfry on the forecastle and the lack of outboard channels for the mizzenmast rigging all suggest an earlier date. However, the shape of the bulkheads and general style of the decoration point to a date after the Restoration in 1660.