‘Pomone’ 38 Gun Frigate

Scale 1:60. A contemporary full hull model of ‘Pomone’ (1805) a 38-gun frigate fifth-rate ship of the line. The model is decked, equipped and partially rigged, and represents a ship measuring 150 feet along the lower deck by 40 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 1076 builder’s old measurement. The upper deck was armed with twenty eight 18-pounder guns, eight 9-pounders on the quarterdeck and two 12-pounder guns on the forecastle.

It was originally thought that this model depicted the French ‘Pomone’, a 44-gun frigate launched in 1785 and later captured by the British in 1794. However, at this scale, the beam is too great and it is doubtful as to whether any French frigate of this date would have had the rounded forecastle bulkhead. The model dimensions do fit almost exactly the British ‘Pomone’ that was built by Brindley of Frinsburg, Kent, and launched in 1805. This ship spent most of its career off the French Atlantic coast and is credited with the capture of the Neapolitan privateer ‘Lucien Charles’ in 1809, as well as taking part in the action in Rosas Bay in the same year. She was eventually wrecked off the Needles in 1811.

This model is complete with a number of interesting features such as the full set of ship’s boats in the waist and on the stern davits, covered hammock netting on the bulwarks, and rather uniquely, the ship is shown ‘in ordinary’ or laid up with the topmasts and bowsprit struck and stored in their lowered position. The model was once in the possession of Sir Edward Reynell Anson (1902-51), 6th Baronet.

Object Details

ID: SLR0651
Collection: Ship models
Type: Full hull model
Display location: Not on display
Vessels: Pomone (1805)
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Overall model: 868 x 1233 x 217 mm; Base: 105 x 608 x 171 mm
Parts: ‘Pomone’ 38 Gun Frigate