Scale 1:48. A full hull model of ‘Frolic’ (circa 1813) an 18-gun ship-sloop. Constructed in ‘bread and butter’ fashion, the model is decked and partially equipped including two anchors as well as copper sheathing of the underwater hull. Built by Josiah Barker at Charlestown, Massachusetts and launched in 1813, the ‘Frolic’ measured 119 feet in length by 31 feet in the beam with a tonnage of 509 builder’s old measurement.

Armed with eighteen 32-pounder carronades and two 9-pounder cannon, it had a complement of 135 men and was a sister ship to the ‘Wasp’ and ‘Peacock’, all of which were thought to be far superior the their Royal Navy equivalents. However, her career with the United States Navy was short lived as she was captured by HM frigate ‘Orpheus’, 36 guns, and HM schooner ‘Shelborne’ 12 guns, off Matanzas, Cuba on the 20 April 1814. She was then taken into the Navy and renamed ‘Florida’ and rated for 20 guns, before finally being broken up at Chatham Dockyard in 1819.

The primary purpose of this model is to illustrate the method of copper sheathing a ships hull. Copper sheathing was introduced into the navy in the 1780s to prevent the build up of weed growth on the hull, which had a major effect on the vessel’s sailing qualities. It also protected the underwater planking against the marine boring worm ‘teredo navalis’, resulting in the future reduction of expensive repairs in dock.