Scale: 1:48. Full hull model of a three masted cargo ship flying a red ensign. The model represents a vessel measuring 106 feet in length by 26 feet in the beam. It is decked, equipped and rigged with a single topsail and topgallants and is mounted on its original wooden baseboard. A paper label found inside the hull reads ‘rigged and restored by Freeston 1934. A’

Models of merchantmen for the early 19th century are quite rare and this one clearly illustrates the typical hull shape of a cargo-carrying ship with the rounded and bluff bow and stern together with the almost square section amidships. This type of vessel was common around the southern coast of the British Isles, and was built in places such a Shoreham and Redbridge. Similar ships were built in New England and the maritime provinces of eastern Canada, some built on speculation, making their maiden voyages to ports such as Liverpool where they would be sold to British ship owners. Vessels of this type were engaged in trading to all ports of the world with the master, frequently a part owner, conducting all the ship’s business at ports and canvassing for his freight.