Scale: 1: 48 A contemporary full hull model of the sixth-rate sloop HMS ‘Actaeon’ (1831). The hull is fully rigged with mast and spars, with a flush deck and enclosed waist and is fitted with a wheel and capstan, the whole of which is mounted on original ornate crutches on a wooden baseboard. Measuring 121 feet in length by 34 feet in the beam and a tonnage of 620, the ‘Actaeon’ was designed by the ‘Superior Class of Shipwrights’ Apprentices’ at the School of Naval Architecture, Portsmouth. She was fitted throughout with twenty-eight 32-pounder carronades and manned by a crew 175.

During the early years of her career, she saw service in the Mediterranean, South America, the Pacific, and West Africa and finally by the 1850s, was carrying out survey work on the China Station. In retirement, the ‘Actaeon’ was used as a hospital ship at Portsmouth, a coal hulk for the Cork Harbour Board, and in 1874, was attached to HMS ‘Vernon’ and used for torpedo experiments. She was finally sold in 1889 to J. Read for breaking up at Portsmouth.