Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the paddle sloop ‘Medea’, mounted on its original wooden baseboard. The model is complete with stump masts and bowsprit and a number of deck fittings including skylights, engine room gratings, capstan and accommodation hatches. There is also some slight damage to the stern bulwarks and the funnel and figurehead are missing.

The ‘Medea’ (1833) was designed by the Master Shipwright Oliver Lang and built and launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1833. Measuring 179 feet in length by 31 feet in the beam, it had a tonnage of 1142 displacement and was fitted with a two-cylinder side-lever steam engine manufactured by John Penn & Son of Greenwich, London. She carried a crew of 135 and was armed with two 10-inch pivot guns and two 32-pounder carronades.

The early paddle vessels in the Royal Navy performed a variety of duties ranging from towing the larger sailing warships to cruising and keeping a presence in the British outposts around the world. The ‘Medea’ served in the Syrian campaign of 1840 and afterwards in China, remaining on the Navy List until 1867.