Scale: 1: 48 A contemporary full hull model of the 50-gun steam Frigate HMS ‘Nankin’ (1850). The hull is painted copper to indicate sheathing below the waterline, while above on deck are fitted a number of fixtures including a double wheel, circular skylight, stump masts and bowsprit, with a half bust male figurehead mounted on the bow.

The ‘Nankin’ was built at Woolwich Dockyard and measured 185 feet in length by 50 feet in the beam with a tonnage of 2002. She was crewed by 500 men and carried a variety of guns ranging from 32-pounder to 68-pounders although the onset of peace meant that the Navy Board decreed that for mainly structural reasons, the eight guns mounted on the gangways amidships. As a result of this, subsequently no spar-decked frigates mounted guns in the waist. After seeing service in the China Wars from 1856–59, the ‘Nankin’ became a receiving ship before being broken up in 1905.