Scale: 1:48 A sailor-made waterline model of the sailing ship ‘Torrens’ (1875) complete with a full suit of sails stowed and partly flying. It is also accompanied by a small waterline model of a tug operated by the Thames-based company of Watkins.

A composite built ship of teak planks on iron frames, the ‘Torrens’ was built by J. Lang & Co., Sunderland, and launched in 1875. It was designed for the popular passenger trade from London to Adelaide, Australia, and during the 15-year command by Captain H. R. Angel, consistently made fast passages, its best being 68 days. Measuring 222 feet in length by 38 feet in the beam, the long poop contained the passenger and officer accommodation.

It was during the early 1890s that Joseph Conrad served on ‘Torrens’ as mate writing his first novel ‘Almayer’s Folly’. In 1896 it ran into an iceberg in the Southern Ocean and was partly dismasted and its bow stove in. After being sold to Italian owners in 1903, it ran ashore twice before being broken up in 1910.