Scale: not calculated. A diminutive model of a 56-foot pinnace (circa 1984), complete with working steam plant. It is not much larger than the steam pinnaces seen on some of our larger shipbuilder’s warship models. A great piece of modelmaking and model engineering, it featured in a 1939 Faber & Faber publication, ‘The Model Shipbuilders’ Manual of Fittings and Guns’, by A. P. Isard. The entire deck forward of the wheel lifts off to access the space for the engine and boiler. We can see when the deck is taken off, that the hull has been carved from a solid piece of wood and is roughly finished inside. Most of the deck fittings have been made in metal.

The pinnace is well armed with a quick firing gun at the bow and several other small guns. The two torpedo holders are empty but the mechanism for lowering the torpedoes into the water actually work. The engine has traditionally always been displayed alongside the boat as an interesting model in its own right.