Scale: 1:96. A very showy, extravagant model of what was a standard run-of-the-mill cargo ship. The fact that it was made during the darkest days of the Second World War did not deter its makers from gold-plating every fitting - ventilators, winches, anti-aircraft guns, anchors – they all sparkle in twenty-four carat gold. It was made especially for presentation to Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, when she launched the actual ship on 1 July 1943. Curiously the model shows the motor ship ‘Greenwich’ in her wartime condition but painted in her peacetime colours rather than the dreary overall grey scheme the ship actually had.

From the model we can see the A-frame projection mounted on the bow, used to tow the paravanes that we can see being stored on the foredeck. These were used to cut the wires of moored mines, when steaming in coastal waters. We can also see the ship’s armament – a single four gun, a ‘pillar box’ rocket launcher, four 20mm machine guns and two 0.303 machine guns. The model still retains its original display case and table, and information plaques.

The ‘Greenwich’ was one of a large number of standard 10,000 ton deadweight cargo ships ordered by the Controller of Merchant Shipbuilding and Repair during the Second World War. Built by William Doxford & Son, Sunderland, the three-cylinder diesel engine that powered the vessel was very economical, and she maintained a speed of ten knots on a fuel consumption of ten tons of diesel fuel per day. After release from wartime service under the control of the Ministry of War transport, ‘Greenwich’ assumed her role as a worldwide tramp steamship. In 1959 she was sold to a Liberian company, Argus Steamship Company Inc, and renamed ‘Portador’. She continued trading for a further three years, until April 1962, when she was abandoned in the North Atlantic, while en route from Manchester to Comeau Bay, Canada, after a fire had broken out in the engine room. A subsequent search revealed no trace of the ship.