Scale: 12. A contemporary full hull model of a lifebuoy built in the round from tinplate with semi-circular floats. The main body of the hull is circular and fitted with a large and deep central ballast keel. The two stabilising floats at either side of the bow are also in metal and can be hinged upwards for stowage on board the mother vessel or ashore. At either end it is fitted with two large bow shackles that suggest it could be stowed slung in davits. There are also two towing eyes fitted to the cone shaped ends on the main hull. In the forward seating position there is a large wooden reel for streaming the wooden drogue, weighted with lead at the lower edge for correct positioning in the water. Also in the forward area along the centreline there is a mast tabernacle which will allow the rig to be raised and lowered.

At this scale, the actual vessel would have a diameter of six feet for the main body and an overall length of twenty-three feet. There is an original label, now faded, which read that the model represents Comander Beadon’s improved lifebuoy 1842, Society of Arts, Volume fifty-four, page 117.