Warship; First rate; 120 guns

Scale: 1:24. A sectional model of the bow of a warship, first rate 120 gun, fitted with a bowsprit and a figurehead. The model is made entirely from wood, with the port side painted to show the timbering with their joints and the layout of the gun ports, complete with sills. It is painted on both the inboard and outboard, finished in a realistic wood colour and grained, with the gaps painted a dark brown. The port side is designed to come away from the model and is shown with fourteen gun ports and a pair of hawse holes.

The starboard side of the model shows the bow in its finished state with the traditional black hull and white stripes along the gun decks, which carry on through the beakhead finishing just behind the figurehead.

Outboard fittings including a section of a wooden channel complete with two deadeyes and chain plates, a cathead with the knee missing, drift rails, figureheads and trail boards, and a stump bowsprit. Again there are fourteen gun ports and a pair of hawse holes, the inside of which are painted red.

The finely carved figurehead represents Neptune and he is complete with a crown on his head, bearing a scalloped shield with a bust in its centre in his left hand, while his right hand is damaged and was probably holding a staff which is now missing.

The trail boards behind the figurehead are surrounded by a curved roll of acanthus leaves with a trident and a flag with a scaled dolphin motif, both of which are surmounted by the naval crown.

The inboard side of the model is finished in a light brown colour and varnished, with an olive green finish to the bulwarks, and the underside of the decks finished in white. Internally most of the gun ports are fitted with their various eyebolts with rings, used for rigging and working the guns. Finally there is a mast aperture for the foremast in both halves of the model.

Object Details

ID: SLR2196
Collection: Ship models
Type: Sectional model; Bow model; Waterline model
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Unknown
Date made: 1844
People: South Kensington Museum; Committee of Master Shipwrights
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.
Measurements: Overall: 550 mm x 880 mm x 700 mm