Model of Two Congreve Rockets with Launching Gear

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-1029-2

Model of two Congreve rockets with launching gear or frame, for use on land.

The rockets consist of a pointed cylinder, with a long stabilising stick mounted to the side. The launching frame consists of a kind of ladder with a traveller at the top, which loosely embraces the foremast of a launch to guide that end when raised and lowered for loading and aiming, for which it has a halliard. However, this model is equipped with a pair of legs to form a tripod for use on land. On the outside of both frame legs, a metal chamber with a flintlock is mounted. These flintlocks mirror each other, the one on the left is left-handed and the one on the right is right-handed. The triggers of the flintlocks have a hole for a lanyard and are very long. In the chambers, the rocket heads are set beneath a pair of braces, the stabilising sticks are led through braces on the legs of the frame. The model has a linstock with a round brace at the end for a single fuse.

The identification of this model, and model (NG-MC-1029-1), was by a process of elimination and does not concur with the inventory entry that mentions only one model, with the rocket heads and tools placed in a separate box.¹¹J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1029. A model matching this precise description has not been found.

Rockets of William Congreve’s (1772-1828) design²²W. Congreve, The Details of the Rocket System ... , London 1814, pp. 33-35, 47-49, pls. 6, 11. were used by the British during the bombardments of Flushing in 1809 and Algiers in 1816.

Scale unknown.

W. Congreve, The Details of the Rocket System ... , London 1814, pp. 33-35, 47-49, pls. 6, 11; O.H. Kuyck, Verhandeling over de vuurpijlen, Breda 1856; J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1029; R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, no. 41; C. van der Burght, Rapport. Technisch onderzoek Congreve raketten, Flushing 1989, manuscript in RMA, folder NG-MC-1027; M. Willemsen, ‘Oorlogsvuurpijlen en het Nederlandse leger’, Armamentaria 45 (2010-11), pp. 60-77; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 120-23

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of Two Congreve Rockets with Launching Gear, Netherlands, 1804 - 1805', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.359833