Object data
wood, brass and paint
h 24.4 cm × w 142.3 cm × d 20.3 cm
Rijkswerf Vlissingen
Half Model of a Paddle Steamer
Flushing, c. 1837 - c. 1841
Inscriptions
- inscription, top centre, on an oval label: STOOM- / OORLOGSCHIP / de ETNA
- inscription, bottom right, on a piece of paper, in ink: Voornaamste Afmetingen. / [followed by measurements and scale]
- label, centre right: 477 former inventory label
- scale, bottom right: brass scale in inches
Conservation
- Restauratieatelier Scheepsmodellen, 2008: restored
Provenance
...; Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1841;1 transferred to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-477
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Polychromed and fully planked wooden half bracket model of the starboard side of a three-masted paddle steamer, mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard, painted white.
The side of the ship that is painted black is planked and features a paddle box. The paddle box is supported by four brass trusses with gratings fore and aft and cupboards in the front and in the rear of the box. Port-lids are fitted in the bulwark fore and aft for the pivot guns and hammock netting are placed along the entire length of the bulwark. The rounded bow features a detailed beakhead, the figurehead is missing. The elliptical stern bears the coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Below the stern a square-headed rudder with a rectangular blade and a large deadwood are indicated. The sheer is almost flat. One wale is indicated. The hull is round and painted a metallic copper colour below the waterline. The position of three masts and the bowsprit are shown in a truncated form.
The model was sent from Flushing to The Hague in 1841.2 The 4-gun paddle steamer Etna, 47 metres long, was built by Cornelis Soetermeer (1782-1842) in Flushing from 1837 to 1839.3 The engines were furnished by the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij Fijenoord in Rotterdam. Used mainly for inland defence purposes, it made a voyage to the Dutch West Indies (1842-44) and to the Dutch East Indies (1847), where it remained and was decommissioned in 1864.4
Scale (on model) 1:40.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 477; A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 45
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 'Rijkswerf Vlissingen, Half Model of a Paddle Steamer, Flushing, c. 1837 - c. 1841', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (ed.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam 2016: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244290 (accessed 23 January 2021).