Model of an Anchor Release

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

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-634

Model of a cathead with anchor release gear.

A swallow runs straight through the cathead, with a brass mounting above with a turning catch half covering it. To the side, the cathead has a brass thumb cleat. Its operation is not fully understood.

For this object Obreen does not specify its maker.¹¹J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 634. However, W. van Houten’s model (NG-MC-663) is mentioned in the archives together with a model by Thomas Brunton (incorrectly spelled ‘Burton’).²²HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 18/12/1826 N11. On the model of the East Indiaman Vergelijking (NG-MC-658) two catheads with an anchor release gear by Brunton are installed.

Scale unknown.

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 634; J.H. Harland, Seamanship in the Age of Sail, London 1984, p. 243

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of an Anchor Release, Netherlands, c. 1826', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244449