Boarding Axe

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

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-734

Boarding axe with a long angular shaft, painted white.

The blade has a curved edge and a four-faceted pike opposite, curved slightly towards the haft. The blade has two straps, attached to either side of the haft. The haft has a round knob at the end with a metal pin.

The axe resembles the axe carried by the Guard of Honour for Emperor Napoleon’s visit of Amsterdam in 1811.¹¹Uniformes des Gardes d’Honneur des différens corps dans les septs départemens de la Hollande, formés pour la réception de Sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi, Amsterdam 1811, pl. 1. The identification of this weapon as D. van den Bosch’s boarding axe is uncertain. His axe, proposed in 1831, was not accepted by the Dutch Navy.²²J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 734; HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 1/3/1832 N36, 3/4/1832 N132.

Uniformes des Gardes d’Honneur des différens corps dans les septs départemens de la Hollande, formés pour la réception de Sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi, Amsterdam 1811, pl. 1; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 734

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'attributed to D. van den Bosch, Boarding Axe, Netherlands, 1831', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244548