Half Model of a Paddle Steamer

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

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-479

Polychromed and fully planked wooden half bracket model of the starboard side of a three-masted paddle steamer, mounted on a rectangular, yellow-painted wooden backboard.

The side of the ship that is painted black is planked and features a paddle box. The paddle box carries an upturned lifeboat on top and has cupboards forward and aft. Four gun ports are in the quarterdeck bulwark. The rounded bow features a detailed beakhead with a decorative, gold-painted scroll as a billethead. The cathead is decorated with a gold-painted lion’s head. The elliptical stern has a round gallery with windows in an elegant cartouche. Below the stern a round-headed rudder of the Soetermeer type with a rounded blade is indicated. The sheer is flat and indicated by a gold-painted line. The hull is round and painted a metallic copper colour below the waterline. A black-painted funnel protrudes from the deck. The position of three masts and the bowsprit are shown in a truncated form.

The model was finished in 1845 and was painted in 1847 before being sent to The Hague.¹¹HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, inv. nos. 3946, 3956, Exh. 4/7/1845 N23. The 8-gun paddle steamers Bromo and Merapi, both 52 metres long, were built by Cornelis Jan Glavimans (1796-1857) in Rotterdam from 1840 to 1842. Both ships made a return journey to the Dutch East Indies from 1844 to 1848. They sailed again to the East Indies, this time to stay there. Bromo was decommissioned in 1871, Merapi in 1863.²²A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 46.

Scale (according to Obreen)³³J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 479. 1:40.

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 479; A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 46; L.M.A. Homburg, ‘Raderstoomschip der 2e klasse Bromo’, Scheepshistorie 4 (2007), pp. 39-45; J. Mulder, ‘Het model van raderstoomschip Bromo’, Scheepshistorie 17 (2007), pp. 46-62

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Rijkswerf Rotterdam, Half Model of a Paddle Steamer, Rotterdam, 1842 - 1845', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244292