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-1026

Model of two rockets with launching gear or frame, to be fired from a ship’s boat.

The rockets consist of a pointed cylinder, of which the head is the incendiary part while the rear section of the tube contains the propellant, and a long stabilising stick mounted to the side. The frame, in the shape of a ladder, is hung on a dummy foremast on a round pedestal: the frame is hoisted up and down the mast for loading and aiming by means of a traveller, which embraces the mast and a halliard running through the sheave at the top of the mast. On each leg of the frame, a beam is mounted with a metal chamber with a flintlock and a set of braces. The triggers of the flintlocks have a hole for a lanyard. In the chamber, the rocket head is set underneath a pair of braces. The spark of the flintlock is deflected by a metal plate inside the chamber in order to enter the rear of the rocket.

This model is almost identical to model NG-MC-1027. The most remarkable feature of these models are the extra beams supporting the chambers, which do not appear in the original designs by William Congreve (1772-1828).¹¹W. Congreve, The Details of the Rocket System ... , London 1814, pp. 33-35, 47-49, pl. 11.

Rockets of Congreve’s design 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, pl. 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. 1026; 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

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'attributed to Rijkswerf Rotterdam, Model of Two Congreve Rockets with Launching Gear, Rotterdam, 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.244841