Model of a 12-Gun Brig

...; collection Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1765-1837), Amsterdam, 1807;¹¹HNA 2.01.29 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. E no. 4. Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1837;²²After the death of Asmus in 1837 models from his private collection remained in the Navy Model Room in The Hague and were henceforth considered an integral part of the collection of the Department of the Navy. transferred to the museum, 1883

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-660

Rigged wooden block model of a two-masted ship, mounted on a stand.

Twelve guns are mounted in the broadside and two more gun ports are indicated at the stern. The model had two decks and a deckhouse with stairs leading below deck. The figurehead is of a Roman warrior with a shield, spear and sword, the beakhead is decorated with painted scrolls. The stern has a round tuck and a hollow counter. The single-storey taffrail is decorated with carvings of foliage and a coat of arms with an arrow. Two gun ports are situated in the railing above the taffrail. The model has quarter-badges with one light. Below the stern a straight, square-headed rudder with afterpieces is indicated, and a tiller with steering tackle on deck. The model is fitted with two anchors, a windlass, a Y-shaped chimney for the galley, two pumps and a binnacle. The sheer rises slightly towards both ends, one wale and a sheer rail are indicated. The hull has an S-shaped bottom. The model is rigged as a two-masted brig without sails.

Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837) mentions this model in a list of his private collection from May 1807.³³HNA 2.01.29 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. E no. 4. It had been given to him as a present. The 12-gun brig Pijl, 80 feet long, was built by William May (1725-1807) in Amsterdam in 1785.⁴⁴J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 660. The ship served both in the Dutch East and West Indies. It was converted into a 16-gun brigantine in 1795. It was captured by the British in 1796 and taken into service of the British Navy.⁵⁵HNA 1.01.47.36 Admiraliteitscolleges, Losse Aanwinsten, inv. no. 17, Genealogie Asmus.

Scale (derived) 1:36.

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 660; J.J. Backer Dircks, De Nederlandsche zeemacht in haar verschillende tijdperken geschetst, 2 vols., The Hague 1890; J.C. Mollema, Geschiedenis van Nederland ter zee, 4 vols., Amsterdam 1939-42; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, p. 67; A.A. Lemmers, ‘Shipworm, Hogbacks and Duck’s Arses: The Influence of William May on Sir Robert Seppings’, The Mariner’s Mirror 99 (2013), no. 4, pp. 410-28, p. 418, note 36

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a 12-Gun Brig, Amsterdam, 1785 - 1795', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244476