Rijkswerf Vlissingen

Half Model of a 50-Gun Frigate

Flushing, Flushing, 1843

Inscriptions

  • inscription, top centre, on an oval label:ONTWERP / voor een FREGAT / der 1e Klasse.
  • inscription, bottom right, on a piece of paper, in ink:Algemene bepalingen / [followed by measurements and armament]
  • label, centre right:323 former inventory label
  • label, bottom right: brass scale in inches

Provenance

...; Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1844;1HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 8/7/1844 N95. transferred to the museum, 1883

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-323

Entry

Polychromed wooden half bracket model of the starboard side of a three-masted ship, mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard.

The side of the ship is depicted by ribbands attached to frame moulds. The side above the wale is planked and painted black, with a white band running along the full length of the main gun deck. Twenty-eight shadowed gun ports are indicated in two tiers. The forecastle and the quarterdeck have square hances, the waist is open. The sheer is almost flat. One wale is indicated. The bow features an empty beakhead and a black knighthead. The elliptic stern has a decorated single-storey quarter gallery and an open deck. The model has a round-headed rudder (Soetermeer’s version) and the lower part of the blade is rounded. The hull is S-bottomed and painted white below the waterline. The position of three masts and the bowsprit is shown in a truncated form.

A remarkable feature is the large number of frame moulds used. Left and right of the hull, at the waterline, two small square holes can be seen, possibly for mounting a metal leg.

This is probably the model that was sent from Flushing to the Navy Model Room in 1844.2HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 8/7/1844 N95. It shows a design by August Elize Tromp (1801-1871) for a frigate of the first rate.3J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 323. Four frigates in this class were constructed; De Ruyter, a cut-down (‘razeed’) ship of the line, was one of them.

Scale (on model) 1:50.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 323

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Rijkswerf Vlissingen, Half Model of a 50-Gun Frigate, Flushing, 1843', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244133

(accessed 3 May 2025 17:18:47).

Footnotes

  • 1HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 8/7/1844 N95.
  • 2HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 8/7/1844 N95.
  • 3J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 323.