Rijkswerf Vlissingen

Half Model of a Screw Steamer

Flushing, 1858

Inscriptions

  • inscription, top centre, on an oval label:SOEMBING / Schroef-Stoomschip / 4e Klasse
  • inscription, bottom right, on a piece of paper, in ink:Voornaamste Afmetingen / [followed by measurements and armament] / Vlissingen, 23 Maart 1858 / De Hoofd Ingenieur der Marine / Turk
  • label, centre right: former inventory label
  • scale, bottom right: brass scale in inches

Conservation

  • Ab Hoving, 2011
  • Sophie Glerum, november 2012

Provenance

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

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-493

Entry

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

The side of the ship that is painted black is planked on top of frame moulds. Six gun ports are indicated on the side. The bow features a detailed beakhead with a decorative, gold painted scroll as a billethead. The stern is elliptical and bears the coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Below the stern an empty aperture for a screw propeller and a round-headed rudder with a rounded blade are indicated. The model has a well for lifting the screw propeller. The sheer is virtually flat. One sheer rail is indicated. The hull has a wide V-shape, rounded at the bilges, and is painted a metallic copper colour below the waterline. The keel rises from the sternpost to the rudderpost. The position of three masts and the bowsprit is shown in a truncated form. The masts are raked considerably.

This model was sent from Flushing to the Department of the Navy on 23 March 1858.1See inscription; HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, inv. no. 3988. The 8-gun screw steamer Soembing, 43.73 metres long, was built by Lambertus Katharinus Turk (1811-1873) in Flushing in 1856.2J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 493. It served both in Curaçao and the Dutch East Indies, where it was decommissioned in 1872. Soembing was the first screw steamer 3rd class.3A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 66.

Several other designs and improvements were put forward, among them a different stern for a better gun position. Unfortunately the models referring to these designs – model numbers 488 and 489 – were removed from the Navy Model Room.4J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, nos. 488 and 489.

Scale (on model) 1:40.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, nos. 488-489, 493; A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 66

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Rijkswerf Vlissingen, Half Model of a Screw Steamer, Flushing, 1858', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200315801

(accessed 19 September 2025 08:43:22).

Footnotes

  • 1See inscription; HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, inv. no. 3988.
  • 2J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 493.
  • 3A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 66.
  • 4J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, nos. 488 and 489.