Half Model of the Stern of a 74-Gun Ship of the Line

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

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-91

Frame model (starboard) of the stern of a ship, mounted on a backboard. The side above the lower wale is planked, ribbands on frame moulds are indicated beneath the waterline. Twelve gun ports in the side are visible, four of which have lids. It has a round tuck showing four filling transoms with two short vertical stern timbers between the uppermost filling transoms, and a cant timber and a hollow counter with one gun port. The taffrail is decorated with angels, trophies and foliage and has two storeys, the upper storey has a sternwalk. The quarter gallery has two storeys and is also decorated with foliage. The sheer rises towards the stern, two wales and a double sheer rail are indicated.

The decorations are identical to model NG-MC-90 and both models are probably from the same maker.

The 74-gun ship of the line Staten Generaal, after which this model was made, was built by R. Dorsman in Amsterdam in 1795 and renamed Washington in 1798.¹¹J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 91. It took part in the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and was the flagship of the squadron under command of Samuel Storey that surrendered to the British in the Vlieter in 1799. The ship entered the British Navy as Princess of Orange. It served as a powder ship only and was sold for breaking up in 1822.²²HNA 1.01.47.36 Admiraliteitscolleges, Losse Aanwinsten, inv. no. 17, Genealogie Asmus.

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 91; L.G. Carr Laughton, Old Ship Figure-Heads and Sterns, London/New York 1925, p. 55; Catalogus Rijksmuseum Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1943, p. 12, note 1; R.C. Anderson, Catalogue of Ship-Models, Greenwich 1952, p. 172

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Half Model of the Stern of a 74-Gun Ship of the Line, Amsterdam, c. 1795 - c. 1799', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.242816