Model of a Made Mast

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

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-139

Construction model of a round mast with an octagonal head, bibbs, furring, trestletrees, chocks, rubbing paunch and side fishes.

The mast itself consists of an octagonal spindle and eight side fishes, which are joined together with dowels. The head is made up of the spindle alone. The foremost side fish is slightly longer. The parts are held together with mast hoops. A number of short planks encircle the mast, forming a flat furring to the front and half an octagon at the back. The side fishes also form the bibbs. A rubbing paunch is set to the front of the mast. The bibbs have cleats supporting the trestletrees and chocks.

This model represents the main mast of Piet Hein, laid down as a ship of the line in 1833, taken apart and re-assembled as the first Dutch screw steamer frigate Admiraal van Wassenaer, length 59.62 metres, built by August Elize Tromp (1801-1871) in Amsterdam from 1853 to 1856.¹¹A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 55.

Obreen described this model in his catalogue as an example of how masts are made in his day.²²J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 139. Together with a number of other models of spars, the entire main mast can be formed.

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 139; J. Wentholt, Memoriaal reis Admiraal van Wassenaer, s.l. 1869, manuscript in HSM, inv. no. S.2277(01); A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 55

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Made Mast, Netherlands, c. 1850', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.243951