Navy Board Ship Models

Nick Ball, Simon Stephens

• Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781526701138
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

A beautifully illustrated history of the early ship models of the Royal Navy that are prized today as works of art.
 
From about the middle of the seventeenth century, the Royal Navy's administrators began to commission models of their ships that were accurately detailed and, for the first time, systematically to scale. These developed a recognized style, which included features like the unplanked lower hull with a simplified pattern of framing that emphasized the shape of the underwater body. Exquisitely crafted, these were always rare and highly prized objects—indeed, Samuel Pepys expressed a profound desire to own one, and today they are widely regarded as the acme of the ship modeler's art.
 
Today, examples are the highlights of collections across the world, valued both as art objects and as potential historical evidence on matters of ship design. However, it was only recently that researchers began to investigate the circumstances of their construction, their function, and the identities of those who made them. This book, by two curators who have worked on the world's largest collection of these models at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, summarizes the current state of knowledge, outlines important discoveries, and applies this newfound understanding to many of the finest models in the collection. As befits its subject, Navy Board Ship Models is visually striking, with numerous color photographs that make it as attractive as it is informative to anyone with an interest in modelmaking or historic ships.

CATALOGUE OF THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM’S NAVY BOARD SHIP MODEL COLLECTION

Introduction

The Navy Board ship model collection at the National Maritime Museum consists of fifty-four models dating from about 1650 to 1775, as well as two high-quality twentieth-century models which replicate the Navy Board style.

The models have been chosen on the basis of their construction method and style. There are some variations: all of the fifty-six models have exposed stylised frames below the wale, but three are block models that have been painted to replicate this style. These have been included because they are important for understanding the influence of this ‘Navy Board framing’, not only to ship model construction, but also to how the style of the Navy Board models was perceived by contemporary model makers.

As style rather than function has been the basis for inclusion in this catalogue, the two modern models have been included because their standard of work is of such high quality that it rivals the originals. Furthermore, having been in the collection for over seventy years (since 1944), these two models are an integral part of the National Maritime Museum collection and it is felt that they should not be separated from the other Navy Board ship models.

The origins of this collection are diverse and include transfers from four major collections – namely the Royal Naval Museum Greenwich, Greenwich Hospital, the Mercury collection, and R.C. Anderson – as well as various acquisitions from other organisations and private individuals.

The first major national collection of ship models in Britain was started by the Surveyor of the Navy, Sir Robert Seppings, in the Model Room at Somerset House in around 1813. This collection was transferred to the new School of Naval Architecture at South Kensington, and became part of the South Kensington Museum.

The South Kensington models were then relocated to Greenwich in 1873 when the School of Naval Architecture moved to join the Royal Naval College, which had already transferred from Portsmouth 1869. The models were displayed in the Royal Naval Museum, along with some models from the Greenwich Hospital collection, which had also been at the Royal Naval College since the hospital had ceased activity in 1869.

The Model Room at Somerset House set up by Seppings, in an engraving from George Virtue’s London Interiors, 1842. (PAI8083)

The Mercury Collection before it was acquired by the Society for Nautical Research. In the foreground is a Fourth Rate (SLR00374), as well as the Royal Yacht (SLR0375).

When the National Maritime Museum was founded in 1934, these two collections were then transferred to the Museum, those models belonging to the Admiralty on a permanent basis, and those that belonged to Greenwich Hospital on indefinite loan. These models, which included twelve from the Royal Naval Museum, formed the core of the National Maritime Museum ship model collection.

The Mercury collection – a large historic collection of ship models belonging to the Mercury Nautical Training School based on the Hamble river, Hampshire – was put up for sale in 1921. There were fears that the collection would possibly follow the ship model collection previously owned by Charles Sergison, which was sold to the American collector Colonel Henry Huddleston Rogers in December 1922 (and can now be seen in at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland).

In the 1920s several important Navy Board models were sold by J.M. Botibol of London. This advertisement for the sale of the then-unidentified model of St Michael (SLR0002) was published in The Connoisseur, May 1929. The flags shown in this image have not survived, but were known to be modern additions.

Bronze bust of Sir James Caird (1864–1954), by William Reid Dick, 1935. (ZBA4374)

Dr Roger Charles Anderson, by Bernard Hailstone, 1962. (BHC2513)

The National Maritime Museum’s founding benefactor, the wealthy Scottish shipowner Sir James Caird (1864–1954), stepped in and provided the money for the Society for Nautical Research to purchase the collection for the Museum. The Mercury collection of over a hundred ship models included six made in the Navy Board style, which appear in this catalogue.

As well as the Mercury collection, Caird purchased numerous other paintings, artefacts and models which he donated to the NMM, including ten Navy Board models at auction and from private individuals. In the 1920s, the St Michael model was advertised for sale by the dealer J.M. Botibol. In 1939, it was entered into an auction by Robert Spence and purchased by Sir James Caird, who presented it to the Museum later that year.

Dr Roger Charles Anderson (1883–1976) was a noted naval scholar specialis...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• FOREWORD
• INTRODUCTION
• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
• CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS
• CATALOGUE OF THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM’S NAVY BOARD SHIP MODEL COLLECTION
• LEGACY OF THE NAVY BOARD MODELS
• DIRECTORY OF NAVY BOARD MODELS HELD ELSEWHERE
• GLOSSARY
• NOTES
• FURTHER READING