Model of a 24-Gun Frigate

Entry

Rigged wooden block model of a three-masted ship with sails, mounted on a stand.

Twenty-four gun ports are indicated on the main deck. The lower deck has five ballast ports on either side. The model has three levels: lower deck, main deck, beakhead platform and forecastle and quarterdeck with a small deckhouse. The figurehead is of a rampant lion, the beakhead is ornamented with carvings of mermaids. The stern has a round tuck and a hollow counter with two gun ports. The single-storey taffrail has sliding windows and carvings of classical figures, martial trophies and a coat of arms of a dog flanked by two putti. The single-storey quarter galleries are decorated with carvings and portrait medallions of a man and a woman. Below the stern a straight, square-headed rudder is indicated, and a steering wheel is fitted on the quarterdeck. The model has one anchor, double riding bitts, two double capstans and a galley with a Y-shaped chimney. The sheer rises slightly towards both ends, and has two wales and two sheer rails. The hull is S-bottomed. The model is rigged on three masts with all sails, the mizzen has a lateen yard.

This model represents the 24-gun frigate Zeepaard, 125 feet 7 inches long, built in Amsterdam from 1780 to 1782. Zeepaard was the last vessel of this rate with one gun deck and without gangways or poop.¹ It served mainly in the Mediterranean, but also made voyages to the Dutch East and West Indies. Converted to an 18-gun troop ship in 1797, it was captured by the British in 1799, but abandoned. Zeepaard garnered fame by preventing a British invasion of Texel in 1804. The ship was grounded in the Nieuwediep in 1805 and broken up shortly afterwards.²

Scale (derived) 1:48.