If ever there was a representation of the height of dockyard model carving and decoration, the Princess Royal would be it. The Princess Royal, 90 gun ship of 1773, was recently restored by Rob Napier, a master ship modeler. I had the good fortune to see this model uncovered and up close while it sat in Mr. Grant Walker's office at the Naval Academy, and the closer I looked, the more stunning it became. I'll post more pictures of this masterpiece as soon as time allows - you won't want to miss them!
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This is the stern of the 56 gun Third Rate of 1650. Imagine, Oliver Cromwell was in power in England, the United States was little more than a tenuous string of English colonies, a young Charles II remained in exile, after his father Charles I had lost his head only a year earlier. And this model was built in that same year. It was modified sometime in the 1800's, but the bulk of the model has existed for over 350 years largely as you see it now. Stunning!
John Hatch and I returned from our visit to Annapolis yesterday afternoon, and what a trip! We had the exceedingly good fortune to spend much of the day with Grant Walker, who is the leading expert in the United States on the Henry Huddleston Rogers collection of dockyard models, as it's his job to oversee the collection. As we made our way to each model, Grant would share with us anecdotes about the model's history, in some cases it's misadventures, but in all cases his passion for this magnificent art. I took hundreds of pictures, some of which are terrible, others of which are a bit better and at least provide a glimpse of some detail of a model, and there's a few that I'm very pleased with. Our first visit last year was to focus on the Third Rates since the model I'm working on is of the class, but this time we tried to cover a good deal more subjects. I will apologize up-front for the milky images (photographing a model through 300 year old glass, or newer Plexiglas is a challenge at best) or those images overpowered by flash. I also offer the same humble apology if you can see the pants I'm wearing or my big fingers holding the camera better than the object of our interest, but we tried. Here's one of the images, the stern of the Second Rate St. George, a pillar of the collection.
It's been quite a while since I've posted - cartoon work has kept me very, very busy. But ship modeling is never far from my heart or my mind, and I'm thrilled to say the date of the next visit to the HHR collection in Annapolis is scheduled for May 18th through the following Monday. I intend to spend a lot of time covering construction details of as many of the models as time permits, and I also hope to meet again with Mr. Grant Walker or Mr. Don Preul to guide us through our boundless questions. Once I have all the photos formatted, categorized and arranged in usable order, I'll get them posted here for the enjoyment and study of others who share this passion.
I've been aware of the Navy Records Society for some time, and have purchased some of their excellent volumes, including Queen Anne's Navy and the Sergison Papers, but hadn't for whatever reason actually joined. Until yesterday. For those who have a passion for Naval history, you will find a treasure of records and research material. There are two levels for membership, 20 British pounds and 40 British pounds. I opted for the 40 pound option and immediately saw the value in the investment. There are PDF editions of their most well known works available for immediate download, many of which at no further cost to members. My particular area of interest is the English Navy from the reign of William and Mary to George I, and there are a lot of resources to help me better understand that period. I'm working on a model of the English Third Rate, 70 gun warship Elizabeth of 1706 as well as researching such things as Woolwich Dockyard, Master Shipwright Richard Stacey, a number of ship's masters and captains - all of which will be greatly aided by the Navy Records Society resources. The 70 gun Third Rate ship of the line Elizabeth of 1706.
I have a number of models that were photographed on my last trip to Annapolis that I'll be posting as soon as possible. These include the 80 Gun Sussex, the Grafton, the brig Irene, the Bonhomme Richard, and something dear to every Navy man, images of the crypt of John Paul Jones - all to be posted in the very near future, so stay tuned!
I've been busy with my professional cartooning career, with my "Spectickles" due out in my first book, and we'll soon be showing up in newspapers, so that's been keeping me pretty busy. Not to fear, my love for all things nautical won't allow me to be away for very long! If you want to check out my cartoons, I have a feature on my site called "Cartoon A Day" where a different cartoon is posted, oddly enough, each day. Thank you for sharing this passion with me, and check back often! One of my favorite models in the collection is the 70 gun Third Rate 'Prince Frederick', arguably one of the Crown Jewels of the collection. A detail I keep returning to is the Captain's cabin with its intricately inlaid compass-pattern deck. And remember, this model was likely constructed nearly two decades before the birth of George Washington. No Jim Byrne's saws, no Dremels, no MicroMark - heck, even no electricity! Imagine working on something of this complexity, producing these results under candle-light? Staggers the imagination. I've spent lots and lots of time studying these images, and look forward to my next trip to see if I can improve the angles from which the photographs are taken as well as getting more comprehensive coverage of areas of interest specifically geared to researchers and ship modelers.
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AuthorBill Abbott is a professional cartoonist, retired Navy SWCC, and is a passionate reader of Naval and maritime history. Archives
May 2014
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