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Model of an 80-gun ship
Model 80-gun ship, unknown, 1740
Llegir més
Num. inventory: 16367
Object name: model ship
Title: 80-gun ship
Object date: 1740
Author: unknown
Technique and material: wood, cloth, plant fibre, metal, paint. Model ship.
Model ships
Shipwright’s model (a scale model used as a prototype for the construction of a real ship) built in the Arsenal of Havana, in Cuba, towards 1740. In an era when ships were not built with blueprints, shipyards tended to have three-dimensional models that served as references for the construction of full-sized ships. In this case, the model probably served as a guide for the construction of the ships San Carlos, San Luís and San Fernando, launched in Havana between 1765 and 1767.
This model was sent from Havana to the Iberian Peninsula, to the arsenals of Cartagena and Ferrol. In 1808, an officer from the Napoleonic army carried it to France and later, during World War I, the model ended up in the United States. It was lost until 1985, when the New Bedford Whaling Museum recuperated it and donated it to the Maritime Museum of Barcelona.
