ACHILLES1002 viewsThis lovely little display piece is a model of a fast New York schooner, circa 1835.
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Cutty Sark691 viewsHere is the first of three pictures of a model of the famous clipper ship, built all in wood.
This model was built several years ago, and despite the exquisite detail she incorporates, she was part of our learning curve. If we were building her again today, we would definitely do something different about the sails. The stitching is perhaps too prominent here. In any case, sails are very difficult to represent well at a small scale, as even the thinnest material scales out around the weight of a very thick hairy blanket. Most of our sailing ship models are shown with the naked elegance of the plain spars, and in my opinion look all the better for it.
At least nine out of ten clipper ship models represent "Cutty Sark". Would you like a model of "Ariel", of "Falcon," which was the first of Steele's ships to astonish the sailing world, and a quiet design revolution in her way, or of his lovely "Titania"? How about "Fiery Cross", which won more tea races than any other ship? We have the plans, we have made a particular study of these lovliest of all ships, and we can promise you a truly excellent model.
(model by Frank Hasted)
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Euterpe555 viewsThe Clipper ship "Euterpe" was built on the Isle of Man for the Australian trade. She was one of the first iron ships. After an eventful life, she is now preserved as the "Star of India" at San Diego, California. We built this lovely glass-case replica for a gentleman whose grandfather had been the ship's sailmaker, in the days when she ran her easting down, around the howling Horn.
(model by Frank Hasted)
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Paragon.677 viewsOccasionally I get asked to work on something really special. This west-country schooner model, "Paragon", was over one hundred and fifty years old, when I was asked to carry out a light restoration. As you can see, she is a big model. The topmasts had to be housed, to fit her into her display space. Imagine her with her full spread of sail set, including two big topsails to give her that bit of extra drive in light airs.
She is historically fascinating, and poses some really interesting questions. She was built to take part in a seven-mile offshore model sailing race, which was a local tradition on the coast of Cornwall in the nineteenth century. She won, comprehensively.
Before the year of her building, most coastal trading vessels had broad, blunt, apple-bowed lines. Afterwards, the sharper clipper lines began to develop, especially in Cornwall, which always had a name for fast clipper schooners. Did this model perhaps influence the design of the full-sized vessels? Or does she simply represent a design change which was happening at the time in any case? Dr Basil Greenhill, who wrote the standard work on the Merchant Schooners, has said he finds the model very interesting, but as a cautious researcher, felt unable to commit himself without more evidence. Probably we will never know exactly what happened in St Ives all those years ago, but I treasure the memory of working on her as one of the finest models ever to pass though my hands.
(model by local nineteenth-century builder, light restoration by John Davies)
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