Treasure Trove of Model Ships: Preble Hall Annapolis

[modernknight1]

When I was a boy, I always loved amusement parks just like every other kid.... but I loved museums more. I have had the privilege during my lifetime of visiting most of the great maritime museums on the planet. My favorite will always be the Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum (Dutch Maritime Museum) in Amsterdam. Their collection of models is unsurpassed by any other museum in the world. Combine that with the hundreds of paintings - many larger than life masterpieces, and even the museum at Greenwich doesn't match it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49225014@N05/sets/72157630274392002/show/

Until today, I thought that the best maritime museum in the US was Nautica in Norfolk, VA - with the museums at New Bedford and Mystic Seaport being close seconds. Today I was blown away by the collection of model ships found at the US Naval Academy's Preble Hall in Annapolis Maryland. I spent most of the day there and I can honestly say without a doubt that this museum boasts one of the finest collections of models and historical artifacts/memorabilia found anywhere. Certainly it IS the largest displayed collection of specifically English ships in world - even beyond Greenwich UK.

The model collection was mind blowing. The collection had all of the usual Napoleonic era frigates and ships of the line like Constitution and Victory, but consists of primarily 17th and early 18th century ships - with the best samples from 1650-1725. Many of the ships are original Royal Navy board models, some requiring complete restoration but retaining as much of the original construction and parts possible. I found the 3rd, 4th and 5th rate examples to be the most aesthetically attractive. The ornate details and carved statuary distinct to that era are amazing and I tried to capture as many interesting details as I could in my photos. I was stunned to find some completely non-standard ship forms, especially in 6th rates. A couple of mid 17th century examples with only two masts another with the most interesting rounded tafferel - yet another with a diminutive and almost fluyt-styled stern threw me for a loop. Another interesting side collection were the prisoner of war models - most made from bone and ivory. I'd never seen so many of these before and got a good shot of an inaccurate but very interesting prisoner model of Victory.

I have to mention that I largely ignored the first floor consisting of hundreds of historical exhibits so I could focus my time on the ships of the second floor. Tons of historical weapons, uniforms, memorabilia and more models are in this collection, many items belonging to famous heroes of US Naval history. I was amazed to see many original paintings that I have admired for years in books. One of the pics I took was of an interesting rendition of Ostend being sieged during the War of Spanish Succession. I found it extremely interesting, especially with the research I did on that city and the raid Piet Heyn conducted in the story featured on him in the Burning Brig.

Some other highlights were the original "DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP" flag Oliver Hazard Perry made his personal standard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hazard_Perry as well as the dueling pistols used by Stephen Decatur and the bullet that killed him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur On the way into the museum I saw the impressive USNA Chapel with its many stained glass windows depicting scriptural episodes from the Bible involving the sea and ships. Many memorials to America's Naval dead adorned the walls and below is the imposing crypt of John Paul Jones. Outside spread over the Annapolis campus are an interesting array of old cannon captured by the US Navy in its numerous historic conflicts. There is the odd British gun, but most of these old pieces were taken from the Spanish - many during the Mexican war time frame. Of interesting note is that most date from the mid 1600s meaning they were already 200 years old and still in service when the US seized them.

This museum is FREE and the staff are fantastic! http://www.usna.edu/Museum/ One of the curators has been working on a photo book of every detail of every ship for many years and the hope is that it will be finished soon. Needless to say, I obtained his contact information. If you can make the trip or are ever in the DC area, I highly recommend you go have a look at this wonderful treasure of our past. I had an incredible time and plan to go back next weekend for a better look at the first story exhibits, and to take more and better pictures of the models. If any of you modellers have requests for special details let me know and I will try to get them for you. I still plan to complete the many Flickr sets I've started and have dug up hundreds of pics of the other museums, but these are all fresh from today and you can find the sets here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49225014@N05/

MK

 

[Thagarr]

Fantastic article mate, those models are absolutely gorgeous! The St George is particularly breathtaking, that is some of the most intricate rigging and carving I have ever seen on a model. The Chinese paint scheme on the Prince Fredrick is ...interesting, but the model it's self is beautiful. That Britannia is absolutely exquisite! I now have a much better idea of what the term museum quality means. While those big 50+ gun ships are quite impressive, the models of the Swift and the unnamed pink got my attention, those two beauties are more to my taste.

Those paintings were quite interesting as well, the one with the French galleys alongside the big square riggers in the Genoa harbor is one hell of a transitional snapshot in time. Now you have me curious to know what is on the first floor, maybe one of these days I might just take a look for myself.

 

[jokash]

can you play with the models like open close gun ports set sail and so on , now really...great stuff

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Great photos! I have some new ideas that appear to be historically correct.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

My favorite will always be the Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum (Dutch Maritime Museum) in Amsterdam. Their collection of models is unsurpassed by any other museum in the world.

I always very much liked that too. Unfortunately, they have completely redone the entire museum and all their models have gone into storage for now. Apart from a few yacht models, but who is interested in those? There are still ship models in the Rijksmuseum, though, but I'm hoping they will decide to change the exhibits every few years and the ship models collection will make a well-deserved return.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

shame you didn't get more pictures of the models of us navy warships ( I saw a nice baltimore clipper looking thing in the background too) but still, good stuff!

 

[modernknight1]

Thanks for the comments Mates!

Thagarr, that pink was totally unexpected and I am attempting to find some plans. These are the types of ships that will be all over in the game I will be developing. Craiggo gave me a tutorial on how he does ship textures and I have learned the basics behind photoshop. So based on some of the photo's here I am attempting to put in two new ships (Mordaunt2 and Jamaicaship2) into my eras mod which will have new textures.

Pieter, That is such a shame! I checked out their website and it appears they are targeting the youth now. Maybe showcasing warships and a past full of war and seizing lands from primitive peoples isn't politically correct these days. I HATE revisionism when it clouds history rather than reveal newly discovered truths. I have seen all of the ships in the Reichsmuseum including the huge fine model of Prinz Willem. I hope that the curators will put all of those dozens of fine models back on display. My favorite model ever is one of a fine Dutch frigate of about 1680 in that collection. I am so glad I took hundreds of pictures and many hours of video of those fine models back in the 1990s during numerous visits. Last time I was there was in 2006 and they still had the ships displayed.

Capt Armstrong, There were quite a few US models, but the real jewels were the English ships because of their rarity. Almost any museum that covers maritime history has an abundance of late 18th early 19th century ships (many often donated by amatuer/semi professional) modelers. I see these types of models all the time and as much more common. I used to really enjoy the later ships when I was a boy - indeed reading about Hull, Decatur, Perry, and Jones and their ships first got me interested in my passion for maritime history. Over the years as I pursued my Masters, all of the historical blanks were filled in. I find 17th century history so much more interesting, dramatic, tumultuous, and full. The greatest and largest battles of the Age of Sail were fought in that century and the dynastic and national struggles were much longer bloodier affairs. Because of this, nautical development underwent amazing transitions during these times that produced so many interesting, diverse and aesthetically pleasing ships. Every one was so different from its sisters. The 18th century saw the playing field get much smaller with many of the former players becoming almost irrelevant, circumvented by the winners. Because of this the historic playing field pales in terms of action at sea. Sure there were new players like Russia and Prussia and some amazing conflict on land, but at sea, the 1700s was a British century driven much more by profit, an economy of time and materials - marked by the rise of the industrial revolution and decline of decoration and rakish hulls. I find that somewhat sad and really enjoy the gaudy decorations of the earlier times. So I find the later era ships so much less interesting because of this. They are very sleek and clean and still exhibit amazing beauty, but they all look so much the same to me. Only minor differences differentiate one ship from another. In the 17th century, one could often tell the nationality, and even what specific ship that was on the horizon from a good distance. In the 18th century, ships usually had to get much closer to one another to make that determination. I do have lots of pics of the later era ships, but find we already have so many in our games - so I have made it my personal crusade to try to acquire as many earlier examples possible. Eventually I will get around to hanging Flickr sets of the later frigates, sloops, schooners, etc. online.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Pieter, That is such a shame! I checked out their website and it appears they are targeting the youth now. Maybe showcasing warships and a past full of war and seizing lands from primitive peoples isn't politically correct these days. I HATE revisionism when it clouds history rather than reveal newly discovered truths. I have seen all of the ships in the Reichsmuseum including the huge fine model of Prinz Willem. I hope that the curators will put all of those dozens of fine models back on display. My favorite model ever is one of a fine Dutch frigate of about 1680 in that collection. I am so glad I took hundreds of pictures and many hours of video of those fine models back in the 1990s during numerous visits. Last time I was there was in 2006 and they still had the ships displayed.

Yep, they've been trying to add more interactive stuff to the exhibits and make things more interesting for a "contemporary audience". It might be for the better, but it's still a loss in my book. I don't think political correctness has anything to do with it though. We're just talking about ship models and the paintings are still there. They have redone the whole museum over the past two(?) years and it just reopened last year if I recall, so it's quite a recent change. Saw it a few months ago.

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Capt Armstrong, There were quite a few US models, but the real jewels were the English ships because of their rarity. Almost any museum that covers maritime history has an abundance of late 18th early 19th century ships (many often donated by amatuer/semi professional) modelers. I see these types of models all the time and as much more common. I used to really enjoy the later ships when I was a boy - indeed reading about Hull, Decatur, Perry, and Jones and their ships first got me interested in my passion for maritime history. Over the years as I pursued my Masters, all of the historical blanks were filled in. I find 17th century history so much more interesting, dramatic, tumultuous, and full. The greatest and largest battles of the Age of Sail were fought in that century and the dynastic and national struggles were much longer bloodier affairs. Because of this, nautical development underwent amazing transitions during these times that produced so many interesting, diverse and aesthetically pleasing ships. Every one was so different from its sisters. The 18th century saw the playing field get much smaller with many of the former players becoming almost irrelevant, circumvented by the winners. Because of this the historic playing field pales in terms of action at sea. Sure there were new players like Russia and Prussia and some amazing conflict on land, but at sea, the 1700s was a British century driven much more by profit, an economy of time and materials - marked by the rise of the industrial revolution and decline of decoration and rakish hulls. I find that somewhat sad and really enjoy the gaudy decorations of the earlier times. So I find the later era ships so much less interesting because of this. They are very sleek and clean and still exhibit amazing beauty, but they all look so much the same to me. Only minor differences differentiate one ship from another. In the 17th century, one could often tell the nationality, and even what specific ship that was on the horizon from a good distance. In the 18th century, ships usually had to get much closer to one another to make that determination. I do have lots of pics of the later era ships, but find we already have so many in our games - so I have made it my personal crusade to try to acquire as many earlier examples possible. Eventually I will get around to hanging Flickr sets of the later frigates, sloops, schooners, etc. online.

For some reason I just never was very interested in ships built before the 18th century. they have some stunning decorations, but I just don't think they are very sleek or rakish in comparison to some of the late 18th early 19th century ships. in terms of hull form the early ships seem to generally have a high center of gravity and be too shallow for their height above water, which I think would make them leewardly. plus I don't like how much they curve upwards at the bow and stern, but this is all just personal preference. different nationalities still had different rigging shapes in the 17th and early 18th c. that could be seen pretty far away. a tall american rig differed from a british ship with wider, lower sails. and so on and so forth. at least that is what I have noticed from building the ships that I have and seeing many sailplans. As for hull form up close, nations were still very different. the english favored stubbier ships with little sheer and wall sides. the french favored long, low hull forms with lots of tumblehome well into the 1800s. american ships often had heavily raked bows, and had proportions similar to french ships. There were certainly major battles in the 1700s and early 1800s too...trafalgar, the nile, the saintes, the cheasapeake, st vincent, glorius 1st of june, etc etc. I realize that there were even bigger ones earlier on, but from what I have read they were very messy and proved that massive armadas were too unweildy to be effectively controlled in a battle. The British were pretty dominant in the 1700s, though the french gave them a few good drubbings during the american revolution. of course the wars were about trade and economics and territory and national rivalry, what were they about in the 1600s and 1500s? probably the same, with religion thrown into the mix. That doesn't mean the 1700s and 1800s were uninteresting, there were some very close battles and some great stories about the likes of Cochrane, Decatur, Hoste, Pellew,Porter, Perry, Warren, Nelson, and the like. Anyways I have rambled on here for too long. Everyone has their own preferences for ships and historical periods

 

[modernknight1]

There were certainly major battles in the 1700s and early 1800s too...trafalgar, the nile, the saintes, the cheasapeake, st vincent, glorius 1st of june, etc etc. I realize that there were even bigger ones earlier on, but from what I have read they were very messy and proved that massive armadas were too unweildy to be effectively controlled in a battle.

Ah yes I heartily agree. It is indeed a question of personal preference. I am just a little disappointed that most writers and the cinema have so favored the later era (Hornblower, Master & Commander, etc) and that many don't even consider the century before. There is no doubt that the later battles were very interesting with noted feats of bravery. I have studied them in detail and know them well. My point is that they were far less frequent and far smaller.

The battles you cite were a fraction of the size of the earlier ones. Trafalgar was a battle of 33 vs 41 ships, the Nile like 15 vs 17 ships, compared with battles a century before like the Four Days fight with 80 vs 85 and Lowestoft with 109 vs 103 ships. These were large line of battle ships almost as big as those a century later. A common misconception is that these were messy affairs with no tactics. That is so not true. Granted, things often degraded over time into a chaotic free for all, but they did at Trafalgar as well.

Line ahead tactics were being used by the Dutch as early as the last decades of the 80 years war whenever they were outnumbered. In fact at the famous Battle of Gibraltar in 1607 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gibraltar the Dutch destroyed a Spanish Armada of 21 ships (the largest ships on earth at the time) by approaching in a disciplined line. The Dutch ships were far smaller and did not lose even one ship. The Spanish lost every single ship and 4,000 men. This battle forced the Spanish into the 12 years truce.

During the Anglo-Dutch wars the English codified line ahead tactics and standardized signaling, that they would go on to use in the next century. I realize there were still messy fights. This is one of the things that makes this era so interesting. If a force knew they had a significant advantage both in numbers of men, ships and the weather, they would still often recklessly move headlong into the fray to board and seize ships, completely disregarding line ahead tactics.

I have sometimes wondered if Lord Nelson had enjoyed the great numbers that the wars of the century before had put into the field and at sea, if he might have not done the same. Being a great tactician, he knew he was often closely matched and patiently formed in line to ensure any advantage he could squeeze out of the situation.

Aint history great! ------ALWAYS better than fiction in my book. A real noted tragedy of my visit to this incredible museum was that there were more asian foreigners visiting than Americans. Often I enjoyed the displays all to myself because there were so few people there - and on a weekend. Seems like no one cares (especially our youth) very much about history anymore. Its being taught less and less in our schools. What a dangerous thing in my opinion. MK

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Seems like no one cares (especially our youth) very much about history anymore. Its being taught less and less in our schools. What a dangerous thing in my opinion. MK

You should hear my little brother about it. Talk about disinterest! Truly a shame; there's a lot of interesting stuff in history for sure!

 

[Captain Armstrong]

Those earlier battles sound epic! that dutch defeat of the spanish armada sounds alot like Sir Francis Drake's defeat of the spanish armada from what I recall.

I have sometimes wondered if Lord Nelson had enjoyed the great numbers that the wars of the century before had put into the field and at sea, if he might have not done the same. Being a great tactician, he knew he was often closely matched and patiently formed in line to ensure any advantage he could squeeze out of the situation.

Aint history great! ------ALWAYS better than fiction in my book. A real noted tragedy of my visit to this incredible museum was that there were more asian foreigners visiting than Americans. Often I enjoyed the displays all to myself because there were so few people there - and on a weekend. Seems like no one cares (especially our youth) very much about history anymore. Its being taught less and less in our schools. What a dangerous thing in my opinion. MK

it's always interesting to think of those what ifs. I'm sure Nelson would still have given them hell

History is rather interesting, and much of it is more extraordinary and harder to believe than fiction. speaking as a youth (heading off to college this fall) I would have to agree with you, in general, though there are exceptions such as myself. there are so many of other people's mistakes to learn from in history, and i find it interesting to compare how people lived in the past and try to find the common cultural or human ties that still exsist today. it could certainly be taught better, in my opinion. I spent two whole weeks on the beginnings of agriculture and wind patterns that spread seeds of sorghum and millet or something, but I have had almost no high school education of history between the fall of the roman empire and 1900. one other thing to consider too is it is summertime and many people would rather be outside than go indoors to a museum

 

[Kharbydis]

If you're still in the area, the pinnace Kalmar Nyckel was in my town in Southern MD not long ago and should be traveling around as it makes its way up north to Delaware.

Annapolis is one of the USA's former capitals back when DC was still a swamp, and is the current location of the US Naval Academy so there's all sorts of historic stuff you can find around there. Plus if you're interested in US Civil War history there's the Constellation in Baltimore, and all sorts of interesting things across the state.

A naval museum I would recommend is the Venexia Museo Historia Navale, which boasts many models of galleons, lineships, galleys, and xebecs, plus a 90-pounder gun mounted on the bow of Venetian galleys.