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Back to the Rogers Shipmodel Collection Slideshow

Text descriptions for the images from the Rogers Shipmodel Collection Slideshow-

Model no. 3. English 20-Oared Admiral's Barge, c1695-1705. Scale: 3/5in = 1ft-0in (1:20). Large, opulent barges were routinely provided to Admirals in the Royal Navy following the successful conclusion of the War of the English Succession, also called King William's War (1689-97). They were used to ferry flag officers and their guests between ships and from ship to shore. Each admiral paid for the design and upkeep of his crew's uniforms. Here the principal passenger is not present; he (or she) would normally be seated in the "stern sheets" just forward of the helmsman.

Model No. 74. Unidentified British East Indiaman, approximately 830 tons, c 1785. Although at first glance this unrigged model appears to depict a Royal Navy warship, the bluff bow and near vertical, box-like sides reveal it to be an armed merchantman of the Honorable East India Company. Unlike ships-of-the-line, Indiamen were designed to carry goods and passengers between England and the Far East. Their guns were used mainly to defend against the depredations of pirates and privateers
intent on stealing their precious cargoes. Here the polychromed figurehead represents Britannia.

Model No. 4. Stuart Royal Yacht HENRIETTA, 8 guns (1679). Scale: Approximately 3/8in = 1ft-0in. The HENRIETTA was one of the last of twenty-three yachts built in England expressly for King Charles II (1660-1685). Designed principally as pleasure craft, the swift Royal Yachts were nonetheless armed and could be employed in times of war as dispatch vessels or to gather intelligence on enemy movements. This is one of the few dockyard models in the USNA collection still displayed on its original, inlaid baseboard.

Model No. 4. Stuart Royal Yacht HENRIETTA, 8 (1679). Detailed view of the model's port side. The decorative pattern of gold stars on a blue background represents the Order of the Garter. In lieu of horizontal strips of planking, the upper sides are covered by small, rectangular leaves of walnut veneer. The 6-paned window ("light") surrounded by gilded carvings illuminates the King's Royal cabin.

Model No. 39. ROYAL WILLIAM, British First Rate ship, 100 guns (1719). The huge ROYAL WILLIAM enjoyed one of the longest careers afloat of any ship in the history of the Royal Navy. She never went to sea as a First Rate, but after having been cut down to a Second Rate of 84 guns, she took part in campaigns against the French in North America in the late 1750s, and assisted at the relief of Gibraltar in 1782. Nicknamed "the Old Billy," she finished her days as a receiving ship and guardship at
Spithead before being broken up in 1813. This is believed to be the first dockyard model acquired by Colonel Rogers.

Model no. 39. ROYAL WILLIAM, First Rate ship, 100 guns (1719). A view of the central staircase connecting the upper and middle decks. The balusters of the railing are made of ivory. Planking has been left off the decks to reveal the frames beneath. This image was captured by means of a fiber optic surgical arthroscope inserted through one of the middle deck gunports on the model's starboard side.

Model No. 39. ROYAL WILLIAM, British First Rate, 100 guns (1719). Scale: 1/4in = 1ft-0in. A close-up view of the model's elaborate double equestrian figurehead. It represents the ship's namesake, King William III, clothed as a Roman Emperor and trampling asunder England's enemies, here represented by a Gorgon with snaky hair.

Model No. 8. SUSSEX, English Third Rate ship, 80 guns (1693). Scale: 1/4in = 1ft-0in (1:48). The ill-fated SUSSEX was one of thirteen 80-gun two-deckers built in the wake of the disastrous English defeat at the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690. Less than a year after her launching, she was lost in a gale off the coast of Gibraltar, taking all but two of her crew of 550 men and boys to their deaths. The model, on the other hand, is still in pristine condition three centuries after its completion.

Model No. 55. MINERVA, British 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigate, 1780. Scale: 1/4in = 1ft-0in (1:48). MINERVA was a ground-breaking ship in several ways: she was the first British frigate armed with as many as 38 guns, and among the first to carry a main battery of 18-pounder cannon versus earlier 12-pounders.

Model No. 55. MINERVA, British Fifth Rate Frigate, 38 guns (1780). A view of the model's stern. The decoration beneath the single tier of windows ("lights") was first painted on strips of paper, which were then glued to the model's exterior. Another of the chief features is the copper sheathing, which covers the lower hull. It is thought to be the earliest example of the use of copper plates to protect the hulls of wooden ships from worm damage and fouling from seaweed and barnacles. Here it consists of thin horizontal strips of copper affixed to the model by means of more than 40,000 tiny tacks!