Warship (circa 1800)

F5787-002

Warship (circa 1800) Long Caption: Scale: 1:32. A full hull model of a 10-gun cutter (circa 1800). The model is decked, equipped and rigged, with sails set. Cutters emerged around the middle of the 18th century as small, fast craft with a single mast. Originally used by smugglers, they were taken up by the revenue services and the Royal Navy. The earliest ones were clinker-built with overlapping planks, as in this example. A cutter usually had a very tall rig, with both fore and aft and square sails to use in different wind conditions. The model shows nearly all sails set, including the square topsail and topgallant and one topsail studding sail, which extends the sail area outward in light winds. It is not likely that they would all have been set at once in real life. The beam of the model is unusually narrow for a ship that would have to sail well with the wind on the beam. This suggests that the design was never executed, or that an amateur who did not have access to plans made it. Credit line: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK, Caird Collection Object: SLR0607 Artist: unknown Date: circa 1800 Medium: wood; cotton; hemp; bone; silk; brass; glass; paint; varnish Size: 1087 mm x 1220 mm x 600 mm Click here to buy a bespoke print of this image.