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Description: | Scale: unknown. A set of scenic waterline models of 65 vessels, used to depict the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), from a large model of the battle originally made as an exhibit for Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea (1845-77) . See VESSELS for names of ship models. Scenic display dismantled 24 February 1978; only the ship models now remain. The individual models themselves are made from a mixture of plaster and wood with paper and material sails, cord rigging and cotton-wool gunsmoke.
CA: CAA.
This very large model (30 x 14ft) of the whole battle on a sea of painted plaster slabs fitted together, was originally made for display at London's Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea (1845-77) by Haines of Hounslow, a professional model maker, at a date so far undiscovered. It was presented by T. B. Simpson, the Gardens' proprietor, to Greenwich Hospital in the spring of 1858, presumably when superseded by some other attraction. On his recommendation Haines was employed at Greenwich to remount and restore it in the Royal Charles Ward, which was a 'show' ward open to the public and held other exhibits not considered suitable for various reasons for the Naval Gallery in the Painted Hall. It was relaunched to the public there on 21 October 1858, the anniversary of the battle. Simpson also sent the Hospital a residual stock of souvenir booklets describing the model, though NMM does not appear to have an example and one remains to be located. The model was later incorporated in the Naval Museum in the Royal Naval College, after it took over the buildings of the Hospital. It was further restored in 1895 by Henry F. Brion, model maker, of 17 The Gardens, Peckham Rye, who took and sold souvenir photos of it (examples in old Ships Dept file, with Brion's flyer). It came to NMM as part of the Greenwich Hospital Collection where it was displayed in the Neptune Hall but damaged in 1940 when one of the sheets of plate glass forming the top of its huge case was dislodged and caved in, probably a result of vibration from nearby bomb impact. The model as a whole is recorded in negatives filed under NMM neg. no. 2023. [PvdM 11/06]
caption: Battle of Trafalgar | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | Indomitable 1761 Dreadnought (1801) Fougueux 1784 Polyphemus (1782) Algeciras 1801 Aigile 1805 Achille (1798) Principe De Asturias 1794 Pluton 1778 models (representations) Ship models : their purpose and development from 1650 to the present : illustrated from the ship model collection of the National Maritime Museum Defiance (1783) Royal Sovereign (1786) Montanes 1794 Spartiate 1795 Bellisle 1795 Thunderer (1783) Temeraire 1798] Swiftsure (1804) San Ildefonso 1785 Neptune 1801 San Juan Nepomuceno 1766 Minotaur (1793) Colossus (1803) Greenwich Santa Ana 1784 Mars (1794) Swiftsure 1781 Bahama fl.1805 Achille (captured 1794) waterline models Berwick (1775) Redoutable 1791 Argonauta 1755 Argonaute 1798 T B San Justo 1779 San Leandro 1787 Bellerophon (1786) San Francisco De Asis fl.1805 Tonnant (captured 1798) Monarca 1794 Defence 1783 Prince 1796 Revenge (1805) Simpson | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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