Navy Board Ship Models

A beautifully illustrated history of the early ship models of the Royal Navy that are prized today as works of art.

From about the middle of the seventeenth century, the Royal Navy's administrators began to commission models of their ships that were accurately detailed and, for the first time, systematically to scale. These developed a recognized style, which included features like the unplanked lower hull with a simplified pattern of framing that emphasized the shape of the underwater bo...