Ship model  SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS

Scale 1 : 78, length 110 cm, width 46 cm, height 90 cm

Launched in 1637, the SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS was larger and more powerful than any other ship of her time. She sailed with 800 men, and her 104 guns could fire a broadside of more than a ton of metal.
In 1634, Charles I had asked the great English shipbuilder Phineas Pett to build of a great new ship as part of his overall effort to improve and expand England’s navy. Built at a cost of £65,586 – about ten 40-gun ships could have been built for the same amount – the SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS was intended as an instrument of propaganda as well as war. She was the Royal Navy’s most lavishly ornamented vessel.
In 1660 she was rebuilt and renamed Royal Sovereign. During the three Anglo-Dutch Wars, she saw action at the Battle of Ketish Knock in 1652, Orfordness (1666), Solebay (1672), Schoonveld (1673), and the battle of Texel (1673). Following another rebuild in 1685, in the War of the League of Augsburg, she was at the battle of Beachy Head (1690) and the battles of Barfleur and La Hogue (1692). In 1696 a misplaced candle set the ship on fire and she burned at Chatham.

Please take your time to have a good look at the set of photos. There are several views of the entire ship model and closer views of hull, deck and rigging. If you click on a photo you will get that photo in high resolution. Only these high resolution photographs show how much work and handicraft ability were put in the model. (If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Firefox, press F11 to minimize navigation bars and have a larger screen with the photos.)

This model of the SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS is an excellent piece of work. The rigging and hull are impressive, and the many details show the art of shipbuilding at that time. It took 22 months to make this ship model.
It is 1 : 78 scale. Length is 110 cm, width 46 cm, height 90 cm.