Ship model  Sir Francis Drake's GOLDEN HIND

Like this ship model or similarly Sir Francis Drake's GOLDEN HIND may have looked, with which he had succeeded to sail around the globe from 1577 to 1580. He successfully looted Spanish settlements on the Pacific coast and captured treasure ships. With 80 pounds of gold and 26 tons of silver bars (contemporary value of 126000 English pound or about half the English Crown's revenues a year) he chose to search for the Northwest Passage and sailed as far as 48 degrees north, just south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, before turning south. He then sailed westward and passed Palau and the Philippines before rounding the Cape of Good Hope back to England. It was the second circumnavigation of the globe after Magellan. It was a great achievement of Francis Drake and his crew, given the record of many later voyages.

The ship model: Since there are no historically secured documents about the GOLDEN HIND, one can speak only of a reproduction of the type of this ship. The model is 1: 60 scale after reconstruction plans of the Italian Dr. Franco Gay. The hull was made of walnut tree.

Please take your time to have a good look at the set of photos. There are six pictures of the model. 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 small but beautiful ship model is 1:60 scale. Length is 58 cm, width 23 cm, and height 50 cm.