Ship model French corvette LE SPHINX

The French corvette LE SPHINX became known for three occurrences: she was the first steam ship of the Marine Royale, whose machines worked satisfyingly; on 9 July 1830 she brought the news of the conquest of Algiers on 5 July to Toulon; and in 1833 she pulled the LUXOR from Alexandria to Cherbourg. The LUXOR was loaded with the obelisk that was set up at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The SPHINX was launched in Rochefort on 3 August 1828. Built to plans of engineer Hubert, her length was 46.25 m , width board to board was 8.15 m and width including the paddle wheels was 14 m. The wheels were 5.94 m in diameter and had 16 paddles each. The ship could run at a maximum speed of 9 knots. The steam engine had been bought from Fawcett in Liverpool. On 6 July 1845, fifteen years after the conquest of Algeria, the SPHINX ran aground in fog off Cap Matifou and was lost.

In the Musée de la Marine in Paris there is a contemporary ship model of the LE SPHINX in 1: 40 scale.

Please take your time to have a good look at the set of photos. There are several 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.)

The ship model was made in the 1960s. Length is 127 cm, width 35 cm and height 75 cm.

This model has been already sold. The pictures and the data are shown in the gallery of the ship models sold only to let enthusiasts and model makers enjoy the photos and maybe get ideas or some guidance, if someone builds such a model by himself.

This ship model is one of the eight ship models we delivered to the Morada Seaside Resort at Kuehlungsborn near Rostock on the Baltic coast. It is a beautiful hotel directly at the Baltic Sea beach, and our models are on display in the passage to the restaurant.