We deliver our models in specially designed wooden crates.  We have been delivering models in these for many years with great success. 

Insurance

All our models in transit are fully insured.  In the unlikely event that the model is damaged in transit, The Model Shipyard must be notified immediately.  Arrangements will then be made for the model to be returned to the studio in South Africa where it will be inspected and repaired.  If the model cannot be repaired to its original splendour a replacement model will be built and sent to you. 

Delivery

We deliver DAP (Delivered At Place duties unpaid).  This means that we deliver door-to-door.  We pay for the air freight, insurance, customs clearance and final delivery to your door. 

Import Duties and Taxes

We export our models under a tariff heading that is usually duty free.  However this is not a guarantee because it can vary from region to region.  You might have to pay VAT (Value Added Tax) or GST(General Sales Tax) depending on which tax regime prevails in your region. 

SHIP DESCRIPTION

Baltimore Clipper

DETAILED HISTORY

The Harvey was a clipper of the early age and was built with only 2 masts.  The main American clippers were built by William Webb at Baltimore and by Donald McKay at Boston.  The Harvey was launched 1847. 

They were called clippers because of the high speeds they could develop in favorable weather conditions.  The clippers were used as blockade-runners during the American war of Independence.  They were later used in the opium and slave trade, but the USA Government countered this move by arming their own clippers. 

It had been discovered that California had a great deal of natural wealth, and as a result, many people from the East Coast emigrated there by using the fast clippers as mode of transport.  They found the wagon trains across land slow and dangerous.  The gold strike in 1849 encouraged people from all over to pour into California. 

Clippers such as the Harvey were used to transport businessmen, provisions and utensils to this new land of riches.  This caused San Francisco to triplicate its population in only 10 years. 

The later clippers were built with 3 masts for the ever-increasing demand for speed and volume. 

Unfortunately the extended railroads, the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal in 1870 caused the death knell of the Clippers.  They became uneconomic, but will never be forgotten in that golden age of sailing ships.