Ship Model of the <i>Le Vengeur</i>
date: label: date made
content: ca 1806
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This model of the French flagship, <i>Le Vengeur</i> was made by a French prisoner of war around 1806, during the Napoleonic Wars. In captivity, the prisoners in Britain made and sold ship models to pass the time and earn meager monetary rewards. Such models were made from wood or bone and ivory, and are often intricately detailed.
label: Description
content: This rigged model of the French 130-gun, three-masted ship-of-the-line <i>Le Vengeur</i> has copper plating below the water line, highly detailed lines, rigging and fittings, a carved hull with triple galleried stern, and carved and inlaid bow with a female figurehead. Three rows of gunports below contain cannons, along with cannon mounted on the deck. The model has an elaborately inlaid geometric patterned base and the hull is all original with full plank-on-frame construction. Standing rigging is said to be original, though the top is mostly replaced.
label: Description
content: Built in 1790, <i>Le Vengeur</i> was the flagship of French Vice Admiral Ganteaume. It was renamed <i>Imperial</i> around 1800. In 1805 it became Ganteaume's flagship in Brest, and broke through Lord Earl Cornwallis' blockade during the Napoleonic Wars, with seven other ships-of-the-line and sailed for the West Indies. She was sunk by the British off Santo Domingo in 1806.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Maritime
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0279.079
label: accession number
content: 2005.0279
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0279.079
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21 in x 27 in x 8 1/2 in; 53.34 cm x 68.58 cm x 21.59 cm