Tall-Ships Gallery 2 of Handcrafted Model Ships

• 31" long x 10" Wide x 24" High
• Amazing details: planked deck with nail holes, rudder chains, lifeboat oars and more
• Meticulously painted to the actual Gothenburg
• Masterfully stitched, thick canvass sails that hold their shape and do not wrinkle
• Metal anchors
• Advanced rigging techniques with over 100 blocks/deadeyes
• Perfectly taught rigging of various colors and thickness to ensure authenticity
• Authentic lifeboats - not flat bottomed
• Requires hundreds of hours to build from scratch (not from a model kit) by our master artisans.
• Built with rare, high quality woods such as walnut, oak, birch and maple.
• The model rests perfectly on a large wooden base between four arched metal dolphins.
• To build this ship, extensive research was done using various sources such as museums, drawings, copies of original plans and photos of the actual ship.

The Gothenburg was an 18th century Swedish merchant ship. After the completion of its construction, which had started in 1738, it traveled, for the first time, to the port of Canton, China, during the period between January 1739 and June 1740. Since then, it made two more journeys to Canton , from February 1741 to July 1742, and from May 1743 to September 1745. Unfortunately, during the third trip's homecoming, when it was just 900 meters away from the dock of the harbor, the Gothenburg ran into a rock and thus sank, but no one appeared to have lost his life. However, while already in sight of the welcoming crowd on shore, the entire ship's cargo sank into the vast ocean, ending the Gothenburg's mission.

The Gothenburg's Cargo:

The merchant ship Gothenburg is over 40 meters long, over 10 meters wide, approximately 50 meters tall, and has a cargo capacity of 1350 tons. The return cargo from China included 2677 chests of tea weighing a total of 366 tons, 19 chests of silk, 11.4 tons of spices, about 100 tons of porcelain, plus rattan. The total value of the cargo could amount to Sweden 's gross national product at that time.

According to various literature and statistics, from the 15th year to the 20th year of the Qianlong reign (1750-1755), about 11 million pieces of porcelain were shipped to Sweden from Canton , China . Later, from 1766 to 1786, the East India Company also carried to Sweden another 11 million pieces of Chinese porcelain. At that time, Chinese porcelain was a symbol of class and status in the eyes of Europeans, and thus was highly regarded. Just the earnings from auctioning the Gothenburg's salvaged porcelain surpassed the total cost of the ship; this reflects the significant value of Chinese porcelain to the West at the time. From the sunken ship, 30 tons of tea leaves, 80 bolts of silk cloth, and a large amount of porcelain were salvaged. In 1986, along with the advancement of technology for underwater archaeology, the plan to conduct another salvage of the Gothenburg was brought up, and after 10 years of excavating, another 9 tons of porcelain shards and many items in the once-lost cargo, including over 400 pieces of unbroken porcelain, tea, ginger, silk, and spices, were recovered.

• 30" long x 9 " Wide x 23" High (1:90 scale)
• Amazing details: planked deck with nail holes, rudder chains, and more
• Meticulously painted to the actual Herminone La Fayette
• Masterfully stitched, thick canvass sails that hold their shape and do not wrinkle
• Metal anchors and machine turned brass cannons
• Advanced rigging techniques with over 100 blocks/deadeyes
• Perfectly taught rigging of various colors and thickness to ensure authenticity
• Authentic lifeboat - not flat bottomed
• Requires hundreds of hours to build from scratch (not from a model kit) by our master artisans.
• Built with rare, high quality woods such as walnut, oak, birch and maple.
• The model rests perfectly on a large wooden base between four arched metal dolphins.
• To build this ship, extensive research was done using various sources such as museums, drawings, copies of original plans and photos of the actual ship.

The Hermione, a 12-pounder frigate was built at Rochefort in 1748 as an experiment and was the forerunner of all the 12-pounder frigates launched in the 18^th century.

The Hermione will always be linked with helping the United States win its War of Independence. In 1778 France, who had made an alliance with the United States, declared war on England and on March 20, 1780, the French general, the Marquis de La Fayette, who had been named Major General of the American Army, embarked on the Hermione for one of the most important French events of the 18^th century: the landing of their regiments at Newport in July to fight alongside the Americans. His mission was to organize with General Washington the political and military aspects of this landing. Following his disembarkation on May 2, 1780 the frigate went on to engage in combat against the armed English frigate, the Iris and her escort on June 7 during which time the ship fired 260 cannonballs. On May 4, 1781 a reception of the American Congress was held on board during which there was official announcement of the victory of Chesapeake of March 16, 1781. On July 21, the frigate was again engaged in battle, this time against six English vessels at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, at which she is recorded as having fired no less than 509 cannonballs. French sea-power eventually played a crucial role in the surrender of the British army at Yorktown in 1781. Although the thirteen states of the American Union did not become sovereign until 1783 the Hermione’s American adventures were over and she returned to Rochefort arriving in the outer roads on February 25, 1782.

In 1997, The Hermione-La Fayette Association is currently in the project of rebuilding the Hermione. The ship is scheduled to be completed and sea-worth in 2007.: A1903: