August, 1919 
19 
FLEETS THAT NEVER SAIL 
Model Craft Today Form One of the Most Romantic and Stimulating 
Subjects the Collector Can Command 
HARRISON CADY 
Halting 
Ship models should be displayed as near the level of the eye as possible and 
against a plain background that will silhouette the beautiful detail of the rigging 
T IME was when collecting ship models 
was left almost entirely to artists. Ever 
in search of the picturesque with which to 
adorn the studio, they would return from sum¬ 
mer sketching trips with a “square rigger” 
bought for a few dollars in 
some little fishing village. If 
they journeyed abroad they 
would send home a quaint 
Dutch model from Maarken, 
a fishing boat from Brittany 
or perhaps an early 18th 
Century Dutch man-of-war 
from Amsterdam. 
Suspended from lofty stu¬ 
dio ceilings the little ships, 
stirred by frolicsome skylight 
breezes, would swing restless¬ 
ly about and strain at their 
slender cables as though anx¬ 
ious to begin the voyages they 
were destined never to make. 
Artists looking up from a 
busy day’s work let their eyes 
wander over their tiny fleet 
and find in them a stimulus 
to imagination. 
Ship of Dreams 
A brave little Viking ship 
pushing its bow from the 
depths of a shadow conjured 
up visions of hardy Norse¬ 
men battling the winter tem¬ 
pest. 
A bit of sunlight catching 
the silken sail of a galley 
brought to mind Cleopatra 
and her dark skinned oars¬ 
men driving her golden barge 
through the waters of the 
Nile. 
A model of a caravel bears 
the name of “Santa Maria” 
and in imagination we see in 
the starry watches of the 
night the lone figure of a 
Columbus dreaming of a 
New World. 
On a bracket an early 
French man-of-war, its sides 
bristling with guns, is slowly 
bearing down on a bulky Indiaman, its hold 
filled by fancy with a cargo of shining silks, 
porcelains and jades, rich spices and all the 
treasures of the Indies. 
An earl}- American man-of-war, its port 
holes painted Chinese red, turns the mind 
toward the gallant days of Paul Jones—priva¬ 
teersmen—with tarred pigtails and pea jackets 
with brass buttons, and white pantaloons, cut¬ 
lasses and pistols who roved the high seas. 
And so on through the tiny 
fleet ending with a model of 
a true American clipper ship, 
one of the famous packet ves¬ 
sels that won the American 
Merchant Marine everlasting 
fame. 
This also I suppose, is the 
reason why men in more com¬ 
monplace callings have com¬ 
menced gathering these tiny 
sliips and get to look upon 
them as a means of forgetting 
the humdrum happenings of 
every day life. After an eve¬ 
ning with Conrad or Steven¬ 
son, your true ship collector 
loves to let his eyes rest on 
his miniature boats, for in 
the delicate traceries of their 
rigging link all those heroes 
of the sea that have gone 
fleeting across the pages of 
history. 
The Early Models 
It is difficult to determine 
how far back the history of 
model ships goes. We some¬ 
times find them in very early 
paintings. Samuel Pepys re- 
fered to the model ships of 
the British Admiralty in his 
famous diary. In the 16th 
and 17th Centuries the navies 
of the European countries 
made scale models as a pre¬ 
liminary to building their 
warships, while for centuries 
it has been the custom of 
Britain, that master builder 
of ships, to make models as 
guides from which to work 
out real ships or plan im¬ 
provements. These construc¬ 
tor’s models, on account of 
their extreme accuracy, are 
