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first French voyage of exploration to
the Pacific. After three years mapping
the coasts of California, Alaska,
and Siberia, Lapérouse and his ships
disappeared without trace in 1788. It
took almost 40 decades to discover
what had happened to the expedition,
whose story inspired a chapter of Jules
Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under
the Sea (1870); it was not until 2005
that the wreck of Lapérouse’s ship La
Boussole was conclusively identified in
a remote part of the Solomon Islands.
After his capture at Quiberon Bay,
Lapérouse was quickly paroled and
had returned to France by December
1760. All of the prisoners were released
on the cessation of hostilities in 1763.
While many ship models survive
from the 18 th century, Formidable is
of particular importance as the first
example known to have been made
by prisoners of war. Ship models were
usually made in preparation for the
construction of a full-size vessel or to
explore alternative designs. Formidable
is therefore also unusual in depicting a
specific vessel already in service.
Simon Stephens of the National
Maritime Museum, who conserved
the model and is a leading authority
on the history of ship models, gave
the following description of its
construction: ‘The model was built in
the traditional way – plank on frame
– using the same process by which
the actual ship was constructed, with
planks pinned to wooden frames and
held in position by wooden treenails
or thin wooden spikes. Internal
inspection with a medical endoscope
has revealed that the frames were
assembled vertically along the keel –
the backbone of the hull. The planks
were then clamped horizontally in
position on the frames, holes drilled
through the plank and into the frames,
through which wooden treenails were
hammered through. The heads of
these wooden nails were then trimmed
flush with the external planking on
the hull. This is also the case with
The Trusty Servant
the deck planking and cabin
bulkheads or walls, which
are held in place in the same
manner. The frames and planks
below the waterline or main
wales (the two thick layers of
horizontal planks painted black)
are made from oak. The use
of this wood is unusual as it is
very hard and difficult to work,
and has a large noticeable grain
which, left unpainted, can look
out of scale with the rest of the
model. The planking above is of
pine and has been stained a dark
colour and varnished. The main and
lower gun decks are again in oak, with
the upper quarter and forecastle decks
laid in the softer and lighter pine.
A number of the carved and turned
fittings, such as the quarter galleries,
capstans, deck beams and pillars are
made from oak.’
The model of Formidable was given
to the College by John Burton,
Headmaster 1724-66. He was born
near Coventry in 1690 and became
a Scholar of Winchester College at
the age of 14. He went on to study at
New College, Oxford and was rector
of several parishes in Hampshire,
Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.
Few documents relating to Burton’s
headmastership survive, but it was
clearly a successful period in the
school’s history. There is no evidence
to show how Burton acquired the
model of Formidable, or when exactly
he donated it to the school. The
College accounts show that the
College had some contact with the
French prisoners in the King’s House:
at Christmas 1759 they were given five
shillings. This sum is too small to have
been payment for the ship model, but
was perhaps for some other article that
they had made. It is therefore quite
likely that Burton acquired the model
directly from the prisoners.
It not certain where the model of
Formidable was displayed in the 18 th
and 19 th centuries. It seems to have
20
been kept for a time in Fellows’
Library in Fromond’s Chantry,
but when the building was brought
back into use for services in 1874,
its contents were dispersed. It was at
this point that the model was used
each year as a Christmas decoration
in Hall. Around 1900, the Bursar
TF Kirby rescued the model from this
casual treatment and had it repaired.
From 1908 to 1920 it was loaned to the
Royal Naval College at Osborne, Isle
of Wight. Since then it has been kept
in a classroom, the dons’ common
room, and, until its recent restoration,
in Armoury.
Over the centuries, the model has
experienced losses and alterations.
While the masts, spars and standing
rigging are original, the running
rigging (the rope that allows the spars
and sails to be operated and moved)
is largely modern. The fabric sails
have long since disappeared and only
about 20 of the original guns remain,
the rest being modern replacements.
One of the main tasks of the recent
restoration was the removal of
unsympathetic modern paint from
various parts of the model, including
some around the hull that had
obscured the original inscription.
The model of Formidable may now be
seen whenever the New Hall foyer is open
for concerts, talks and other events. A
pamphlet with further information about
the model and its restoration is available
free of charge to Treasury visitors.