Winchester College Publication Formidable | Page 6

The Model at Winchester
T
here is no evidence to show how exactly Burton
acquired the model of Formidable, or when
precisely he donated it to the school. The College
accounts provide evidence of some contact with the
French prisoners: they were given five shillings at
Christmas in 1759. 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 seems most likely that
Burton acquired the model directly from the prisoners.
The College records give no indication of where the
model was kept during the eighteenth or early
nineteenth centuries. Its fortunes in the latter part of the
nineteenth century were recorded in article written by
Geoffrey Callender (who later became the first
Director of the National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich), published in 1912. According to this
account, the model had once been in Fromond’s
Chantry, a fifteenth-century chapel in the centre of the
Construction of the Model
College’s medieval cloister that was deconsecrated at the
Reformation and later became a library. As well as
thousands of books, the room contained scientific
instruments and various curiosities. When the chapel
was brought back into use for services in 1874 its
contents were dispersed. It was at this point that the
model began to lead a more perilous existence and it was
for several years used as a Christmas decoration in Hall.
Recognising its importance, the Bursar T.F. Kirby rescued
the model and had it repaired. It had clearly suffered
quite substantial damage since the majority of the
current rigging dates from the early twentieth century. In
modern times, the model has been displayed in
various different locations. 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
teachers’ common room, and the Combined Cadet
Force’s Armoury.
Richard Foster
(Keeper of Collections, Winchester College)
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M
any ship models survive from the eighteenth
century. Often they were built in preparation for
the construction of a full-size ship, or to explore new
designs. Formidable is the earliest known ship model
built by prisoners of war, and it is unusual in depicting a
specific ship already in service.
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. (see illustration) This is also the case with
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.
Detail of the hull planking with the small circular treenails trimmed flush. Notice
also the crudely applied white paint under which the original Latin inscription can
be seen.
The rigging consists of mainly original masts and spars
together with wooden channels complete with the
original deadeyes. The lower masts are complete with the
rope wooldings (rope lashings around the masts to hold
the constituent parts of the mast together). These have
either been turned or carved rather than being made
of actual threads wound around the masts. The standing
rigging (the large and heavy rope work that supports
the masts from moving both forward and to the side) is
rigged through the original deadeyes, which still have
their original patina. The running rigging (the rope that
allows the spars and sails to be operated and moved) is
largely modern and relatively accurate. Probably the most
striking feature of the rig is the large lateen spar rigged
to the mizzen mast at the stern. This would have
supported a triangular sail, mostly used for turning the
ship when tacking. By the 1770s, it was usual for the
forward part of this sail to be cut back parallel to the
mast, with the spar cut and jaws added, forming the now
familiar gaff. This supported a new design of sail more
commonly known as a driver or spanker. There is no
evidence to show how the sails were actually rigged to
the spars on this model, but some small scraps of material
have been recovered from inside the hull.
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