ROYAL DOCK YARD MODEL OF ARTOIS – 1794

The Earl of ARTOIS, a French Royalist escaped from France during the Revolution, and settled in London. Immensely rich he had only one idea, to fight the new regime and so he financed the construction of a frigate to join the Royal Navy. In return the frigate was given his name. According to the law in-force, the Royal dockyards were required to build an exact model of any ship or series of ships which had been launched. In this case, it was decided to give this model to the generous donor, using prestigious woods, so that, later on, he could display it in his residence.
This is the reason why the model was left out of the usual navy and museum circuits.

The ship, being a frigate was designed for speed, resulting in matchless elegance in line. She was armed as follows: 28 guns of 14 pounds, 2 guns of 9 pounds fore, 8 guns of 9 pounds aft.

Nine frigates were built between 1794 and 1797: ARTOIS – APPOLLO – DIANA built in 1794 in the Royal dockyards of Randall and Rotherhithe.
Six others: SEA HORSE – DIAMOND – JASON 1794 – CLYDE 1796 - TAMAR 1796 – ETHALION 1797 in private yards.

It took at least 2 – 3 years for the architect and the artist to make the model, which would then have been completed around 1796-97. The model of DIANA to a scale of 1/48 is presented unrigged at the Greenwich Museum, as is SEA HORSE, rigged but to a smaller scale – 1/75.

Neither one is made of the precious woods of the ARTOIS model, which is in blond mahogany, tinted pear-tree and boxwood.

Length overall: 170 cm - 66 inches

Scale: 1/36

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Also discover many more ship models in the dedicated section of our French website : « Maquettes de bateaux ».