Backboard: 61″ L x 9″ H
x 1″ T  Half Hull: 50″ L x 5 1/2″ D x 6″Depth   Bowsprit add 6″

Weight:  24
lbs

 

Presented is an
authentic large builder’s model of a New England schooner that
was launched in Newburyport, Massachusetts on September, 1873. The model
is held together by two large rectangular wedges that run from the deck
to the keel. One is forward and one aft which shows this model was
intended to be taken apart and the lifts used to loft the lines of
the real ship. True builders models like this are very scarce
and more important than those made strictly for advertising or
presentation.

The half model’s hull is made of 8
lifts (one plank each) of knot free wood. The model topsides
are painted black with a narrow white whale stripe over a copper
color bottom. The cut-water, keel, rudder post and rudder are
represented by paint. There are four drilled holes across the top by
which it was originally hung. There are also two contemporary metal
fittings added on the back.

After the lofting process, the
model was reassembled and put on a unique backboard where the
top was curved to follow the sheer-line of the deck, something we have
not seen before. The hull was painted in the ships colors. In this
condition the model was
either presented to the owner or it was used at the Newbury
Shipyard as a record of their work.

The design is for load
carrying and speed. There is a clipper style cut-water and
finely formed hollow bow for speed, round bilges, rectangular center
section, and  underbody to maximize carrying capacity.
The 50 inch hull on deck is mounted on a
backboard 61″ long, which is varnished. The name
SOUTH SHORE is painted in white on the stern
quarter. 

 

 

 

 

Showing close-up views of bow, midships and aft quarter sections

 

 

AN ESSAY ON
UNDERSTANDING THE FINE POINTS OF THE VARIOUS TYPES OF HALF HULL MODELS
READ:   https://landandseacollection.com/id267.html

CONDITION: All the
wood is In overall excellent condition. The model must have
been displayed for years on a wall with the bow facing the sun
where the paint has weathered and there is considerable loss and crazing
from the bow to 8 inches aft. The remainder of the
black topside paint shows much less extensive paint loss. The
entire topsides is crackled. The bottom paint is in good
condition from bow to stern. The backboard has a vertical end-cap at
each end and all its varnish is cackled.

HISTORY OF SHIP:
Schooner South Shore was 130 feet overall with a beam of 32 feet and a
draft of 12 feet. She registered 363 tons. Her hailing port
was Dennis, Massachusetts. Kelley is listed as her then owner
and first captain. See http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/SPSearch.cfm?ID=789530 She
was listed in Lloyd’s Register of American and Foreign Shipping
continuously from 1873 through 1893. At that time her owner was
Charles A. Cousens, her captain, L.F. Jones and her hailing port was
Boston. See http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/SPSearch.cfm?ID=530282
After 1893, she is no longer listed in Lloyd’s, and her
disposition is unknown.

 

PROVENANCE: Bought in
New England at auction.

 

Showing the finely hollowed bow and stern for speed and the rounded bilges

 

Deck view showing the forward wedge. It reaches to the keel