Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte

In the large collection of ship models in the "Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte" in Hamburg, there is one Bone Ship Model made by French Prisoners of War, confined in English prisons during Napoleonic War times.

Meyer and Münzing (1976): Frigate with one gun deck, 30 cannon (brass) and female figurehead with the right arm extended. Size: 78 x 25 x 65cm with base.; Inv.-Nr. 1898, 175a. Holes for retracing pull cords are visible at the transom (see photos 5 and 6). Pull cord is missing. 

According to Meyer and Münzing (1976), the ship model was restored, and they assume that the round bar davits, the modern wheel, the guidance of the braces and the little upper gaff at the mizzenmast do not belong to a ship of this time. Also the Hamburg flags are later additions to the ship model.

The model was acquired around 1870 in a harbour at the English East coast, probably in Hull, by the Hamburgian captain Wilhelm Neegel. In 1898, his family donated the ship model to the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg which transferred it to the Collection of Hamburgian Antiquities.

The model description (see photo 2) indicates that this model was made in Norman Cross around 1810.