A FINE 1:64 SCALE MODEL OF THE 50-GUN SHIP H.M.S. ISIS [1774]

modelled from NMM plans by P. Puttock, in boxwood, pear and sycamore, with framed 30in. hull planked and pinned with bamboo trenails, ebony main wale, hinged gun ports, finely carved figurehead of Isis, glazed stern and quarter galleries, partially planked and pinned decks with fittings including metal anchors with bound wooden stocks. stovepipe, belfry, well deck with two fitted boats over, gratings, shot racks with shot, hammock racks, companionways, helm, deck light, cannon in rigged carriages with wooden trucks, bound masts with yards and extended s'tun'sl booms, standing and running rigging with blocks and tackle, mounted on brass cradle supports to wooden display base with brass nameplate within a glazed case, overall measurements -- 37 x 54½ x 27in. (94 x 138.5 x 68.5cm.); together with July and August 2014 issues of 'Model Engineer' magazine describing research and construction.

Provenance: Gold Medal and Earl of Mountbatten Trophy, Model Engineer Exhibition, 2013.

H.M.S. Isis was one of the four ‘Portland’ class fourth rates designed by John Williams and built by John Henniker & Co. at Chatham. Laid down in December 1772, launched on 19th November 1774 and completed in February 1776, she was measured at 1,050 tons and was 146ft in length with a 120ft beam. Principally armed with 22-24pdrs. on her lower deck and 22-12pdrs. on her upper deck, her total armament of 50-guns made her a formidable addition to the fleet when she sailed for North American waters under Captain Charles Douglas in March 1776.

Her career was both long and immensely varied, and she performed valiantly across the globe. After assisting at the Relief of Quebec in May 1776, she sailed south and saw considerable action off the eastern seaboard and then in the West Indies before returning home for repairs and coppering in 1780. Recommissioned late in 1780 for a brief spell in the Channel, she sailed for India in March 1781 where, once again, she saw extensive action in Admiral Hughes’ squadron at the battles of Sadras, Providien, Negapatam, Trincomalee and Cuddalore. Having sailed home late in 1783, she was laid up and not recommissioned until 1794 which year began her next lengthy period of activity in the North Sea, including participation in the two major fleet actions of Camperdown (1797) and Copenhagen (1801). Refitted in mid-1802, she returned to North American waters in 1803 and remained there until 1808 when she was ordered home. After a final short spell in the North Sea in 1809, it was decided she was no longer seaworthy and she was decommissioned prior to being broken up at Deptford in September 1810 after what had been an exceptionally full service life for a frigate of that era.