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Mislabeled models of Spanish SOLs

Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:28 pm
by Montagnetta
The Museo naval in Madrid has a nice collection of ship models. But some of these are obviously mislabeled or show mistakes in some details. Identifying old ship models is often very difficult due to the loss of information because of owner changes and incomplete documentation. The following link gives some basic information about the different construction systems of spanish warships in the 18th century:

https://blogcatedranaval.com/2012/10/18 ... o-xviii-i/

One of the well known examples is the model of the "Santa Ana". Part 7 gives an explicit information about the discrepancies between the model and the real ship:

https://blogcatedranaval.com/2012/11/21 ... xviii-vii/

http://bibliotecavirtualdefensa.es/BVMDefensa/i18n/consulta/registro.cmd?id=41186

The model clearly shows constructional rules of the British system of Jorge Juan: The bow, the arrangement of the gunports, the stern etc.

But does that mean that this model is not representing the "Santa Ana"?

Conclusion 1: The model really represents "Santa Ana". Due to the likely fact that the model was build in the mid of the 19th century - in a time when the real ship wasn't existent any more - the modeller probably made some mistakes. He reconstructed the appearance from paintings and other already existing Admiralty style models without the support of a ship designer or detailed plans. The result is a mixture of a detailed model with constructional characteristics of another period.

The original plan of "Santa Ana":

https://armada.defensa.gob.es/museonava ... b_0007.jpg

Conclusion 2: The model is not representing "Santa Ana" but another SOL of the british system. The only Three decker to the british system is the "Santissima Trinidad". But plans and paintings show a different appearance.

Conclusion 3: The model represents "San Carlos" after being reconstructed to a 112 gun ship. "San Carlos" was built to the british system as a 80 gun ship in 1765. Some sources say that it was first a two decker which was upgraded to a three decker of the "Santa Ana"-style:

https://www.todoababor.es/listado/navio-sancarlos3.htm

But there exist also plans showing a three decker of around 80 guns:
https://armada.defensa.gob.es/museonava ... b_0003.jpg

Re: Mislabeled models of Spanish SOLs

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 11:23 pm
by Montagnetta
Another example is the model of "San Fulgencio". As stated on this site the model shows features of the british system (bow, stern design etc.):

http://bibliotecavirtualdefensa.es/BVMDefensa/i18n/consulta/resultados_busqueda_restringida.cmd?id=27187&tipoResultados=BIB&posicion=105&forma=ficha

Nevertheless it is labeled as "San Fulgencio" which was designed by Romero y Landa and built in 1787. This means that this model cannot represent "San Fulgencio".

As also described on this site other possible names could be "Conquistador" or "Guerrero". Guerrero was a 74 gun ship of the 12 Apostoles group and can be excluded. "Conquistador" is one of the earlier 64 gun ships to the british system. Compared to the plan of this ship created after its capture by the British in Havana at 1762 the model shows some differences: like 13 gunports on the lower deck compared to just 12 in the plan:

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collectio ... 81590.html

also the stern decoration looks slightly different:

https://www.todoababor.es/listado/img/c ... or-max.jpg

As noticed on the bibliotecvirtualdefensa site the model shows some similarities to plans for the "San Pedro Alcantara"