Location: Seascape Gallery
  The Ship
The Dutch flute ship model unknown date unknown Builder plank on frame construction scale 3/8 The flute was a two-masted ship with a large cargo hold efficiently built for a small crew and transoceanic trade.Unlike her rivals she was not built for conversion and war time to a warship, allowing her to twice the cargo space. Construction by specialized shipyards using new tools made her half the cost of her competitors. These factors gave Dutch merchants a major competitive advantage. The fluyt was a significant factor in the 17th century rise of the Dutch seaborne empire. In the 1670s in Dutch merchant marine total 586,000 tons of shipping– about half the European total. The East Indian Trading Company used fluyts for three centuries to carry exotic spices and silks to Market in Europe

The Model

Plank on frame construction.

This is an unusually pretty model.  The patina of the wood suggests that it is quite old, but we don’t have any information about its origin.