Location: Gun Deck
The Ship
The name given to the ships of the various East India companies. The great national importance of these companies, particularly those of England and Holland, coupled with the rich returns of their monopoly of trade in the east, resulted in the building of proud and magnificent ships, as much for national and company prestige as for the actual trade. Ships of these companies, as large as any built in the world, were highly gilded and decorated with carving and were finished internally as much for comfort and luxury for captain, officers and passengers as for cargo capacity. They were always armed as warships for protection against pirates and against warships of other nations. Both the English and Dutch companies equipped their own private dockyards where their ships were built and it was only in the 19th century when the monopoly of eastern trade began to be eroded by private competition that the British company began to put out its shipbuilding to outside interests, the greater part of it to the Blackwall yard of Green and Wigram.
Ref: The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea Peter Kemp
The Model
Plank on frame construction
H 48 ½” L 61 ½” W 28 5/8” (c)