74_boni

Dan, I appreciate your work on the "cooked" POW Bone Ship Model very much. The owner of the ship must be very happy that you took over this difficult task. I wonder whether your broad knowledge on restoring historic bone ship models should be conserved for future generations. From my own experience I know that these precious models require constant maintenance. Take care, 74_boni

Hi folks, the question, whether American POWs have fabricated Bone Ships may be answered by two citations from: Abell, Francis 1914. Prisoners of War in Britain, 1756 to 1815. Abell writes on pages 84 PRISONERS OF WAR IN BRITAIN Among the specimens of American ingenuity I most admired their ships, which they built from three to five feet long. . . . Had not the French proved themselves to be a very brave people, I should have doubted it by what I have observed of them on board the prison-ship. DARTMOOR 251 American prisoners imitated their French companions in manufacturing all sorts of objects of use and ornament for sale. Take care, 74_Boni

Hi folks, my book on POW Bone Ship Models is available for some time, and work on the 2nd edition is done. The chapter on the CHESAPEAKE will be completely re-written, since there has been done considerable research in cooperation with the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, Norfolk, VA. In the blog - published by the Hampton Roads Naval Museum - you may see what the essence of the new chapter will be. Please have a look at the blog: http://hamptonroadsnavalmuseum.blogspot.com/2018/02/chesapeake-to-bone.html

You are right with the CHESAPEAKE in the POW Boneship book. In the next edition there will be a completely revised text, and some additional pictures.

Very detailed photos of the bone ship model USS Chesapeake will be in the book as annouced under Literature (Stein 2015) in www.pow-boneships.de. Since the model is made in the scale 1:48, and it measures144 x 96 cm, there will be much details which you are looking for.

Clive Lloyd was a phantastic collector of all which had to do with POWs in UK during Napoleonic times. The two books are great. Unfortunately, his collection was sold (at least in parts). So, there are two POW Ship Models in the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg, Collection Peter Tamm, one is a bone ship model, the other one is made from wood. I visited recently the Peterborough/UK museum. They have re-done the Norman Cross department. This is so excellently done - especially attractive for children - that you even see 1 to 1 scale wooden prisoner barracks from Norman Cross POW-Depot. I recommend a visit.

Jack, have a look at http://www.pow-boneships.de/html/USNA_Museum%20Boneships.htm

Meanwhile, I was told by Koehler Publishing that the book "Stein, Manfred 2015. PRISONER OF WAR BONE SHIP MODELS - Treasures from the age of the Napoleonic Wars, Hamburg, Koehler, 2015. ISBN 978-3-7822-1205-2 will be printed in 2015.

The Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard California is also linked to the POW Bone Ships Website www.pow-boneships.de, and the museum is listed in the "worldwide" list of the same website to have 5 of these precious models. Thanks for the info.

“Chesapeake was seized by HMS Shannon in June 1813. Captain Lawrence was killed in the engagement. The ship was brought to Halifax, Nova Scotia, repaired and later integrated into the Royal Navy. The American sailors were brought to England and were confined on English hulks or in prisons like Dartmoor, like their fellow countryman Benjamin Waterhouse.Waterhouse writes in his “Journal of a young man of Massachusetts”: “Some of our countrymen worked very neatly in bone, out of which material they built ships, …” He may have known the builder of our Chesapeake. According to the literature, the model was built by American prisoners who were confined in English prisons around 1814. When the French prisoners of war left Dartmoor in July 1815, a great deal of equipment was taken over by the Americans. Benjamin Palmer noted in his diary that on February 1st 1815 his fellow convicts in Dartmoor were building model bone ships. Perhaps the builders of the Chesapeake were among the prisoners of war in Dartmoor.” With these historic facts – based upon published literature – I should like to come back to the discussion on “The Chesapeake and Bonhomme Richard being two products from this time?” There is no doubt that American prisoners in Dartmoor built bone ship models. I have, however, never heard that British prisoners had produced any bone ship models while in captivity. So, as Alan indicates, the bone ship model Bonhomme Richard is pure speculation.

There is no Bonhomme Richard POW model in the collection of the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg (Peter Tamm collection). I wonder where this POW BONE MODEL is located. During my own research, I did not come across the Bonhomme Richard as BONE SHIP MODEL.

Do you have more info on this bone model, size, photos?

I don't know how they brought the model from England to America in the early-1800s. Nor do I know how the model came back to England, London where it was bought by Peter Tamm in the 1970s. The model which was in a very bad shape at that time, was brought to Hamburg, and years later it was restored by a restorer.

Alan and uss frolick, According to the literature, the model was built by American prisoners who were confined in English prisons around 1814. They bestowed the model to the widow of Captain Lawrence. The large scale of the ship model offers scope for the abundant details which the builder bequeathed for posterity. This model is the only one in the Peter Tamm bone ship collection made from whale bone. At the head of the ship model we can see the “seats of ease” on starboard and portside. According to my knowledge, the book is the first which deals with the issue "POW Bone Ship Models" in such a detailed way. The photos are all high resolution (ca. 80 MB), and the printing, layout, etc.produced a very precious book.