Details
A planked and framed fully rigged 3/8in:1ft scale model of the Colonial topsail schooner 'Halifax' of 1768 built by F. Schaffner with masts, spars, standing and running rigging and deck details including hair rails, anchors with bound wooden stocks, catheads, windlass, hatches, deck rails, bilge pump, deck house, water buckets, swivel and long guns in carriages and carved planked ship's boat. Finished in matt varnish and black and mounted on two turned brass columns -- 31 x 38½in. (78.2 x 97.8cm.). Display base
Built circa 1765, the Halifax was one of fourteen American-built commercial schooners which the British government purchased between 1764 and 1775 to augment their naval and revenue forces on the eastern seaboard. Halifax, 83 tons and measuring 58¼ feet in length with an 18¼ foot beam, was bought in New England in October 1768 and, after slight modification for naval use, entered service armed with 8 guns. As the American Colonies slid into conflict with Great Britain, these schooners were to play an important role in coastal operations and Halifax was very active in the vicinity of Boston in the early stages of the War of Independence (1775-82). One of the transports used to land the British troops at Boston in 1775, her notoriety however rests upon her participation in the infamous and strategically unnecessary burning of the town of Falmouth (now Portland), Maine, in October 1776. This episode under Lieut. Henry Mowatt, R.N., caused such suffering to the dispossessed citizens during the ensuing winter that it aroused the whole coast against British rule and had a profound effect upon the outcome of the war in that part of America.
Built circa 1765, the Halifax was one of fourteen American-built commercial schooners which the British government purchased between 1764 and 1775 to augment their naval and revenue forces on the eastern seaboard. Halifax, 83 tons and measuring 58¼ feet in length with an 18¼ foot beam, was bought in New England in October 1768 and, after slight modification for naval use, entered service armed with 8 guns. As the American Colonies slid into conflict with Great Britain, these schooners were to play an important role in coastal operations and Halifax was very active in the vicinity of Boston in the early stages of the War of Independence (1775-82). One of the transports used to land the British troops at Boston in 1775, her notoriety however rests upon her participation in the infamous and strategically unnecessary burning of the town of Falmouth (now Portland), Maine, in October 1776. This episode under Lieut. Henry Mowatt, R.N., caused such suffering to the dispossessed citizens during the ensuing winter that it aroused the whole coast against British rule and had a profound effect upon the outcome of the war in that part of America.