French & English Prisoners Began Building Model Ships
During the Napoleonic wars French and English seamen who were taken prisoner were confined, sometimes for many years, and in their boredom sought relief by building ship models from scraps of wood and bone. Model ship building history evolved into something of an art form and the models were sold to the public which responded by supplying the prisoners with ivory so that the models would be more decorative. For the most part, the models had carved wooden hulls with rigging made from human hair, horsehair, silk, or whatever other fine material could be obtained. Bone or ivory would be used for masts, spars and as a thin veneer over the hull.
Britain's Naval Supremacy
Britain's naval supremacy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was of wide public interest in ships and models of the ships. Model ship building history also began with fairly crude models that were built as children's toys leading to the creation of the functional model ships, as opposed to decorative ship models. Britain most likely led the world in model ship sailing clubs. Starting around 1838 the Serpentine Sailing Society was started in Hyde Park. Shortly after followed by the first London Model Yacht Club in 1845. By the 1880s there were three model sailing clubs sharing the Kensington Gardens Round Pond alone.
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