Tomrommel1s Napoleonic naval project, the Avenger 29.11.23

[tomrommel1]

So after a longer hobby hiatus I started a new project.
In my summer hollidays I started to reread the Bolitho novels. I read them as a young boy and always wanted to collect the ships Bolitho was serving on.
So now with the 3D printers available and the possibility to resize the ships I started the task.
I got some STLs from Turner Miniatures and resized them to 1/350. The SoLs are about 15-20cm in that scale. I am thinking of adding crew figures, too, if I am insane or brave enough.

Here is the first ship I printed HMS Gorgon a 74 gun SoL. Bolithos second ship. I couldn't find enough info on HMS Manxman in the books it is described as a 80 gun 3 decker , I couldn#t find any equivalent on the british or french navy lists. Were there any 80gun 3 deckers or is it pure fiction?

Anyway here is HMS Gorgon fresh from the printer:

[Matty]

Wonderful print!

I think I may have to check out the Bolitho novels as well.

[Admiral Hawke]

I couldn't find enough info on HMS Manxman in the books it is described as a 80 gun 3 decker , I couldn#t find any equivalent on the british or french navy lists. Were there any 80gun 3 deckers or is it pure fiction?

There were 80-gun three deckers, but they were obsolete by the 1750s, if not earlier. They were tall (having three decks), but short, which made them both relatively slow and leewardly (because their higher hull was more easily pushed downwind by the wind). Yet they were expensive ships to build and operate. The 74-gun ships were almost as powerful, much better sailing vessels in most states of the wind, and cheaper to build and operate, needing smaller crews.

The Royal Navy continued to build small numbers under the old 'establishments', which were only finally abandoned during the Seven Years War. The Cambridge of 1755 and the Princess Amelia of 1757 were the last two to be built. The Princess Amelia would be the last to see action, at the Battle of the Dogger Bank in 1781.

There is an invaluable database at ThreeDecks.org that will tell you a lot about their dimensions and histories. See

• Princess Amelia: https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=287
• Cambridge: https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=281

I hope that helps.

[tomrommel1]

That hjelps tremendously , thank you!

[tomrommel1]

So, the first ship is nearly finished, but it is not the 74 gun HMS Gorgon, but the HMS Avenger, the cutter Bolitho served on together with his brother ( see the novel Mr. Midshipman Bolitho and the Avenger)