Cargo vessel; Dau la mtepe

Scale: Unknown. A model of a dau la mtepe made entirely in wood with organic material fittings. The hull is made plank-on-frame with the planks sewn edge to edge and to the frames and the exterior varnished. A white stripe extends from the rudder to the stempost just above the waterline. The stempost is sharply raked and its component parts have been stitched together. The stemhead is highly decorated and has been carved and painted in a geometric pattern in black, white and brick red. Four small pennant staffs are inserted into the top of the stemhead (two missing) and a red pennant flies from one of them. The hull shape is double ended with a steeply raked bow and stern and the hull is v-shaped in cross section. There are three bars that brace the hull, tied to the gunwhales. Rigged to the middle brace is a single mast, flying a red pennant and with a single, rectangular sail made of woven fibre and rigged from a single yard. An awning has been rigged at the stern with a pitched roof of woven fibre. Either side of the awning and extending from the gunwhales is a pair of rails. Aft of the awning is a tall jackstaff rigged to the portside and flying a rectangular red pennant. The rudder is fixed, is parallelogram in shape and has a detachable tiller on which is partly decorated with a white painted and carved triangular pattern. The model is displayed on a pair of shaped crutches fixed together with wooden batons.

Object number: AAE0157
Date: unknown
Original dimensions: 319 mm x 406 mm