'Kent' (Br, 1724)

Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull block model of the 'Kent' (Br, 1724) a 70-gun two-decker, 3rd rate ship of the line. The model is carved from a solid(?) block of wood and painted white below the waterline, with the main and upper wales, bulwarks screens and flush decks all picked out in black. The planking along the side at the level of the gun decks is painted a yellow ochre, which is then punctuated by the red gunports let into the hull. As is typical of this style of model, the decoration is virtually two-dimensional with all of the beakhead now missing and minor detail in the stern and quarter galleries. The model shows 'Number 47' on the starboard broadside, a previous catalogue number. There is also a paper label on which is inscribed "P", "31C" and "Kent, 70 guns, 1744(?). Catalogued (1923) under No.47 as the Kent, 70, 1679. The dimensions are very near those of the Establishment of 1719 for 70 gun ships and the Kent was rebuilt on that Establishment in 1724. The combination of solid and double wales would also be appropriate to that date. However the model does not agree with Draught No.1161 of the ship of 1724, so that the identification is not at all certain". The whole model is mounted on a pair of crudely carved wooden crutches and has the remains of an original metal eye on deck used in the past for a suspended display.