Two Small Dutch Vessels from The Late 16th Century.

Keith Smith gave an account of the history, method of operation and the building of two unusual models of early Dutch vessels. The first was a “Crompster“, basically a small armed merchantman with a fore and aft rig and equipped with 12 guns and described by one maritime author as the “pocket battleships of their day“. His second model was a herring buss, presented complete with a section of its drift with its fore and main masts unstepped and secured whilst it lay to the wind and its net under a square mizzen. This presentation was given to The Society of Model Shipwrights at their Zoom meeting on 10th February 2023.