A FINELY REALISED 1:48 SCALE BOXWOOD MODEL IDENTIFIED AS H.M...

Estimate

£3,000 - £4,000

A FINELY REALISED 1:48 SCALE BOXWOOD MODEL IDENTIFIED AS H.M.S. PALLAS [1757]

the 14in. planked and framed hull with ebonised main wale, Venetian red-line gun ports, polychrome bulwarks, quarterlights, stern, head rails and roundhouses, bust-length figurehead of Athena, chain plates with deadeyes, metal anchors with bound wooden stocks, planked decks with fittings including belaying rails, shot racks with shot, stove pipe, belfry, brass guns in painted carriages, companionway, capstan, double helm, great cabin deck light, bound masts, yards with s'tuns'l booms, standing and running riggings with blocks and tackle and other details, secured to cradle stand within glazed wood-bound case -- 27¾ x 33½ x 14½in. (70.5 x 85 x 37cm.)

With the Parker Gallery, circa 1970.

Pallas was a 'Venus' Class fifth-rate frigate of 36-guns designed by Sir Thomas Slade and launched at Deptford in 1757 as the flagship of a new class of frigates designed for speed and manoeuvrability. The Pallas enjoyed a twenty-six-year career, initially patrolling the French and English coasts where she captured several enemy vessels and in 1760 the Mediterranean where she even attempted to take on the 74-gun La Diadème. Between 1774-77, she made a series of voyages to the coast of West Africa to survey and report on the forts and factories then under British control. In 1783, returning from Halifax, Nova Scotia to England, the Pallas developed several leaks that worsened when heavy seas were encountered. She was eventually run ashore on the island of São Jorge in the Azores where it was discovered that her keel and garboards were worm-eaten beyond repair and burnt.