La Flûte Hollandaise
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"Responding to growing foreign trade, Holland built a new merchant ship: longer, wider, with a greater loading capacity, a shallow draught and very seaworthy – La Flûte Hollandaise. The form of this vessel is recognisable: rounded stern (without wing transom) with the sides of the ship displaying a marked tumblehome. The front is equally very rounded, resembling a pear. Note the narrowing of the upper rails of the stern. The ornamentation is simple, consisting of sculptures or paintings and some decorations on the stern and on the prow. Weaponary is summed up as: - 6 x 8 pound canons on the gun deck (the first and last gun ports are not armed, and are closed with hatches). - 4 x 4 pound canons on the quarter deck. Throughout the 17th century, several types of flûtes were developed in order to assure commerce with France, Spain, Brazil, the Antilles and some were used by the East India Company. Other countries, like France, England, and the Scandinavian countries copied this vessel to greater or lesser success. Each one had its own variants." |
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Modelist: Pierre Maillière
In 1972, my father started La Flûte Hollandaise. It was a first sortie into Modélisme d'Arsenal*. I don't know exactly why he chose this model: perhaps the original shape of the hull or even the little sculptured figures. Vertical and horozontal sections appear in the book, Les Grand Voiliers. So much is certain, it was the very detailed exchange of correspondence with the Musée d'Anvers, that allowed him to create this model.
It is a study of the hull: only the lower masts are in place.
- the model is in beech.
- the canons are in brass, turned on the end of a drill chuck then shaped with a file.
- the rigging is in flax thread.
- the stern lantern is in soldered brass.
- note the sculpted pedestal.
* Modélisme d'Arsenal does not have an exact English translation. One could say that the term applies to historically accurate, museum quality, models, whose method of construction adheres closely to those that would have been current during the period.
In 1972, my father started La Flûte Hollandaise. It was a first sortie into Modélisme d'Arsenal*. I don't know exactly why he chose this model: perhaps the original shape of the hull or even the little sculptured figures. Vertical and horozontal sections appear in the book, Les Grand Voiliers. So much is certain, it was the very detailed exchange of correspondence with the Musée d'Anvers, that allowed him to create this model.
It is a study of the hull: only the lower masts are in place.
- the model is in beech.
- the canons are in brass, turned on the end of a drill chuck then shaped with a file.
- the rigging is in flax thread.
- the stern lantern is in soldered brass.
- note the sculpted pedestal.
* Modélisme d'Arsenal does not have an exact English translation. One could say that the term applies to historically accurate, museum quality, models, whose method of construction adheres closely to those that would have been current during the period.