Data
| Type/Class:
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Dimensions:
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Decks:
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Armament:
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Rigging:
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Crew:
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| British Ship of the Line, First Rate
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Length: 58m
Width:
Height:
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Stepped Deck
3 decks with 100 guns
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100 guns;
ports for 92 guns
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3 masted full rigger
3-3-2 yards (fore-main-mizzen)
no staysails
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300? men
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History
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1670 built as successor of the Royal Sovereign
1672 Sea Battle of Solebay againts the Dutch, where she was badly damaged.
1692 Broken up. The timber was reused to build the Royal William.
There were more ships with this name:
HMS Prince (1788), Second Rate, 98 guns, took part in the battle of Trafalgar.
HMS Prince (1916), M class destroyer
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Sources for Research
- The Admiralty Model of the HMS Prince in the Museum of Science, London
This model is regarded one of THE most excellent contemporary ship models in the world!
And the HMS Prince is rebuilt as a ship model all over the world.
Admiralty models were originally built without a rigging, because it was the ship´s hull
and its armament
that was most complicated to design and to build. The rigging was a usual full rigging, and it was
considered to fit to all ships, with some adaptions, so the rigging has only second priority.
It was just like a motor for a car ... and a rigging was adapted very quickly as needed,
whereas a hull took years to build.
The rigging of the HMS Prince model in London had been added much later - and it "only" shows
the masts and spars square braced, but without sails ... another classic standard for fine ship models.
- Paintings
The painting "HMS Prince, departing before the wind" by the Dutch master van Beecq in 1679
(National Maritime Museum, Greenwich).
A very exact source, luckily =) !
Obviously the artist knew about rigging, as many details are depicted correctly.
No other sources to my knowledge except these ... there are no plans. From that era, it is likely that
plans never existed. They used the model to build the real ship...
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Reconstructions
Reconstruction of the Rigging
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The only valuable contemporary source still is the
painting "HMS Prince, departing before the wind" by the Dutch master van Beecq in 1679.
A very exact source!
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Reconstruction of Belayings
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This plan is fully based on my personal
researches about
old rigging and
belayings - so after all, it is a guess ... many arrangements
are possible, some patters are known, but You never know for sure where a line was belayed to,
because belaying scheme plans were introduced only on training sail ships of the 20th century.
All existing belaying plans of belayings of older ships, if they exist at all, are entirely reconstructions.
Model Kits of the Prince
The Airfix model kit, Scale 1:144?
The Airfix kit of the Classic Ship series, the only known plastic kit. It is sold out long ago, but I had the luck
to buy one of the last. It displays the Admiralty model.
My HMS Prince, still in the making ...
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