Scale: 1:96. The small size of this model emphasizes its high quality. Fittings have been beautifully and intricately made and have all been gold-plated, even down to the vessel’s name on the port and starboard bows. The insides of the ventilators have been painted bright red, noticeable only when the model is viewed from the bow three-quarter angle. In all it is a miniature masterpiece.

The steamship ‘Springwell’ (1914) was typical of vessels that carried coal from the ports on the north-east coast and South Wales to bunkering stations throughout the world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The model shows the five hatches covered by wooden hatch boards only. At sea these would have had weatherproof canvas tarpaulins stretched over them, and battened down with hatch battens and wooden wedges on the hatch coamings. Number three hatch could be used for cargo or as an extra bunker when the ship was on a long sea passage. The searchlight mounted at the bow was for use in the Suez Canal and would have been unshipped when at sea.

Without warning, on the 9 February 1916, ‘Springwell’ was torpedoed by a submarine, 64 miles from Gavdo Island in the eastern Mediterranean.