Scale: 1:48. A contemporary half block design model of an Arctic exploration research ship circa 1815-30. Built in ‘bread and butter’ fashion and mounted on a wooden backboard, the model is complete with three stump masts and a bowsprit, anchor cathead and a set of three channels mounted just below the gunports.
The identification of this model is uncertain although it is very close in hull design to the bomb vessels built by the Navy in the early 19th century and later converted for the use of Polar exploration. It does not agree with the plans of the ‘Terror’ nor the ‘Enterprise’ (circa 1848), both of which have been associated with this model in the past. An accompanying plaque (modern) reads: ‘137 TERROR, Bomb-Vessel 1813. Built at Topsham. Fitted for Polar exploration 1836, went to both Arctic and Antarctic. Abandoned by Sir John Franklin in the ice 1848. Dimensions: - Gun deck 102ft 4in. Beam 26ft 11 1/2in’. This and another model, SLR0715, were both formerly believed to depict the ‘Terror’.