Three-decker (c. 1660)

3D Model

This unplanked model of a three-decker can be dated to c. 1660 and is one of the world’s oldest models of a warship. Although not definitively identified, recent research links it to the Swedish ship Riksäpplet, designed by the English master shipwright Francis Sheldon and launched in 1661.

The model was possibly made for Sheldon, who came to Sweden in 1659. He was one of a number of English shipwrights employed by the Swedish crown during the period. Previously, most Swedish warships had been built in the Dutch style.

From around 1660, the English Royal Navy’s administrators commissioned models that were accurately detailed and true to scale. These miniatures, which came to be called Navy or Admiralty Board models, had an unplanked lower hull to emphasise the shape of the underwater body.

The model was restored by rear-admiral Jacob Hägg in the late 1890s. Missing parts have been reconstructed using lighter coloured wood.

3D model produced by Adam de Kaminski and Vasilis Haroupas for SMTM, 2023