Ship Builder's Half Model
Date made: late 19th century
Description: Ship builder's half model in wood of a nobby/ fishing boat.
The Manx nobby was a double ended standing lug-rigged herring drifter. The vocabulary of the Anglo-Manx dialect quotes the first Manx nobby in 1884 receiving its name because it was “a rale nobby little thing”. Other nobbies may have received their name in the same way, as smart sail fishing boats. They had a smaller crew than a Nickey and were often skipper owned. They were the last boats to be built for fishing in Peel and continued to be built for the Irish Fisheries District Board until the last ship yard closed around 1930.
A half hull model ship (also known as a 'half hull' or 'half ship') is a wooden model ship featuring only one half of a boat's hull without rigging or other fixtures. Prior to the twentieth century, half hull model ships were constructed by shipwrights as a means of planning a ship's design and sheer and ensuring that the ship would be symmetrical. The half hulls were mounted on a board and were exact scale replicas of the actual ship's hull. With the advent of computer design, half hulls are now built as decorative nautical art and constructed after a ship is completed.
Between 1863 and 1914 the Isle of Man's fising industry was booming, and it was said that it employed one person in four directly or indirectly. The 1890s were a time of poor catches in Manx waters and the decline of the herring fisheries set in. By 1914 there were only 57 Manx vessels and the majority of the herring landed in the island was caught by non-Manx boats. After 1900 curing and kippering had replaced fresh sales as the main outlets for the catch.
Measurements: overall: 16 x 46 x 13 cm
Materials: wood
Object name: model boat
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: 1954-3912
Subject tags : #MM100