Genealogy of the Bryan and Martin Families
Alexander Martin Model Ship Gallery
Alex Martin (1883-1960) joined the United States Navy in 1899 at the age of 16 and served until his 21st birthday in 1904. Around 1931 he began building model ships, most of them entirely "from scratch", although he did purchase plans and some of the smaller parts, such as anchors, life boats, etc. He sometimes pilfered the gold chains from his wife's and daughters' jewelry to use as anchor chains, eyelets from shoes became portholes, and seeds from a plant in his yard were used to make ventilators. Alex entered his ships in several hobby shows in Dayton, Ohio, winning "Best of Show" in 1959. He had exhibited at the 1960 hobby show just a few weeks before his death. This album is a collection of newspaper articles about and photographs of the models he built. Most of them are no longer in the extended family, although a few still exist in the homes of his descendants. He gave away many of his models to his friends and acquaintances, and one even ended up in the White House when he sent it to Franklin D. Roosevelt as a present. I remember several ships for which there are no photographs, including the U.S.S. Hartford, one of his largest models at a little over 3' long, and a slave ship. This virtual album is the closest thing we have to a complete record of his work. Follow this link to read his memoirs, Hedunit: The Memoirs of an Ex-Blue Jacket, and this link to read, download, or order a print copy. The descriptions (to be added as time permits) of some of the ships in this gallery were written by Alex and included in a notebook he kept containing photographs of each model. The notes appear to be for a slideshow that he presented to various audiences.» Alexander Martin Model Ship Gallery «Prev «1 ... 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ... 58» Next» » Slide Show
H.M.S. Bounty
In the year 1763 the H.M.S. Bounty at Spithead, England, where she was rebuilt and launched, looked no bigger than a longboat among the tall first rates and seventy-fours at anchor. She had been built by the merchant service at Hall three years before and purchased for 2000 pounds. Ninety feet long on deck with a beam of 24 feet, her burden was little more than 200 tons. Her name, Bethia, had been painted out and at the suggestion of Sir Joseph Banks she was rechristened the Bounty. She had been many months at Deptford, where the Admiralty had spent more than 4000 pounds in altering and refitting her. The great cabin aft was rigged as a garden, pots standing in racks and gutters running below to allow the water to be used on the bread fruit plants over and over again. The result was that Lieutenant Bligh and the Master, Mr. Fryer, were squeezed into two tiny cabins on either side of the ladderway. The ship was small, really very small. She carried cargoes of stores and articles to barter with the Indians. She was bluff heavy hulled and short masted. With her stout rigging she looked more like a whaling ship than an armed transport of His Majesty's Navy. She carried a pair of swivel guns mounted on stocks forward and six swivel and four pounders aft on the upper deck.
There is a wonderfully interesting story of the historic mutiny on the Bounty by Nordhoff and J.N. Hall published in 1932. They were midshipmen in His Majesty's Navy. It tells of the horrible treatment and confinements of the crew by Bligh. It was no wonder they decided on mutiny and to get rid of Bligh in a whale boat at his own responsibility.
The Bounty made quite a splash in history. She sailed to the South Pacific under the command of Lt. William Bligh, Royal Navy. Just before Christmas 1787 she sailed from Tahiti for the West Indies but before the end of April 1789 Captain Bligh and some of his crew found themselves adrift in an open boat. In this frail craft Captain Bligh made the most outstanding voyage in history.
| File name | HMS Bounty.jpg |
| File Size | 1.07m |
| Dimensions | 3015 x 2422 |
| Albums | Alexander Martin Model Ship Gallery |
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