Ship Models That Are Works Of Art Robert Burgess, Curator of The Mariners Museum.
A collection of sixteen miniature ships that illustrate the development of water travel from primitive times to the middle of the last century is on exhibit at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia. They represent practically the life work of August P. Crabtree. The collection has been twenty-five years in the making with as much as six years spent on single ones. Included in the sixteen are: a primitive raft and dugout, an Egyptian sea-going vessel of 1480 B.C., a Roman grain ship of 50 A.D., a Viking-like craft of William the Conqueror, 1066, the Santa Maria and Pinta of 1492, six different types of 17th Century vessels, the United States brig LEXINGTON of the Revolutionary War period, a British East Indiaman of 1805 and the English BRITANNIA of 1840. Most of the miniatures are built to the scale of one-fourth inch to the foot. Mr. Crabtree's interest in ships goes back to his boyhood days in Portland, Oregon. There, on weekends and school holidays, he worked in a small shipyard. His parents thought he would become a naval architect but he chose fine arts instead. As his major thesis, he set model ships as his goal. Since ordinary sculpture was common, he decided to combine his skill at that with his interest in and knowledge of ships. Considerable preparation was required before attempting his first miniature. Authoritative rare books were consulted for plans and drafts to guarantee exactness in all details. His first project was a Dutch yacht of 1666. A professor supplied complete construction details. Mr. Crabtree meant his miniatures to last virtually forever. This called for woods other than those normally used by model-makers. Also the woods had to be of a texture suitable for minute carving. He consulted craftsmen who had a knowledge of woods for suggestions of woods to use. After experimenting with various woods, he decided that firethorn or whitethorn and wild apple best suited his needs. They were close grained and not susceptible to splitting. He then worked out a method of seasoning them. To create the minute carvings he had in mind, he had to make his own tools. His first ones were made from jewelers' and diemakers' files. These he made into small chisels. He later found that cast-off dental and surgical instruments of the finest steel could be turned into chisels too. These were sharpened and retempered, some so that their cutting edge was 1-2000 of an inch wide. The miniatures developed into a full-time project after Crabtree left college. During the day he would work on the hulls; in the evening he carved the decorations. In 1936, he worked for a Hollywood movie studio making models which appeared in wreck, fire and collision scenes. He also served as a technical adviser in m.aritime pictures. But in his spare time he worked on the miniatures. During World War II he 10