Cecil Rhodes (1899); Service vessel; Lake steamer - Model

Scale: 1:32. A full hull model of the twin screw steamer Cecil Rhodes (1899), built for service on Lake Tanganyika. The model is decked, equipped and rigged. The hull is finished in natural varnished wooden below the waterline, with a light pink boot topping below the white topsides. The deck and deck house, cargo hatch, mast and derrick are all finished in a natural varnished wood, with details marked in black ink. There are a number of fittings on deck, including anchor winch, cargo winch, derrick, lifeboat davits, which are all silver plated. Other fittings such as the compass binnacle, propellers and shafts are gold plated. It is rigged with a single mast, with a cargo derrick and a pair of awning strong-backs, a single funnel, a small dinghy rigged to davits over the stern, and a large wooden roof covering the deck house and stern cockpit area. The model is mounted on a pair of turned brass pillars on a wooden baseboard within its original glazed wooden display case. Within the display case are a pair of the original wooden plaques with technical details, and a gold broach mounted on a red velvet pillow together with its typed label. The plaques are inscribed “Twin screw steamer Cecil Rhodes built for Tanganyika Concessions Ltd. by Forrestt & Son Ltd. Wyvenhoe, Essex, 1899. Dimension 74' 0" x 14' 0" x 7' 0" Depth. Speed 9 1/2 knots. Gross Tonnage 60 tons." The label accompanying the brooch is inscribed "Brooch presented to Miss Anne Williams, aged 12. Elder daughter of Sir Robert Williams and later wife of G. C. Hutchinson, when she launched the SS Cecil Rhodes at Wyvenhoe Essex, on the 18th November, 1899. Presented to Tanganyika Concessions Limited by Mrs. M. C. Follett. Younger daughter of Sir Robert Williams". The exact writing on the brooch itself is difficult to make out. Source: Cecil Rhodes (1899); Service vessel; Lake steamer