The San Felipe Launched in 1690, was one of the most beautiful Spanish ships of its era. She was led the Spanish Armada. San Felipe’s role in the war against the British and French was to help protect Spanish settlements and harbors but also to transport gold from the new world. The San Felipe was armed with 96 cannons enough firepower to match the best ships the French and British navies had to offer. In 1705, the San Felipe fought a heroic battle against 35 British ships but was captured by an English ship and badly damaged and ended up at the bottom of the ocean with several tons of gold.

In 1869 John Willis, a shipowner and ship’s captain from London, commissioned the building of the clipper CUTTY SARK in order to beat the THERMOPYLAE (built one year before) in the “tea race”. The name CUTTY SARK is of Scottish origin and means “short shirt”. The figurehead is a witch called Nannie.

Under 1877 the full-rig ship sailed almost exclusively as a tea dipper on the China route and she frequently achieved speeds of up to 17 knots. Then from 1877 onwards the CUTTY SARK served mainly in the Australian wool trade

The first large three-decker, the Royal Louis was completed in Toulon in 1668, and was registered at 200 tons. The Royal Louis was a 3-deck vessel with 120 guns. Her captain was a Squadron Admiral. She was one of the most powerful firsrank vessels belonging to the French Royal Navy at that time. Our ship  model represents  the Royal Louis according to the plans of 1779, when she was Admiral-Ship of the Blue and White Squadron, being part of the American Squadron, also called Eark d’Estaing’s.