The Rogers Collection of Dockyard Models at the US Naval Academy Volume III by Grant Walker

At long last, Volume III of the Rogers Collection is available! This book is the third in a series of four volumes devoted to the “dockyard” ship models in the renowned Rogers Collection at the United States Naval Academy Museum. These precious relics from the Age of Sail came to the Academy in 1938 as part of a bequest from Colonel Henry Huddleston Rogers, “The Millionaire Colonel” who fought on the Western Front in World War I even though he was one of the wealthiest men in America and could easily have shirked his duty.

Volumes I & II examined seventeen examples of First, Second, and Third Rates that comprise Colonel Rogers’ models of ships of the line, meaning those ships that were big and powerful enough to fight in the line of battle in fleet or squadron engagements.

Volume III addresses the models that represent the other kind of Royal Navy ships in the Age of Sail, the cruisers and convoy escorts of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Rates. Whether by luck or design, Rogers managed to find and purchase almost the same number of cruiser models – eighteen – as his seventeen miniature ships of the line. Eight represent Fourth Rates, six represent Fifth Rates, and four represent Sixth Rates. All originated in England and represent English or British warships.