Vol. 65, No. 4 winter 2020 346


shipwrights had no experience with the type, the French naval ministry prevailed upon the Spanish court to loan a group of Minorcan shipwrights to help build these specialized craſt at the Toulon shipyard.


I say specialized because, while based on a typical xebec hull form and carrying a traditional lateen rig, Le Requin and its sister ships were specifi cally designed for use as warships. Like the galley to which it was related, the xebec was low in the water and naturally wet, so it had a highly cambered deck which enabled it to shed water through scuppers along its length. T us, while it could mount one or two guns forward, the deck camber prevented it from carrying broadside guns. To do that, special fl at platforms had to be built over the deck along each side to carry guns—twenty-four 8-pounders in the case of Le Requin—with gratings between the guns to allow water to fl ow down to the original deck and scuppers below, a complex and interesting form. (Figure 1)


T e model As


4. Detail of the stern, including the Amphitrite bas relief, the Turk’s head on the rudder and two more on the sides.


which combined oars with a lateen rig. T ey could point higher, or row directly to windward, were very fast and maneuverable and could carry large crews along with one or two guns facing forward. A fl eet of xebecs was seen as an answer, but because French


before


it was launched in 1750, fi nancial constraints


and changing designs fi nally limited ship decoration in both Britain and France, Le Requin was relatively


ornate, which


makes for an interesting model. It had both three- dimensional carvings—a stylized shark fi gurehead (Figure 2), a pair of lions amidship (Figure 3), several “Turks heads” including a large fellow on the rudder


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