Model of the 60-gun sail battleship "Centurion" of the British Royal Navy on a scale of 1 to 48. The ship was launched from the Royal Dockyard in Portsmouth on 6 January 1732, and in 1736 she joined an expeditionary fleet commanded by Sir John Norris to protect Portugal from a Spanish invasion. In December 1737, the Centurion welcomed a new captain, named George Anson, who led a squadron of expeditions to West Africa via Jamaica after taking office, using the Centurion as its flagship, and finally returned to England via Jamaica in 1739. After the Centurion underwent refurbishment, Anson, already a commodore in the Navy, was again ordered to command a squadron to the Spanish colonies on the eastern Pacific coast, harass its shipping, destroy or occupy its ports, and intercept treasure galleons between Acapulco and Manila (at that time the "Jenkins Ears War" had broken out between Britain and Spain. This expedition is known as "George Anson's circumnavigation of the world", in this arduous four-year expedition (September 18, 1740 to June 15, 1744), only the "Centurion" of the six ships of Anson's squadron completed the entire voyage, George Anson also became the second Englishman to command a ship to complete a circumnavigation of the world since Drake, and like Drake, Anson also gained great wealth for this voyage. The Centurion was declared "totally lost" after its circumnavigation of the world, but was eventually preserved, and on 1 December 1744 a new order ordered her to undergo mid-term repairs in Portsmouth. In September 1746, the Centurion, which had completed repairs, was transformed from a 60-gun battleship to a 50-gun battleship, during which time it was briefly renamed the Eagle. In September 1766, the "Centurion" was finally decommissioned, and in May 1769, after a comprehensive inspection, the Admiralty ordered the dismantling of the ship, which was completed on December 18 of the same year.
The bow of the Centurion is a typical lion-type bow statue commonly used in the Royal Navy (see last model photo), and is 16 feet (about 4.9 meters) high. After the Centurion was dismantled, the bow statue was given to the Duke of Richmond by King George III, who later claimed the bow statue and placed it at Windsor Castle for staircase decoration. George IV then gave it to the Naval Hospital Greenwich in London and placed it in a hospital room, which George IV hoped should be called the "Anson Ward". In 1871, the bow statue of the Centurion was transferred to the playground of the Royal Naval College, where due to prolonged exposure, it weathered into a pile of broken wood, and only a four-foot-long (about 1.2 m) lion's claw remained. The lion's claw was eventually recognized as a relic of great historical value and relocated to George Anson's former home, Shugborough Hall, in the early 2020s.
Return your gaze to the model. The main body of the model is made of wood, and the other parts are made of metal and organic materials. Painted in realistic livery and painting, complete with sail rigging. The doors of the three gun decks were all open, and the guns were in combat condition. The model was made for George Anson by Benjamin Slade, who in 1747 was Master Shipwright in Plymouth. The collection of manuscripts in the collection of the National Maritime Museum contains a letter dated 10 November 1747 from Slade to Anson informing him of how the model was being made. In 1936, the model was reassembled at the British National Maritime Museum.
