SHIP MODEL SHOP

CONSERVATION RESEARCH LABORATORY REPORT NO. 9

  MODELING LA BELLE

LA SALLE SHIPWRECK PROJECT, 
TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION

When one looks at the archaeological remains of a once-proud ship, it can be difficult to imagine how she looked in her prime. This is the case with La Belle, a 17th-century French ship that sank off the coast of Texas on her maiden voyage while carrying colonists to the New World.  Archaeologists from the Texas Historical Commission excavated La Belle in 1996 and 1997.  The hull and the material contained in the hold are being conserved at the Conservation Research Laboratory of the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University.  A major part of the conservation effort involves the reconstruction and conservation of the remains of the hull.

This report documents the construction of a 1:12 scale model of La Belle. The model is an attempt to show how she may have appeared in her prime.

Building models of archaeological ships is one of the most interesting aspects of nautical archaeology and is equally informative to the ship specialist. Approximatedly one-third of the hull of La Belle remains. Using data from excavations of similar ships, archives, paintings, and other sources, a ship modeler is able to make a 'best guess' approximation of the appearance of the superstructure of the hull and the rigging. 


Glenn Grieco, a student in the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University, is a professional ship modeler and is especially interested in 17th-century French ships.  He has just completed the second, more refined model of La Belle that uses details known from the archaeological remains of the ship. The models will be the subject of his Master's thesis in the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University.

The first model will be on permanent display at the Texas Maritime Museum in Rockport on the Gulf Coast.  Rockport is just east of Corpus Christi, Texas. Be sure and go by to visit!

 STARBOARD VIEW OF ROCKPORT MODEL

PORT VIEW OF ROCKPORT MODEL

The second model will be kept on permanent display in the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University in College Station. A glass display cabinet was built specially for the model. Some views of the second model are provided below.

Click on these links for other views of the second model.

 STARBOARD VIEW OF TEXAS A&M MODEL

PORT VIEW OF TEXAS A&M MODEL

Click on one of the graphics formats below to view new modeling projects taking place in the ship lab:

320x240JPEG image | 640x480JPEG image | 320x240 MotionJPEG Video | JPEG 640x480 MotionJPEG Video

Citation Information:

Grieco, Glenn
2000, Modeling La Belle, Ship Model Shop Report #1, Conservation Research Laboratory Research Report #9, World Wide Web, URL, http://nautarch.tamu.edu/crl/Report9/index.htm, Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University.

E-mail: ggrieco@worldnet.att.net


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This page is maintained by the staff at the Conservation Research Laboratory, Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University (crl@tamu.edu) and was last updated December 6, 2001.

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