HMS BRILLIANT
The AmBaile website - Highland History & Culture tells us that HMS Brilliant was moored in the Muirtown Basin in the Caledonian Canal, Inverness. This 5th rate frigate was launched in 1814 and was the RNR Drill Ship in Dundee from 1863-1873, when she moved to Inverness and performed a similar function. She was renamed HMS Briton in 1889 and was finally broken up in 1908.
HMS Brilliant in her last days.
This replica model of HMS Brilliant came up on the Bonhams website for sale in 2007. Sold for £3,840 inc. premium.
Notes on the model tell us :
An outstanding model of the 36 gun 5th Rate HMS "Brilliant" 1814
the model believed built c.1863 in Dundee. Hull of timber, plank on frame, with black/white topsides, lifting portlids and gilt wales, hammock stowage. Painted copper below the waterline. Fitted with a carved figurehead of a Scotsman in plaid and bonnet, decorated trail boards, stern and quarter galleries. Decks of laminated timber with inscribed plank lines, painted and varnished wooden spars. Fine details include 42 cast metal cannon on moulded carriages, with detailed breech ropes and tackles, removable gratings and hatches to main deck, ship's boat on chocks, capstan, working wheel with tiller lines to rudder, anchors and chain cable. Exceptionally detailed three masted ship rig, with accurate standing and running rigging, the sails furled to the yards. On a mahogany cradle. Below decks are two threaded bolts to the keel, suggesting the model may have once been suspended. 98.5x28x75in(250x71x190cm). ..The model was discovered in Inverness Docks in the 1950's in poor condition and was subsequently restored to it's present state.
And there is further details about the ship itself. HMS "Brilliant" was built by Longley at Deptford and launched on December 28th 1814. Originally a 36 gun 5th Rate, she was re-rated to 42 guns in 1830. Serving with the Channel Fleet, she was responsible for the capture of three slave ships in the 1840's. By 1859 she had been passed to the Royal Naval Reserve, initially in London but from 1863-1873 at Dundee, where this model is thought to have been made, as a training aid for the new cadets. Moved to Inverness in 1886, she was renamed HMS "Briton" in 1889, the model residing in the Officer's wardroom until the ship was taken out of service for breaking up in 1908.
AM BAILE - Highland History and Culture : https://www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/11060/
