Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai
This is a known portuguese carrack, the Santa Catarina of Monte Sinai (ca. 1520). This time, the model was built inside a small movie projector bulb.
The model has been taken from a painting exhibited in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwhich. Typical of the portuguese men-of-war of those times is the enormous mainsail. Also, the fore topsail is a novelty. Interesting to note is these carracks were fitted with a boarding net with a sturdy frame, to protect main deck gunners both from falling debri and boarding parties. This ship had at least six decks and 140 guns. Please note, despite the tiny scale, the mainsail has the reef points identified with letters. Inscription read "Santa Maria Gratia Plena" . It is said the inscription served the purpose of making it easier for the yard attendants to tie the reef bands orderly , since the reefed sheets were removed or added completely from the main hoisted sail, hence they matched the letters before tying the reef knots.
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(c) 2000-2002 Eduardo Raffaelli. Buenos Aires . Argentina