HMS Leopard 36"

Ready for Immediate Display - Not a Model Ship kit 

With unmatched features, exquisitely fine craftsmanship and careful attention to every detail, even the most discriminating enthusiast of naval history is certain to be pleased by this scale replica tall ships model of the HMS Leopard. Highlighting the natural beauty of her high quality woods and delicate craftsmanship, this replica of famous warship will evoke wonder with her manifest detail and inspire historical pride with her indomitable spirit whether the centerpiece of a nautical themed meeting room or family living room, or the highlight of an office or den. 

36" Long x 12" Wide x 29" High (1:106 scale)

• Built from scratch over hundreds of hours by master artisans
• High quality woods include cherry, birch, maple and rosewood
  • Beautiful variety clearly visible in natural finish
• Individual wooden planks used in hull construction
• Extensive rigging featuring over 200 blocks and deadeyes
• Other Amazing Details, including:
  • Intricately carved figurehead, scrollwork and stern window panes
  • Planked deck with nail holes
  • Authentic scale lifeboats with oars
  • Cannonball racks, buckets, barrels, rope coils and other nautical items adorn decks
  • Lattice grates, rudder chains, wooden ladders and planked steps
  • Gun-deck and cannon visible through open main-deck grate
  • Solid brass cannons and metal anchors
  • Masterfully stitched, heavy canvas sails hold shape and do not wrinkle
  • Taut rigging with varied thread gauge and color
• Wooden display base features four arched dolphins
  • Pictured with marble base (available for purchase)
• Extensive research of our model tall ships from original plans, historical drawings and paintings as well as actual photographs ensures the highest possible accuracy

HMS Leopard was a British 50-gun 4th rate warship involved in the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair. Her keel was laid down in 1775 at Portsmouth Dockyard and she was finally launched in 1790 from Sheerness. In early 1807, a number of British and American sailors deserted their respective ships, then blockading French ships in Chesapeake Bay, and joined the crew of the USS Chesapeake.

In an attempt to recover deserted British sailors (or possibly to press American sailors into the service of the Royal Navy), Captain Salisbury Pryce Humphreys hailed the USS Chesapeake and requested permission to search it. Commodore of the Chesapeake, James Barron, refused, and the Leopard opened fire. The former surrendered, and Humphreys boarded to search for deserters. The boarding party captured four deserters from the Royal Navy — two African-born Americans, one U.S.-born American and one British-born sailor — and took them to Halifax, where the British-born sailor, Jenkin Ratford, was later hanged. Though many subsequently believed the affair to be a prelude to the War of 1812, at the time it did little more than strain diplomatic relations between the United States and Britain.

In 1812, the Leopard was converted to a troopship. On June 28, 1814, she was en route from England to Quebec when she grounded on Anticosti Island in heavy fog. The ship was destroyed but none of those on board were lost.

The Leopard in fiction

In Patrick O'Brian's novel Desolation Island, the fifth book of the Aubrey–Maturin series, Jack Aubrey commands the Leopard on a cruise through the Atlantic and Indian oceans after the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair and before the beginning of the War of 1812.