Young Lady of Tarquinia

Year: 450 BC
Category: Ancient
Vessel Type: Merchant Ship
Scale: 1/8" = 1 foot
Overall Length: 88 feet

This is the first ship known to have two masts. Sailing from Tarquinia, a city 50 miles northwest of Rome on the Tyrhenian Sea, this large Etruscan merchant ship would compete with the Greeks for Mediterranean based trade in the 5th Century B.C.

Also seen here is an early lead anchor stock affixed to a wooden shaft with fluke tips being metal plates covering the wood at the tips of each arm. Still another metal plate near the base helped fasten everything together.

The large castle areas fore and aft give this ship the appearance of ships seen in the medieval era. The large plates seen on the bottom half of the hull were made of very thin lead. These were nailed on to protect the wood ship from worms and barnacles.